It was a 170km ride from Hanoi to Halong I was going to break it up into two days but would just ride as far as I felt on the first day. It was a easy escape from Hanoi, I did have to wake the guy up down stairs to let me out and then I thought he was going to try and keep me in as he only open the roller door about a foot off the ground, after I said I had paid and was leaving early he finally opened the door and let me out. It was really quite on the streets in the old quarter and it was even easier to get on the right rode out of town, so before I knew it I was on the open road and away.
Stopped for a really good breakfast, now what I have found so far is that there is a lot of noodle soup eaten in Vietnam for breakfast and although I don’t mind it I have become a bit sick of having it every morning when I am riding, but this morning I managed to find the best noodle soup so far in Vietnam.
They BBQ the chicken so it is kinda crispy, then they have their big bowl of soup water, I am not sure what this place did but the combination of the BBQ chicken and the soup with its amazing flavors it was fantastic and very filling. So if your ever heading north east out of Hanoi and you see someone BBQing chicken pieces on the side of the road with a big pot of soup and noodles sitting by, stop it. I hope that’s enough description for you as I can’t remember the name of the place. O at the speed I was riding it was about 20km out of Hanoi. You’ll know it when you see it.
After the amazing breakfast I was back out in the traffic which seemed to have got a lot busier while I was enjoying my soup, I was soon shredding the distance off my total I even had passing thoughts of riding all the way to halong in one day, but I didn’t. I stopped a couple more time for refreshments and food and by lunch time I had arrived in Quing li my stop for the night. After some more food I went and found a hotel, the room was nice but I got the feeling that the lady was going to be difficult. We managed to settle on a room price and then I went and got settled in.
A bit later in the afternoon I was just about to head out for some dinner when Zhou turned up, now I can hear your minds working who is Zhou, well he is a guy that can speak English and has worked in New Zealand, the son in law of the place I was staying. We ended up chatting for a bit then he took me down the road to find some food, it helps when you have local knowledge, found a buffet type place, 15000dong for rice, pork x2 types plus veges and it was all really taste. Today was turning out to be a gastromic delight. I like these days.
Zhou said he would pick me up later and we would go have a drink at his bar, I had a few hours to kill so read my book and nearly fell asleep. Lucky for me there was a big electrical storm so that gave me something to watch for a while. Zhou came back later on and we headed out, we discussed everything, he really loves the fishing in NZ but from the sounds of it has not really made it out of Auckland, it was a pleasant evening but by 9:30pm I was fading fast and headed back for sleep and the 40km I had left to ride the next day.
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