Finding new homes for the loved ones

It has never been our idea to sell our bikes in Hanoi. The journey will end, we will go home, but our bikes have to remain in Vietnam with new users. 

We used them also in Hanoi and as a final service they took us to the Lenin monument, the Ho Chi Min mausoleum, to the crashed B52 bomber inside the city and to the botanic garden. Riding in Hanoi was fun but I also found that I was more scared than before. Traffic is hectic and being so close to our trip's end I definitely did not want anything awkward to happen. Actually I was rather pleased when we decided that this was it, now we had to get rid of the bikes. 

I rather rapidly came to the conclusion that I wanted to trade Gretchen against something I wanted. It should become a memory from Vietnam, a memory from our travel and a memory of my bike. I found the item rather quickly, a lovely smiling Buddha that makes me feel good. I will put this Buddha somewhere I could see him everyday. That will make my day to start in a really good way. It took a while to convince the shop owner about the trade. She was more interested in providing a discount on the Buddha than to achieve an experianced motor bike. At the end, and with some help from the hotel owner, we finally made the trade with no money involved. All parties were very pleased and to my joy was Gretchen cleaned when I saw her the next morning. Hopefully her new owner will keep her that way.

Nisse found a painting he does not have room for but likes very much. The presently non existing own wall will show up with time and meanwhile waiting I have no problem to house the painting for him. In this case no third party had to be involved. The gallery owner showed up, tested the bike and said yes without any hesitation. Later that afternoon we saw this new owner and his son driving Becky, waving to us with big smiles. Both Becky and Gretchen will be taken well care of.

Some people has asked about the typhoon. We thank you for your worries but we did not experience it at all. The Phillipines took all the problems especially since the typhoon changed its path and almost never went into Vietnam. Some rain did fall, hardly no wind at all.

Toninight we have returned to Sweden, our Vietnamese journey is over. We have returned safely, we are tired and very pleased. 

//Stefan