18 April 2011
Spiceroads Cycling Tour – Day 1
Hanoi to Mai Chau to Phu Luong (70 Km)
There’s something quite large blocking the road in front of me. Something on four legs with extremely pointy horns and massive bulk. Something one would normally see in a zoo if that one were from the States. It’s not a cow nor a bull but a water buffalo. And it has a few of its friends with it. What I wonder is, How does one overtake a water buffalo? Is it better to pedal past its front or its rear? I mean, one end could skewer me like the chicken satay we had for dinner the other night, while the other end could kick me clear across the border with Laos. I choose the front, thinking it might be better if it sees me coming – less chance of startling the big fella and better chance of looking it compassionately in the eye, one earthly beast to another, to plead my case for safe passage. Obviously I made it around, later learning from our favorite Spiceroads guide Hung (roughly pronounced “Hong”) that the water buffalo is a very docile, peaceful creature that is about as likely to skewer me as Gina is to pass up on a slice of THE chocolate cake.
Today’s goal is to cycle 70 km. On mountain bikes with fat tires. This feat begins in the aftermath of rain showers, meaning those fat tires are throwing up a lot of mud and as we are sans fenders, it doesn’t take long before we are splattered in road grime from head to toe. Road grime that includes water buffalo droppings and goodness knows what else. Let me just say this one more time – welcome to Vietnam.
In a more positive light, we cannot pedal more than 5 meters down the road without some small, smiling face – usually many small, smiling faces – turning our way and enthusiastically shouting HELLO. The children scamper to the roadside and wave with all their might. Children that appear to have little more than the clothes on their thin little bodies but seem so happy to see a Westerner that you would think they owned the world. It is a sweet sight and sweeter sound to smile back, shout a return HELLO, and hear them giggle as you pass on by.
From the small villages out through the rice paddies, we find ourselves in the scenery of picture postcards. And our accommodation for the evening? A shared room in an authentic Thai stilt house. We share this room amongst the 8 of us on tour – 4 Aussies, 3 Americans, and a fine young man from Switzerland – a few family members who appear to be watching a Vietnamese soap opera, and down below, a handful of dogs and roosters that do their best to keep us up most of the night. But that is a trivial matter, having had the opportunity to sleep as the locals do, surrounded by the peaceful paddies and lush, jungle forests. Now this is truly a warm welcome to Vietnam.
