Hanoi countryside

I'm warming to Hanoi - in fact I'd almost recommend visitors to skip HCM altogether, and get their Vietnam experience from the north only. Perhaps not quite fair - I'll reserve judgment until I've seen the central coast and the Mekong delta.

So today - yes, I'm booked! Leave for Sapa tomorrow, and on my return will head straight for Halong Bay, then on down to Hue. All courtesy of the good folk at Griswalds/Kangaroo Cafe - thanks Reena.

I trooped all over town following up Sapa mountain bike options, but to no avail. So I have a cunning plan. I've booked a 2 day trek with a local homestay, but have allowed an extra day in Sapa itself to hire a bike and do my own thing.

Interesting walking around off the beaten tourist track this morning - wandered past something called the Citadel, only to be quickly moved on by armed soldiers when I pulled out my camera - this place is now Army HQ!

But the best part of the day was an afternoon mountain bike ride around the Hanoi countryside with just my tour guide, Han. Great getting out of the city pollution and in amongst the cows, chooks, ducks, and rice paddies. The kids are friendly too - hello hello hello... about the only English word they know. And they like racing their bikes, so I just had to indulge them. The only problem was the unintentional stoppie at the end of the race when I forgot that the front & rear brake levers are reversed! The kids were most impressed.

That plus the moto ride out to the countryside and back - if the traffic looks crazy from the footpath, it's even more crazy on the back of a moto. But it seems to work - traffic flow in Vietnam could best be described as "organic" - think of the images of red blood cells merging and you'll get the idea.

And finally another couple of travel hints (ie for you Robert) - get your water puppet tickets early as they sell out over a week in advance, and similarly your train sleepers. I have it on good authority that you don't want a hard sleeper if you want to actually sleep!