The final countdown and reflections

Well were to start, I’m 33, mouse ging hair blue/gray eyes slim build, woops not internet dating, so I started riding from Singapore 25th March 2009, covered over 5000km over 5 months and had not a single flat tire which is simply amazing. I mean if someone had told me that at the start I would have laughed at them, it’s just crazy, thank goodness I had my schwarbbles is all I can say. I have wanted to leave the bike on the side of the road and walk away many times, but with determination bordering on the obsessive I made it, at times I had to push myself harder than I ever have before both mentally and physically stopping myself from camping on the side of the road which sometimes may have been a better idea then riding on, what was one more day in the big picture really.
I have seen a side to the countries not many people see, I have journeyed were not many tread(tourists), and meet some amazing people(local and tourists) and experience joy, loneliness, fear and pleasure. I have been trailed by motorbikes, polices, the army, cars, trucks, Vans and tuk tuks and have done more high fives than at any other time in my life. What makes a journey, it’s the journey itself, the exploration of new places meeting new people and experiencing new things. And I know I have ranted on sometimes about how hard it has been but I am still ready the next day to carry on and have still enjoyed the journey.
Statistical info
Rode 5003 km over 6 countries in 5 months, That’s an average of 80km/day over 62 riding days or 34km/day over the 147 days I was away. No flat tires how freaky is that, one crash which just happened to have 4 witnesses so cant deign it ever happen, four trailer breakdowns First in Lao, Cambodia and two in Vietnam, One broken spoke in Vietnam, One broken head set seal found in Cambodia, One mended cable guide at Ankor wat, Six redesigns on gloves not as successful as redesigning the grips, three train rides and worth the money, three bus rides all killers, one minivan ride as bad as the buses, nine boat rides comfortable.
Longest day 11 hours 30minutes or there about, hellish hills in Lao rising 600m than falling 600m beautiful country though. Longest distance 160km only because I wanted to see if I could, Hardest ride Uon kuon to Lham phra bang , Most Ice-creams in one day 4, I needed them it was hot. Most meals in one day 7 meals and that was mostly rice plus I snacked as well. Hottest day 49c Vientiane Lao. Hospital Visits 5, Hours in theatre 1, Doctors seen 7, Operations 2 non fatal, Insurance claims 2. Biggest Hills Lao but stunning views with villages clinging to the ridges, well worth the grind, Best Temples Cambodia one of the wonders of the world a must see for everyone and make sure you take your time and enjoy the temples of Ankor. Friendliest people South Vietnamese fantastic people most are not out to ripe you off and good fun to have a chat with even if they don’t speak English. Longest time lost 4 hours and 60km still it was a story to tell and I found my comrades in the end.
So there it is I head back home to the welcoming shores of New Zealand well hopefully welcoming, Asia has been good to me again and has kept me in her warm embrace, she has shown me a new way to travel and new roads to travel. What would I do different, I would have someone with me next time, the worst days were the best days, were I would have liked to point out something or had someone there to experience what I was experiencing, riding with the fellowship was a great time for me and being able to enjoy or sometimes not enjoy the trip with others was great.
The time I really wish someone else was there was the sunset in Sichon in Thailand here it is again just to remind you of what you missed
I just have to write a bit more, the sunset tonight was extraordinary. Ok just so you can get the idea, I’m sitting in a restaurant that is above the local harbor on a hill. The boats are heading out fishing for the night, the harbor swings in and around the hill. There are old fisherman’s buildings and ramshackled wharfs with a forest behind and tall palm trees popping out the top. The sun is slowly going down behind some clouds, the sky is a fiery red, as the sun breaks through the clouds the water starts to glisten like a million diamonds. I am sitting supping my Coke, yes would be a great add for coke. Then the sun slowly sinks down between two palm trees, it looks larger then in NZ and because of some thinner cloud cover the sun is a dark orange.
I kinder had a small twang of loneliness at this point more that there I was sitting watching this amazing sunset and no one was there to enjoy it with me. O well I probably have not really done it justice with my description but I hope you can get the idea. It’s was one of those sunsets that you remember for the rest of your life. Yes people it was that good. No photo’s sorry left my camera behind. What sort of photographer am I.
So I will sign off now, I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog and following my progress, and I look forward to seeing those of you who live in New Zealand very soon and catching up with you all and meeting the new members of the different families. I hope you all have been keeping well and a special thanks to those who sent me news from back home as it was great to hear. Will see you soon.

Stevesasiatours

Bangkok, and early morning

The train pulled into the main station on time at 5am, I grabbed my bags and headed out to face the tuk tuk drivers that were waiting like rabid dogs on a hot summers day for a kill and as soon as I got in eye sight of the exit it started,” were you go” “Ko san road long way” I have been here before and it’s not that far, very easy on a bike, well the going price was 200baht till I started laughing then the real negotiations started, I decided at this time more players would be better so headed for a couple who had just walked out into the mayhem and looked a bit shell shocked, we ended up procuring a Tuk tuk for 30baht each which I still think was a bit high but at 5am I cannot be bothered to walk around to much.
The tuk tuk only took a couple of minutes to arrive at Ko San road and then we headed for the hotel I normally stay in, it’s clean and tidy and has a few different rooms to choose from, my plan was to upgrade to one with Aircon, the problem was when we got there we were told there was only water on the ground floor so everyone one would have to use the bottom showers and toilets. Not for me this time so Me and my two comrades headed off in search of another place that would be good.
The problem with looking so early no one has left yet and generally backpackers only make up there mind to leave the night before so we search a few hotels with no luck, the decision was made to have breakfast first and then carry on the search. After a hearty breakfast the search began again and lasted quite some time, we had found a place will I had my comrades were looking for something a bit better but this would do me for now and I would try and upgrade tomorrow.
There was one problem with my room that I had not noticed was that I could not lock the window to my room so I managed to take a few screws out of the wall and things and have tied the window closed, it looks as though last time they used a crow bar to get in they will need one again and this time with the screws I have put in they will more likely smash the window if they use a crow bar again. I will still lock my bag to the bed and have been carrying around all my electrical equipment and money so the only thing they would get is my old t-shirts and a sleeping bag. Good luck with that. I am moving places tomorrow to some were a bit more up market for my last 3 days in Bangkok.

Reflections coming soon to stevesasiatours

Bus then a train then Bangkok

The night before I had decided to leave and head back to Bangkok, the weather was looking crap so it would not be a beach day, I wanted to spend a few days in Bangkok before I left anyway so it felt the right time to go, I had decide to do it the old fashioned way and sort myself out, local bus to Phun Phin and from there night train back to Bangkok, easy ahe.
Packed up did not really rush to get out, had a big breakfast then sorted all my bills out and headed off, had decided to walk as the bus station was only a couple of km down the road, just a bit of a amble really. Made my way towards the bus stop and had to ask a couple of times if I was going in the right direction as it seemed to be more than a couple of Km’s down the road and I thought maybe I had missed it. Finally found what I thought was the right street, there were buses but it did not feel right. A guy from a tourist Agent called me over so I headed his way, to get directions again. Asked were the station was, you get buses from here, Ok how much, coff coff splutter splutter what how much, this women had I think picked a price out of the air and said, the silly cow had gone way to high, I laughed and asked them were the local station was again. They started talking in Thai and I coffed at the right time and the guy then asked me if I spoke Thai, I did not answer just smiled at him. Then I stood up and said thank you in Thai and said if you’re not going to help I’ll head off, only then did they say it was just around the corner.
I managed to arrive 15 minutes before the bus was to leave so it ended out being perfect timing, I grabbed some snacks and now had a 4 hour bus ride to go on, which turned out to be very good, besides lunch and that was only because I ate were the locals eat and got my mouth burn, that’s spicy burnt, which lasted for about half an hour, and that was only with a couple of mouth full’s. I arrived 2 hours before the train was to depart and managed to get a sleeper berth, the last sleeper birth so that was pretty good. The only problem was this train would arrive in Bangkok just after 5am, it would be a early wake up call.
The train arrived on time even after they put up it was going to be late, I piled on and found my seat and relaxed, I was on my way, besides not being able to sleep I found the journey to be pretty good and when I finally did get to sleep we had maybe 5 hours to go. O wellgot to read a lot of my book that’s for sure.

