Bus from Hell, and Reunited

Elise had headed off that morning, I meet up with Kat and Mike for breakfast and Kat had managed to find some ball bearings for her bike so we put it that back together and then I spent the rest of the morning packing and relaxing before we headed away. I must have slept wrong last night and had woken up with a sore back, we were thinking about going to the beach but that was out of the question now, I headed off to find a place where I could get my back massaged.
I managed to find somewhere and got them to work on my back, it was pretty good and my back was feeling a lot better afterwards it was still sore and I was not looking forward to a night on the bus. We had packed up our bags and had them waiting down stairs it was just a case of loading up and heading to meet the bus. We headed around and grabbed some food and then went to the travel agents where we thought we would be meeting the bus. The bus was supposed to be there at 5:30pm at 6pm we were taken around to a street a few blocks away and left there. This is where you have to start wondering what is going on and what sort of dodgy deal we had got ourselves into. We had been there about 10minutes wondering what was going when a couple more passengers were dropped off , about 10 minutes after that the bus finally turned up so we striped the bikes down and they were all loaded in. Hopefully they would make it and there would not be too much damage.
Once we were all loaded we piled on the bus and found our seats, the worst thing ever we were at the back of the bus, this was not good, memories from old returned of painful bus journeys when stuck at the back of the bus. The bus now was also over an hour late from when it should have left. The sleeper beds were not really that great and they were not like the ones I had seen.
The bus headed out of town with a few more stops, not sure what these were for as we were fully loaded up. But we hit the main road and had the first of hundred or so close calls, I am taking the train next time. After we hit the main road which would have been around 7pm we were soon racing through the traffic at break every bone in your body speeds, well it seemed like it with all the swerving and hard braking going on and the amount of horn blast screaming out.
The road was pretty rough and full of potholes that felt like we were losing half the bus down each time we hit one, my back was screaming at me already and we had hardly been going that long at all, what have I done. I chatted with Zach for a while to keep my mind off of how close we were coming to the oncoming traffic and also joined in the game some English were playing next door to me, any thing to help pass the time.
We were only going for a couple of hours when we had our first stop, and it just happened to be in the same town that Elise was staying in so Zach shot off to find her hotel and in a few minutes returned with Elise, she had hit a head wind for her first day out riding by herself. Bugger. It was good catching up again but this was the last time I will see Elise for a while. We all loaded back up on the bus, some like me reluctant to get back on and Zach held back as long as he could with Elise. Then we were off back on the open road and into the crazy traffic. Fear took hold again. My seat afforded me a view right down the centre of the bus and out the front window, why, why, sometimes it’s best not to be able to see.
Zach and I talked again for some time and then we tried to sleep, ha what a joke, besides the being thrown up in the air every time we went over or through a pot hole or thrown from one side of the bus to the other with all the swerving sleep was pretty elusive. I think between 9:30pm and 1:30am when the bus stopped again I had managed to get an hour of sleep at the most. I again I ask why a bus. The mind has a way of making thing seem not so bad years down the track. Will have learnt from that now. Trains only.
I think the drivers driving got even more erratic after the 1:30am stop, with in the first 15minutes of being back on the road I had counted 6 close calls and maybe 2 bloody close calls were I could see the whites of the other drivers eyes as they went passed the other way, I put my MP3 player on and closed my eyes I figured it was best not to see how close things were coming, tried meditation to block it out as well. Maybe I could be over exaggerating here, I was incredibly tired so things might not have been as bad as I am making, yea right.
I finally gave up with sleep about 5:30am it was just to elusive, I had maybe got 4 hours off and on, so I just sat there and watched the traffic swing passed and just hoped that we would make it to Hanoi with the whole bus. It would be nice to see the north in one piece. We were supposed to get to Hanoi at 6:30am ish yea right, it was 3 hours later that we hit the out skirts of Hanoi, then another hour before we finally made it to the bus stop.
After pulling the bikes out with only minimal damage, we put them back together, my back was feeling worse for wear and I was looking forward to being able to stretch out on a bed and maybe find somewhere to get a massage and some pain relief. I am a cripple once more. We managed to find a hotel with the help of one of the touts, sometimes they are useful, sometimes. Kat and Mike headed off to the Canadian embassy and me and Zach headed out in search of food. After this we headed back to the hotel, my body was yearning for sleep so I surcome to it’s desire and crashed out on my bed for a few hours. In was nice to have a bed again that did not brake hard and swerve all the time.
Later we all headed out for dinner and then it was a early night, some of us had a lot to do the next day, I was not one of them.

Rest, relaxation, missed bus and the Forbidden Purple City

We had arrived and found ourselves a nice hotel, the original plan was to head to Hanoi on Saturday by train or bus, we would just see how much they cost. We headed out early-ish to the train station to find out 1) if we could get our bikes on the train and how much it would cost. Problem one: we would have to send the bikes up on a different train, not good don’t really like leaving my bike, they would go in the morning and we would go in the evening. Problem two: it was a bit expensive. So we would check out the prices for the buses.
After the hard morning of walking 2km down the road we jumped in a taxi and headed off to the Big C supermarket. We grabbed some lunch there and some things from the supermarket and then headed back to take shelter at our hotel, it was pretty hot. That night it was Indian for dinner which I eat way to much and could really feel it after.
Zach and Elise had decided to head to the Forbidden Purple city the next day and I would follow, we had decide to leave early in the morning hoping to miss the heat of the mid day sun and maybe the crowds as well. The forbidden city was built in 1804 by the Emperor Gia Long, well built by the peasants of the time anyway, it was heavily bombed by the Americans during the war. The Citadel sits gracefully on the northern bank of the Song Huong River with a majestic flag pole sitting up on the outer wall and a massive Vietnam flag.
As we wandered into the citadel it was pretty cool to see all the buildings, a lot are under repair and or reconstruction but this did not really take away the impressiveness of the area. We wandered all around taking photo’s and enjoying the peacefulness of the place. At around 10am it was starting to get hot so we headed back towards the hotel and the sanctity of our hotel and the aircon. We grabbed a couple of Cyclo rickshaws for most of the journey back, let someone else do the work.
The afternoon was spent catching up on the blog, sorting photo’s watching crap tv and then dinner out all together at a restaurant down the road, it was a nice way to escape the heat of the mid day sun. We also tried to book our sleeper bus as this had been decided would be our mode of transport up to Hanoi, the only problem was we had left it to late so would not be heading north on the re-scheduled Sunday night it would be Monday night, which would mean another day in Hue.
The next morning we had decide to head for a river trip to Thien Mu Pagoda and a local floating village, the negotiations were taken care of by Elise, we had the boat for 3 hours, to the pagoda then the floating village. The trip up the river was nice enough, the lady on our boat started bring out all her stuff for sale, it was one of those rides were they do the pushy sale. Great. We managed to put her off till we were on our way back.
The pagoda was really nice, the grounds were well kept, I have not really been looking around at this sort of thing on this trip, it was worth the trip up the river though. I took a lot of photo’s then it was back on the boat to the village, our first pass passed the village was a bit too and we got back to the jetty about 30minutes to early so we made them take us back out, by us I mean Kat and Elise to tell the truth I was not really sure what was going on at the time. We did another run passed the village where we were able to capture some more photo’s. All in all it was a really nice boat trip.
The afternoon was spent having a look at Kat’s bike, her back hub was not very smooth so we were going to pull it apart and have a look if it needed repacking. It turned out that when they had got their bikes serviced in Thailand the people who serviced them had left a ball bearing out, the inner casing was a bit pitted, not much we could do about that now and by the time we had pulled it apart and found this problem it was too late to get a replacement one, that would have to wait till tomorrow we had a more important thing to deal with, dinner.
Elise was breaking away from the fellowship and is heading off towards Lao and then Thailand for a month, she is to meet back up with Zach in Nepal, after him, Kat and Mike head into China and then Tibet. They are doing my trip, it will be sad when I have to leave them at the border. Zach and Elise went out for their final dinner together and Mike, Kat and I headed somewhere different.

