An early alarm, a cockrel crow and... a ride! The excitement of the team this morning was contagious and electric. We were ready! At 7am after a banh mi and quick cafe sua da the team collected to ride together to the opera house!
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| DHL van ready to load all our luggage |
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| Bikes lined up and ready for Day 1 |
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| Kitted up and waiting for kick-off |
Meeting the team has been really wonderful. It is uplifting to meet people you have only known by Facebook profiles! 19 people all coming together with 1 collective goal - to help children in Vietnam.
As we grouped at the Opera House, we smiled and posed for photographs and interviews. A few familiar faces in the leaving party included young people from the Blue Dragon Organisation which we had visited the day before. Tuan and Nam had been rescued and helped by Blue Dragon to lead incredible lives, Nam is training to be a DJ and Tuan a chef! We also noticed many young staff and students from KOTO who had provided us with a beautiful meal the previous night. To see them amongst the crowd was wonderful and to know the money raised by what we were about to embark on would help more incredible young people like them, was a wonderful feeling.
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| Linh, the good folk at Blue Dragon and I |
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| Moe and Craig hoisting the banners |
The ride itself was short and sweet in comparison to what is to come. We rode mostly along a flat (bumpy!) road through beautiful scenery and dusty air by a large quarry. Sugar cane juice and coconuts were consumed as we pedaled along together! Special thanks to 8020Fit for the delicious pack of protein bars.
(P.S. we highly recommend their chocolate pistachio protein bar)

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| Davide planned our new route for day 1 |
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| Once we got out of Hanoi the views got a lot greeenr |
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| Tiny, mini hills |
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| Our hotel overlooks a beautiful lake with 100s of ducks |
Day 1 down and we are all alive, well and excited for what is to come!
-Emma
Great intro and pics Emma - thanks for sharing :-)
ReplyDeleteChris