The beach and surf

Beach day I woke up feeling pretty good, there was a bit of noise from the Bulgarians in the morning as they struggled to get up for a snorkeling trip, I am not sure how they survived as they still must have been drunk. Meet up with the Aussie girl Liz and a Irish girl Linda down stairs it was off to the beach, we jumped on a local bus and headed over the hill to Patang beach on the West of Phuket Island, really you hardly leave the city, well it’s all one big city really just a couple of hundred meters over some hills where they have not started to build yet.
The beach was a wide expanse of golden sands with hotels and resorts clinging to the beaches edge, it is astonishingly over developed, but with a line of coconut trees there is a little gap from the resorts and hotels which gives the beach some protection from there sight. We settled halfway along the beach which was a few km long. There was surf coming into the bay and it was not long before Liz and I were out trying to catch some waves, Liz’s two was not so good in the surf and end the end she bailed for the shore and some sun time. The looks of the weather heading into the bay I did not think there would be much sun more like rain. I ended up splashing around for a hour before it was time to get out.
The locals had their boat out and were towing people behind in a parachute which looked like good fun, one of the locals would go up with the person but he would just hang on and flip himself up into the wires and guide the parachute along, it all looked extremely good fun. By the time I was out the clouds had blackened over Nongs mothers and rain was starting to sweep across the bay, it was time to make our retreat and head for home. As we left the beach the rain came thick and fast, it did not last too long but we decided to head back to the hostel, which was a good move because more rain came sweeping through, not the best day for the beach.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and reading my book to pass the day away, I joined in for the Thai style BBQ for dinner put on by our guest house, with no BBQ in sight I am not sure why they call it a BBQ but the food was pretty good and I spent the rest of the night chatting with a group of people out the back and watching the rats scurry back and forth across the lawn.

Lazy day, Minivan ride

Food beach and swimming and that was it, Tania had had some bad news so we did not meet up for dinner, when I went to the beach I had to walk back through the local monkey troupe about 20 of them had come down to the beach to say hi to all the tourists and have their photos taken. Most had recently had their hair done just for the occasion, it must have been their one day out a week. The kids were running around and fighting in the trees while the mums smiled and picked fleas off each other. And that was about my day.

Next day

I think you can get lazy when backpacking, I was going to take the local bus from Ao Nang to Phuket but in the end could not be motivated to do it so instead booked myself in for a Minivan ride. Yep what a mistake. I was picked up at the guest house and loaded up onto a bus and driven to Krabi to wait for another bus to take me to Phuket, the first bus was alright a bit run down but still not so bad, had to wait around for the minivan and then we loaded up and headed off.
Now I don’t mind fast drivers, but you have to be safe with it, with in the first half an hour we had had 3 close calls, the driver was a dick, plain and simple, a right idiot. Great we have him for the next two hours. The minivan had had a new muffler put on it, now I learnt years ago that this can have benefits and down sides, you get a little more power but as in the case of our van you get a really bad drone at certain revs, luckily this drone was cancelled out by the incredibly bad diff whine that once up to speed so some new kind of torture, then to top this all off the driver who is nuts had to talk, well talk is the wrong word yell down his phone just be heard over all the other noise radiating from the Van. God I wished more than anything to be back on my bike, it would have taken two to three days to ride but it would have been much more preferable then this. Where are you bike.
We stopped for toilet and food break on the way through and our driver decided he would start removing the bags in the door way while I was trying to get out, he managed to get the bag out while scrapping it across my shin thank you very much, O and I was half way out when he started to remove the bags. So I was less than impressed with him by now.
We went like the clappers on towards Phuket with the driver laughing every time he had a close call, I am not sure if I should have said something but on retrospect maybe I should have. We made it to Phuket and were dropped off at a travel agents were they pushed there hotels on everyone, except me, I must have looked to cheap or something, then I had to load up into a different car for the journey into Phuket town, my new driver just dropped me off in the middle of town and was going to leave without saying were I was, for all I knew I might not have been in phuket at all, I managed to get from him a road I needed not that he seemed happy about telling me. Great day, why do people backpack again??
After 5 minutes I managed to find some land marks that related to my map and soon found the back packers, dorm room excellent, as it turned out it was not so bad. I was staying in the same room as a couple of Canadians who seemed nice enough, they recommended a restaurant around the corner so me the two Canadians and a girl from Belguim headed off for food then we were going to head out for drinks and a bar down the road. The food was good and the night was fairly interesting with a fairly big group of us heading out. I did not drink too much as was not really feeling into it, but the other made up for my lack of drinking tenfold. There was a few sick people on the way home and in the morning. The bar we went to was having a first anniversary party not that the drinks were cheap in fact they were more than triple the normal price, the music was pretty good and they even played a load of international music as well, Later I wandered home with some Bulgarians around midnight as I was heading to the beach the next day with an Aussie girl.

Snorkling and will we make it home

I was up early ish to head out and catch the boat we were jumping on a dive boat for the day, heading out to Island number 4 for a start then Island number 5, yep very original names I must say, must have taken them weeks to think of those. The boat trip out was not to bad there was me, Tania, our driver, the divemaster and an Italian going out for a beginners dive. It was on a long tailed boat. The sea was fairly calm when we left but the further away from the mainland we got the rougher it got.
The Italian guy by the time we arrived was looking a bit green around the gills, not a good start for a dive really. Once we were stopped I was over the side and in the water, have to say visibility was not so good because of the storm the day before and the waves today, I did manage to find a big group of clown fish and a sea snake which was pretty cool. Played with the clown fish for a while but kept my distance from the Sea Snake, best not to upset it. After an hour of looking around I headed back to the boat the weather was looking worse.
Once we were all back on board we headed to a sheltered bay to have lunch and relax for a bit, I did a bit of snorkeling after lunch but ended spending most of the time relaxing on the boat waiting for the divers to come back, they were not out there long as the Italian guy had been throwing up at lunch time and was still not very good the poor bugger. The rain started to come down as we headed off, I had borrowed a wetsuit and I am glad I did, the ride back was pretty rough and we were constantly getting covered in water, at a few points the water was pouring in over the side. I think I got more wet on the ride back then I did when I was snorkeling. Even the dive master was looking concerned at a couple of points, the driver seemed fairly relaxed so I just kept my eyes on him. If he looked worried then I would be worried.
After battling the waves for a hour we finally made it back to the safety of the harbor and I was kind of glad to be on solid ground again, I don’t think Tania enjoyed the ride back at all and the Italian differently did not he was still looking pretty green. I meet Tania again for dinner that night and depending on what happened the next day we would meet again. I was going to say one more night then head to Phuket for a couple of nights.

Getting out of Railah beach

Now Raileh is one of the hardest places to get out of when the weather is ruff, the sea was breaking right up against the front of the resorts there so the boats head to a quite are right in the corner of the bay, the thing is the Resorts that line the front of the beach don’t have a way through, it’s once your there that is where you must stay, so in crap weather you have to fight your way through the surf to get to the boats and they only go when there is enough people.
Now when I got to the West beach I thought I would wait for a hour or so and hope the tide would be out a bit so making the trip a little less wet and hopefully me and my bag would survive without getting to soaked, yea right. Good wish but it was never going to happen. One way or the other the weather would get me.
I decided I would stop and have some lunch before I made the journey hopefully calmer seas would help. When I was half way through my lunch a guy came along asking for people going to Ao Nang my next destination, why is it that people always want you just as your eating lunch or dinner. I scoffed my food down and headed for the boat, there was only one way to do this and that meant getting wet, so I jumped in with my bag above my head and waded through the water to the boat, managed to get there without getting the bag wet but I was soaked to above my waist, lucky the water is warm.
The boat trip around the bays was just as bad, my bag was up front so it managed to stay dry which was good, at least I would have dry cloths to get changed into when I arrived in Ao Nang. The long tailed boats are not really that good in rough seas the water just sprays over the side and right into were everyone sits, it’s impossible to stay dry. So by the time the boat crashed through the waves and made it to Ao Nang I was soaked the only part of me that was dry was my back where my backpack was.
I managed to find a nice enough hotel and had a shower and got dry. I was in Ao Nang over ten years ago and it has really changed, from a sleepy little village with a few guest houses and bungalows to resorts and flash hotels it even has a Macdonalds not that that is a good thing really. So times have changed in ten years. I meet up with Tania that night for dinner and a chat, I was planning to do a snorkeling trip the next day and invited her a long if she wanted to come.