The road to Hue, pack horse and stunning coastal bays

We were up early and away, stopped for breakfast further down the road. It was a 10km uphill climb and then drop back down to the coast, I was feeling a lot better finally and this was going to be the kill or cure ride, if I survived hopefully it would get rid of my cold. We all had BBQ pork with rice and I had a couple of yogurts as well, hopefully this would give me the energy for the climb.
We had ridden around the bay away from Danang so we had a fantastic view of the area as we started the climb, I could feel it was going to be slow going for me today, the legs did not feel that energetic at all. Zach shot off into the lead and would not be seen again till the top, Mike, Kat and I dropped into low gear and started the climb and Elise shot off with Zach. I stopped and did some photo’s and also some video for Mike and Kat of them ridding, the temperature was climbing and the cold was differently getting sweated out, in fact by the end of the climb my sweat was sweating. I had a constant drip off my arms all the way up.
I had to have a few stops on the way to catch my breath but I was feeling better the more I climbed, it was kinda weird really. The road finally looped away from the Danang bay and we came across these small coves many feet below us with golden sands, god I wished I could go for a swim, you know just a quick dip, bit of a splash around then back on the bike, but by now the water was a good couple of hundred meters below.
I slowly pulled away from Mike and Kat and ended up catching up to Elise(on single speed) on the way up, I could not even see Zach he must have hit warp speed. The road wound up into the hill and the top to my delight was not that far off, thank goodness for that is all I can say. I arrived at the top to find the usual drink and small trinket sells and got clapped over the line by Zach, Elise was only just behind me.
We had to wait a bit of time for Mike and Kat to arrive, Kat had an extra two bags on her bike and was giving Mike a tow, this was not looking good, he had not really recovered from his stomach problem and was finding it pretty hard going with the heat and not feeling well and I have to say he was looking a bit white at the top. After a stop at the top and some photo’s of old American bunkers and refreshments it was time to head down the other side and carry on the journey towards Hue.
As we started the decent, o yes the decent, we stop not too far from the top to have a quick chat with a couple of bikers coming the other way, they kinda looked how we did not so long ago, socked with sweat. They seemed to be in a hurry to carry on so we let them go and headed on down the hill. Now I keep going on about how stunning the coast line is, well it is stunning. Come look for yourselves.
The pace was good and I did some filming for Mike and Kat of them riding together and some Video with my camera so could not really let the bike go, even though I could feel it wanting to go faster, or that just could have been me. I had to peddle at one point which I was not expecting, how dear I have to peddle on a downhill stage will have to write a letter to the Vietnamese Government.
As we reached the bottom of the hill we were greeted by Aquamarine seas and crystal clear waters of a picturesque lagoon, the gold sands stretched down the coast in a spectacular flowing carpet, I stopped and took pictures of the coast line, the beach was screaming my name, drawing me towards it but alas it was not to be, we rode through the town and stopped for lunch, I was hoping we could stop somewhere by the beach for lunch and enjoy this stunning view for a bit longer, instead it was a road side eatery and it was some dodgy sea food with rice. After leaving the Restaurant we carried on the road north.
The road snaked inland and away from the pristine coastline, so long golden sands, hello flowing green rice paddy fields, we had commented ourselves to the inland route, there was a coastal route but it would have added an extra 20km to the ride and we weren’t sure if we would be able to get the bikes across the harbor, it would have meant finding a boat ride, also Mike was still not feeling the best so the straight run it was.
The road as it does seem to go on forever as peddled our way through the heat of the day, by the afternoon Mike seemed to be struggling more and more, it was not looking good for the rest of the day, Kat had been towing Mike for a while, we stopped once more when Mike felt like he was losing his balance, not really good when you’re on a bike, makes it difficult to keep going, we pulled off the road and ordered some Sugar cane drinks, and everyone stripped off the bags off Mikes bike and we shared them around. I dropped to on the trailer so it was really pushing it over its weight limit, as we started off again I could really feel the weight on the back now. Kat was still towing Mike, we were going to make it come hell or high water.
We finally trundled into Hue, sanctuary was close at hand, Mike seemed to have improved a bit, I could not complain about having the extra weight, when we were coming into town we passed a cyclo rickshaw carrying two big truck tires, yep shut up and just keep on going, the locals are tough buggers. The fellow ship had arrived, still together with no loss of life.

30km and a long ride with a full house

Today was the day were we would be heading north again, we had a massive 39km to do, 39km, the weather was hot really hot, it was going to be back roads to Danang, following along the beach, yep it was going to be a hard day. I was not feeling that great and Mike had not fully recovered from his bad gut so it was kinda lucky we did not have far.
Zach and Elise had headed out snorkeling for the day and would be meeting us later in Danang, so it was just Mike, Kat and me heading out, we had breakfast first before we headed out, the temperature was increasing, it was 5km to the coast then 30km along China beach. Now for those of you that don’t know anything about the American Vietnam this was the place where the Americans first landed there forces. Saying that when this happened the Americans had already got 20000 troops here in Vietnam, but this was where the war officially started for the Americans. Danang was also the home to a lot of the American troops on leave.
The beach is a beautiful white sandy beach with a very bad under tow is what I had read. Non the less tourist seem to flock to it, by the time I got there I was not really feeling that great, still jaded from my cold that I had. We stopped and chatted for a few minutes with some Kiwi’s from Nelson and then we carried on down the road. We were going to stop along the beach a bit for a swim and then carry on going we were also going to stop at Marble mountain and have a look around.
The road ended up moving away from the beach and then when we did get back in view of the sea it was through construction sites, they are building all these big resorts along the coast, massive things I really wonder how much money they make on these things. So it was looking like we might not get a swim.
We stopped off at marble mountain and mike decided to stay with the bikes so me a Kat headed up the hill. The five 'mountains' are named after the five elements; Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). All of the mountains have cave entrances and numerous tunnels, and it is possible to climb to the summit of one of the peaks. Several buddhist sanctuaries can also be found within the mountains.

At the top of the hill(mountain) you get great views of the surrounding area, it is a very nice view, the Buddhist sculptures are not too bad either. We walked around for about an hour then headed back to the bikes and the road ahead. First of cause we had to look through a marble shop, they had some pretty nice stuff in there. It was interesting to find out that a lot of the marble comes from China now and is not taken from marble mountain.
We decided to carry on towards Danang before we had lunch, by the time we had got to our lunch stop I was starting to fade fast, we stopped for lunch and then started to look for a place to stay, the day had ticked on. The first 3 hotels down by the beach were full and expensive so we headed towards town. It seems Danang is not really set up for the travelling market. All the hotels were really expensive and really over priced and full.
We ended up finding somewhere, but it took some time and we covered a lot of hotels in finding ours, I was really ready to sit down and stop for the day and was really glad to have somewhere. I was going to share a room with Kat and Mike for the night, there was another room available so hopefully Zach and Elise would get there at some point. Mike and Kat headed out and I had a lie down. I was a bit worried about the next day were we had over a hundred km to do and one really big hill.
After an hour or so I was feeling a bit better, Mike and kat came back, so we just hung out and snacked on what they had brought back. Later Me and Kat headed out to grab some dinner and Mike stayed back it seemed me and Mike were taking turns at feeling crap. We had not heard from Zach and Elise so just had to hope they got the email sent earlier. On returning we noticed a couple of extra bikes down stairs, the Americans had landed.
So the fellowship would be heading north together in the morning. Excellent.

