The past two days have been filled with twos.
2 mopeds
2 planes
2 ferries
2 buses
2 countries
2 travelers (still!)
2 time zones
Too little sleep
....and 3 airports
A few more details on Vietnam that we forgot to mention......
Sidewalks: they are for eating on, cooking on, and driving your Honda om up on to parking on. Not really so much for walking on. As a foreigner, it keeps you on your toes, because you're watching for people sitting on stools, motorcycles coming an going up over the curb, potholes and sidewalk damage, and parked motorbikes, along with trying to figure out where you're going, figure out when to cross the street, and figure out when it's safe to step in the street to step around the blockade of motorbikes, people, stools, food carts, piles of gravel, construction debris, etc. I'd say at least 50% of the sidewalk space is taken up by obstacles of one sort or another. That may not be the problem I was having walking, though. Yesterday when we were in the self-acclaimed "city of pedestrians and primitive modes of transport" (mostly bicylces, and Honda om), I ran smack into a cement telephone pole on a completely bare sidewalk (one of the first I've seen!) because I was busy gawking at something.
Suntans: not cool. Women and men throughout the country are often decked out in long pants, long sleeved shirts, hats, and full face masks that wrap around from the back of the head, across the face so just the eyes are showing, and to the other side. It's not a modesty thing or religous attire so much as a culture (or so we read) that favors light skin. The women wear full arm length gloves to ride in. All this in 90-100 degree heat and high humidity.
If light skin is a bonus, we pasty white foreigners must've looked really cool at the beach. Imagine that! Ahhh......the beach. Gotta tell you about that. Clean white sands as far as we could see, warm clear water of the South China sea, fishing boats trolling just 100 yards offshore, and just a smattering of tourists in this tropical paradise. We didn't spend nearly enough time there because we were so busy doing all the other things we were doing, but oooooohhhhh it was nice! We planned our last hours of free time the afternoon before and the morning of departure, and they involved lots of floating aimlessly in the warm sea water, gazing down the beach, and running our toes through the sand. What's more, the jaunts to and from the beach required the services of our trusty Honda om driver named "kayakmedic" and his sidekick "Reb". We cruised on a 1-pedaled motorbike (the other pedal fell off in the middle of the street as we were driving!!! yikes) for as much time as we could manage -- a great way to see the rural areas and explore that beyond the main tourist routes. To rent one, you just walk up to any of the many rental stands (set up on the sidewalk of course), pay your $4 for the day, and they hand you a key and helmets. Easy as that. No paperwork, no licenses, just $4 and an agreement on what time you'll bring the beast back.
Safety: we were really surprised at the safety regulations in place in Vietnam. Mandatory helmet law (as of 2 months ago), seatbelt law, government workers wearing reflective safety gear, litter crew on the river wearing PFDs, and so on.
We are making our way home, right now we are in Seoul S. Korea. We had an 8 hour lay-over so we did a quick jaunt into the city via bus and ferry and did some hiking in a nice park and had a great lunch. We will see you soon and have lots of stories!
