Slept well

Slept well (thanks, Ambien) and awoke to the hotel being without power. No big deal (although the Blackberry is going to die soon, so that might be a bit more distressing!) and having breakfast by the light of a paraffin lamp almost makes me feel as if I’m camping! So, ordered beef Pho for breakfast this morning (yesterday, stayed on the beaten track with the eggs (no pun intended) and toast), so we’ll see what turns up! Got absolutely eaten alive by mossies last night, so the legs are already suffering – perhaps the trick to surviving is to cover them so thoroughly in bike grease, no self-respecting mossie will go anywhere near me. I have no idea how this happened, but checking through my first aid kit, I seem to have packed for every eventuality except this one as I can’t find my anthihistamines or anti-itch cream anywhere!! So I think this morning’s itinerary is to check out some of the old, grand hotels and buildings along Dong Khoi, before also making a stop on Nguyen Hue to pick up a cheap, little camera that I can keep in my back pocket whilst I’m riding. Then will need to get back to the hotel to check out in the afternoon before transferring to the next place and meeting my fellow cycling enthusiasts/nutcases. Anyway, the beef Pho was delicious – pretty basic with bits (not sure where from ) of beef and rice noodles in a savoury broth, but very tasty nonetheless. Only downside is that I’m now sweating like crazy given that I’ve just eaten a bowl of hot soup, in a basement where the air con is not working! Ah well!!