29/5/25
We got a phone call around 8:30am from the DHL delivery driver. Someone else was with him on his end to translate. He was going to arrive within the next hour. By now we’d determined that the number of parcels entering Vietnam this way must be small. Our parcel had received a relatively high level of attention. Now it seemed to be the first delivery of the day.
We took the black Surly’s wheels off while we waited. 45 minutes later we received another call. Jonathan struggled to understand what he was saying. We couldn’t see a DHL courier either. Jonathan presented the phone to a small boy playing outside. The man said something and the boy ran off. Jonathan followed. Not far down the street was a familiar looking yellow van. They really don’t do addresses in Vietnam it seems. He was happy to handover the parcel in the street with a quick signature.
The box was only mildly bruised. Everything was there and accounted for. Importantly the rims were present. We readied ourselves quickly. Removing the tyres, tubes, brake rotors and cassette from the old wheels. We needn’t have bothered. The owner of the shop messaged to let us know that they wouldn’t be worked on until the next day. We had another coffee and took our time.
We hailed an electric taxi on the app. It wasn’t worth the potential damage to get the bus and walk. When we arrived at the shop a confused man appeared. “No mechanic today”, waving his hands at us. We messaged our contact who told us to leave the stuff there. We hung them up at the back of the shop and that was it. All that worry and rush led to it literally being taken out of our hands.
We stood outside the shop overlooking the huge Hố Tây lake. A momentary feeling of relief was followed by even more anxiety than before. We now had zero control over the process and didn’t know how much longer we’d be ‘stuck’ in Hà Nội. We reassured ourselves it wouldn’t matter in the long run. We needed to occupy our minds.
The air pollution was pretty bad in the city. We walked around the edge of the lake towards another bike shop. On the way we passed a temple. We’d have gone in but we were wearing shorts. Sellers flocked to us trying to flog us coverings. We’d contacted Bike Plus weeks ago. They had a replacement front shifter. Just in case the abused shifter on the green Surly broke. It took around 45 minutes to get there. The man rummaged around in his drawers and eventually produced it. We paid 900k.
Not much further, on a little jut into the lake, we found a vegan restaurant called Chay An. It served affordable healthy dishes and they included nut milk and nut yoghurt. The latter was a little fizzy. We assumed it was supposed to be. We took the 146 bus home. They always have a driver and a conductor on the bus. It makes for timely services. The driver can immediately depart, rather than faffing around with tickets.
It took about 20 minutes and we took a stroll along the railway alley. It was just like Samut Songkhram except wider, without any market stalls and only eating or drinking establishments. Back home we popped the television on and watched Your Friends and Neighbours, followed by The Stolen Girl and the final episode of Sirens. We nibbled a left over burger each and some chocolate ‘cake’. Frankie had cleverly made the latter by slow cooking pancakes. Our now customary tofu chocolate cream on top. Scattered with nuts. We were living like kings.
Surly They Won't Make It 