slow connection? As over the last couple of days as we have moved
further into the country side, I have been able to access fewer and
fewer U.S. based web sites. Of course accessing the Internet from a
government run post office might have something to do with it. I am
glad I can still get to Gmail to send this blog entry by email,
although even Gmail only works in basic HTML form today.
Today was our third day of riding. We cycled for about four hours
today along scenic country roads through farming villages and along
the ocean. We were greeted with cries of "Hello! Hello!" the entire
way. We waved and shouted "Hello!" back and received big smiles and
laughter in response. The previous day we covered about 90 km in
around seven hours and the day before that we just from our hotel for
a few hours to a river where we enjoyed a row boat tour. Over the
last three days I saw endless country scenes from boys riding on cows,
to live pigs tied to the back of a motor cart being taken to
slaughter, to old women working in rice fields and more. The roads
have varied from nice smooth asphalt to broken up chunks of what used
to be a road. We covered much fewer kilometers than one would guess
due to poor road conditions combined with strong winds. Highway 1 is
in much better shape, but we all protested when our guide Cuong tried
to take us on it for part of the day. We much prefer the scenery and
safety of the country roads despite their poor condition over the
fumes, blasting horns, and chaotic traffic of highway 1.
Cycling through the country side has been a great experience so far
and given me a glimpse of one way of life in Vietnam. The food and
accommodations are significantly worse out here than in Hanoi. I felt
a little queasy after lunch the last couple of days. I am consciously
avoiding looking at the kitchen were our food is prepared. The
bathrooms are typically squat toilets and the urinal in the men's room
today at lunch wasn't connected to a waste line and just drained onto
the floor. Our hotel rooms are a step above the places we stopped at
for lunch and have toilets and stall-less showers in the bathrooms.
The food in the hotels is also significantly better than the country
side restaurants. It has been well worth roughing it a bit for the
experience so far.
I am being very careful in what I eat so as to avoid getting seriously
ill. So far avoiding shellfish and uncooked leafy vegetables has
worked. Our meals have included many meat dishes. I am not sure if
this is because these are the safest foods for us to eat or if our
guide thinks we prefer meat or if it is just what is on the menu.
Overall the beef, pork, and chicken have been good fried and
stir-fried, although I didn't care for the boiled skin-on chicken the
few times it was served. I also didn't enjoy the boiled skin-on goat
either. We had Pho for breakfast today and that was very good.
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