Upon getting back into town, I stopped and put some petrol in the empty motorbike tank. Feeling safe and sound, I headed back to my hotel and checked back in, it was around noon.
I then walked across the steet to let the owner of the hotel where I’d rented the motorbike know that I was back two days early. Once again, one of his employees summoned him downstairs. I explained that I had returned early and that I planned to return the bike tomorrow morning. I asked if I could get a two day refund.
He said that keeping the bike until the next day would be a third day. I reminded him that if I return it early in the morning it would only be 48 hours, two days of rental. He said that was fine and we agreed that I’d return the bike at 6:30 AM the next day.
I walked a couple buildings down and grabbed some lunch. I had trouble telling the lady what I wanted. Many of the restauranteers pull out their smart phone and use Google translator to communicate with you. It didn’t work like a charm, but it was enough to get me fried rice with beef and a side of grilled pork. Google translated what would be called beef in English to cows. So I had fried vegetables with cows and pigs.
The husband brought me a heaping plate of tasty food. If I remember correctly, it was only 50,000 VND. I returned the next afternoon, ordered less, and was charged 70,000. Oh well welcome to Vietnam.
When I’d finished the meal on the first day, I rubbed my belly after I paid and said it was very good. I was sweating a bit from the spicy, hot, and steamy food. The woman laughed and smiled. She indicated for me to wait for her to say something into the translator. She said it and turned her phone to me. Google translated whatever she’d said in Vietnamese to “Deliciously crying.” Ok. I smiled, confused, and said. “Yes, very good.”
I went back to my hotel and grabbed one of the Ha Noi Beers out of my mini-fridge. After drinking half of it I realized that meant there would be no more motorbiking that day. I finished the beer and took the motorbike across the street to turn it in.
I explained to the owner that I’d decided to turn it in even earlier. He retrieved my refund and license. I noticed that the furniture we’d sat in on the day I rented the motorbike was now gone. It was replaced by a fold up table and chairs. His employees appeared to be doing a lot of renovation work. I mentioned the furniture was gone and it sparked a conversation that sparked a friendship.
I learned his Vietnamese name but it was difficult for westerners to pronounce so he told me to call him “Kye.” (I think- Kye, if that is your name, let me know if I’m remembering incorrectly.) Kye had moved to the town of Hagiang a few days ago. I was almost his very first customer. Kye had been a professor of Military Studies at a major university in Ha Noi for the past few years. Now he was following one of his dreams, to run a hotel where visitors from around the world can stay in comfort. He liked to meet foriegners and also dreamed of taking his wife and daughter around the world.
Kye has a notion that Hagiang will soon be as popular and as economically developed as Sa Pa (another popular northern destination). I think he’s right and that he’s buying his hotel at the perfect time. The town is booming with growth.
Before I left town the next morning I had visited with him a couple times. We sat and had tea, we talked about Vietnam and America, his hotel, and then had some more tea. He planned to call his hotel The Pink Hotel and build his reputation on excellent customer service. He was also correct in asserting that customer service in Vietnam is lacking, to say the least. But I cut the country a lot of slack. I think they’re catching onto how to please tourists.
We became facebook friends and took a couple pictures together. He read my first Northern Loop post here on Steemit. In the post, I admit to having lied to him about having an international license. He posted on his feed what I’d said about our interaction before we’d gotten to know one another. I was a bit embarrassed and ashamed for having lied to him. So, Kye, sorry about that, but I figured you knew anyway since 90 percent of motorbike renters don’t have one either.
On my last day in Hagiang I walked around the city and got temporarily lost on purpose. Most of the photos are from that day. I met some children and taught them how to “gimme five.” Another little school girl walked up to me at another point, fist bumped me up and down, then did the fist smash with the exploding fist at the end. Apparently another tourist had gotten to her before me.
The women in this park are exercising on public park equipment. The town had a couple of these exercise parks.
Coffee is served in a little mini-brewer...
Shortly after posting this Kye let me know that it’s Khai. ...KHAI !!! He also broke it to me that he knew perfectly well I was lying about having an international license. Thanks, buddy.
!steemitworldmap 22.7662 lat 104.9388 long Part two of I made a Hotel owner friend after motorbiking the Northern Loop, Vietnam, d3scr
Sounds like you had a much better time in Hagiang than up in the mountains, and the people seem a bit more decent, too.
I wonder if that's because these people have had a bit more experience with foreigners, and have learned a bit about how to associate with us.
p.s. Don't ever expect a cop to believe your lie about having an international license. Unless your lie comes with a convincing bit of baksheesh, of course.
Exactly why i dreadex runingv into the cops the entire time. : }
Hey, do you have a link to Khai's hotel? Or a google maps link? I'm going to attempt the northern loop in January.
I rode from Saigon to Ha Giang a few years ago, but my visa ran out and I had to ride to Laos for a new visa. I want to try and pick up where I left off. Hopefully, it's not foggy.
The bit about google translate is funny. Translation between English and Vietnamese still has a long way to go. I didn't even bother with it when I was out there. The best is when Facebook translates the Vietnamese posts in my feed.
You can call him at this number, 0912451438. And heres his website http://hagiangtrip.net/
Oh, awesome! Thanks! I hope I'll get to meet him when I get out there.
I’ll ask him for a good link and post it under your reply when I get it. Facebook translated a comment of one of his friends about early morning as “the sun raping you.” LOL. I think something is lost and added in translation.
I saw a cooking post in my feed that talked about a "bean semen pie" that had me cracking up.
Nice post! Love to see people write about less traveled places like these :)
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very nice pics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A0_Giang_Province
It's the northernmost.