No safety or surprise, the end

Ha Tinh already really felt like the end through there was still another 360 km to Hanoi. The ride started

along the coast and very much reminded me of a day spent riding along the coast of southern Thailand only salt farms were replaced by rice paddies and there were far fewer people about.  The objective was to stay off the #1 as long as possible though with Hanoi drawing closer at every turn of the cranks we would eventually face it.  First though it was through Vinh and up to Cua Lo.



Arriving at Cua Lo felt like the first time we had properly been at the sea side since leaving Hua Hinh in Thailand weeks ago so after finding suitable accommodations at a place called the Green Hotel (for some reason it is painted blue) we hit the beach stalls in search of refreshment and a meal of squid and prawns.  Settling on one of the many stalls with no menus

we managed to place an order and get some drinks.  The meal arrived, we ate, we enjoyed, we tried to pay, and the trouble began.  Until this point we had been spoiled, no hassles, no sense of ever feeling cheated and no aggravation; time for a change.   The woman hastily scrawled our bill on a piece of paper and brought it over; apparently we owed 1 million dong (about 50 USD) - no chance!  Immediately we we shoved the paper back and refused to pay, the bill is changes to 850 thousand, better but still too much.  Our turn to throw out a number and I came back with 200 thousand (more in line with what we have been paying) and the Mexican stand off begins (yes I know this is Vietnam).  The woman has now stormed off, we have not paid and this small meal has a chance of turning ugly if we don't play our cards carefully.  The woman eventually comes back we stick 200 thousand in her and and start to walk off, she shoves the money at us and now we are afraid she may call the police, time for a new approach.   Gambling that the only other customer who is eating what we ate speaks English we ask what he is paying, he doesn't want to get involved and doesn't speak English  it is not looking good.  The arguments continue and we eventually pay 400 thousand; no one is happy, we feel cheated and the woman has lost face and missed her chance to really gouge the white people.  In the end we discover the 400 thousand was probably the "right" price but if she had just given us a bill for 500 thousand we probably would have paid and walked away with no arguments.

Doggy dinner truck (literally)

Out of Cua Lo it was off to highway #1. This is not a road for the timid, traffic goes all sorts of speeds, the horns never let up, and you will see every sort of vehicle and load.  As the buses wiz by its as though they are playing chicken with each other like in the film Red Heat.  On occasion it also means they are playing chicken with us on our bicycles, and yes we always swerved! though sometimes it felt as though there was almost no where to go.

The closer we got Hanoi the more of a circus freak Neil becomes for the passing people in passing vehicles. At just under 2 m tall he looks like a giant to many people and by the time we reached the outskirts of Hanoi almost everyone passing is taking his picture and trying to talk to him, his 20 mins or more like 100 km of fame I guess.

Arriving in Hanoi for me was bitter sweet, it is the end of what has been a fantastic journey.  Nearly 8000km in total over 3 months of cycling in 6 countries.  So much more to do and see but now it is time to go home.