17-21.07.09 Hoi an, silk shops, rainbow lights and a pool

After a good night sleep, which I was out like a light in no time at all the night before, I was up and ready to go, it seems that Mike, Kat and Elise had got bad stomachs, lucky for them we only had 30km to go, arriving on a Saturday morning was not the best idea but that’s just the way it worked. Zach, Elise, Mike and Kat were going to stay at a nice hotel so I went in search of a cheaper option.
Everything was pretty full, went to about 7-8 hotels that were full and then went back to one I had found earlier, it was a bit more then I wanted to pay but it has a pool which as I was sweating in my Bike gear seemed like a good idea having, and I was correct it is great having a pool. Refreshing on a hot sunny afternoon, which it has been all week.
Spent the first afternoon just relaxing, and chilling out, catching up on the blog was the biggest mission as I was about a week behind. Caught up with Zach later on for dinner as everyone else was still held up in their rooms with bad stomachs still, it looked like we were going to be spending a few days in Hoi an, which I have to say after my first day here I had a really good feel for the place. The sales people are not that pushy and the motor bike drivers are fairly good as well.
So all I have been doing for the last few days is typing and swimming and relaxing, this is what holidays are all about. Hoi an is a jewel in Vietnams crown, the old part of town is a world heritage site, the river front section lights up at night, the glow from the shops and reflections on the river are really beautiful, Hoi an has some stunning architecture, from a Japanese style covered bridge to Chinese styled pagodas the silk shops are more numerous then the locals, it seems every other shop is a silk shop with a few restaurants thrown in just to keep the shopping spirit up.
By the third day in Hoi an the sick were starting to leave their rooms and emerge into the light, we all meet up for a birthday dinner for Mike and Elise who had had their birthdays on the way to Hoi an from Nra Trang. We all indulged and spent a lot more then we normally do on dinner, but it was well worth the expense and it was good to see everyone up and around again.
The next day it was my turn to be sick but it was a cold this time, bugger, could this have come from my little dip in the stream besides the road, I did get a little cold that day. It ended up that we were all going to stay another 2 days any way, the only trouble was my cold was getting worse. Lucky for me our next ride was only 30km, a 103km the day after but that will be kill or curer ride.
I had considered buying a jacket in Hoi an because they had some really nice styles and no way could I get a wool jacket with silk lining for $80NZ, but of cause it would mean 1: I carry it all the way up north, no thanks 2: I send it home but I already have a lot to send home when I leave Hanoi 3: and the biggest thing putting me off was I don’t really need it, and I could spend the money on diving things when I get home.

Back roads lost friends and found friends my god what a day

The days plans were to head out to a place called Son My, were the Americans massacred 200 unarmed local people during the Vietnam war, then a year later completely flatted the area first with bomb and then with tanks to completely remove all trace of what had happened. Like in any war the victors only tell about the atrocities of the other side and forget the atrocities that they did themselves, least we forgot to the victors goes the spoils.
After this we were to head up the coast off state highway one and stop at a beach for lunch then it would be back onto highway one to Hoi an, well that was the plan anyway, best plans can always go astray. We made it to the Son My Museum and had a look around, the captions under the photo’s are entertaining on what they say. A lot of the photos were taken by an American photographer who smuggled a film out of what he had seen take place. Interesting anyway.
After the museum we mounted up and headed off, from the looks of the maps there was just one major road that headed up the coast so should be a easy ride, ha yea, one road right o, I wanted to stretch my legs a bit so headed up the road in front of the others, you all know the saying it’s best to stay in a group, learnt that the hard way. I headed off and to the beach which was not really that far up the road, really nice beach with white sands, I had gone across a bridge and seen one further down the road so thought I would cross back on that and the catch up with the others.
I headed off pretty quick and then the road started to degrade and at this stage I was thinking I had gone the wrong way, but this was the only road, I can to a small village and then took my first of a lot of wrong turns, now by now I knew I had gone wrong so I put on the power to see if I could catch the others, the paved road or what was left of a paved road then headed north so I took that and ended up at a dead end, by a nice little beach full of locals.
Back the other way and asked for directions, I was heading to Son Tra, which could be mistaken for Son Trinh which was back south, this is where the locals were telling me to go, by my shadows I knew I was going the wrong way but did not have to many options, I was starting to panic a bit, not that I was lost but that the others were waiting for me or trying to find me, I had now been going for over two hours with the speed I was doing would have been 20 or more kms that I had done and still I did not really have any idea where I was, after 3 hours of riding through dirt roads I finally made it back onto a tar sealed road.
With being gone for 3 hours and the others only supposed to have taken 1 hour to where we were supposed to go, I was now hoping that they would have headed north and we would meet up in Hoi an, but I could not afford for them to be waiting for me. I ended up meeting another cyclist, and finally found out where I was which was right back at the start of the day Quang Ngai. So from the path I had taken I recon I had done at least 30km loop.
I jumped on State highway one and headed north, I would cut back in further up and hopefully meet up with the others, I could not find the first turn off which was about 15 km up the road so then took the next turnoff, this is where they would be coming out if they had gone the right way. I really put the power on up state highway one, I had not really stopped for that long and it was getting close to 12:30pm now I had been missing for 4 hours, I had a bit of food in my bag so eat that to keep my hunger at bay. I stopped a local guy and got directions from him for where I needed to go and headed towards the coast, my cut off time was 1:30pm if I had not found them by then I would just have to head north to Hoi an.
I made it to what I thought was the right place to find no sign of travelers of any description, it was time to head north, I would just have to leave them an email and hope they did not spend to long looking for me, god I was feeling bad. I had probably wasted half their day. I ended up cruising up a coastal road for another 8km before I hit State highway 1 again. I found a internet place in a town called Nui Thanh and sent Zach an email, hopefully they would get it.
Just as I was leaving the internet place I looked down the road and you would not believe what I saw, 4 bikers coming down the road, so I was now thinking shit they just spent 5 hours looking for me they will be so pissed off, I was not really sure what to say, sorry and an explanation would have to do. They stopped and were really happy to see me, ok was not really expecting that, it seems that they had got lost as well and they were thinking the same thoughts I was. So it ended up working out, the fellowship of the bike was back.
The group now whole again headed off towards Hoi an, we were not to make it that day, it was just too far after all the miles we had all done, we stopped in Tam ky, not much here to speak of really food and bed was it. The group had done around 140km and by the root I took I would have been around 150km to 160km by my reckoning. What a day.