The walls the walls and the French

Climbing climbing climbing yep, up early and headed out for Breakfast, 9am I was to meet at the climbing shop and then we would be off for the morning, I was ready for breakfast 1 hour before and had ordered as soon as I arrived, time ticket by, now I know Asians have a totally different clock to everyone else and it works a lot slower than a normal clock, but I had been waiting for over half an hour and still no food. Time was ticking away. Finally I had had enough and asked where was breakfast was, the girl who had taken my order looked at me as though she had never seen me before the a spark lit up her face and she goes, “Muesli fruit yogurt” well done were the hell is it, she turns and walks off, and does not bother to come back, its now close to 9am, finally at 5 minutes to 9 she brings my breakfast and looks at me as though I should not have had a problem, So at Ya ya resort waiting one hour for food is normal. Great. Get there before you are hungry and order then by the time you get your food, you might feel like eating it, chances are you will feel like something else by then.
Back to the climbing
There was four of us heading out climbing, 2 French guys a kiwi girl and myself with our guild Nong, the tide was in so we had to head to the inland cliffs to climb, not I was the only one in the group who had climbed before so had to head up the wall first. The first climb was about 20meters the rock is pretty good to climb on and offers hand holds, easy rock to climb on, which I have to say was quite nice to start out on. Tania the Kiwi girl was next and she had a great time going up the wall but did make a lot of noise, fear is such a wonderful thing, it fact I did not think she would go up again, but when she finally got back down she had a big smile on her face. Must have had fun.
Then one of the French guys climbed, it was his first climb as well and he made it up not to bad for a first timer, when he came down though he was nothing but complaining, our guide Nong was belaying him and he was just complain complain complain, the rope was not tight enough, Nong was not watching enough, he had not told him were to go what to do, on and on it went, I ended up jumping in and helping Nong out and explaining to the French guy why he was not looking all the time and finally I got him to understand but it did take a while.
We only managed to do three climbs in the morning and I was not really that impressed with how many we did, Nong was really cool, the French guy was still complaining and asking how much to do the rest of the day, our guide keep saying 800baht to them then when we were walking back he said to me if I wanted to do the rest of the day I could do it for 500baht, which sounded pretty good to me so I booked in for the afternoon.
After a very yummy chicken soup for lunch we headed off again but this time we were climbing in the harbor area, we had to wait for the tide to go out a bit before we could climb. We had lost the French and gained a German couple. I belayed while our Nong went up and set up the first climb, it was about 25 meters and gave great views out over the bay, I had Tania belaying me so as I do when I am being belayed by someone new I jumped off the rock to make sure they are ok with how everything works, the rope had a little more stretch then I thought, I was maybe two to three meters off the ground and made it right back down, luckily with the rope stretch softened my landing, but I must have had a bit of a shocked look on my face because Nong asked me if I was alright, yep no problems, I managed to do the climb with no problems but the top 5 meters were pretty tricky but I struggled through.
The rest climbed it at different rates of speed and some with a lot of encouragement from Nong, we had set up another climb and I whipped up that pretty quick, it was a easy climb with lots of ledges to sit on and rest not that I really needed to so just bounded up the rock. We set another climb up which started up a stalactite and carried on up that for 15 meters of so then finished with a bit flatish rock at the end. It was a really good climb the hardest part was the start but the rest was really nice with good moves and nice hand holds. The last climb of the day I was going to lead up, had to remember how to lead climb and what to do at the top, managed the climb fairly easily but half way I got a bit of cramp in my hands it was about time to call it quits for the day, I managed to get up the rest of the climb, when I made it to the top I got set up and changed the rope over I had unclicked the quick draw holding me to the wall and then because my fingers were tired I dropped it. Luckily it missed everyone and dropped to the floor.
So that was all for me that day, my hands were tired but the rest of me was in good health. We headed back and Tania headed off on the boat as she was staying in Ao Nang, me and the Germans stopped for a drink and chatted for an hour, then I headed off for a shower and so did they, we were going to meet up for dinner. By the time I got back for dinner I was starving so made my order, I was lucky there was a crowd of people after me. I sat down the then the Germans arrived and ordered their dinner, mine came within about 45 minutes so not too bad it was over an hour and a half before the Germans dinner came, by that time I had ordered a Banana Pancake and eaten that, lets just say they were not impressed.
What was funny was when we were working out the bill and who paid what I was taking it apart and all of a sudden there were three of them around me looking at me as though I had just killed there first born child, it was unbelievable. Makes some of the restaurants in Auckland look good really. It is one thing the Asians really have not got down yet on a whole is customer service. One day maybe one day.

A day to do nothing and a bus ride

Had a day to waste in Ko san road, what do you do in Ko san road, shopping, well for me it was window shopping, just seeing how much they will sell things for, I had booked myself on a overnight bus to Krabi then would find a boat to Raileh beach and some long awaited beach time. Spent most of the day wandering the shops with Elizabeth and the she left about 1pm so I read my book and got on the internet for the afternoon. There was not much else to do. The bus was said to leave around 6pm so I had time.
Finally 6pm came around, I had grabbed some dinner and had some snacks for the bus ride, 13 hours so much fun. Got picked up at my hotel, by saying picked up someone came and got me and we walked to the bus together, it was pretty empty so hopefully I would have two seats to myself, and luckily that’s the way it was. When after maybe 30minutes we finally started to head off, we were doing so in the wrong direction, heading north not south, I had the moment of my god I am on the wrong bus and am heading up to Chang mai, O well it will be an adventure anyway.
We progressively worked our way through town and finally after about an hour we were heading south, so not for the hills but the ocean, excellent. Darkness had descended and the bus had picked up speed, then all of a sudden the brakes were hard on and we were slowing up pretty quick, It was really weird we headed passed a crash but no one was helping the person who was injured they were just standing around watching, doing nothing, this person was in the middle of a 3 lane road and no one went out to help, it seemed a bit fucked up to me, I don’t know what the rules are here, but that is just messed up.
Our bus swung passed and then we were away and back up to speed in no time. The night slowly wore on and our bus rumbled south, sleep came and went as if I was in a dream, sometimes I would look at the time and In would have been asleep for an hour other times just a few minutes, the night seemed to blur, the finally pulled up at a food stall and everyone was woken up not by the driver but one of the food venders shouting us awake so he could make money on his overpriced food and drink, thanks mate for that I went and brought some food off his competition. That’ll show him.
After a half hour break it was back on the bus and off again, I ended up reading my book and finishing that off, by the time I had finished it was getting close to 3am, I was just starting to feel tired again, time again started to blur between awake and asleep, drifting in and out each time hoping that this would be the last time I would wake and we would be there to Krabi, the long awaited krabi. It was not to be at 6am after some broken sleep, we stopped to meet up with the ferry bring passengers from Ko Samui and the Islands of the East coast, then it would be back in the bus for a few more hours.
The only thing that was good about the stop was it gave me time to stretch and get my legs moving again. The bus drive curled up in a little compartment to snatch a couple of hours sleep, I think he had the better deal than us, at least he could lie down. Finally after a two hour wait we were back in the bus and off again, we stopped a hundred or so meters down the road to pick up more passengers, I had paid for the direct bus and here we were stopping all the time. You really get what you pay for in Asia, NOT.
Finally after 16 hours I arrived at Krabi and well there an’t much there so I booked a boat over to Rail eh beach, most of the others on the boat were off to Ko Phi Phi, maybe next time if there is one. The boat trip to Raileh was nice, the weather was good and the water was calm, I could hear it calling my name as the boat plowed through the waves, or that could have been one of my other personalities, but any way something was telling me that I needed to go for a swim.
I arrived and found accommodation and headed straight for the beach and a swim, WARM water, some people say they don’t like it because it feels like you’re in a luck warm bath, but I love it, I can spend hours out there and not get cold. After 3 hours I finally dragged myself out and headed back for a shower and some food, I had decided to go Rock climbing for half a day the next day see what it was like, this is supposed to be the rock climbing Mecca of Thailand and I was in the heart of it. It would be interesting as I have not climbed for some time.

