Sadly, had to leave Sapa on Tuesday Morning. Grabbed my laundry, packed up the skooter and headed off into the sunrise (well, no....not really - it was 1PM when I took off, but still).......
Took the back mountain roads of QL 4D (which was ripped to shit from landslides and a near-total lack of actual paving) and a much better QL 32 (which was only partially ripped to shit from landslides and had a partial lack of paving on it).
No place to stay along the road with Internet in it until I got to Ha Noi. There was a cafe in a town called Nghia Lo that had Wi-Fi....but I really wasn't up for leaving my room, soooo......
By the time I got to Ha Noi Thursday Afternoon, it had struck me that this IS THEE closest that I am gonna get to enjoying anything resembling a real city (and that term being used on Ha Noi is a stretch) forra while. So, even though I had easy Internet access, I put away the computer and went out and hit the town Thursday Night......and the town hit me back!
Too much fun out in Ha Noi 'till the wee hours on Thursday Night led to a 1PM Friday
I'm alive and missing Sapa badly. Trying to talk my wife into moving there....explaining that we can milk cows for a living up there whilst we teach them English (the cows, not the residents).....
So, from Sapa to Ha Noi, here are some more National Geographic-style pics from the ride home!
Hope you enjoy 'em.....
More madcap, zany wild times from Hai Phong coming up in a week or so....
-E-
3 comments:
Ern, what are the temperatures like there now?
Rebecca
Hey Rebecca....
Well....it's kinda weird - the Vietnamese aren't obsessed with weather like we are, so there are thermometers literally NOWHERE!
But I'm gonna try to guess based on actual skin-feelings....
In SAPA, my guess is that, at the end of September when I was there....it was...oooooh....60 - 70 degrees Fahreinheit.....
....in Hai Phong, we have left the first painful season (summer) at the end of September and won't be entering the next painful season until early December (winter, which is, like, a high of 64F and a low of 48F....but ya gotta understand - when you factor EXCESSIVE HUMIDITY into those temperatures, it literally gets painfull cold.....like physically painfully cold).
Right now in Hai phong, it's about 79 degrees and cloudy here now at 3:00PM :-)
-E-
For someone born and bred in Western New York, you'd think that wet bone-chilling cold wouldn't be something that even makes you flinch.
I hop Em's first winter isn't a miserable one for her!
Great tales of Northern Vietnam, dude ... I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing!!!!
Cheers,
- V -
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