Back roads and a crash, my first crash, nnnnoooooooo

From the city of Quy Nhon we were taking back roads north to try and keep away from the dreaded state highway 1, the carnage and traffic was well worth hiding from. The drivers are crazy and the passing maneuvers are insane.
We were to jump on a bridge over to a peninsula and then head north from there on quiet country roads, it would make for limited traffic and some beautiful views of the beaches up the coast. After a little bit of a wrong turn and some back tracking we found the bridge we needed and we were off heading north. Once across this new bridge we had two options follow the 4 lane highway or the dirt road, after some discussion with a local it was the dirt road we had to follow.
We headed along the harbor side of the peninsula snaking our way around all the pot holes in the road, like me I think everyone thought we were going the wrong way, it did not seem like a road we should be following, the only thing we were sure of was that we were heading north and that’s the way we needed to go.
As we snaked through these pot holes one decided to leap out in front of me, I caught my tire on the edge of the hole and the front slide out and twisted, causing the bike to fall over, sending me over the handle bars and flying into a ditch on the side of the road, the problem with the ditch was it was full of water. So the bike survived the fall with nothing wrong, I on the other hand was soaked, I leaped up as quick as I could but I was still too slow, my bag, and me we soaked, bugger, a couple of locals came out to have a look as well. My dignity had taken a hit, dam road tires. Notice how it is the tires fault and not mine. I had to ring my cloths out to get most of the water out before we headed off again.
We came across more of these big 4 lane roads and decided to follow one that would hopefully take us the right was and it would be a improvement from what we were riding on. But it was not to last the road headed across the peninsula and then south, so we had to turn around and head back the other way, yep great. It was also looking like it could rain to, great yet again.
Back on the correct road we started to make good time, the problem with these small country roads is that there are a limited amount of signs and the villages that were on our maps did not match up with the villages that we were riding through, very confusing, the only good thing was all the roads we were on were heading north and that was the key to the ride to head north.
The fellowship was working we were all getting on really well it was excellent, and after about an hour of riding I was starting to dry off, life was getting better. The beaches along this coast are stunning, blue waters, golden sands and not a person around, the coast line was rugged at times and we had a few hills to climb. We stopped for second breakfast and I ate a lot of pork, pretty much every ones pork, could not really complain, this was looking good getting to eat every ones left over food.
I had a couple of races with some kids up a hill, one of the bikes I was racing was using double kid power, one on the seat peddling and the other on the carrier with his feet on top of the other kids also pushing on the peddles. I managed to lead all the way to nearly the top when Zach came cruising through. At the next hill as the kids had kept following we were off again on another hill challenge the boys considering their bikes gave a good show for themselves and I was pushed climbing the hill, I was thinking at the time it could have been a mistake as we still had a long way to ride that day.
The road weaved to and from the coast as we made our way north, the speed was not what I was used to but our average was still around 19km/h so not too bad. We came back onto the state highway 1 with about 20km to go, but it did not seem long before we were pulling into town and had settled into our rooms.
We all went out and got our bikes washed, mine had not been done for a while so it was pretty happy about that, now you’re asking how a bike can look happy, ride for 4000km and your bike gets a personality, it has it qwirks and kninks and it shines more after a wash. It was also Mikes birthday so a cake was brought with lots of pastries and that was dinner sorted.
There was a bit of a panic for the Americans as they thought they had left their computer in Quang Ngai, taxis were called and Elise was going to head south when they had one more look through the bags and found it, it was not in the usual place. It is one thing about biking, I now pack my bag the same every day so I hopefully will pick up on if I have missed something, won’t speak to soon have a few more days travel to go yet.

Train ride flat tires and a few miles, and a accident

I was up early and headed off to meet up with the others at their hotel then we were off to the train station for the first leg of the journey north, we would be coving about 120km then on the bikes for around 100km, after we arrived and Elise arranged for the bikes to come with us we loaded up them up and found our seats, coffee for the others and some food for the ride and we were off. The new fellowship had started, the gathering of a new multi national cycling team. Canadians, Americans and a kiwi.
The train ride was pretty uneventful, the train rolled through the hills that we would have had to ride over. It still took us a couple of hours on the train, but in the end we rolled into the train station and unloaded the bikes and got ready to head away, we had 90km to do, 50km on state highway one and then we turned off onto One D for 40km up the coast to our first stop of Quy Nhon.
I think we made it 20km out of town when we had our first stop for a flat tyre, bit of a break then back on the road again, the four with the panniers formed a nice little line and they each took turns being out the front of the peloton, with my trailer I don’t give much wind draft it seemed so I just moved up and down the line to make sure they were all working hard, saying that the pace was a bit slower then I have been doing so I kept having to adjust my speed so I did not disappear off into the distance. It all worked pretty well non the less.
Katrina who had had the flat earlier in the day got another one on the same tire again so I offered up one of my mountain bike tires so hopefully no more flats for the day, luckily it ended up being the case.
Once we were off the main highway the roads and traffic improved a lot, we were able at times to ride side by side and chat with each other, which helped pass the time. We passed golden sandy beaches with colorfully painted anchored boats, people going to and fro in round dinghy’s. The road snaked along the coast for 40km till we finally arrived at Quy Nhon our final destination for the day.
We saw an accident on the way, not it happening just the aftermath of one, someone had been struck by a truck, they looked like a older person and had died at the scene, there was no covering the body as you would probably find in New Zealand, it was on show for the crowd that had gathered, the police were there but nothing seemed to be happening. We all rode passed it in silence, it’s the only thing you can really do and carried on towards our goal.
We arrived just in time, we pulled up at the hotel and then the heavens opened up and down came the rain. After showers and a bit of a cleanup we headed out for dinner and were joined by a young Vietnamese girl who Katrina had befriended, it makes life a lot easier having someone there who can speak the language.

Dives and floods in a hotel and on the roads

Back on the boat and out to sea, we were going to a new dive spot, this one was supposed to have massive rocks that we could swim around. It was just me and my divemaster AJ today, so we could take our time and have a bit of fun, there was a swim through somewhere out there so it was our goal for the morning.
After suiting up and doing the buddy checks we were off, it was not the best of visibility but we headed deeper into the unknown, my ears seem to be getting better with equalizing so we off deeper in no time at all. We dropped down a rock face and then headed out, it was pretty cool just swimming along side of the big rocks, had a bit of a look around the bottom for some crayfish (lobster) but did not see any. The water was warmer then yesterday which was good, we dropped down to about 18m, there was not really much to see and I was looking forward to the swim through the only problem was AJ had missed it.
We ended up swimming up a shoot to the surface as AJ had got a bit lost, he even admitted to it, I have to say that the visibility was pretty bad, after surfacing we dropped back under and headed towards the boat, it seems no swim through for me, bugger and I was running low on air, in the end it was a bit of a long swim back to the boat.
After lunch we were onto the new site, still rate the coral better in Thailand but this was the best place so far and we followed one of the local guys who knew the area better then AJ did, got to see lots of fish but no real big ones, seahorses, shrimp and some weird type of squid. It was pretty cool. The visibility was better on this site, and there were a lot more divers on this site, even ended up kicking one guy who swam to close behind me, not sure if it was my fault or his, but considering I kicked him he must have been in the wrong place. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. After the diving it was back to the hotel for a bit of R & R and then off to meet up with everyone later on to discuss the next days travel.
Wondered down to meet the others to find them all fixing their bikes, hhhmmmm how long will we survive on the open road, it had also been decided that we would take a train for the first 100km or so and then it would be on the bikes, it did get us passed a lot of hills and because of the time constraints the others have it also cut of one days riding time.
While we were discussing this the rain started, and it poured down, we were down on the ground floor when all of a sudden there was water pouring down the stairs in their hotel, next minute everyone is running about, I stayed down stairs with every ones gear while the others all headed up to their rooms, the next thing is Katrina comes down and asks if I can help move their gear, we headed up stairs through the water that was cascading down stairs to the fourth to find it with about two inches of water up there. The drains had got blocked and the whole floor had flooded.
Luckily for Mike and Katrina they had managed to get all their gear to higher ground before it got wet through. From our advantage point we could see down to the street below which was about a foot under water and the rain was still coming down. I remember I had left my window and door to the balcony open so headed off back, we would meet at 5:45am to head to the train station.
The walk back to my hotel was more of a swim than a walk, the water on the road came up to thigh level and I have to say was pretty disgusting, it was brown as far as I could make out and all the litter that they leave on the street was floating around, motorbikes were struggling through and the ones that did not were trying to start their engines when they were finally above water by the time I got home I jumped straight in the shower.

