Health Warning on this blog page. Beware of 5 photo’s down, especially if you like dogs. Do not look!

Going to Buddhist prayer.

House on stilts, all to ourselves. Good, sleepy!

Blue is not Paul’s colour. Great hat, though, although maybe more like Dick Tracey.

Our first day. Mainly sleeping.

Light snack

Yummy food.

A beer! Yea.

Village market. Woof, woof.

More to our tastes.

Buddhist temple.

Angry king, dies eventually.

Bees, kept by ex Viet Cong warrior. Nice chap, caught up in something awful.

Paul, making a mess

Linda, star chef.

We both achieved ‘excellence’, apparently.

Holy Basil! Hand massage. Grand.

Our first day back on the bikes, gentle 11km around a village 70km outside Hanoi. Moon Garden Homestay is great, local, and ecotourism at its best, supporting the local community.

Lots of “activities”, hand massage, foot soak, steam shower, dressing up as a Buddhist worshipper, food making and generally getting over jet lag. Arrived 5.30am local time, having left 11am local time, and a 12 hr flight. 30 hr day!

First thoughts on Vietnam: It’s not hot at present, jackets needed, but not raining, yea!
Not much wildlife in evidence. Linda thinks this is because anything that moves has been eaten. There aren’t even any birds, except sadly some caged ones, which seem to sing a sad song.

The people seem friendly. We are fairly rural, well off of the beaten tourist trail, so no English at all. Did sort of bump into a Spanish Film Director, Alejandro González Iñárritu who directed Birdman. Also some French and a lone Italian. No English, spoken or seen. Hey ho.