Brand New Day

Thursday right at the end  of November, my 4th day in Ha Noi. Sucess! I have bought a bike (no photo yet). Ms Le came through again! She and I were chatting  away in the morning after breakfast. We were talking about arranging a dinner and she suggested that I talk to her mechanic. I of course agreed. I went to see him, he was just around the corner. He had this Vietnamese Honda Win, It is called a Sufat. 110cc and lookjng smart. When I checked the  chain it was the first I found that was in good condition. The steering head bearings were fine as was the swinging arm. It took a bit to start but worked fine after a little persistence. The whole machine was in a very good state. So of course I said yes. I pick it up tomorrow (saturday). The friends boss is getting me a tool kit and they will supply me with spares. Now I have to get maps, a poncho, some bungy cords and maybe a Go Pro. All good.

The rest of the day was spent in a sort of mild celebration. Cold drinks at the Highlands Coffee house then a saunter throught the old quarter and a very nice meal in a backstreet. Ban Bo Nam Bo, a bowl of greens upon  which is layered noodles then on top of this is put some fried meat(beef) mixed with bean shoots and onion and garlic. On top of this is placed a handful of sliced cucumber and peanuts. The whole thing is then bathed in a light suace (nuoc maum ), slightly sweet with a bit of chilli. It was delicious although I think I like Bum Cha better. In the afternoon I had a little nap. In the eveing I walked around the old quarter absorbkng the sites and sounds.... fantastic, vibrant life... tourists everywhere and locals living thier lives on the street. It is such a cacophony of sights  that it would be easy to be overwhelmed if one was not attuned to it. Eventually I wondered back to my favorite resteraunt the "New Day" in Ma May st. I spent a very enjoyable meal chatting with a couple from Sweden (sp?). The food was great the couple were lovely and the whole thing was very nice except for our neighbours, a bunch of French  tourists that were very arrogant and rude. Blowing cigarette smoke on us. I countered with comments like "how can you eat food and  smoke a cigarette at the same time." And describing loudlly the battle of Diem Bien Phu and how the French suffered the worse defeat ever due to thier incredible stupidity. The cigarettes soon disappeared. After the meal I wondered up the corner where the locals had set up a stage. For the next 2 hours I watched the most incredible street cocert of traditional music and dance. It was fabulous. The crowd was almost exclusively Vietnamese all with beautiful smiles on thier faces. I can't adequately describe my feelings, delight, sheer joy, and wonderment were but a few. It was so good to see local people enjoying themselevs in such a way. Old and young no matter. The one bummer is that I did not have a camera with me. I did however end up on the other side of the lens many times with Vietnamese people wanting the "happy bhudda" experience. I also was filmed by what appeared to be a Television crew. They asked if they coukd interview me. I said "of course". Great fun.

So now it is a new day. I am going to try to go to the B 52 museum. I think it is a wreck of a B52 shot down over Ha Noi in the american war. I have seen them in good condition preparing to bomb Laos in 1974  Now I want to see a broken one. I think I might prefer this version. See youse later.     

Searching for the Bike

Well well well luck is still on my side. Last night on my way to the New Day resteraunt down the street I noticed a motorbike shop. This morning I went to look. There was a nice Honda Win which looks like it is a real Honda. The young attendant called his boss and after a short wait he came with keys. Of all the bikes I have seen so far it is the best. They are all pretty worn out but this one looks like it could be a goer. I told the bloke (Trang) that I would look at other shops but that I liked his bike. He assured me that we could go to his mechanic and fix the things I found wrong... new sprokets and chain. Tappet adjustment, new rear light lens, new front break and a check on the fluids in the forks. It needs oil but what is in there is clean. All in all a distinct prospect. Shit I forgot to ask about the Blue card (rego papers). Will make sure to do so next time. More excitement to follow chaps.

It is Thursday the 30th of October my 4th day. Yesterday was a really good day. a motorbike find in the morning a little wheeling and dealing and in the afternoon I met up with tonys friends Dung and Hung. A lovely pair of young things. So cute in thier youth. We went for a meal of some unpronouncable name. It involved a bowl of what looked like meat shavings with a slightly sweet flavour, under this there was a layer of very fat noodles softened and flavoured with chilli and nouc maum. It was delicious. I then took them to a resteraunt on the lake and we had cold drinks while I tried to teach some English. I think we all enjoyed the experience. I certainly did. I went again to the New Day for dinner and had a very nice time talking to a Dutch/Belgian man who was having to leave tomorrow to return to Europe. He had been bitten by a Monkey and was going through the trauma of Rabies shots. Poor bugger. We had long travelling chats and the night went quite quickly.

Today I am going to focus on Bikes. I plan to visit all the shops left on my list. Hopefully by the end of today I will have the basics of a bike. Please find attached a couple of photos taken from my balcony.

It Starts Here

I arrived yesterday in the morning. Hanoi has it's customary haze but the traffic was suprisngly light. I was told before I came that I would be blown away by the chaos of Hanoi traffic but for me it was like coming home. While the whole traffic thing looks like an impossible exercise in over the top chaos it actually works quite well with everyone missing by inches.

 it is now day 3. I have had a great time so far. i have already been toone motorbike shop. The selection was OK some five bikes all honda wins. One was OK it needed some cosmetic repairs. The others were worn out. ast night I found a shop just up the street from my hotel. I will check it out today. i have also a 2pm appointment with Tony's friend Dung. I will hand over the stuffed toys and go with her to a meal.

My first night was pretty amazing. I went to dinner at Le's House. I have no idea where it is only that it is past West Lake somewhere. Le's son is gorgeous. There was also Le's Mum and her mother in Law. Lan was there and of course Le's husband Vuong. We had a lovely meal finishig off with Roddy's Rocky road which they liked with reservation. At the end of the meal Mr Vuong took me home. As we left Mt Vuong asked if I would like to have a coffee with him at West Lake. We stopped at a very nice Cafe and I has a frozen thing that was magnificent. Now the really fantastic thing about all this is that Vuong does not speak a word of English. You would think that we would sit in silence but no we spent a very happy hour chatting away about all sorts of things. We talked of our families, Vuong is an only child his parents are divorced and his father has remarried and lives out of town. I think his mother lives with him. He is very proud of his child. He is a graphic designer {I think}. How did we do this? we both had translation apps on our phone and tabet. We would sit there furiously typing away and showing each other the results! It worked really well. The next time anyone hears me bagging modern technoogy they can kick me in the shins for free. This is the end of this post . Hopefully the future will bring a new bike, stories of me at Minh's jazz club and a host of new friends.