The first day - getting started
It was quite a sunny day in July, typical of summer in Vietnam. At about midday, it was about 34 or 35 degrees centigrade and I, back from an examination, was rushing to the Hanoi rail station to get some information about the train from Hanoi to Sapa. At that time, it was so crowded, since people were also rushing out onto the streets from factories, offices, universities and schools in order to have lunch. I tried my best to drive as fast as I could, because Sean and I had decided to start our trip to Sapa that afternoon or evening on any available train. When I got to the station, I ran to the department selling tickets to Sapa. That was the first time I bought train tickets to Sapa, and I knew nearly nothing about it. After asking the ticket-seller for the necessary information, I decided to buy two tickets for Sean and me. Unfortunately, there was just one hard seat left. Could you imagine this? If I had taken this, we would have had to take turns sitting for nine hours. I think that they would have found me dead, and would have buried me upon arrival, with Sean sitting near my tomb, crying.
Well, I did not want to go to Sapa to die, and decided to come and ask for Sean's opinion. I was afraid that we could not start our trip that day, for we would have to wait until when we bought tickets in the soft-sleeper car.
That morning, Sean chose to read his favourite book rather than to go out and have breakfast, and by that time it was midday. When I told him the problem with the tickets, he suddenly suggested we go to Sapa by motorcycle. I was so frightened because never in my life did I travel by motorcycle to a place to which I had never before been, and whose roads I knew nothing about. There were two voices resounding simultaneously in my head: the one told me not to not do that because it might be the last trip of my life, and the last time I was in Hanoi. The other told me to do it, because it sounded so new and interesting, and I was convinced by myself that Sean knew how to drive and could do it well. In the end, I was taken by Sean's excitement. We went down town to search for the shop where we could rent a motorcycle. It was so hot then, the surface of the road seemed to produce fire. I felt that, if we had stood still for ten minutes in the streets, then we would have become roasted ducks. However, at that time, we were so excited that we forgot our mutual hunger.
After driving around for a while, Sean decided to get on the internet to search for the address of the shop he had heard about before. And with his effort, we got it. The shop itself was not far from the internet shop, and it was quite easy to recognise with the red text on a white board, right up on the shop's door: “Cuong Minsk Shop.” Sean did not want to get in with me, because he was afraid that we would be charged a higher price if people saw a foreigner come in. What could I say? There were five Minsk cycles inside the shop which were as big as an ox. It must be a North American ox, because it was big, tall and strong.
After checking the price, I gave Sean – who was talking in an opposite shop - a sign to come over. I can tell you all that I had never met such a cautious person as Sean. There were no reasons to reject that he had chosen the right subjects to study: Maths and Economics. With such a logical brain as his, there were tons of questions given out, and just good ones, which he could tell you were quite general. You may think I am lying, but I swear I am not: he has the potential of becoming a science researcher. Coincidentally, we support each other, because a simple-minded person like me could not have a vision of what may happen with the Minsk during the trip, or at least I did not want to think about such things.
Before making a decision to rent it, Sean wanted to try driving a Minsk to make sure it worked well, because a Minsk had a clutch, unlike most Vietnamese motorcycles. After five minutes he was back (together with the Minsk) without having lost a hair. At the very least, I felt better because this meant that he knew what to do with it. I thought I would simply sit and encourage him during the time we drove to Sapa, because I did not know how to drive a Minsk and Sean would have to work much.
However, I learned a great deal about Sean as each minute went by. He told me to learn to drive it. I can say this, he took me into a new world with a brand new task - driving a Minsk, with a clutch such as I had never before used. I agreed, however, thinking it would be so unfair if he had to do everything. Anyway, I was interested in learning how to drive in case Sean was too tired of driving. Finally, I knew at least how it worked, and I drove a short ways with the aid of a man in Cuong's place. We decided to borrow a Minsk for a few hours, in order to pack our things, and then return later to officially rent another that was being repaired, starting our trip to Moc Chau at around 3 PM. But it took us a long time to prepare all our things – far more than we had thought – and we got back to Cuong's place at 4.30 PM, taking nearly another 30 minutes to complete everything.
