Hello (and Goodbye) Hanoi!

Hello from Hanoi, Vietnam, where the motorbike traffic moves like water and my bicycle has managed to  follow the current.

I just got here two nights ago and am heading out today with Kim on a two-week cycling adventure!  Today we are doing what should be an easy 50k to Bac Giang, a city northeast of Hanoi to visit my Vietnamese friend Juan Juan (her Chinese name), a friend from Dalian.  From there, we'll cut north towards the mountains and try to loop back to Hanoi in time for Kim's flight out on the 15th.  Our route is not established at all, and it's liberating to fly (cycle) by the seat of my bike shorts!

Before flying to Vietnam (not my original plan - the embassy in Vientiane, Laos was closed for Vietnamese New Year, thus delaying my visa process - stupid me), I was in Vientiane for one week, hanging out at house of 4 PiAers, recovering from what may have been worms (or maybe just germs, I never found out).  It was a strange slowing-down after a week of fast-paced see-the-sights traveling from the border down to the capital.  (I have some awesome pictures to post later of the Plain of Jars!).  I didn't do much, although the last day of my seemingly long Vientiane stay, my stomach felt completely better, and I rode around on a fixed-gear bike that Mike, one of the PiAers, had built.  It was my first time riding one and wow, did I feel like a hipster!  (Picture me in tight jeans riding a bicycle with a canary-yellow minimalist frame, yellow tires, and a yellow chain.  Yup.)  It feels strange not being able to coast along without having the pedals push your legs forward, but I kind of enjoyed feeling "one with my bike."  Anyway, seeing as how I have a mountain bike and a road bike at home, I won't be entering hipster bikedom any time soon with my own fixie.

Here in Hanoi, we're couchsurfing for the first time with a really nice couple (an American and his Korean girlfriend) and it's been a really nice time.  I look forward to more couchsurfing in the future!

If all goes well with Kim's fancy new i-Phone, we will try to post a picture every day from our ride. Check her blog.