As ever in travel, there has been good and bad. But on this trip, the good has far outweighed the bad with which I shall begin to get it out of the way.
The Bad
Vietnam has a garbage problem. It is most noticeable in the countryside where impromptu dumping grounds appear by the roadside with alarming frequency, and where the shallow river beds we have encountered during this dry season are choked with garbage bags. In some cases, there are efforts to burn the garbage but this just creates a toxic smoke that smoulders futilely without removing the problem completely.
The road system is mayhem. And therefore fortunate in that traffic moves comparatively slowly. We have encountered level highway crossings on several occasions with no advance warning and no signalling. So, yes, you're forced into playing a game of chicken while oncoming highway traffic blasts across your direct line of travel, usually from an acute angle that makes visibility near impossible. Trucks regularly make right hand turns from the far left lane while motorbikes make left turns from the far right. Biggest vehicle wins the day. Honking is incessant. The rule of 'every person for themself' governs.
The Good
I love that motorbike tires come wrapped like candy, in shiny foil. They brightened my day each time I caught sight of them in the corner of a workshop.
I am going to miss the sweet drinks. Everything from coffee with its sweetened condensed milk to the best peach iced tea I've ever drunk has been heavily sweetened. And it is wonderful... although maybe not so for my waistline.
Fresh fruit has never tasted so good. Cherries are prohibitively expensive, but the local fruits like pineapple, oranges, mangoes and watermelon have been a delight.
With few exceptions, we have been greeted with kindness and good cheer. Even while cruising at speed through a remote village, we were greeted with loud hellos and waves which we endeavoured to return with equal enthusiasm.
The preparations for Tet (the Lunar New Year) are delightful, and a bit confusing to western sensibilities. The exchange of gifts is familiar to those who celebrate Christmas, as are the decorations filling shopfronts, parks and living rooms. But the burning of paper offerings (replica money and gold ingots) is more unusual, especially as small bonfires break out in the gutters in front of small businesses in the centre of the city.
This country is a flower-lover's paradise. The orchids are phenomenal and grow everywhere. And the bougainvillea... it is a plant that I fell in love with in Spain two decades ago, and enthralls me still. I'm not quite sure how I manage to not get any photos of it on this trip, but the visions of it during our rides across the country are stored up in my memories.