Relaxing movies and a flight

I would have a day relaxing before my flight to Bangkok and beach time, the bike was packed and ready to go the taxi was arranged, all was sweet. Had a lazy breakfast and then headed out to the movies, G.I Joe was on the cards, it was good but not great but it gave me something to do for a while and it was cool at the movie theater. The day was pretty hot and when I arrived back from the movies I was to find a load of people In my room fixing the aircon, luckily they were not there for that long and I soon had my room to myself and could relax and watch a bit of tv. That was pretty much my day, movies, Tv and some reading.
Flights
I was up and ready to go at 6:30am, we loaded the bike into the back of the car and then headed off to the airport, for a start I was wondering where we were going as we were on back streets and going this way and that, just had to trust the driver knew where we were going, he did not speak English so there was no conversation, just a drive through the waking city of Hanoi. Our to speed would be 70km an hour which with the roads and traffic I was pretty happy about. After 15 minutes of driving through the old city we were out on the main road, which was busy with cars and bikes going every which way, it is really hard to understand the road rules, like in most of Asia give was to anything bigger then you.
After another 15 minutes or so we finally hit what you could call a highway and the road out to the airport, I was watching the traffic and the time , time seemed to be moving faster than the traffic and I was wondering if I would get there on time. With 5km to go the driver pulled off for some gas, I wanted to get to the airport early as I knew there would be things to sort out with my bike, I had a feeling it was not going to be easy. That’s one thing about riding a bike around the country it never is easy when you have to transport them, good while you’re riding but difficult when you’re not.
We arrived 2 hours before the flight was to leave and there was a nice cue at the check in, the line seemed to move at snails pace, in fact I think a snail would have been faster. Luckily to pass the time I found conversation with a Scottish guy who has lived in Thailand for the last 20 years and was in Vietnam on Business, have to say he did not really have much good to say about northern Vietnam, the south he seemed to like. It helped pass the time.
Will I had arrived 2 hours before the flight and it took over an hour to move 20 meters to the head of the cue. I was allowed 15kg with my bag and 15kg for the bike, my bag weighed 8.9km and the bike weighed 22kg but for some reason they would not let me transfer some of the weight of the bike on to my bag and let me pay the difference so I had to pay 7kg of excess luggage, $55US so will get hit with this twice more, the things you have to put up with.
I asked if I could pay by Visa but there machine was not working so had to head off to a ATM to get some money, by the time all this had happened I had 20 minutes to get through emigration and get to the gate, emigration was a problem because I had lost my declaration card, so had to fill out another one which in the end they did not take any way so it was a complete and utter waste of my time, great thanks very much, that finally done I had 10minutes to go before the flight was scheduled to leave. Should I have worried about being late, not really, we ended up loading about 10 minute late anyway.
While I waited for the plane to start loading I sat down beside some guy who had remembered me from riding out of Halong bay, so we had a conversation about my trip and I scored a big bar of chocolate off him and his wife because they did not really like it, which was sweet because I had not had any breakfast so was pretty hungry.
The plane ride was just a plane ride, we were not really in the air that long at all before we were back down to land, the flight from NZ at Aus is way longer. Thai immigration was efficient as always and it was no time at all that I was through and waiting for my bag and bike to come through, the bag was pretty quick but the bike took a bit longer, when it finally did arrive the box looked like it had already had a hard life, hopefully the bike inside will be alright. I left the bike at left luggage which they x-rayed it before I could leave it then headed off to catch the bus to Ko San road, I’m back.
Returning to Ko San is like returning home, you know where everything is that you need and well it does not really change much at all. I chatted with a Scottish girl on the bus and so we ended up hanging out together for the rest of the day chatting as you do about places you have been and things like that. I gave her a few pointers for Vietnam which she was heading to in a month or so. She was another one from the UK who had made it to Aus but not over the ditch, Why do they do that..

Packing the trailer packing the bike

After my sleep in I was feeling much better, had to pack the trailer and bike up ready for home, the trailer and a few things would go by sea mail and I would hopefully get that back in 3 or so months time the bike would come with me on the plane back home. After some breakfast and Jimmy trying to explain that this was the tour I had booked which when he first explained it was completely different to what he was saying now I was kinda over it and could not be arsed with him anymore. If you are thinking about coming to Halong bay, make your own way to Cat ba island and book a night on the boat from there.
I headed off in search of a box for the trailer first and after sometime found one they might be suitable, on returning to the hotel I found it was not suitable at all, so I packed up the trailer and tied everything to it that was going home by sea and headed to the post office hoping they would be able to wrap it up for me, and yes they could alright that’s one less hassle, the weight of it came to 11.8km which I have to say at least 2kg of that was cardboard box that the lady had wrapped it in, it should be safe.
Once that was done I headed off looking for a box for the bike, found a couple of places but what they wanted for a box was crazy, so I just had to carry on and hope to find something, after getting myself lost in the streets of old town I finally found someone who was willing to sell me a Flat screen TV box which I hoped would fit the bike. In the end being lost was not so bad as I ended up only being a couple of streets away from my hotel. Spent the rest of the afternoon packing the bike away for the trip home.

Final boat ride and final 50km to 5003km got the 5000..

It was a early-ish wake up and breakfast and then a wait for the bus to arrive to pick us up and take us back to the boat for the trip home, when the bus finally arrived about an hour late, we were packed in like sardines and then off as if we were racing in the Formula 1, speeding through the small villages on skinny roads through the mountainous valleys of Cat Ba island. In no time at all we arrived and were taken down to the boat it was good to see it still had a list to one side. The boat headed out into the bay and we cruised through the majestic islands of Halong, it was a very beautiful ride back, when we finally burst out onto the open area of the bay we joined the armada of boats heading back to Halong City.
Our boat pulled up and we all unloaded and headed to the restaurant for our lunch, I shot off to grab my bike which was still at the hotel where I left it. Once I had my bike and it was back together I headed over for lunch, I was still not feeling great my cold was manifesting itself nicely I was only hoping I could do the ride and today and make it to Hai Phong and then head back to Hanoi the next day. I jumped on the bike and headed away and out of Halong city, the road seemed to disappear beneath me and I had soon cover 20km in less the one hour which with the way I was feeling should not be happening, then I realized the head wind that I had had to fight through on the way to Halong was now a tail wind speeding me along.
I made it to the turn off before any of the tourist buses from Halong had passed me, the road I turned onto was very quiet and was the perfect road of rolling hills. I soon came to the village of Rai Phong were I would catch a boat across the river. The lady at the counter took ages to serve me, I ended up gabbering to her about my day and only then did she sort out my ticket, must have board her. I pulled over and grabbed a coke from one stall and the lady from the stall behind got shirty because the trailer was just in front of her stall, and I mean of the 2 meter front of her stall my trailer took up maybe half a meter so to shut her up I reversed back passed her stall and made it so people trying to get to here stall would now have to walk right around me. With feeling sick and the not so good boat trip I was feeling let down by northern Vietnam, It could have been I now had resided to the fact that I would be heading home soon as well.
The ferry finally came and we all drove on and slowly made our way across the river to the other side, this is the heavy industry of Vietnam, massive ships up on dry dock and others having things replaced or taken apart. Cement factories lined the river bank and a new power station was in the process of being built. The road on the other side was filled with cars, bikes and trucks, I carried on through and after 16km finally made it to the bridge to Hai Phong, thank god. With my predicted milage this should be the 5000km mark, sweet, I had made it, got to that little point, for me this is what the last few weeks had been about hitting the 5000km and I had made it, done, finished I can leave and know that well I had made it, made it made it made it yippy yea baby, right time to find a bus, because I was feeling like crap I just wanted to be somewhere familiar.
I tried waving down a couple of buses but no luck there so had to ride into town to the bus stop, found a buses going to Hanoi and the driver was keen to take me but the conductor was not, he was a right arse would not help me at all, finally someone else took me around to another bus and we loaded the bike into that one. So there was the 3 km the ride to the bus station, I sure I have done a lot more kms then 5000, but it is 5003 map km done in 5 months over 6 countries, I will reflect on this later.
I talked to an American guy on the way back to Hanoi and he said it is not worth staying in Hai Phong at all so it seems my decision to head back to Hanoi was a good one. Managed to find a room for the night and after some dinner passed out for the night and did not get up until after 9am which for me these days is a really good sleep in.

