Friday, November 19th Hanoi to Mai Chau

It was an early start on Friday.  The bike route was shortened because of some concerns about truck traffic.  We started cycling in Hoa Binh town rather than Luong Son Quan. This shortened the day by 12.2 km still leaving two passes that would give us a great workout on the 10% grade in places.  Some of our group encountered a wedding as well as a Vietnamese version of a "sock hop." The kids were rocking and rolling.  The kids work hard.  According to Chau they start school at 6:30 and go until 10:30 when they go home for lunch.  School resumes at 12:30 and goes until 4:30.  I guess they need to let off a little on steam on Friday afternoon!

Tonight we are staying at the Mai Chau Lodge in Mai Chau.  The village is noted for the Thai women who are masterful weavers.  You can see women weaving on looms under or inside their houses in the village.  Examples of the weaving done can be found on all the textiles in our rooms. After a wonderful meal we were presented a native dance troupe of young men and women in native costume doing traditional dancing.

A tip of the hat to frugal George et al.  So far, due to the  advice and suggestions, we are still pretty healthy and appear to have dodged several BULLETS!

Dan Carey