Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The guard came back, and replied without smiling, “You take bike now.”
“Into Vietnam?” I asked.
He nodded again, as though this were not a big deal. As though foreigners with vintage
yellow bikes did this every day. He told me to go to the container where Kindness One was
being held.
Never had I been so happy to have annoyed an entire country.
I had learned by that point that things are never easy at border crossings. After Hao
drove me back to where Kindness One was being detained, we soon found out a rather un-
fortunate slice of information. After speaking further with the Vietnamese border authorit-
ies, we discovered that I could have the bike, but I would not be allowed to ride it in Viet-
nam.
I could have the bike, but I would not be allowed to ride it in Vietnam?
The magic of yellowness had finally met its match. Or had it? Because where there are
problems, there are solutions. If only I could find a solution before having a heart attack in
my late thirties.
I would need to have the bike transported in a sealed container to the port, seventy miles
away.
Sensing my growing desperation, Hao came to the rescue and offered to arrange a truck
to take Kindness One to the port. I accepted. Blood pressure reduced. Hope increased.
When the truck showed up, however, we realized it was missing one very important detail:
a ramp. As in, the ramp we needed to wheel the bike into the back of the truck. After some
thought, I came up with the only plan that made any sense—though, as you will see, it
actually made no sense. We would lift the bike
into
the truck. Yes, we would lift a nearly
one-ton bike into the back of a Vietnamese truck.
Madness?
Yes.
But also our only option.
There was only the truck driver, Hao, and myself. The three of us stood there, looking
back and forth from the bike to the truck. There was no way we were going to be able to
pull it off alone, so I started recruiting the porters who worked at the border, asking them
for help. By now, my little one-ton(ish) bike and I had become quite famous, or rather, in-
famous. I think the border guards would have paid to get me out of there. I quickly gathered
nine people, and we put the plan in motion.
