Day 71 1009 days to go. Distance: today 89km total 4106km. It’s 5.35pm Thursday 9/2/2012 Vinh (16km before). Hi there. It’s an early post this evening which is something new. I had hoped and tried to have a skype date with my partner this afternoon. I was aiming for Vinh but wasn’t going to make it for our 3.00pm date so I stopped at a small town 16km before and have no idea the name of the town where I am. I looked for a guest house with wifi but no luck even the main hotel here didn’t have it. I had to laugh the hotel had 2 prices one for Vietnamese another for non locals which was double ($10 vs $20). Not surprising but cheeky nonetheless. Anyway I was leaving with my bottom lip out for Vinh then spotted an internet cafe and thought yes!!!!!!! I went in and checked they had skype which the lady said they did so found a hotel and headed back in time for 3pm. Unfortunately they didn’t have skype and I tried to download it but the connection was so slow and it didn’t want to download bugga bugga bugga bottom lip out again. I tried to download my photos but again it was taking over 3 minutes per photo so I gave up. Just checking email sent the computer into conniptions so I have no idea whether my emails go through sorry family. I paid my 5000 dong (25c) and exited. You can’t pick the places that are going to have access and made me realize how lucky Ive been so far getting access when I needed it. Rubes was sooooooooo muddy from the last 2 days so I found a hose and cleaned her up as best I could so hopefully she’ll run a bit better tomorrow. She was grinding this afternoon with all the glunk in her important bits so she should be in a better state to tackle tomorrow weather permitting. This morning was raining so the roads were wet and muddy and we arrived this afternoon looking a right messy girls. The lady at the internet cafe was frowning at my appearance still in my wet weather gear from the day and looking a right treat I’m sure. She even asked if I was a boy or a girl. For goodness sake I wasn’t that covered in mud or so I thought. When she wasn’t reading my emails over my shoulder she was frowning at my nose ring so after the hour I was pretty happy to be out of there. Her father even joined in phonetically sounding the words mmmmm. They found it very entertaining but after the skype muck up and disappointment I was less than impressed and it was safer for everyone for me to exit :-). She did give me a twinky cake which sweetened the frown. I have been asked for money by no less than a dozen people since arriving all adults including the internet lady. I’ve been approached by children but not adults so it caught me a bit off guard. After cleaning Rubes I was white fingers cold. The guest house had hot water yay. It only lasted a few minutes but it was nice while it lasted and the first hot shower I’ve had since Hue. I had spent most of the day pretty focused on getting to Vinh by 3pm and was just short at the end of the day. I won’t do that again as it makes the day tougher than it should be and it doesn’t allow room to deal with the conditions. I was too mindful of the time all day and it takes away from being open to and enjoying the moments. Another good lesson learnt how more enjoyable the day’s ride is when I stay in the moment. No surprises there in hindsight 🙂 It’s also so important to keep a sense of humor and stay light and easy. The people are very unique as far as they can be so friendly but also very abrupt in manner and in your face and personal space. It’s common to be yelled a ‘oy’ which sounds really aggressive and rude but it’s just their way of greeting. The usual initial response to me and Rubes is to laugh or stare or both. I mentioned before that I’m so used to being gawked and laughed at. When I misplace my sense of humor this gets so under my skin and I know it. Many moped riders just ride alongside or just behind and watch us eeeeek. Those who want to chat or try are great and it’s fun to exchange the usuals: ‘where are you going? what is your name? Where are you from? Do you like Vietnam? Do you like Vietnamese people? This young lad yesterday cracked me up. He was on the back of a moped and they pulled alongside and he asked straight up, ‘why?’ In the rain and wind and cold my reply was ‘That’s a good question my friend!!’ and we laughed together highly unlikely he understood what I said but I think he got the message. My sister emailed me that it is -30 in Germany currently so me saying it’s cold when it’s probably 8 to 10 degrees seems a bit silly in comparison. I was watching CNN on satellite TV the other night and the news reported people dying from the extreme weather across Europe. I can’t fathom those sort of temps. My brains struggling in these temperatures. I get so uncoordinated getting on/off Rube in the breaks it must look like I’m handicapped or been nipping on a hip flask. I so don’t do cold. I’ve been working on putting on some more reserves but as soon as I start into the cycling again it drops offs. It’s a bit tricky to keep the calorie intake up during the day as it doesn’t work so well having too much food in the belly with the output. Instead I eat at least twice during the night when I wake and looking for snacks. This seems to be working ok for now. I’ll have to rethink how this can work as it starts to get cooler now heading north and into China so I’ll give that some thought. Probably more protein and fats will do more the trick changing what goes in as opposed to carb quantity. This stuff’s a bit boring but it’s interesting and important and I knew it was always going to be a challenge as I’m a grazer and not a quantity eater particularly when being really active. I suppose we’re all unique that way. Did I tell you I got an email from the young Vietnamese lad Thanh thanking me for my visit and how much they enjoyed their time. How cool is that? I was going to email him back tonight but given the internet debacle I’ll look forward to that tomorrow. I’m also keen nto upload the photos as I know they’ll be looking for them. That was one of my favorite times spent so far in Vietnam. I had a bit of a crap sleep last night waking up allot thinking about the yuck during the day. So tonight will be an early one. Some of the hotels have satellite tv including the one I’m at tonight. I’m not a tv watcher at all but have got into one channel which is called ‘Fashion TV.’ It reports fashion shows around the world in particular Malan, Paris and Brazil. It’s an interesting no brainer. I’m like a kid and get the Vietnamese stares up at the pretty clothes, models and tunes 🙂 That’s me tonight under the doonah after some dinner. I’m feeling sooky la la after missing our date this arv so it sounds like the place for this sorry butt butt to be. Talk soon x
shecyclesolo 