Grumpy and a sight to behold

Grumpy was in even a worse mood as he had gotten drunk last night on the boat next door, great how much fun would he make the day now, we were off to Cat ba island and a hike up a hill with a beautiful view. Had not had that great a sleep the night before our cabin was musty and damp which did not help and I had a rattle by my head, I did manage to stop this with the fake plant that was in the room.
Breakfast was served as the boat left it’s mooring and headed away, the day was overcased and was threatening to rain, so a bush walk would be a great way to spend the afternoon, we left Ralf on another boat as he was only on a two day trip not the three. When we arrived at Cat ba the wharf was in disarray it had started raining and was not looking so good, now my enthusiasm was really picking up, not. After a bit of a wait around we loaded up on the bus and headed inland for a bit. By the time we arrived at the trekking spot it had stopped raining so we all jumped out and headed into the hills, for a start it was just a cement walking track up a hill then the real bush walking started. Mud was the order of the day and soon entertainment was all around with people falling over everywhere, have to say here I did not really think it was that bad but a lot of people were walking in flip flops, dumb arses.
One girl was having trouble so I offered to put her coat in my bag so she could use both hands, it was only later that she told me it had all her money and everything in, bugger could have had some spending money for Thailand. The walk up eventuated in a bit of a climb which lots of people struggled with, I bounded up like a mountain goat, jumping from one rock to the other it was a bit of fun. When we finally broke through the trees it was to be greeted by cloud covered hills, spikes of rock tearing up out of the ground, it was a majestic view that was well worth the climb and the hundred thousand or so mosquitoes that hounded our progress throughout the climb.
There was a tower at the top which I scaled, 5 people max and when I got to the top there were about 10 and a few going up and down, the stairs up wound be enough to put a shiver up most peoples spines, not that there hard to climb it all the rust that is around every joint and the wooden boards up on the viewing platform at the top was just as bad. I took some photo’s and headed back down to the safety of terraferma. The walk down was about as exciting as a root canal, I was stuck in the slowest group ever with no way of getting past without pushing people off the track. At the bottom we washed all the mud off in a fresh water spring and waiting for the French again we headed back to the bus for the next part of our trip.
The Hotel, well it was not your 3 star hotel that I had paid for but it was passable, I managed to get some washing done after I had had some lunch. Then headed off towards the beach and the sea. Cat ba has 3 beaches that you can go to all within walking distance from the town center, I had heard beach two was the one to go to so headed there. I had meet a couple of pommie lads at lunch and they wandered down not to long after I had arrived and was out in the water. We chatted most of the afternoon while enjoying the water, I headed out when my fingers started to look old and then headed back to the hotel for a shower and some food. Ate with the pommie guys then headed out with them to a club around the corner for a few drinks. Meet up with the girl who’s jacket I had carried up the hill and a few of her friends. It was a pretty good place we got loads of free shots and at about 11pm I decided it was time for me to go as I still had a ride to do the next day.
The walk home was nice enough until I wondered past the local Knock shop (prostitutes) were I was leapt on by one of the local girls, she was fairly insistent and would not let me walk away and kept trying to drag me back to the Knock shop, I said no and tried to break free, tried really hard, then when she would still not let me go I picked her up and carried her off down the road to which she finally decide to let me carry on my way. When I arrived back at the hotel one of our guides(not Grumpy) was drinking out the front with some of the guys from the hotel, I was invited to stop and have a drink with them, rice wine yummy. I only had a couple of very small sips and chatted with them for a while then finally about 1am went to bed.

Yippy Halong Bay here I come finally

Had breakfast, chilled out had some time to kill before I headed to the restaurant again and hopefully the boat this time, 12pm came and started to go, and I started getting a bit antsy, had the tour guides number so sent him a text to say I am at the restaurant and wait all I got back was OK, no I’ll be there in 15 minutes or anything like that just Ok, so I waited and waited and then sent another text it was now 12:20 and I was a little agitated waiting around, I sent a text to ask to if they would be here soon and all I got back was Yes, but how #@$%$#$ long will you be you stupid $%^^$% .
So I just sat there, waiting finally got the call that he was wondering where I was, I’m sitting in the restaurant you arse, so finally meet up with him and headed to the boat. We had another guide who was in charge and he was a right gumpy shit, my god what a arse. At least I was going to get on the boat, we went through the formalities and finally made it to the boat and sat down for lunch which was not half bad at all, so things were looking up.
After lunch we headed out onto the bay and finally after waiting two days I would get my chance to see Halong bay and all the islands that make it so fantastic. Our boat moved off with an armada of other boats. The islands stood before me, it was grand, on a grand scale, A true wonder of the world. The islands sprout from the water shooting up towards the heavens it is a sight to behold, even with the 600 or so other boats out there it was still stunning. As we worked our way across the harbor towards these sentinels of the sea the air cooled and you could feel that rain was coming. I was on top of the and watched as the wall of water made it’s way across the bay towards us finally hitting with a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder. I escaped down stairs and watched as the islands disappeared behind the wall of water.
Luckily it only rained for an hour and then cleared as we arrived at our first stop some kayaking around these majestic giants. Grumpy my new name for our guide herded us towards the boats, ours were the worst there, could tell we were getting the short end of the stick, some of them looked like there could be a possibility that they might sink, we all had to read the agreement that said we would pay 12 times the amount that there worth if they sink, it would not be our fault but we would have to pay.
I was teamed up with a French guy who at paddling was as useless as tits on a bull, how can someone be that uncoordinated, yep worse then you curly, it fact he would make you look like a ball room dancer. Paddle paddle stop paddle stop paddle by the end I wanted to smack him over the head with the paddle and do it myself. We made it back to the boat without sinking or losing the paddles and then had to wait for 3 other guys to come back who had gone somewhere completely different to the rest of us, I think they wanted to get away from grumpy who by now because we had to wait for them was in a right mood.
After the little exploration on the Kayaks we moved the boat to it’s mooring for the night and were able to go for a swim in the milky green waters of Halong bay, the water was nice and it was good to go for a swim. Dinner was served later and was as good as lunch, the French were all talking frenchy so me a Rulf the german guy headed to the roof, next door karaoke had started and we had great fears this would go on all night. I was not really in the mood to join them as most of our crew did. It was a peaceful night besides the karaoke and it was quite pretty with all the boats on the bay with their lights on.

Waiting waiting what they left me behind the @$%#^#&^@%

Got up all excited about my Halong Bay trip, looking forward to the nice room and boat trip and look around at what makes Halong bay a world heritage site. Went to my little restaurant and had another most excellent meal. If your ever in Halong City turn right onto Halong road and it’s about the 46th shop down on your right, you’ll see it they have the cookers outside and it run by a couple of young fella’s. Anyway had a lazy morning just packing up and everything was dry and smelling fresh again. I have given up trying to get the stains out of my cloths as long as they smell clean that is fine with me.
Headed off to the restaurant at 11am wanted to get there early and be waiting, had my book ready to read and everything, very lucky I had my book ready to read I would have a lot of time for reading. Time ticked by as it does, the world moved on and so did all the tourist around me, it got to 12.15 and I tried to get hold of Jimmy the guy I had booked it through. Could not get hold of him so called the hotel asked them were he was, they did not know, well that’s annoying. So asked them if he had another number I could call, they gave me one so tried that too, phoned it and it did not even go to answer phone just cut off. So I am getting a little pissed off, just a little there was still tourists around.
Tried again and finally got through to Jimmy he said he was not sure what had happened but would give me a call back, have to say he was pretty quick getting back to me, said they had gone and I would have to go tomorrow which was a little annoying, just messed with my time line a little. It’s alright if this sort of thing happens at the start of a trip but very annoying when it happens at the end and you only have a few days left. So this would mean a day less in Hanoi. Ok I can handle this.
So jimmy would pay for a night in Halong and I was booked in the next day, he was also going to call me with the name and number of the tour guide the next morning so I would not miss him. Ok so I thought I would head into Halong city and have a look around and maybe get a hotel there. Headed in and found one after some looking the hotels are overpriced and in need of repair but I managed to find one in the end. So had a place to stay and then went looking for lunch, Lunch was good and had a little look around Halong but could not really be bothered.
The rest of the day did nothing much, read my book got on the internet that sort of thing it was pretty boring really just waiting around, chilling out.

