That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I now have my own bike! Yesterday, my Team Leader, David Farnum took me down to the Bicycle shops area (don't know how else to explain it. It's just a part of town where there are a lot of shops selling bikes).
Anyways, finding a bike for someone significantly taller than the average Vietnamese person can be quite a challenge. So after striking out at a few shops, David took me to the shop that sells bikes which are manufactured for export. It sounded like a good idea and in fact is where he was successful finding a bike for a teacher last year named Scott who was around 6' 5".
As you can kinda see here, even after finding a bike with a high enough seat, the guys at the store still had to swap out the handlebars for ones which stretched a little higher. I was surprised they could do that.
My initial impressions are positive. It has (I think) 21 possible gear combinations. The wheels don't wobble. The breaks work, and (the coolest part) there's a headlight and taillight which can be powered by a small generator from the turning wheel.
(Thanks Mom! Great birthday present!)
As an added bonus, one of my favorite things about Hanoi which I had missed until recently is back in business.
At one of the major intersections in the city, stands a large sign which had been reporting some rather typical information like the time, temperature and humidity (in this case, it's 4:38pm, 34C (93F), with 50% humidity). (The sign had not displayed info consistently since I got here--and may still not, I could have just been lucky to see it yesterday--and I've been told by a local that it may have been dark for as long as about the last two years).
As you can see, the sign also reports stats on traffic accidents and fatalities as well as the levelos of various chemicals found in the air.
The traffic accidents statistics must be an official number gathered from responses or observation of accidents. The fact is that there are many, many more minor accidents (as we would consider them) which are unaccounted for.
These statistics are a sad thing to end on but it's the reality of traffic here. It's wild, it's chaotic, it's fascinating, but it's truly very dangerous too. A good lesson on the day I got my new bike.
