Ngòi Tu

Our homestay hosts provided a simple breakfast of crepe pancakes, fried eggs, and packet coffee. The day itself was dreary and overcast. We were also smoked out by the neighbour's brush pile fire 🔥😵‍💫

The ride back to Hanoi was pretty uneventful and quick, staying mostly to the hard surface roads. S did take us through more orchards by a narrow steep track. The view at the crest was pretty spectacular despite the growing haze as the city neared. Eventually we crossed the Lo River, that we had followed a couple days earlier, and then along the Red River towards Hanoi.

Soon the zippy highways gave way to a narrow bustling road that followed the dyke. It was quiet congested in spots where popup markets had formed. At one point traffic completely stopped while people bartered and weighed cages of poultry, ignoring the horns and chaos they had created by completely impending traffic.

As expected, the traffic got denser even as the roads widened. We did pretty well to keep up with S as he weaved in and out of the scooter masses. A quick refuel on the way in, and then a pretty crazy and chaotic ride finally back to the shop to gather our stored luggage. We said our farewells and headed for the hotel we'd stayed at previously on our arrival.

A made an attempt at a nearby laundermat, but they were not accepting more clothing. Thankfully the hotel was able to take and wash our soiled clothing and gear in record time.

Once freshened up, we met up with our friends from Canada whom we had coordinated our travels with to Hanoi. We decided on a walk down the block to The Skyline rooftop lounge for happy hour celebration cocktails. Dinner was at a pasta and wood fired pizza restaurant near our hotel. Delicious to enjoy some variety compared to the last two weeks 🍕

As the night was still early, went for a walk to find a night market. Turns out the it only happens on the weekends when they also close the streets to vehicles. We did find a number of booths, but the traffic was insane, and the two kids were starting to fade.

As luck would have it, H, whom we met from our stay in Whitchurch, UK, back in August, was in Hanoi as well! We met up with him, and shared a couple drinks discussing our recent travels. Turns out he had just finished up a four day scooter tour on the Ha Giang loop, which our tour path crossed.

As we had an early start the next day to Halong bay, we didn't stay out too long visiting.Read more