Down poor, and yes Halong City

I had a later start then normal and got out on the road, could have been a bad move as the clouds were looking thick over Ho’s mothers. The day started with a head wind and that was pretty much it for the rest of the day, head wind and then rain, then heavy rain with lightning and thunder and more rain, great, why not throw in a bit more rain on top of the rain, so from this you can tell it rained. Or can you.
But I battled on into the rain and then thought I had found a nice busy eating spot to stop in at, little did I realize till I had pulled up what a dive it was. Decided that I needed food and this will have to do so sat down pointed at something and got some food. I have eaten dodgy meals but this one takes the cake, most of the meat I could not identify, the taste, well uuummmm hhhmmmmm, just get some dirt from outside, by a load of different parts of more than one animal, throw it in a pot with some noodles and maybe add a little bit of salt, no forget the salt, add some intestinal juice and that was my breakfast. As you can imagine I picked out the bits I could identify and eat them paid and left most of it there. So with the rain and a crap breakfast my day was looking up. NOT.
As I cycled in the pouring rain I got a view of some of the pinnacles of rock that were land locked, like sentinels they rose up out of the green of the rice fields looking out over the land, the only problem was because of industry and the want of consumerism some were being taken to pieces like tooth decay industry was scrapping away at their very soul and smashing towards the core. I am not sure what they use the rock for but it ruins the landscape. Never mind there is a whole bay of these sentinels waiting for me.
I finally made it to Halong city well the edge of it and found out where I would meet the boat tomorrow, sweet, looking forward to the Halong trip, the lady running the hotel where I was staying was really nice even though she could not speak English and she was even trying to carry my big bag up the stairs, she ended up washing the outer bag for me.
Because I had arrived early I had time to do the fun things like washing and set up a line in my room to dry everything. I had lunch of fresh Shrimp, and I mean straight out of the water into the pan which were really nice it worked out very expensive though. Later that night I did manage to find a little place that did beef soup which was one of the best beef noodle soups I have had in Vietnam. It’s looking good. I ended up going back the next day for breakfast too.

Back on the road again, and meeting Denny

It was a 170km ride from Hanoi to Halong I was going to break it up into two days but would just ride as far as I felt on the first day. It was a easy escape from Hanoi, I did have to wake the guy up down stairs to let me out and then I thought he was going to try and keep me in as he only open the roller door about a foot off the ground, after I said I had paid and was leaving early he finally opened the door and let me out. It was really quite on the streets in the old quarter and it was even easier to get on the right rode out of town, so before I knew it I was on the open road and away.
Stopped for a really good breakfast, now what I have found so far is that there is a lot of noodle soup eaten in Vietnam for breakfast and although I don’t mind it I have become a bit sick of having it every morning when I am riding, but this morning I managed to find the best noodle soup so far in Vietnam.
They BBQ the chicken so it is kinda crispy, then they have their big bowl of soup water, I am not sure what this place did but the combination of the BBQ chicken and the soup with its amazing flavors it was fantastic and very filling. So if your ever heading north east out of Hanoi and you see someone BBQing chicken pieces on the side of the road with a big pot of soup and noodles sitting by, stop it. I hope that’s enough description for you as I can’t remember the name of the place. O at the speed I was riding it was about 20km out of Hanoi. You’ll know it when you see it.
After the amazing breakfast I was back out in the traffic which seemed to have got a lot busier while I was enjoying my soup, I was soon shredding the distance off my total I even had passing thoughts of riding all the way to halong in one day, but I didn’t. I stopped a couple more time for refreshments and food and by lunch time I had arrived in Quing li my stop for the night. After some more food I went and found a hotel, the room was nice but I got the feeling that the lady was going to be difficult. We managed to settle on a room price and then I went and got settled in.
A bit later in the afternoon I was just about to head out for some dinner when Zhou turned up, now I can hear your minds working who is Zhou, well he is a guy that can speak English and has worked in New Zealand, the son in law of the place I was staying. We ended up chatting for a bit then he took me down the road to find some food, it helps when you have local knowledge, found a buffet type place, 15000dong for rice, pork x2 types plus veges and it was all really taste. Today was turning out to be a gastromic delight. I like these days.
Zhou said he would pick me up later and we would go have a drink at his bar, I had a few hours to kill so read my book and nearly fell asleep. Lucky for me there was a big electrical storm so that gave me something to watch for a while. Zhou came back later on and we headed out, we discussed everything, he really loves the fishing in NZ but from the sounds of it has not really made it out of Auckland, it was a pleasant evening but by 9:30pm I was fading fast and headed back for sleep and the 40km I had left to ride the next day.

Burning brakes and a train ride and bed bugs again

I had been attached yet again in the night by bed bugs, I smelt the bed and it all smelt clean, not very impressed, they don’t seem to etch much which is good, was on the bike and ready for the downhill. I was really looking forward to this, it was a 1km uphill then a big long downhill. The road that we had taken hours to ride up was passing very quickly, it was flying by and the trailer after the latest fix was rolling really well behind the bike. I tried to keep away from the potholes to hopefully keep the back tire safe.
As the km disappeared I was soon passing buses and motorbikes on the way down, I stopped about half way down to do some photos as the day was a lot nicer then when I rode up and with the morning sun it was a stunning view. My brakes were fairly hot but still working well so after the photos I was back racing down the hill trying to catch the buses and bikes that had passed me at my photo stop. Which meant more speed, trying to keep the flow, running the apex of the corners so I was not braking too much. I was soon passing the buses again and the motorbikes it was easy to keep the speed as the road was pretty steep.
I zig zagged down the hill the ride was fantastic, it you every get the chance to head to Sapa I recommend riding down the hill to Lao Cai, you hardly have to peddle very much at all, just make sure you have a bike with good brakes. Well worth it. I was soon riding into Lao Cai and making my way towards the train station, the ride from Sapa had only taken 35minutes to do 38 km so I was doing a average of 55km/h O yea baby, should have gone back up just to come down again it was that good.
I managed to get a soft seat for the train back to Hanoi so it was looking up from the hard seat I thought I was going to have to take. I did have to wait around for a bit but this gave me time to have breakfast. I also wanted to arrange for my bike to be loaded but I had to wait till an hour before to sort this out. Once the bike had been loaded I could relax, I had snacks for the trip and had had breakfast. Believe it or not but the train left on time. My carriage was fairly empty to start with but this would not last.
The train follows the Song Hong river most of the way back to Hanoi, it was a fairly pleasant journey, much more preferred then a bus ride. For a couple of hours the carriage filled right up till there were people sitting in the centre aisle, which the aircon could not handle so it got pretty warm in the carriage, saying that it was still cooler then the air outside. I slept on and off throughout the ride, waking myself up once when I started snoring, had a look around no one was watching so that was alright, mostly just read my book and tried to speak Vietnamese to the kids sitting in front of me. I must have been pronouncing the words just about right because there mum could understand me. At the start the kids were a bit shy but by the end of the trip they were answering my questions.
We trundled into Hanoi on time at 8:30pm, not bad Vietnam rail, I managed to find my bike and trailer and put it back together then it was off to find a hotel, the only problem was I was not sure where I was, well I knew I was at the train station but was not sure what road I was on and could not find anyone to help, great, no speaka the English. Fished out the lonely bible and took a compass bearing and was off north east, managed to find the road I needed and headed towards touristville. Found it but because I was so late in, had to ride around town a bit to find a hotel. Ended up getting a nice room with Wifi and large tv with the smallest bathroom I had ever come across. The room was really nice but no way could you swing a cat in the bathroom, in fact I don’t even think you could swing a gerbil in there. The best thing about it was the water pressure was fantastic.
So I ended up staying two nights as by the time I found the hotel and got sorted it was about 11pm and I needed sleep. The next day I did not really do too much, booked my Halong bay trip, after I had to explain to the guy twice that I would be riding my bike out here and riding it back this may have been a mistake.