Two of four dives

I was up and ready to go just after 7am, breakfast had been waiting for me, and I had even got a knock at the door just in case I was not up, got to love my hotel, best in Vietnam, in fact maybe the whole trip so far, so if you’re in Nra Trang stop at the Phong lan Orchid hotel, it’s off one of the main streets so is pretty quiet to. Bus to pick me up was supposed to be there at 7:50am it arrived at 8:05am not to bad really only 15minutes late, can’t complain in Asia with that.
Jump on the bus and chatted with some of the others on there a few people were doing the open water course and there was also a family and one other guy who ended out being my dive buddy for the day. Sean was his name a Canadian guy, the crazy bugger had got his license in Canada, that must have been cold.
We arrived at the boat and all jumped on then it was off to get wet. Now I always thought Asia was supposed to have warm waters, but it seems I was sadly mistaken, it gets a bit cold under the deep blue sea, at least we had a nice day and the water was not to ruff. After the usual boat rules, we found out who our dive master was going to be, Katrina was mine and Sean’s divemaster for the day. I let Katrina know I had a special mouth piece which she seemed happy to put on for me. 15 minutes later she pops back out with a different mouth piece and explained that my one had inadvertently been thrown over the side. As you can imagine I was not very impressed but it was done now so tried their mouth piece which fit but not really that well. Good start. They did say they would replace it and they would be able to get by the end of the next day.
Once at the site we geared up and over we went, remembered all I needed to which was good, the mouth piece that I was given was a bit big and caused my mask to continuously fill up, good practice on my under water skills. The corral was not really that great and I would have to say that the first dive site was not as good as Ko Tao in Thailand. The reef was very damaged, and because of over fishing you don’t really get to see that many big fish. Still it was fun being out there. I did get a bit cold towards the end but we did spend quite a bit of time under 10m which seemed to be were the thermal layer was.
After a very nice lunch we were back in the water again, I had tried to get another wetsuit to go over the top but they would not give me one the swines, luckily for me we were mostly in about 10m of water so it was still warm. It was quite different on the boat as well, last time I had to do everything, change tanks, etc, this time I got out of the water and BCD, tank and everything was removed for me all I had to do was stand there and then walk off and get food. I like this sort of diving.
I was meeting up with Zach and Elise as we wanted to go on the gondolas that went out to a island just off the coast, we did not know how much it would cost and what was on the other side. Once we were back on dry land I headed off to the gondola, it was not much of a walk but it was incredibly hot. I meet up with Zach as Elise had headed back to their room. It was 300 000dong but this also got us into the rides at the theme park, we did not really know what to expect so we went for a look.
The ride over is pretty impressive really, the gondola runs about 100foot off the water over to the island, it was a real laugh once on the island, we jumped on rides and watched movies, I only saw a couple of other western tourists there, this is all set up for the Vietnamese tourist which is really cool to see. After we had spent around 3 hours there it was time to head off, the clouds were building and it was looking like rain again that night.
That night we all meet up and had dinner again it was looking like we were all going to be heading north together, I had two more dives the next day and Zach, Elise, Mike and Katrina were going snorkeling, so we would meet up later and discuss the next days ride.

Catching up moving hotels and booked the dives

The dawn broke, and well I was still in bed, not really any use in rushing into the day, not much to do, I did get up and move hotels into a family run place, the people there were really sweet and the condiments in the fridge were what I could buy the stuff on the street, my new room was on the first floor which is a god send, I am sick of places where I arrive and then have to lug my bag up three flights of stairs to my room on the third floor, so room sorted.
Was meeting up with Zach and Elise for a late lunch so went out and checked out the dive places in town, they all offer the same thing at round about the same price so it is really all done by feel, who seems the nicest and what if anything do they have that the others do not. There are so many dive places it took most of the morning to stop in and see everyone, but by the end of it I knew who I was diving with.
Meet up with Zach and Elise and had lunch, we were going to hang around for 2 more days then head north, the Canadians I had meet the night before were on their way so we would all be heading out together, from 3 the fellowship of the bike had become 5, a new dynamic. After the lunch I booked my dives for the next two days. That left a relaxing afternoon, I was meeting up with Zach and Elise that night for dinner.
It ended out that the Canadians Mike and Katrina had arrived that afternoon and were staying at the same hotel as Zach and Elise, so when I got down there we all headed out for dinner. It was a cyclist shin dig. Big discussions about riding and all the complexities and annoyances of it, it seems we have a lot in common. The next day was diving, I was looking forward to it but also a bit apprehensive as I had not dived in 2 months and well as you all know had only just got my license

The Fellowship of the Bike

I was up at 5:20am and packing, I had not really slept that well the night before for some reason, had a few dreams, not that I can really remember them. Packed up and headed down stairs the owner looked half asleep still and he was fairly quick to help me put all my stuff outside so he could lock up again and go back to sleep.
Zach and Elise were up and just starting to have breakfast when I arrived at the café. Cornflakes and Milk with Bread butter and jam, good way to start the day, we were on the road just after 7am and heading for the hills, the first 50km were up and down hills, but before that we had to make it out of the city and find the road we needed to be on, it was a bit harder than it sounds, the roads have hardly any signs, so it was compass bearings and asking the locals.
After we were fairly sure we were on the right road we headed out on what reminded me a lot of home, steep hills covered in pine trees, the smell of the pine was beautiful after the stink of car and motorbike fumes . The roads rolled out through the hills, there was a few climbs up and down, some of the climbs were steep but we battled our way through, forging ahead and making progress on covering the 137km for the day. We did a 2km drop at the 50km mark and then pulled over for second breakfast at a road side café, bread, cheese and sugar cover strawberries.
After this it was back on the bike, now I have to point out here that Zach and Elise are on single speeds, that’s right the crazy buggers, so when it came to the hills for them it was all about power, for me I just dropped in to low gear and spun my way up. Also because I was running Disc brakes and they just had V brakes I could go a lot faster downhill as I had so much more stopping power. So on the downhills I would scream a head and then on the up hills they would catch up and most of the time pass me, so it worked out well.
The fellowship was still holding together.
After breakfast and a few more Kms we had a big hill to climb, I felt that we had not really lost to much altitude so the climb would I think have taken us to about 1800m above sea level, at the top of the pass we had beautiful vistas of the area below where we were heading, it looked like it was going to be a fantastic downhill run. I was looking forward to it. From the top I thought I could just make out the sea so 50km away. Because of the height it was still fairly cool, this would change as we headed down.
We got one of the locals to take a group photo for us, just in case we did not make it down, which was a good thing and a bad thing, after the photo we were surrounded by locals, looking at the bikes and asking questions, I had one guy who wanted to compare muscles which was pretty funny, then one guy asked (well pointed and made out he wanted to ride my bike) and another guy jumped on Zachs bike, so we weren’t going to be doing the downhill after all. We managed to get the bikes back when there tour guide told them it was time to go. After this we made our escape.
The road down, was a twisting rollercoaster of a road, no ups all down for the next 24km, It must have taken the Vietnamese a while to build the road, there were large areas where they had had to blast the rock faces so they were able to connect the road together, it did make for a stunning ride.
As we shot down the road, the brakes were screaming in protest, luckily there was a bit of a wind coming up the valley which helped with slowing down. We stopped and took photo’s on the way down as required, Capturing images of each other in the head long rush down the hill. At one point I checked my brake discs and in a matter of a second they were too hot to touch even with gloves on. They were getting a work out.
We were dropping fast in altitude, screaming passed the locals on the side of the road, there were a few cars that were trying to make the ascent that were parked on the side of the road with hoods up looking over heated, but we passed them by in seconds, a few times I was hard on the brakes as the road deteriorated into a single pot hole filled lane, then it was back on the peddles and more speed.
Yes more speed captain..
The closer we got to the bottom which seemed to take a long time the hotter it got, by the time we were doing the last few corners it was like riding through a fan forced oven, the heat at times felt like a physical barrier, punching into me. We finally hit the cafes at the bottom and stopped for a well earned lunch, we had not lost a single man, women or child on the decent, which is always a bonus when riding in a group. After a coke and a big plate of rice and pork we were ready to go again.
The road deteriorated somewhat after leaving the hill, it became a single lane pot hole Struan monstrosity, from the road down which was dual lane this was bloody horrible, excuse the language but it was awful, we struggled on through the heat, dust and pot holes, some as big as our bikes, if you made one wrong move that was it you could disappear in to a pot hole and never be seen again, if it was going to be like this for the next 42 km into Nra Trang it was going to be a slow ride. God save us. Because of the heat and the atrocious road it took us 1 hour to do 6km, we would not be to Nra Trang till mid night at this rate.
Luckily after our stop the roads started to improve and we were able to make more head way, because Zach and Elise were still in low gear single speed mode, I was putting distance on them and then waiting under trees till they caught up, it was decide not by me but by them that I should forge ahead for Nra Trang, leaving them behind, we would meet that night or the next day. The fellowship of the bike was over, after only 110km it had come to an end. I headed towards that fabled city of Nra Trang alone once more.
The road had got a little better, and some of the pot holes were not as big so I was making good progress, my legs were feeling it and I had to stop for food and liquid sugar(red bull) to keep going, by the time I hit the 10km to go mark I was back in the busy roads with thousands of motor bikes everywhere, after the mountains this was a complete change.
I busted my way through the traffic and finally found the beach at Nra Trang and my god was it packed, I have seen pictures of beaches like this in Asia but this was the first time I have ever seen it myself. People everywhere. It was packed. It took me a while to find a hotel as they were all full, finally found one that was alright, it would do for a night then I would find somewhere else tomorrow. Headed out for food, which my body was screaming out for and then pretty much to bed, my body needed rest, I’ll have to see what tomorrow brings.

