Hanoi

I glanced in the mirror and noticed a constellation of new freckles around each eye. But this was impossible; I hadn't yet seen the sun. What I had noticed were tiny pricks of broken blood vessels, such was the force of the vomiting and coughing that overwhelmed me from our arrival in Hanoi.

When planning this trip, I imagined that jet lag would slow us down for a day or two on arrival in Hanoi. What I did not anticipate was incubating a flu on the flight over.

I am grateful that it struck four hours after arrival because while I hate barfing at the best of times, doing so when strapped into a window seat in economy is not the best of times. So, I spent the first 24 hours in Hanoi staring at the hotel ceiling and listening to the cacophony in the street below. Adam had selected a hotel, the Helios Legend, where our bedroom was flanked by an ante-chamber so I was able to sit up during my worst moments and let Adam try to get some rest in the bed next door.

Adam ventured out on the first day to get a SIM card, and some local currency while I finally turned to the drugs and took some Advil. I didn't manage to keep any food down on our first day, but I tried. The Advil did allow me to get some rest however and we both managed an occasionally interrupted eleven hours of rest on our second night.

Remarkably, Adam seems unaffected by this flu so far. But we've been careful about avoiding all but necessary contact.

There was no room for us to stay on at the inn, so we were forced to push off on our second morning. I managed a baguette at breakfast and some sweet tea in a café so I had enough strength to fortify me for the walk about to locate my own SIM card and cash.

We dawdled over more tea while waiting for the apparent rush hour at the bike rental place to conclude before presenting ourselves to pick up the bikes that would be our companions for the next month. The Honda XR 150s are generating more interest than I would have anticipated. But being a breed of dirt bike rather than the ubiquitous scooter, they do stand out a bit when parked in the ranks of the crowded sidewalks. It's a tall bike, but I've become accustomed to those. And we're not carrying a lot of luggage this trip so it feels nimble.

I was, I confess, a bit worried about joining the notoriously hectic melee of traffic. But it has proven easier so far to navigate the streets on a motorbike than by foot. The sidewalks are so crowded with scooters, overflowing shops and impromptu food stalls, that one is often forced into the street as a pedestrian. And crossings are a unique hazard as motorized traffic rules the roads. There are few signalled intersections so the flow of traffic is near constant. Crossing the street on foot involves spotting a promising gap, a deep breath, and a firm step into traffic so that by meandering through vehicles moving at different speeds and coming from all directions, you find yourself alive and across the road.

Some things we have seen:

[A Vietnamese "Spyder"; friends still don't let friends buy Spyders]

[The ubiquitous, incongruous, and completely unexpected Christmas decorations that appear in all manner of shops.]