D day, good byes and a motorbike ride

This was it the end of the fellowship, the day had come as I knew it would, Kat and Mike would head west then north into China and Tibet, have to put here that had I not meet Zach, Elise, Kat and Mike I would have been ready to come home by now and not have any misgivings about missing out on China and Tibet, now well I really wish I had enough money to carry on with them but alas it is not to be, I will be home in the beginning of September, going to head to Ha long bay and then Thailand for a week or so before climbing on board the big bird to bring me home.
Kat was up early again and off with the computer to breakfast, then I meet up with them, they had some bad news when I arrived, someone had got there Visa number and was spending their money online, lucky for them the bank was onto it so no loss for them besides having to cancel their card and change a load of banking stuff. It’s just something you don’t really want to deal with.
After some breakfast we headed back to the hotel to pack, I was going to have to move as the hotel we were in did not have any cheap rooms. Once we were all packed and moved out we said our good byes, good lucks, and they headed off up the hill and away towards China, they would have a fun day as they had the big downhill to ride and then a border crossing. So that was it the fellowship was over, with a few twists of the peddles.
I headed out to look for a hotel and to see if I could book a night train back into Hanoi, then I would head off to Ha long Bay. I found a hotel for my stuff and it was only up two flights of stairs, and it came with a great view across the valley to the hills on the other side, later I would find out that they throw in bed bugs for free, bugger not again.
I moved my stuff into the room then stopped at a few travel agents to find out about tickets, the train was full, I would have thought that everyone would stay around for a Saturday night but it seems not, so night train was out and the day train you have to buy the tickets on the day, excellent, so I had a afternoon to kill before sleep and the ride down.
I hired a bike and a driver to take me up to a waterfall (Silver water fall, 100m high) and then to the top of Tram Ton Pass and a look around there. We headed off and up the towards the pass, I got the driver to stop so I could take some photo’s along the way. Once at the waterfall I paid my 5000dong admission and wandered up the hill, the waterfall was pretty nice but there was loads of people all walking up doing the obligatory posed photos. I did not really spend that much time there. My driver must have thought he was onto a good thing when I was back down in only a few minutes.
The next was the pass and a look down the other side, the mountain range was mostly still covered in cloud but it was a nice view down the valley to the bottom way off in the distance, would be a really good ride down, but I don’t think I would be looking forward to riding back up. After spending a bit of time here we headed back down a bit to the start of the walking track to Fansipan mountain, I wondered up to the look out which again was a nice view, well really it was a great 360 degree view of the valley and the hills. I wandered back down and the my driver said he had got a pass for me and I could go and wander the tracks around were we where, I asked him how much it was and he said 50,000dong, which I have to say I just about choked on.
I headed into to see how much it really cost, seems it was only 15,000 I had caught him out, he tried to make out that is what he was saying but the look of panic when I had walked in said more then I needed to hear. So I was by now thinking what a cheeky git. Then when I walked out to head off on the paths around the area he said only 20 minutes, now when we negotiated the price it was for 3 hours and by my watch well mobile phone we had only been gone an hour and a half at the most. Well I took my time and headed off, the lying bugger could wait till I was ready to head back now.
There was only two ways to go, one up towards Fansipan or to Lovers waterfall, hhmmm so off to lovers waterfall I went. The track was a easy wander, on the way I came across a snake wandering down the path as well, not sure what kind of snake it was but I gave it a wide birth, did not want it getting to friendly. Lovers water was a nice little waterfall as far as they go, did a few photos and then made a hasty retreat as I had a swarm of mosquitoes looking to make me there lunch.
After we had got back to town I paid up and waited for my change the cheeky bugger was not going to pay up, excuse me my change now, the bugger just looked at me so I grabbed my money back and went to head off to get change, then he produced the change. So I was pretty fucked off to say the least, he won’t be getting my recommendation that’s for sure.
I spent the rest of the day writing the blog and sitting out watching the mountain slowly disappear in to darkness, then headed out for dinner, it would be a early start and a long day so wanted to get a good nights sleep.

Happy birthday and it what? Was not your anniversary

It was Kats birthday, she was up early and off to get a coffee, I headed out a little bit later and then Mike arrived not so long after me, I was to learn at breakfast that it was not there Anniversary the day before Kats birthday it was there anniversary the day after, and it was there 5th not 6th anniversary, well they would get to celebrate again the next day when they would be heading into China and towards Tibet.
We had a nice breakfast and then headed out for a walk around the Village of Sapa, the walk was very pleasant. Kat had noticed that I had broken a spoke so I was going to borrow one of theirs to fix my bike, it was a good opportunity to adjust everything on the bike as well and make it ready for the ride to come. After pulling the back wheel of and removing the old spoke I found out that the ones Mike and Kat have are not right for my bike, just have to hope it won’t buckle too much and will survive the rest of the trip , and later we went out for dinner and a few drinks, tomorrow we would say good bye, It had been great having other people to ride with, and people who I got along with really well, it was really great how we all bonded so quickly and easily. I was going to be sad to see them head away after having riding companions for the last few weeks.

The fellowships last day, Climbing from 233m to 1650m over 34km

Now why I put this up as the title is because I am trying to make you aware of the climb we were about to face, although not my longest climb it will be the most altitude gained over the shortest distance which means steep, very steep. We tried to be up early to miss the heat, it was overcast and looked like rain, which is not really a bad thing when climbing unless it does rain and that puts a dampener on things.
The first 10km were easy going and passed quickly, easy rolling hills, at the 24km mark the hill started and well besides 1km of downhill at the end and maybe 500m half way it was all up and some of it very steep, I mean first gear crawling, now sometimes when I’m going up I really ask myself why, we were in the clouds so it was not as though the view was incredible, the road twisted and turned as it held it’s embrace with the mountain, yes I am also putting this climb into the mountain bracket, it was big and beautiful. Well by the end anyway.
The cloud cover lasted for some time but in the end we climbed out the top, you could see across the top of the clouds to the hills in the distance it was a sit to behold, considering we had had to use our lights on the first part of the climb because the cloud cover was pretty thick, not pea soup thick more like weak tea thick, you could see the next corner and that was about it.
We stopped for breakfast just after we broke through the cloud layer and into open sky, it did look as though the clouds were attempting to cover the whole mountain range but had been stopped in their tracks due to the sheer size of the hills. After the breakfast stop we carried on up the hill climbing and more climbing it was a beautiful climb the hills the minority tribes people it was fantastic but it was a long climb. I shot ahead of Kat and Mike and then had a good break waiting for them to catch up, I took photos of the Minority people working on the side of the road. Who would not enjoy looking out over cloud covered mountains, the sun starting to pierce through in places sending shafts of light streaming down.
We finally crawled to the top after 4 and a bit hours of riding, we were all staved and headed straight for food, it must have been a sight 3 hot sweaty people waiting food before we had even sat down, the food was pretty good this could have been to do with being starving and having a hard ride. After some food we all felt a lot better and headed off to find a hotel for a couple of days, the local minority people crowded around us when we pulled up, they were a real funny bunch and I joked around with them while I watched the bikes and Mike and Kat looked for a room for us all.
Once we had our room and were settled in we finally could relax and unwind, the view from our hotel looked out onto the mountains across the valley, the only problem with this time of year is the clouds cover everything and we could not see Fanispan which is Vietnams highest peak at 3100m which would have been nice. The weather was cooler up here which was really nice after the last few days heat.
I was lead to believe that it was Kat and Mikes 6th wedding anniversary so later we headed out to celebrate it with dinner and drinks, I was willing to let them head off by themselves if they wanted to but ended up going out with them, it was a nice evening with very good food, Sapa was looking good on the food side of things.