The Americans have arrive, failed trips and Trailer problems again

Dragged myself out of bed the next day, bit of a sleep in and updated the blog, had a email from Zach and Elise the Americans who ended up coming all the way to Dalat, they arrived a few hours after me. Meet them at their hotel and then we meet up later on for dinner. It was good talking about riding problems. The next day we decided to meet up and head up to the gondola which heads over to a reservoir and is supposed to have stunning views of the area. Will have to see.
Meet up with Zach and Elise for breakfast then we headed off for the walk to the gondola, it was about 3km work but it was a chance to see the city, it did not take us to long to get there, it helped we were chatting all the way so it did keep my mind off my legs, they were still a bit sore from the ride as I had pulled some muscles.
We arrived at the gondola with a stunning view of the city and the hills in the valley I had just ridden up the day before, after a few photo’s and that, we headed into pay for the ride only to find that it was not running, tomorrow was the call from the person behind the desk, so after a bit more of a look around we headed back into town. Spent the rest of the day just chilling out, reading my book and watching crap movies on TV.
The next day I meet with Zach and Elise again to try for the gondolas, this time instead of walking we took a taxi up to the gondolas, but again we were to be turned away, there must be some problem or something for not to be running two days in a row. We thought it would be a good idea to head to the golf course for 9 holes. The car was stopped at the bottom of the street by the police, it seemed the road was closed due to some university thing.
Lucky for us it was just a short walk up the hill to the club house, were we found out that to have a day on the course it would cost $80US or so, which was a bit out of our price range, it fact that’s about a weeks worth of accommodation plus food and everything else. We headed towards the lake and just meandered back towards town, should point out that the golf course is in the centre of town, so it was only a 3km walk back into town.
I left Zach and Elise in town we were going to meet up later on for dinner and make plans for the next days ride to the coast, I headed back to my hotel and then took the bike out for a ride to stretch my legs, did not really have a plan just ride till I find something or nothing as it turned out. I headed north for a start and after about 40minutes ride came to a gate to some park, well you could walk to the top of the hill. It cost 10000 dong to get in and then 180000 to get a 4x4 up the hill or a 3 hour walk, the clouds looked like they were thickening so decide I did not really want to walk for 3 hours so turned round and headed back to town which did not really take too long at all.
Headed up to my room to chill out, read my book and update my blog. Was going to meet Zach and Elise about 7pm but at 5pm got a knock on the door, they were down stairs with a couple of Canadians, who are also cycling around asia, it seems funny that I did not really meet any other cyclist till Lao and now in Vietnam I am meeting a few. We headed out for dinner and chatted about cycling, it was pretty good fun to hear other peoples stories, I am not sure what is going to happen but we are all going to meet up in Nra Trang and see what happens from there, still have to ride there yet.

76kms, sore muscles and then the final climb. O yes a waterfall

As you can see had 76km to Dalat easy day out, found out from the Americans Zach and Elise there is a bit of an uphill climb at the end of the day, great. The sun was shining by the time I got up, had a bit of a sleep in after a few hundred kms over the last two days. Headed out on the open road and in no time at all was swinging my way through the rolling hills and the fields of Coffee and tea.
Quick break for breakfast and then back on the bike, all of a sudden I was at the last 10km which was all up hill, stopped before the climb and had a red bull, then started the Crank up hill, have to say it was one of the better climbs I had done, it probably helped that I had only done 60km before the climb, that’s right only 60. Headed into a pine forest and the road serpentine up the hill.
There was a bit of traffic and a few buses went past but really the road was fairly quiet, I had to have a bit of a stop about a 3rd of the way up because for some reason got a bit light headed, it passed fairly quickly and the view was worth the stop, I looked out on a tree covered valley, with the hills behind and the sound of the river below crashing down the rocks below, the wind was rushing through the trees, perfect.
After my little break I headed on up the hill and stopped at the Datanla waterfalls, it was a nice place, a lot of locals around, found out it is holiday time at the moment. Wandered down to the falls and it was nice enough, you see better in NZ but for a tourist spot it was pretty good. Very built up, and set up for the Asian market, or really the local market. Bit of information for you, it cost around $5000 US for a Vietnamese person to travel to the west, which for locals is well out of there price range. It does cost them less to travel in Asia and I am not sure what the authorities would do if they headed to Thailand and then from their overseas, but I don’t think it would be worth it for them. So in Vietnam a lot of the tourist spots are there for them which is pretty cool.
They have a roller coaster that runs down the hill which I did not go on which I really should have, it looked like it would be fun, so after the wonder down to the falls and the photo in front I headed back up the hill, I passed a lot of locals struggling back up the hill, it was only a 400m walk but a few groups were stopped on the way up puffing and panting.
Lunch was at the top and then about 5km more to Dalat, it was a good time to head up as the clouds were building and it looked like rain was on the way, had a bit of thunder and lightning but the rain did not catch up with me. Dalat is a beautiful, what kiwis would call a city but for Vietnam a Village up at 1475m, it is warm by day but cools off at night. Because of the holidays it is fairly busy but were I am staying it is not so bad.
I made it just after 1pm so had the whole afternoon to explore the town centre and market. I went and stopped down by the lake for afternoon tea. The big thing in Dalat is the motorbike club who offer rides around the area, and rides down to Nra Trang, so because I was down there sitting one of them decided it was a good time to throw the sales pitch my way.
He tried to sell me a three day bike ride to Nra Trang and even when I said I am riding a bicycle he still carried on with the sales pitch. I tried a couple of times to explain the bicycle situation to him but he was not listening so I gave up and let him carry on then once he had finished I said I would find him if I wanted a ride. NOT. If he does not listen now just imagine what he would be like on a 3 day ride, maybe I should have booked him and shown up with my bike and everything and said carry that.
The Americans should be arriving the next day so would catch up with them hopefully and see what their plans are and see if I can ride to the coast with them for a change.