Our plan was very clear. We would spend five days for the trip – the first day to drive to Moc Chau, the second day to Son La, the third day to Sapa, spending two days there to visit the sights, and then take a train back to Hanoi, packing the Minsk on board for ten dollars. We planned to drive along the National Road. At each stop we would stay in a guest house or a two star hotel and find a restaurant with reasonable price to have lunch or dinner. And how things were going on? Sean and I are telling you now:
The first day of our trip was a really long day, I am sorry to tell you all this.
As we told you, our first stop was in Moc Chau, which was about 170 kilometers from Hanoi, meaning that we had to drive four hours straight without breaking at 70 kilometers per hour in order to get there on the first day. However, the three of us - Sean, Duyen and the Minsk – we started at 5 PM that day, right at the time when all people were driving home from work, and it was so hard to drive through them while Sean was a bit new to our Minsk and Vietnamese rush-hour traffic. People at Cuong's place were so friendly and kind; one of them even went with us to show us the way to get out of Hanoi city. It took us about 20 minutes to get to National Six, leading to Hoa Binh province, about 70 kilometers from Hanoi to the South and 100 kilometers from Moc Chau to the North, our first stop. For safety reasons we could not drive fast, and we rambled along at just 40kilometers an hour (25 miles per hour). When it was nearly 8 PM, we were still 20 kilometers away from Hoa Binh, which was itself quite far from Moc Chau. I sat behind Sean, counting the time it would take to get to Hoa Binh city. I realised then that it was impossible to drive directly to Moc Chau; it was getting so dark and cold, and we beginning to entering the mountainous region. In front of us, there was range of mountains, you could try to have a look as far as you could, as wide as possible, and what you saw were just mountains; behind them were more mountains; at the end of sight were nothing else but mountains. We changed drivers for a while, and I could hardly control the Minsk. It stood still, and the engine died every time I wanted it to move forward. Finally Sean made it advance, and I jumped in to drive. We did it well, and that was not the last time. I was simply wondering how Sean could do it so well.
Flat roads slowly faded behind us, and in their stead came the uphill and downhill ones. I became concerned about our Minsk: what if our Minsk were to have trouble while we were still twelve more kilometers away from Hoa Binh City? This was a question with a hard answer, and considering that our headlight was the only exception to pitch-blackness, we realized how much trust we had placed in our Minsk, as we had forgotten to pack a flash-light.
Well, I did not want to go to Sapa to die, and decided to come and ask for Sean's opinion. I was afraid that we could not start our trip that day, for we would have to wait until when we bought tickets in the soft-sleeper car.
That morning, Sean chose to read his favourite book rather than to go out and have breakfast, and by that time it was midday. When I told him the problem with the tickets, he suddenly suggested we go to Sapa by motorcycle. I was so frightened because never in my life did I travel by motorcycle to a place to which I had never before been, and whose roads I knew nothing about. There were two voices resounding simultaneously in my head: the one told me not to not do that because it might be the last trip of my life, and the last time I was in Hanoi. The other told me to do it, because it sounded so new and interesting, and I was convinced by myself that Sean knew how to drive and could do it well. In the end, I was taken by Sean's excitement. We went down town to search for the shop where we could rent a motorcycle. It was so hot then, the surface of the road seemed to produce fire. I felt that, if we had stood still for ten minutes in the streets, then we would have become roasted ducks. However, at that time, we were so excited that we forgot our mutual hunger.
After driving around for a while, Sean decided to get on the internet to search for the address of the shop he had heard about before. And with his effort, we got it. The shop itself was not far from the internet shop, and it was quite easy to recognise with the red text on a white board, right up on the shop's door: “Cuong Minsk Shop.” Sean did not want to get in with me, because he was afraid that we would be charged a higher price if people saw a foreigner come in. What could I say? There were five Minsk cycles inside the shop which were as big as an ox. It must be a North American ox, because it was big, tall and strong.
