If I hadn’t met Rowan from South Africa, a 20-something English teacher in Hanoi, my first day in Hanoi at New Day restaurant, I wouldn’t have gone to Tam Coc and experienced its healing tranquility with the foot rowing boat woman and the bike ride and the climb up Hang Mua. Rowan said his mother’s favorite place in Vietnam was Tam Coc Bungalow and that was good enough for me.
If I hadn’t gone to Tam Coc, I wouldn’t have met Frenchman Mikael and learned how he transformed his life 20 years ago from parking enforcement officer in Lyon to artisan stone sculptor who restores vintage buildings throughout Europe.
Nor would I have met the Dutch couple from Winssen, Gertie and Raoul, 32 and 34 year olds, she a psychologist and he an economist, who bought a farm house to renovate and transform into a B and B. At this point in time, the work they do at the B and B does not feel like work. Self-proclaimed “bike snobs,” Gertie and Raoul are the ones that steered us to an elegant hotel in town to rent bikes rather than risk the free ones offered by our homestay host.
