Biking for Bananas

Day off today :) I was rather enjoying lounging round my air conditioned room doing nothing in particular... when the power went out. Of course this then meant loss of all creature comforts associated with lounging and so decided to put my recently purchased mountain bike to the test and ride to a neighbouring village called Hop Chau. I'd rather be sweaty and hot doing something than sweaty and hot doing nothing!

It was the first time I'd ventured further than Ho Son village and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots beeping horns (more of a courteous thing than being rude) and of course lots of staring but also lots of smiling faces, waves and shouts of 'hello', the only English word that most locals know around here. I even came across my garden cow, invading somebody else's garden today. I tried to take photos of some kids fishing in a canal but they all became extremely camera shy and started running away from me! One boy had just caught a fish and wanted his photo taken but was very shy so ran about ten meters away before turning and posing with his prized fish!

Eventually I came across a fresh fruit stall on the road side, selling bananas and pineapples. My love for bananas knows no boundaries and several weeks ago after a long period of not being able to buy any from our local Big C supermarket, I bought a bunch from a street vendor in Ha Noi. I was rather shocked when she tried to charge me 200,000 dong ($10 Aussie) for a small bunch but being as desperate as I was I haggled and bargined hard and eventually got them for $8 or so, still exorbitant but I REALLY wanted those bananas! ... So when I saw these ladies today I was a little wary, but 5 bananas cost me 10,000 dong! 50 cents and no bartering required! It was a long and sweaty ride, but it paid off :) I think this might become my weekly banana pilgrimage.