Border towns, lightning storms and power cuts

My back was better I had borrowed Mike and Kats bed rolls and sleep on them made my bed really nice and comfortable. I was still popping pills as I am a bit of a pill popper, have to keep on going, must reach goal no matter what, never give up. Just pop the pills and hope you’re not making it worse. We struck out from Pho Rang early to try and get most of the riding done before the heat takes it toll.
We were now on a minority village hunt, well did not really have to hunt we were passing local minority tribes all the time now, locals with their water buffalo, riding them out to the fields, women dressed in traditional gear following the kids on the buffalo, it is really an amazing site, now these people are the real thing, not the tribes that look after the tourist market, kids up in elevated houses with maze drying below. Rice fields and other plants growing in terrace fields it really is spectacular, beauty to the beholder.
We had a very long hill climb in the middle of the day, the road seemed to twist and turn its way up the hill sides climbing up forever moving on towards the heavens, and this was only a small hill of around 600m or so, the climb into Sapa which would be the next day was over 1000m climb. When we finally made it to the top and started our decent it was not too soon for me, the rest of the ride we followed a river towards Lao Cai our stop for the night. With just over 10km to go we stopped on the side of the road for a sugar cane drink, these are very refreshing.
Katrina was, well the only way to describe it was attached by the sugar cane sellers wife. It started with grabbing her legs, we were not really sure what she was trying to say but I think she was impressed with the size of them, this I have to say was really funny for me and Mike who just sat off to the side and laughed, very supportive, the lady also saw a couple of photos of Katrina’s sisters kids, there was a bit of a miss understanding and I think the lady thought they were mike and Katrina’s kids, after pulling out the English Vietnamese dictionary the issue was resolved. I we headed away Katrina got her arse slapped by the lady, this was starting to happen a lot to Kat, I was most disappointed that I was not getting any arse slapping action.
We finally rolled into Lao Cai our stop for the night, the sun and heat had again beaten us down and we were thankful to be able to finally stop, we got some drinks and food before we made our way to find a guest house for the night. Luckily it did not take too long. We moved into a big room for a pretty good price and relaxed, the aircon was on and the body temperature was finally coming down. I am not sure if you can ever get used to the heat.
Kat headed out to use the internet and me and Mike just hung out in the room, the temperature in the room seemed to be getting hotter and then Kat walked in and said it was hotter in the room then outside, the aircon had failed. We told the owner and with in what seemed like minutes the owner had got in a aircon repair man, we headed out and left them to it, it was time to find food again, supplies were needed for the ride up the hill the next day.
When we got back we moved rooms seems the aircon was dead and not coming back to life, well not today anyway. We ended up staying in that night and eating noodles for dinner, no one had the energy to go out. At about 8:30pm the heavens unleashed hell on the city of Lao Cai, plunging us into darkness and then lighting up the nights sky in a magical display of power. Lightning and thunder crashed all around it was dazzling to see, I managed to capture one photo of lightning firing off in the distance. The raw power of nature at her stunning best. Lucky for us it did not last too long and we were able to sleep soundly through the night, we would need our energy for tomorrows ride.

Hills with a sore back

Well my body had done it again, something had gone wrong, this time it was my back from the rock hard bed that I slept on, I realize these people sleep on the floor but give your guest a bit of luxury and provide soft beds. My back had been a bit sore the day before but this was terrible, I could hardly even stand up straight, I dropped a load of pain killers and would have to just hope that would help. Yesterday my back was alright while riding it was just walking was the problem.
I managed to crawl out of bed and pack everything, Mike and Kat were waiting down stairs for me, I was tempted to let them go on and I would just stop for a day, but it would mean the horrible bed again so best to carry on. We loaded up and once again when I was riding it was not too bad, the road headed out and then started to climb into the hills, at some point we would be able to see the lake that was up this way then we would head again west towards the border with China.
The road climbed for a while out of Yen Bai then we came to the top and a stunning view of the lake and all its islands were below us, it was a stunning vista, we climbed up on to viewing tower and looked out over cloud covered hill and a glittering lake below, well it might not have been that good, my back was screaming at me telling me not to walk around. I laid down on the cool marble surface of the viewing tower and Kat offered to give my back a bit of a massage, well she managed to find the right spot because afterwards it felt a lot better and I felt I could carry on.
We stooped in a road side café and had coke and bread with cheese for breakfast the hills were rolling away in front of us and rolling away from behind were we had just come, we were seeing Local tribes people in their colorful dress but that was still few and far between. As we headed west the heat of the day started to take its toll on everyone, its one thing to ride the roads its another to ride hills in 30+c temperatures. Mike had gone through about 4 shirt changes and I was wishing I had done the same.
We finally made our way into Pho Rang at about 4pm the sun was still stinking hot but we had made the days miles. We found a room and unloaded the bikes, my back was feeling better after a days riding, so if you have back problems get on ya bike and ride. After a bit of a wash up we headed out into town to find food and managed to find a place with a English menu, at least we would not get the wrong thing tonight and it was only a 70km ride the next day, saying that it was looking like being more hills and more winding roads.

meandering roads

Today was one of those days that is a pleasure to ride the road wandered along side of the river, passing small villages and going over rolling hills, the sun was out with a little bit of cloud, we were following one of the lesser roads west, it meant we could ride along side each other and chat to pass the time as the miles slipped away. I had managed to dry everything from the down pour the day before, my room had looked like a laundry mat with everything strung up. But I have to say it is always nice to start the day dry. Katrina had broken a glass top but again a 100.000VND sorted that out. The road continued it’s gentle up’s and downs all day. We stopped at one point to get pictures of each of us riding through the Rice fields and then carried on.
We eventually came into Yen Bai a provincial capital, this would be our stop for the night then on again the next day into the hills. We had stopped on a corner and it just happened to be right outside a hotel, so we checked in and that would be home for a night. We headed out in search of food as we had not really had that much, after finding a shop with snacks we decided to have dinner before we headed back to the hotel.
After finding a restaurant that sells rice, we placed our order, through some miss understanding it seemed we had ordered a whole chicken for dinner, Katrina went in to do battle against the lady and got yelled at, it seems the locals really raise their voices, there was a lot of yelling coming from the direction of the kitchen so Mike went in to see if he could help, I stayed back and looked after all our stuff and was ready to make a run for it if the knifes came out. She had a few big knifes around. After half an hour the yelling had died down, the lady was still throwing different things into pots but Kat and Mike had managed to secure us half a chicken and rice for 50000VND each. About as expensive as the tourist places.
It turned out to be a really good meal and we powered through the food, not only was there the chicken and rice there was also potato in a mint type source and some green stuff that was fried with garlic that was really nice, so I thought by the time I had finished it was worth the $3US that we paid, I have to say it was one of the best Vietnamese meals I have had.
We headed back to the Hotel to check on all our washing and to relax for a while, watched a DVD and then it was off to sleep and let the bodies repair for the next day and the miles of road we have to cover

No Visa, late ride The fellowship is coming apart

This was the day Zach would get his Passport back with hopefully his Chinese Visa, well as you can tell from the title no Visa, there was some problem with his Vietnam extension and so the Chinese would not give him a Visa, the fellowship was coming apart. He was going to see if he could get over to Lao and get his Visa there. So there would be 3 heading west into the setting sun. I felt sorry for Zach, what a pain in the proverbial backside for him. We left Zach heading out to organize his escape from Vietnam, hopefully he would be able to sort everything out and meet up with Katrina and Mike in China, only time would tell.
As we were about to leave the heavens opened up and the rain came down, we waited till the worst was over then headed out of town. It took us a hour or so to negotiate the roads and traffic and we finally ended up on the correct road. The road was pretty bad to start with, pot holes full of water that you could lose a small child in and the traffic was pretty crazy, the further out of town we got the better the road and traffic became, we had made the right choice to take the smaller back roads and this would only improve over the next few days.
On the way through one small town we came across someone de-furring a dog getting it ready for dinner, it was quite a site, I had seen dogs in Hanoi which had already been de-furred but they were just small dogs this was a bigger dog. Kat took some photo’s and then we headed down the road a bit for a drink before we carried on.
We managed a few more miles with the blacken clouds chasing us down the only good thing about this was the tail wind propelling us forward, we were dashing towards the unknown, well that’s just because this was the first time on this road. The blacked clouds swept over us and lashed at our backs with flashes of lightning and thunder, you could smell the rain in the air and then all of a sudden we could feel the first hints on our faces. We tried to stay in front but in the race we were the slower and in the end it was inevitable that we would get caught.
The rain fit like a hammer blow, thundering down and covering the road in a torrent of water, the tires of the bike were soon slicing through inches of water covering the road, but we were not done and would not stop for any amount of rain. It did not take long before I was soaked to the bone, the only way was forward and not look back, when I did finally look back I had left Mike and Katrina behind. I pulled off to the side of the road to ring some of the water out of my clothes out and wait for them to catch up. The rain was still lashing down as Kat and Mike caught up and I pulled out from under my shelter and pulled in behind them. After an hour or so the rain finally started to slow we had maybe another 20km to go before we could get out of the wet cloths and into dry gear.
After checking out one hotel which was not that great we headed another 15km down the road to the next one, it was starting to get late as we had not left Hanoi till after 11am. We found a little place down a back alley with the help of a local, the rooms seemed cleaner then the last place and the people were really nice. Once dry and clean we headed out for dinner, we had thought that we had ordered a meal of Chicken with rice, but in the end only the chicken came out and it was pretty stringy but I was starved so finished mine off and what was left of Kat and Mikes. We paid and headed back for noodles at the hotel and then sleep, we had more kms the next day.