I have titled at least one entry in each journal “The Best Laid Plans.” This one certainly qualifies. Your may have heard rumors of flooding in northern Vietnam. Well, they are true. The rains continued throughout the night and into the morning and when Kxuyen called the office we learned that Hanoi had knee-deep water in the streets. It wasn’t much better in our neck of the woods. Flooded roads kept us from visiting the floating village, though it seemed that many of the villages were floating. People were casting fish nets in what normally would have been rice paddies – and catching fish! The smart thing for us to do was head back to Hanoi.
After many detours we were about 30 km from Hanoi when waist deep water forced us to admit defeat and find a place to spend the night. Buses from Hanoi would stop at the flooded section and passengers shouldered their luggage and walked through the water. The same thing was taking place on the other side with people heading to Hanoi. Then soaking wet passengers would get on the bus at the other side and continue to their destinations with three times as many people aboard as it should carry. Other folks pushed their motorbikes through (or under) the water and seemed surprised when they wouldn’t start again. Finding a hotel wasn’t easy either. The ones nearest the closed road filled quickly. It may have been our imagination but some others seemed reluctant to accept American guests. The Asean Resort Hotel had rooms but at $75 it was out of our range and certainly out of Kxuyen’s too. We finally settled on a nameless hotel, Nha Ngai (house) in Hoa Lac, exactly where we can only guess. It was a little noisy and the bathroom is spartan but for $15 it will do.
We got an early start this morning but were once again stopped short of Hanoi by flooding. I taught Kxuyen a new American phrase, “This sucks!” which summed it up pretty well. Our driver took us through some very off-the-track villages where foreigners seldom go. Some shops were even selling dog! We eventually by-passed the washed out road but even Hanoi still had serious flooding; more than 17 people died from the storm. We negotiated more detours and fender deep water before getting back to Lucky 2 where we will stay for the night. We plan to go to Halong Bay tomorrow, weather permitting and Insha Allah.
