Saigon at Last!

As I am loading up my bike this morning, I discover a flat tire on the back wheel. Partly padding myself on the back for having bike trouble only now, I flip the bike over and start to replace the punctured tube with a spare. Chris walks up and tells me that he is going to take the bus to Saigon.

This is the last riding day of my trip. I have to ride to Saigon. I know there is not going to be any scenery to speak of, but at this point, the ride is about finishing the trip. I make plans to meet up with Chris in Saigon in the afternoon and, for the last time, get on my bike and ride into the distance.

This section of Highway 1 is like the vena cava that returns blood to the heart of southern Vietnam – Saigon. The relatively thin traffic going out of Gia Ray is gradually joined by more and more pouring in from small veins draining the Mekong Delta. By the time I get to Bien Hoa, a satellite city thirty kilometers outside of Saigon, the flow is somewhat hampered by bumper-to-bumper clots built up here and there. Motorbike traffic spills onto the shoulder lane and swallows me up.

While the heavy traffic makes the ride into Saigon a challenge, it is by no means the death-defying circus act that some people have made it out to be. Sure, going around traffic circles is always an exercise in balance, reflex, peripheral vision, coordination, and assertion. But amidst the madness, there IS a pattern. From a month of riding in Vietnam, I have learned the dance. My tentative and clumsy steps in Hanoi has transformed into confident strides, carving out arcs while I take part in the choreography.

After riding in the traffic for a while, I stop to ask for directions and suddenly realize that I have just reached the middle of Saigon, Quan 1. Getting my bearings, I head to the train station and get myself a hard sleeper ticket for tonight to get back to Hanoi. I find Chris at his hotel and we sit down for dinner. Afterwards, we take a walk to transfer ownership of my bike.

My bike is old. I don’t know how old, but old. I picked it up at a used bike shop in Brisbane last year and rode it around Brisbane for almost two years before taking it to Vietnam. It is not worth the hassle to take it back to Australia. So while in Hoi An, I mentioned to my tailor Lan my plan to leave my bike in Vietnam. Without seeing the bike, Lan proposed to exchange my bike for two pairs of tailor-made pants. I was to deliver the bike to her friend in Saigon at the end of my trip.

Chris and I find Lan’s friend and drop off the bike with a little note to Lan. In the note, I ask Lan to enjoy and take care of the bike. Leaving the bike is almost like saying good bye to an old friend. My humble but reliable bike has served me well. It has propelled me through blistering heat and drenching rain, up mountain passes and through bumpy country roads, all without any complaints. I have never attached any sentimental values to any of my material possessions, but this bike may have to be the exception.

With that taken care of, Chris and I sit down and share a jug of Bia Hoi to celebrate the completion of a trip. At ten o’clock, we part ways and I head to the train station for the 2300h train to Hanoi.

Stats:
Distance: 105.3 km
Time: 4h 45m
Average speed: 22.1 kmph
Maximum speed: 50.0 kmph
Odometer: 1695.4 km