Hill climbing, coffee or tea and a swollen hand

When I woke up in the morning, I found that my hand was swollen, there was a distinct white spot where I had been bitten, luckily it was not sore or itchy so just squeezed it into my glove and headed off. From now till the 80km mark it was all about climbing, those long slow never ending climbs, the miles ticked away as I eat up the distance to my next stop.
Breakfast was had and again back on the bike, my legs were feeling it a bit from the day before, not that it was a hard day, it’s just I had not done much riding for a week. It is amazing how much I week off can affect you, saying that it does not take too long to get back into it. The ride was pretty easy going till I hit a small town of Da Mri, it was my second breakfast stop and I am glad I did, as after breakfast it was reminiscent of the climbs in Lao. 1st gear kranking up the hill, it was about 14km of 1st gear kranking.
Some locals had stopped at one point and invited me to have some fruit and a chat, it was a good time to have a break so I pulled over. I eat there fruit and we chatted about pretty much anything and everything, after about ½ an hour it was time to move on up the hill I still had a long way to go. After another hour of kranking I stopped at a place of worship, a shrine to what looked to me like Merry. It seems this whole area is christen, lots of massive churches everywhere, which to my mind is a bit stupid when you still see people living in run down houses, but that seems to be the way of a lot of religions.
Before I go on, I have mentioned in the past about me losing weight, well my bike has gained weight, I rode on to a truck scale the other day when leaving Ho Chi Min, me and the bike were 110kg, I’m 64kg with my water bag, so the bike is near 45kg now fully loaded, when I left New Zealand me and the bike were 100kg, might have to put the bike on a weight loss program.
Back to the kranking, I finally made it to the top after 2 and a bit hours of up, which is about 10kms, I was feeling pretty warmed up by now but the temperature had drop a lot, I estimate that I had climbed about 500 vertical meters, not bad for a mornings ride. After I crested the top of the hill I looked out onto a plateau, I called it the Vietnamese plateau, just like the Tibetan plateau but lower in altitude and with less mountains and lots of green, so really nothing like the Tibetan plateau besides being in the hills and flat-Ish that is a fairly big ish in fact as I was to find out.
Boc Loc was my lunch time port of call, it is a pretty big city really, that stretches for a good 15kms. At lunch had a sign language conversation with some Vietnamese tourists about my bike, they seemed fairly fascinated by my cleats on my shoes. So after lunch I would have 44kms to my stop point, I only had 2 hundred thousand dong left so had to find a bank, which in a big city you would think was easy, I had found a couple of ATMs but non would accept my card, luckily found one on the way out so I was safe for money again.
My nights stop was in a place called Di Linh, which I was glad to get to after 44kms of rolling hills, I did pass people picking tea leaves with their bamboo sacks on their backs it makes a beautiful sight. The hills and flats have tea and coffee plants everywhere, it took me a few Kms to work out it was coffee trees I was passing through.
When I pulled into my hotel, which is to say it was one of 3, and looked the nicest I notice two bikes were I parked my bike, 2 Americans were staying there as well, so I found out which room they were in and after a bit of shopping and dinner I introduced myself. They have been through NZ, Australia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam heading towards India. We talked for a while and I will meet up with them in Dalat, as they were going to be taking 2 days to get there. They are also meeting up with some other riders there so could be heading to Nha Trang in a group, will be something different.
They have a story about a guy who has been riding for 7 years and has a bike seat made out of tire tubes, I think he is one of those fantasy stories, he is a myth. They say he can speak twelve languages backwards, and only stops riding for 1 hour a day. Last sighting of this man was somewhere in India, or was it Thailand, no one knows…

Crazy, smoggy madness

I was up and putting the trailer on the bike by 5:30am, Ho Chi Min was already up and moving and it was time for me to say good bye. Well good bye took two hours, well that is how long it took me to get out of the city, well till I hit the next city anyway. The smog was up early as well, it is really bad, I had a face mask but still in was horrible. I think the only way to describe it is if you put a cigarette up each nostril and one in your mouth and smoked them all at once, maybe one in each ear as well.
My path out was pretty easy, hit roundabout take 3rd right, then take 2nd left stay on that road for about 15kms over a bridge, then turn left again and head into the rising sun for 25km and then right and head to the hills for 40km and then stop for the night in hopefully a town with a hotel or something. Or something, well that will come more to write first.
After negotiating the inner city traffic and heading towards my left turn in to the rising sun I nearly went the wrong way, the problem with the roads is you don’t know where you are and most of the time I am working by north south east west and 30minutes riding equals 10km or so. The road signs are all in Vietnamese and asking someone on the side of the road is generally going to get you in even worse position.
After a quick U-turn across a duel lane road which is no easy feat, and then negotiating the roundabout I was back on the road into the rising sun, so had to stop and put my sunglasses on. Then it was off again on the open road, which really was not that open as there are buildings on both sides of the road all the way to the next city and then about 10km out of that as well.
By the time I finally out of all the buildings it was time to make the left turn towards the hills. The hills had already begun but just small rolling hills, and that was the way it went for most of the day, I seemed to be doing more Ascending than descending so I was progressively gaining altitude as you would expect doing more ascending.
For a while now I have been riding through rice paddy fields and flat land now I was into the rubber plantations, it was a nice change. As I headed over one hill I dropped down to a bridge over a river, which is what their there for, but the different thing about this area was, there were houses on the river floating (which is lucky for the owners), a whole town of floating houses, it was pretty interesting to see. The people also row boats different as well, they use their feet, it is pretty cool indeed. I spent a bit of time doing some photo’s and then headed off. Also ran into a load of guys out for a weekend ride on old army bikes, there were about 12 in all, pretty cool to see.
The last hill into Dinh Quan was a right dog of a hill, it was hot and long so long, one of those hill were you go around the corner and start to cry when you see there is still more hill to go. Once at the top there was a small downhill and then I was in the town managed to find a hotel with some help from the locals and it was right next to the market, I could get fruit.
I got my room and jumped in the shower, I had just got dry and had just put some shorts on when I got a knock at the door, I open to find the manager at my door, now she cannot speak English and from the sign language she was see if I wanted a shag, which of cause it would have cost me, I politely turned her down, and then realized I would not get a lot of sleep that night as it was a brothel. Great, luckily it was not to bad and they seemed to be using the rooms away from mine. The funniest thing was I was up at 5:30 the next morning and had to wake them up to get my passport back.

