After spending a week in the city you get to learn the traffic pattern pretty quickly…in that there is none. Cars drive the wrong way on streets and motorbikes squeeze between cars without a second thought. People, including the vendors with their baskets of fruit, walk in the street because the sidewalk is for motorbike parking, not for walking. And they all just proceed through intersections in what seems like total chaos. Crossing the street Is interesting. You just walk, and miraculously they all avoid you.

That being said, we decided to leave Hanoi early this morning to beat the traffic. So at 5:30 we were on the road. It was still dark and raining but I’m glad we did because we made it out of the city with minimal hassle. The rain didn’t stop though.

Only taking a couple breaks to duck into roadside cafes we got to our hotel in Ninh Binh by 12:15. The roads were pretty good until about 10 mi out of Ninh Binh. Then they became really broken up and the big trucks with their constant horns were relentless. We are certainly glad to be on the road but our bikes might not be. It took about an hour to wash the mud off of them.

Then it was our turn.

So we are starting off slowly. Tomorrow is a scheduled day of so we can see some sights around here.