Arrival Day in Hanoi

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Landed in Hanoi shortly after midday and after clearing immigration which was pretty simple because we had already applied for our visa the Month previous we went straight to the baggage claim. Two bike boxes were already waiting and the one case containing bike racks and other equipment was already on the carousel. Perfect. Sailed through customs too and out into a frenzy of people and the first port of call was a shop in front selling SIM cards. 300,000 vnd ( £ 10.00 ) for 12GB high speed 4G and unlimited 3G. The lady put the SIM into my already unlocked phone and it worked perfect. She also sorted a mini bus to get us to downtown Hanoi with the bike boxes and along with the driver really couldn't of been anymore helpful. We arrived at the hotel in the old town of Hanoi, checked in and I already briefed the hotel by email that we needed a place to set the bikes up which they allocated for us, a rooftop area on the 7th floor overlooking Hanoi, they are also arranging a courier for our bike boxes to be sent to our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City ready for our arrival.

First bike box open was mine, set my bike up which took about 35 minutes with no issues. On setting Alex,s bike up it became apparent his rear wheel disc brake rotor had been damaged in transit and had been bent slightly, everything had been going far too smoothly!!  It was rubbing the calliper pads far too much and despite trying to realign it and make adjustments to the cable and torq setting behind the calliper for an hour it was clear a new rotor would be needed.




Arrival day bike repairs - Already!


Luckily we located some bicycle shops around 3k walk away so set off, this was our first real venture out and we now realised why the hotel on checking in gave us a lesson on how to cross the road in Hanoi!!! Basically you walk slowly across the junction with hundreads of motor bikes, cars, buses, you name it come at you from all directions. If you carry on walking slowly you will be fine, if you stop or turn back you will probably get flattened. It's chaos but organised chaos that actually works, you see the drivers anticipate your speed and just manoeuvre around you, it's scary but we got used to it. We arrived at the bike store to be greeted by a guy sat outside who followed us in. After five minutes 
of pointing, using Google translate & showing him some pics of the bike the penny dropped. He went to a cabinet and pulled out a new 160mm brake rotor and Alex also bought a bike kick stand. 390,000VND ( £13 quid the lot ) Happy days!


                                                   This guy was an absolute lifesaver
We made our way back to the hotel but stopped off for some street food of noodles and chicken and a bowl of Pho which was really tasty 100,000VND £ 3.30 including drinks for both of us!! After the food we had another wonder around the lake and old town and drank the famous Weasel coffee  ( Just Google it ). Back at the hotel we made the bike repair and fitted the stand so we are now ready for the first ride tomorrow.

















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