Round the world on board
Day 66: Renewed faith in humanity and Christ
Vietnam: Saigon to Long Khan
Distance: 73km
Time on board: 5 hours 17m
Average speed: 13.8 km/h
Ascent: 431 m
Descent: 256m
Cumulative distance: 2859.8 km
As portrayed in media, the world seem a depressing place to live. That is why I embark on this gruelling voyage, mainly to seek out humanity in all of us. Despite the recent depressing news on Syria, brutality of United Airline, I still believed in humanity. Today, I was right.
After spending 5 days in Saigon, catching up with my Vietnamese friends, making new friends, and most importantly, attending Church for Easter celebration, it is time to yank myself out of here. Saigon central hostel, which I stayed in last 5 days, is worth its 5 USD per night. Clean room and hearty breakfast. I highly recommended it if you travelled to Saigon.
Left hostel after breakfast (bread, eggs, fruits). Immediately was overwhelmed by notorious hordes of Saigon motorcycles. Accidentally, followed the road into an expressway tunnel, forbidden to cyclists. The police immediately stopped me before I entered the tunnel. I showed them the sign on backpack, saying Skateboarding around the world, now in Vietnam. From Singapore- Saigon - Hanoi. Translated in Vietnamese by my friends. It really works, they directed me to the road where I can skate on. Skated on with the traffic dancing around me. First hour, I only managed to skate 12 km, and still not out of Saigon.
Now the most frustrating moment of the day. As usual, I stopped for Sugarcane juice. Sugarcane juice normally cost 5000 dong, in Saigon tourist place, it may cost 7000 dong. But this guy took my 10,000 dong, not returning my change that I would expected. 10,000 dong sugarcane juice is totally ripoff. He thought I am foreigner, easy to cheat. I demanded that he returned my change. He only returned 2000 dong, which mean sugarcane cost 8000 dong, still ripoff. Even tourist areas, it only cost 7000 dong. I didnt want to argue further on, took my change. I was damn pissed. Vietnamese people like to scam. Sorry to my Vietnamese friends, you guys are still awesome. I keep reminding myself that extra 3000 dong is only USD 10 cents. It doesn't matter to my budget actually, that 3000 dong may mean a lot to him, could feed his family. I guess I just let it pass. However, the extra 3000 dong eats into my sugarcane budget set aside daily. 1 poor sugarcane owner had to miss my business.
Moving on, I just continued skating all the way till lunch time without stopping for hourly sugarcane breaks. Hated to be pissed some more by potential scheming sugarcane stalls. By 50 km at 12.18 pm , I spotted a stall advertising rice with fried pork for 20,000 dong which is 0.9 USD. Had my sugarcane juice at 5000 dong finally. Satisfied by my cheap yet good meal for 25,000 dong, slightly more than 1 USD.
Plan to skate 90km, however Vietnam is not flat land, like Cambodia. In Cambodia, I can easily skate 100km on completely flat smooth road. This time, in Vietnam, I had to scale down my planned mileage as it is mostly rolling hills. It takes 3 times the effort to push up, therefore it takes a toll on me, I was starting to slow down.
At 70 km in Long Kahn, spotted dark clouds looming and felt droplets on me, definitely not my sweat. Had to stop here for the night, rather pushing another 20km through rain. Perhaps it was god's will that he wants me to stop. As the rain starts to get heavier, I passed by a Catholic church, decided to seek shelter and ask if they could accommodate me for a night. Before that, I entered the church to pray, asking lord for guidance. Went around the church , looking for people. Understand that they wouldn't understand English. Therefore, I prepared a paper, translated into Vietnamese by my friends again which wrote I am skateboarding around the world, seeking permission to camp here. I handed the paper to a crowd. They directed me to an office. Apparently, the priest wasn't here today and they couldn't make the decision to let me camp without the priest's approval. Just as things looked like it was going down south, the local who explained the situation in English, handed me an envelope containing 50,000 dong, roughly 2.5 USD. And things started to get better. As the rain had stopped, I decided to head out to search for Nha Nghi, Vietnamese guesthouse run by families. The lady whom I passed the paper to, signalled me to follow her. I assumed she is inviting me to her home to stay. Apparently, she drove me to a hotel, assuming that she just wanted to give me to find accommodation.
The most touching moment arrives. As I asked the price , the lady paid for my room, I was utterly stunned by her generosity. She could have invited me to her home, even a simple backyard will suffice. I just need a tiny area with access to water. I am easily satisfied and contended. Or she could drove me to a cheap guesthouse. No, she paid for an air-conditioning room which could easily costs more than 10 USD. That amount means a great deal to the Vietnamese, given their average monthly wage is $200. I realised that she and the guy who handed me money, are the angels that I prayed for. My faith in Catholic is further strengthened as well in humanity. Despite atrocities committed by us, there are lots of angels in the world, that is why i embark on this journey to experience the humanity in all of us. This world doesn't seem that gloomy after all.
