Day 31

21 May 2013

Hanoi

I share the room with 7 other people but it still is not crowded, when new person leave they say goodbye to everyone and when new ones arrive they usually introduce themselves. The young ones like to drink a lot and waste their time that way, that is up to them. Not many keep diaries so I guess if anyone asked them one year from now how it all was they won't remember much. I know , I have been there done that in Japan (twice) when I was 23 and 24.. Last night one of the guys fell out of the top bunk bed onto the hard tiled floor. Obviously intoxicated. He could have done himself some serious injury. Any way it happened not once but twice- how foolish.. During breakfast I saw the girl who I now know as Lien. After breakfast I got my first aid kit out and cleaned the wound on her foot with disinfectant and put Betadine. I think she had indicated that she wanted to back to the hospital but I had said that I would look after it for her. I bandaged the wound and went on my way into the city. I am so lucky that I gave thought to have brought my GPS as the city is a maze of narrow streets and within minutes you lose sense of direction. I rode west towards the Mongolian Embassy to collect my passport, this time it was a breeze as I had entered the position of the building but rode slowly just looking at anything unusual. You get used to things very quickly. Regularly I see a scooter with several pig on the back, I hardly notice it anymore

Suddenly a saw a lot of birdcages with birds in them moving slowly along the street, I stopped and had a look and yes there was a bicycle underneath this one as well. Earlier i had seen a similar scene with a bike ful of fish traps.
Last night I met Glenn , a nice guy from Holland who wanted to buy my bike, actually I wasn’t ready yet but as other things started to occupy my mind, which would change my plan altogether. I had planned to ride to Sapa and give the bike to Eddie but noticed that it needed a few items looked at, not expensive at all but at this stage Eddie needs money and not a bike. Glenn went for a ride and we settled on $225.

When arrived back at the hostel I went to Lien and said :" you what, you need a change of scenery, the lake is only 700 meters from here and I am going to take you there.”Her eyes lit up although the thought of riding on a bike scared here. I asked the lady in the souvenir shop across the road if I could borrow her helmet for an hour. Yes no problem. Together we helped Lien on the bike. I sat almost on the tank to give her enough space as she could not bend her leg all that well.

An hour later we returned as I needed to go to the dentist. Finding my way there was again easy as I had the address in the GOS memory. The treatment took just over 2 hours, a new tooth was built al without any injections or pain. On my way back I visited Linda to collect camera charger. When I arrived Linda invited me in and wanted me the stay for a simple dinner which was made by the maid who had cleaned the house during the day. After an hour I left and rode back through the dark streets of Hanoi amongst thousand s of scooter riders.

Lien was still on her chair, The wound looked a lot better, obviously the Betadine was working well. While at the dentist I worked out a plan to help Eddy. As soon as Liens leg was done I got to work and stayed on the job until 2 am. More about that tomoorow.