At Sydney airport a very efficient lady at the counter of China Southern has kindly taken care of our 2 turkish bags each holding 4 paniers and the 2 hand tailored bike boxes. No extra cost, no overweight, no oversize, no worries!
In good spirits we flew north out of Sydney, changed plane in Guangzhou and then reached Hanoi in Vietnam. We had crossed 3 timezones westwards and had traveled from 33° South across the equator until 21°North. That way we have once more left early autumn with its shortening days and have arrived in spring with days becoming longer. Vietnamese spring is feeling comfortably warm with around 26° and allready rather high humidity. But realy almost everything has slightly changed as we cycled from the airport towards the city of Hanoi. In general they drive on the right side of the road with many exceptions though; there are many many more motorbikes than cars or trucks; the houses are narrow and high due to scarce space; smog is in the air and outside settelments green ricefields are spreading.
The GPS lead us straight into the lively, narrow roads and lanes of the old town of Hanoi. We felt quite save at the right lane of the roades. Figuered out quickly, that we only have to look straight ahead and keep the line and steady pace. That way the traffic easily flows around us. We just need to watch out for motorbikes and pedestrians coming our way to the right right of us. And of course we have to keep out of the way of cars and trucks when turning left or on roundabouts. It was a good feeling to be able to move in this traffic and people seemed to greeted us friendly. We chose a hotel without planing or knowing anything about it and turned out to be very lucky with the Icon36 Hotel. The friendly, helpful staff takes good care of us and we enjoy fast internet, a great breakfast and a quiet clean room
From here we started with joy to explore a until now unknown country…