Day 66: Renewed faith in humanity and Christ
Vietnam: Saigon to Long Khan
Distance: 73km
Time on board: 5 hours 17m
Average speed: 13.8 km/h
Ascent: 431 m
Descent: 256m
Cumulative distance: 2859.8 km
As portrayed in media, the world seem a depressing place to live. That is why I embark on this gruelling voyage, mainly to seek out humanity in all of us. Despite the recent depressing news on Syria, brutality of United Airline, I still believed in humanity. Today, I was right.
After spending 5 days in Saigon, catching up with my Vietnamese friends, making new friends, and most importantly, attending Church for Easter celebration, it is time to yank myself out of here. Saigon central hostel, which I stayed in last 5 days, is worth its 5 USD per night. Clean room and hearty breakfast. I highly recommended it if you travelled to Saigon.
Left hostel after breakfast (bread, eggs, fruits). Immediately was overwhelmed by notorious hordes of Saigon motorcycles. Accidentally, followed the road into an expressway tunnel, forbidden to cyclists. The police immediately stopped me before I entered the tunnel. I showed them the sign on backpack, saying Skateboarding around the world, now in Vietnam. From Singapore- Saigon - Hanoi. Translated in Vietnamese by my friends. It really works, they directed me to the road where I can skate on. Skated on with the traffic dancing around me. First hour, I only managed to skate 12 km, and still not out of Saigon.
Now the most frustrating moment of the day. As usual, I stopped for Sugarcane juice. Sugarcane juice normally cost 5000 dong, in Saigon tourist place, it may cost 7000 dong. But this guy took my 10,000 dong, not returning my change that I would expected. 10,000 dong sugarcane juice is totally ripoff. He thought I am foreigner, easy to cheat. I demanded that he returned my change. He only returned 2000 dong, which mean sugarcane cost 8000 dong, still ripoff. Even tourist areas, it only cost 7000 dong. I didnt want to argue further on, took my change. I was damn pissed. Vietnamese people like to scam. Sorry to my Vietnamese friends, you guys are still awesome. I keep reminding myself that extra 3000 dong is only USD 10 cents. It doesn't matter to my budget actually, that 3000 dong may mean a lot to him, could feed his family. I guess I just let it pass. However, the extra 3000 dong eats into my sugarcane budget set aside daily. 1 poor sugarcane owner had to miss my business.
Moving on, I just continued skating all the way till lunch time without stopping for hourly sugarcane breaks. Hated to be pissed some more by potential scheming sugarcane stalls. By 50 km at 12.18 pm , I spotted a stall advertising rice with fried pork for 20,000 dong which is 0.9 USD. Had my sugarcane juice at 5000 dong finally. Satisfied by my cheap yet good meal for 25,000 dong, slightly more than 1 USD.
Plan to skate 90km, however Vietnam is not flat land, like Cambodia. In Cambodia, I can easily skate 100km on completely flat smooth road. This time, in Vietnam, I had to scale down my planned mileage as it is mostly rolling hills. It takes 3 times the effort to push up, therefore it takes a toll on me, I was starting to slow down.
At 70 km in Long Kahn, spotted dark clouds looming and felt droplets on me, definitely not my sweat. Had to stop here for the night, rather pushing another 20km through rain. Perhaps it was god's will that he wants me to stop. As the rain starts to get heavier, I passed by a Catholic church, decided to seek shelter and ask if they could accommodate me for a night. Before that, I entered the church to pray, asking lord for guidance. Went around the church , looking for people. Understand that they wouldn't understand English. Therefore, I prepared a paper, translated into Vietnamese by my friends again which wrote I am skateboarding around the world, seeking permission to camp here. I handed the paper to a crowd. They directed me to an office. Apparently, the priest wasn't here today and they couldn't make the decision to let me camp without the priest's approval. Just as things looked like it was going down south, the local who explained the situation in English, handed me an envelope containing 50,000 dong, roughly 2.5 USD. And things started to get better. As the rain had stopped, I decided to head out to search for Nha Nghi, Vietnamese guesthouse run by families. The lady whom I passed the paper to, signalled me to follow her. I assumed she is inviting me to her home to stay. Apparently, she drove me to a hotel, assuming that she just wanted to give me to find accommodation.
The most touching moment arrives. As I asked the price , the lady paid for my room, I was utterly stunned by her generosity. She could have invited me to her home, even a simple backyard will suffice. I just need a tiny area with access to water. I am easily satisfied and contended. Or she could drove me to a cheap guesthouse. No, she paid for an air-conditioning room which could easily costs more than 10 USD. That amount means a great deal to the Vietnamese, given their average monthly wage is $200. I realised that she and the guy who handed me money, are the angels that I prayed for. My faith in Catholic is further strengthened as well in humanity. Despite atrocities committed by us, there are lots of angels in the world, that is why i embark on this journey to experience the humanity in all of us. This world doesn't seem that gloomy after all.
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