Dia Lai Lake

With the celebration of the first King's death, came a day off from work, and a chance for myself and Son to take yet another day trip into the countryside. About 1 and a half hours north of the city, there is a gigantic lake that is said to be nice spot for people trying to get away from the thrum of the city. Son had been 10 years ago, and said it was basically a lake, some grass, and not much else. This sounded lovely, so we packed up some picnic materials, jumped on the bike, and off we went. The drive towards the lake was incredible. Instead of the usual rice paddies as far as the eye can see, we took an old, dirt, pot-hole riddled road through tiny towns and villages. A lot of towns specialized in flower growing, so the sides of the roadswere vibrant with whites, yellows, and reds. We hit one town just as school was getting out, so we were stuck in a sea of students in matching white jackets, with at least 2 kids per bicycle (note picture).This was the heaviest traffic we had to deal with during the entire journey, and it was pretty cute. I caused a bit of a fuss with my blonde hair sticking out of my helmet, so I made sure to continually wave the peace sign... much to the excitement of the students. After emerging from the mass of homeward-bound students, we continued on our way through towns that looked like they hadn't been changed in 100 years. At numerous points the road got so bad that we were not sure if we were even still on a road. But eventually, we made it to the lake. Not much to our surprise, the place had changed drastically; the fast-paced building-up of surrounding areas is happening everywhere, and arriving to multiple construction sights around the lake was a bit of a let-down, but to be expected. We drove around, looking for an ideal picnic spot. The only ones we saw were located on forested islands in the middle of the lake. First, we tried driving down a rocky path, and then climbing over a gorge to set up on a very inviting river bank on the other side. Being headstrong, I slid down into the valley of this 7ft gorge first, intent on being successful getting up the other side. This proved disastrous, since both sides were formed of crumbling rock. After a good 20 minute hurrah, I gave up and had Son pull me back out. We got back to the bike in search of plan 2... a boat to get us to the island. Little resorts scattered the lake, and boasted numerous boats and canoes, but these were inaccessible unless we were staying at the resort, so we kept driving, with our eyes peeled. We finally happened upon a small fleet of swan boats, looking rather dejected, sitting along the shoreline next to a construction zone. We quickly ran over to the disheveled restaurant and asked to take a boat out. Minutes later, a young woman was brushing off the giant spiders and ushering us into the boat. Both Son and I are not a big fan of spiders, so we were worried about any that she might of missed (this fear proved grounded, since we later looked over our shoulders and saw a very big, very red spider hanging out behind our heads). We got over the insect issue and started paddling away. These boats move incredibly slow, and I was beginning to doubt that we'd ever make it to the island. By the time we got closer, my passion for all things architecture had us making a biiiig detour around the entire lake to look at the real-estate. Additionally, a pack of water buffalo were grazing on the shore, so naturally I had to paddle over to them and take a gander (I find them very cute, which Son in turn finds strange). 3 hours and very tired legs later, we skipped out on the river bank picnic and just headed back to the restaurant. We grabbed a couple cokes, and prepared to head back to Hanoi. As I requested to use the bathroom in Vietnamese, the owner of therestaurant looked at the "public restroom", thought twice, then lead me through her house, past a sleeping baby in a hammock, and then let me use their personal bathroom, which was a great improvement to the thing that passes for a toilet outside (I think all this was due to the excessive compliments I was giving to her grandson).

We got back to Hanoi and ended our day on a high-note, at a Bia Hoi crowded with men celebrating the holiday; I celebrated with sauteed young bamboo, and stir-fried beef. :) Now I have 2 more work weeks until the next holiday, Reunification Day, (if anyone recalls my post from the same day last year... MAYHEM), we will definitely be getting out of the city for that as well.