Day 9: A Shout out to Bac

First: pictures are coming. I swear. We have a day off in 2-3 short days and will probably deal with photos then. We just haven’t had the comp time yet.

Second: my quads are better.

Third: Today was, in the words of many Vietnamese “same same but different.” Not too much to report, except:

Our driver, Bac, is truly a saint with at least 6 senses and maybe more.

This morning before we left, I was messing around with my handlebars trying to make things better when in reality I was making things worse. As soon as we left, I could tell my handlebars were loose and tried everything I knew to fix them but my bike was still wobbly. I fixed enough so that it was ok enough to continue on to the next town.

Never once, by the way, did I mention this mishap to Bac. The man doesn’t even speak English.

About 50k into our ride, two of our dear riders had quite a crash with some school children. As we were stopped and trying to sort them out with the first aid kit, I turn around, and what do I see but Bac, working on my handlebars. Don’t ask how he knew there was anything wrong in the first place. This I can’t answer. But he was on the case.

So I started watching him in awe.

Swivles the handelbars, shakes his head as if something’s wrong.

Twists something around at the base of the handlebars.

Swivles and still shakes head with a thoughtful wrinkle in his forehead.

Adjusts some more things in the region.

Swivles again and nods with satisfaction. Flashes me the “ok” sign and grins. I’m good to go and I never even asked him for help. Indeed, never even told him my problem.

Also, I’m not joking. I can go for hours without seeing this man or this van. The second I start to think: man I wish Bac would come by so I could get some water. There he is.

It’s truly, truly crazy.

My friend Jacinta was saying as we were riding off: I wonder if he knows how much we love him. How can I tell him? Maybe if I just flash him he’ll understand.

Maybe not that, but the man deserves some serious kudos.