E hatisitsoe: 09.12.2017
Wednesday 6.12 (112 km / 820 hm)
We set off and after some time we arrive at the 'Motel'.
When we want to order something to eat in the restaurant downstairs, we suddenly find ourselves in a group of Vietnamese people and have to take one whisky shot after another... (once you start, everyone wants to toast with you)
By half past 7 we are totally drunk, our tablemates suddenly disappear and we move to the next table...
Thursday 7.12. (62 km)
Hungover, we go to breakfast. (once again, there's noodle soup)
Little did we know-
the Vietnamese people start drinking in the morning-
So we are invited again - Patrick takes about 15 shots, I manage 5...phew, how is this going to continue... At noon, we are spared luckily, and we meet Daniel, the Danish cyclist, with whom we chat extensively...
In the evening, we politely decline the liquor...
Lucky us!
Friday 8.12. (91 km / 700 hm)
All easy
Just very gray and rainy
Saturday 9.12. (74 km)
For lunch, we stop at a small restaurant and see what the others are eating (that's our new plan - so we don't have to understand anything on the menu, if there is one)
We order the exact same thing and suddenly we are already invited - to eat AND- of course, to drink...
Do these Vietnamese people have nothing else on their minds except for drinking?!!
We arrive in the village, find a small hotel, and speak English with the 10-year-old grandson of the owner. Wow!
We couldn't speak so well at the age of 10...
Well, when we look for something to eat in the evening, we end up in a crowded shop and try to order something...(since we don't understand the menu in Vietnamese, we order - well guess what - noodle soup)
They don't have that, or they don't want to serve us - well, they tell us to go somewhere else...
So we go again...
Find nothing
And then there's a garage and we ask what they have to eat and we just say yes...
Patrick asks if they have beer, they don't get it, and he goes further into the house and asks in the back (where the family sits on the floor eating) if they have beer.
Suddenly we are invited, should have fondue, and have to drink schnapps every 3 minutes...Not again!!!!
More friends arrive and suddenly we are told to go upstairs.
'Modern Talking' is playing and Patrick has to dance (hahaha)
Well, then I have to sing karaoke - at least I know the song - 'you're my heart, you're my soul'...great - but all the men are dancing to it (hahaha).
After a little tour of the house, we are somehow kicked out...
Well, now we're looking forward to
the bed...
We can already say:
The people in Vietnam are amazing!!!
Everyone, and I mean really everyone, greets us, even the adults are happy to see us, wave, take photos,.. - always - and almost everyone we meet while eating invites us. Unbelievable...
Well, hopefully we don't have to drink again tomorrow morning! Hahaha