After checking the price, I gave Sean – who was talking in an opposite shop - a sign to come over. I can tell you all that I had never met such a cautious person as Sean. There were no reasons to reject that he had chosen the right subjects to study: Maths and Economics. With such a logical brain as his, there were tons of questions given out, and just good ones, which he could tell you were quite general. You may think I am lying, but I swear I am not: he has the potential of becoming a science researcher. Coincidentally, we support each other, because a simple-minded person like me could not have a vision of what may happen with the Minsk during the trip, or at least I did not want to think about such things.
Before making a decision to rent it, Sean wanted to try driving a Minsk to make sure it worked well, because a Minsk had a clutch, unlike most Vietnamese motorcycles. After five minutes he was back (together with the Minsk) without having lost a hair. At the very least, I felt better because this meant that he knew what to do with it. I thought I would simply sit and encourage him during the time we drove to Sapa, because I did not know how to drive a Minsk and Sean would have to work much.
However, I learned a great deal about Sean as each minute went by. He told me to learn to drive it. I can say this, he took me into a new world with a brand new task - driving a Minsk, with a clutch such as I had never before used. I agreed, however, thinking it would be so unfair if he had to do everything. Anyway, I was interested in learning how to drive in case Sean was too tired of driving. Finally, I knew at least how it worked, and I drove a short ways with the aid of a man in Cuong's place. We decided to borrow a Minsk for a few hours, in order to pack our things, and then return later to officially rent another that was being repaired, starting our trip to Moc Chau at around 3 PM. But it took us a long time to prepare all our things – far more than we had thought – and we got back to Cuong's place at 4.30 PM, taking nearly another 30 minutes to complete everything.
Our plan was very clear. We would spend five days for the trip – the first day to drive to Moc Chau, the second day to Son La, the third day to Sapa, spending two days there to visit the sights, and then take a train back to Hanoi, packing the Minsk on board for ten dollars. We planned to drive along the National Road. At each stop we would stay in a guest house or a two star hotel and find a restaurant with reasonable price to have lunch or dinner. And how things were going on? Sean and I are telling you now:
The first day of our trip was a really long day, I am sorry to tell you all this.
As we told you, our first stop was in Moc Chau, which was about 170 kilometers from Hanoi, meaning that we had to drive four hours straight without breaking at 70 kilometers per hour in order to get there on the first day. However, the three of us - Sean, Duyen and the Minsk – we started at 5 PM that day, right at the time when all people were driving home from work, and it was so hard to drive through them while Sean was a bit new to our Minsk and Vietnamese rush-hour traffic. People at Cuong's place were so friendly and kind; one of them even went with us to show us the way to get out of Hanoi city. It took us about 20 minutes to get to National Six, leading to Hoa Binh province, about 70 kilometers from Hanoi to the South and 100 kilometers from Moc Chau to the North, our first stop. For safety reasons we could not drive fast, and we rambled along at just 40kilometers an hour (25 miles per hour). When it was nearly 8 PM, we were still 20 kilometers away from Hoa Binh, which was itself quite far from Moc Chau. I sat behind Sean, counting the time it would take to get to Hoa Binh city. I realised then that it was impossible to drive directly to Moc Chau; it was getting so dark and cold, and we beginning to entering the mountainous region. In front of us, there was range of mountains, you could try to have a look as far as you could, as wide as possible, and what you saw were just mountains; behind them were more mountains; at the end of sight were nothing else but mountains. We changed drivers for a while, and I could hardly control the Minsk. It stood still, and the engine died every time I wanted it to move forward. Finally Sean made it advance, and I jumped in to drive. We did it well, and that was not the last time. I was simply wondering how Sean could do it so well.
Flat roads slowly faded behind us, and in their stead came the uphill and downhill ones. I became concerned about our Minsk: what if our Minsk were to have trouble while we were still twelve more kilometers away from Hoa Binh City? This was a question with a hard answer, and considering that our headlight was the only exception to pitch-blackness, we realized how much trust we had placed in our Minsk, as we had forgotten to pack a flash-light.
posted by Christopher Lovell at 4:01 PM
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