Transformers and shopping (it had to happen)

Well I stayed another day, and yes it is because I wanted to see Transformers, all so I was putting off the three days of riding I am going to be doing, that would be 300km. So thought I would go to the early session and that would leave me the rest of the day for shopping and getting ready for the ride.
Transformers lived up to my expectations, it was really good, it was even better to watch it with a cinema full Vietnamese, because there humor is a little different to the West or mine at some points I was laughing and they weren’t, and at some points they laughed and I am not really sure what they were laughing at but it made for a good movie anyway.
So after the movie it was time for shopping, that’s right ladies shopping, but guy’s shopping and yes Cherie that is a lot different from Norm shopping. I knew what I wanted, a new T shirt and a Back up Memory stick for all my photo’s, so for the shirt it was off to the Market, I had done some scouting and a bit of haggling to see what the price was I could get it for so I was prepared.
I walked into the market and within a few minutes I had found what I was looking for, and it help that I kinda knew how much it cost, so I asked the price and there it was 120 000 dong, so I said 50000 dong, it should be around 60000 dong, got the this is a good price and all the other things that go with it. Rather entertaining if you have the time to spend, I ended up settling for 65000, O and before those people who have been to Vietnam say that’s a lot, it is a sports t-shirt not a normal t-shirt.
After this I wandered through the streets away from the tourist area and found a computer store, picked up a branded USB drive, 8 gig for $25nz which was a lot better than I had found else were. The rest of the day was packing and preparation for the ride out of Ho Chi Min.

Doctors tubes and a bit of shopping

You will be happy to know the hospital is as crazy as the streets, how they can get anything done I do not know and the waiting room for Endoscopy was just as crazy, people everywhere, waiting rooms packed. The procedure was pretty quick and I was in and out, it was just the way I remember it, the doctor had a look around, once the tube is in it is a weird feeling having them pump your stomach up, did a lot of burping afterwards.
Once complete they did not really say much to me, wait outside and then they handed me my results, all in Vietnamese so no reading that, back down to the doctor downstairs and find out what is going on. Well they found something, for one I have had a virus as something in my bloods was below normal but nothing else, excellent no malaria or swine flu, and my stomach, seems I have an inflammation in the lower part of my stomach which has been causing me the pain. Well with the combination of the two I felt like crap. It is good to know that it was something and not a manifestation of my child hood traumas at the hands of my older brother, really the beatings I received were not that bad and I probably cause more trauma to my sister, who at the age of can’t remember still drags up my past indiscretions. Watch out Bex’s they might start physically coming out if you can’t put it behind you, you have to think of them as lesions, Not sure what I was teaching you though.
After the doctor I headed off and out of the crazy hospital into the crazy streets, I had seen a movie theater on the way and thought I would go and watch something, Transformer is out tomorrow so that was a bit of a bugger, but startrek was on so that would do. Ended up being pretty good and used a few hours. When you have not got plans and don’t really feel like doing much it is nice just to have a couple of hours were you don’t have to think about anything but the movie.
Later in the afternoon took the bike out for a ride, it had just been sitting there for a week so had to get everything moving again and give the chain a clean. The roads were fun and crazy and I saw one crash and I think I was the cause as it happened right behind me, not that I was in the wrong, it happened because someone was watching me and not the rest of the traffic, well that’s my story and I am sticking to it. I thought about heading off the next day or going to Transformers, I could have gone but I really wanted to see Transformers, is that bad.
You know travelling around Asia and I want to stop in and see a movie, well I can only hope it is worth it, I liked the last one so should like this one, O yes it is cheaper over here cost me $6 NZ which is better the $15 I would have paid in NZ.

Stool and wandering

Ha ha who the hell would read this blog aye, we have all been there and had bowel problems at some point, while at home or travelling, probably more while travelling, even with the greatest amount of care bowel issues will arise at some time, they may not happen on one trip but in the end it will happen, never gloat if someone else has a bowel problem.
Anyway my stool was clear, besides some blood, just what you wanted to hear is it not, well you chose to read this even with that heading so what do you expect. Which is a problem, now my gut never did turn bad, No runs so to speak, just a painful stomach, headache and sore neck and with a clear result that then begs the question what the fuck is wrong with me this time. Could it be that these problems are psycho somatic or do I really have a problem, maybe these are physical manifestations of some past psychological event that are now manifesting, all those years of being beaten up by my brother (Thanks Mark) have come to the surface. It could be, or it just could be that my body after suffering years of physical abuse is finally returning the favor, then you have to ask am I worse than anyone else my age, from how my friends are excluding Terry who is trying to catch up yes. Aaron has put in a weak show and Curly has some good problems but seems to bounce back with no side effects. As for the rest of you your not putting in enough effort. Not that you want to.
So where does that put me, stuck in HO CHI MIN CITY with a painful stomach and no one can at the moment tell me why. Psycho somatic or not I still cannot really leave this city till it is sorted, the logistics of getting me and my bike back to the city if the shit really hits the fan(excuse the pun) would be too much for my fragile mind and body to cope with, No not really, it still amazes me what the mind and the body can cope with when it has to. On the skem of things I could be a lot worse and don’t I know it, and so do you from reading this blog.
So I have a test tomorrow which will be Thursday the 2nd were they are going to stick a tube down my throat and have a look at my stomach, lovely, if you have not had this experience you should give it a go, hope the gag reflex is on holiday, I am sure these doctors think let’s do all we can to the foreigner to see if he is different, no really I am hoping they find nothing and if there is something there it’s not too serious, I really want to finish off Vietnam.
The Hospital is a bit different in Vietnam, you have to pay for everything before you have it done, they do let you see the doctors first, then if you need anything after that they charge you there and then, my problem was they don’t accept Mastercard or Visa, cash only, and guess what the closest machine is a block away, but the only way I could find that out was walk out and have a look, as no one there knew were one was that did take the fore mentioned cards, so I had to walk out and look for one, lucky my leg was not broken or I had been disemboweled, that would have made things interesting. I found one in the end and my bill for the hospital is 1 million Dong, my bill this time is about 4 million dong, my insurance are going to love me. They better find something wrong, otherwise after last time what will the insurance think..
So besides the doctors visits what have I been doing you may ask, well there is a good question, what would someone do if they were stuck in a foreign city with a dodgy stomach, well because my stomach was just sore and I did not have to run off to the toilet every 5 minutes, and I did not have the fear of being count out in a public place with no toilet and the extreme agony with the possibility of my bowels releasing the evil there and then, I went forth and explored.
Ho Chi Min City capital of the south, home to 5.38 million people and one of the craziest traffic systems I have come across so far, which reminds me had a close encounter with a motor bike this morning, it was his fault and not mine, I did what I was supposed to, walked across at an even speed, and had made it to the middle of the road as I had turned and looked the other way to make it pass the second half I heard a screeching of tires and looked around to see a bike skidding towards me. Now your thinking will that is not too bad, well I had to put my hand out and was pushed down the road by the bike, I think the guy crapped himself more than I did, as it took him a while to move off. I just carried on crossing the road like nothing happened. You know happens all the time. It really did have to happen at some point.
With not really wanting to buy anything which Ho Chi Min is a shopping heaven girls out there, I took my camera out and have tried to capture the essence of the city, what is the city like? Who are these people and can you really capture it in one photo? Is it the motor taxis, is it the old ladies with their traditional hats selling fruit on the corner, is it the smiling girl on her push bike in the rain, can one photo bring this madness and beauty together and show the world what Ho Chi Min is or am I asking too much of my photography, or is it a place that needs lots of photo’s and one would never be enough. Or could it be that no amount of photo’s can capture Ho Chi Min City and the only real way to experience it is to hop off a plane and walk into the madness yourself. Well that I will leave up to you to decide, I will have put up some more photo’s by the time you read this and there is already some up so enjoy. The experience is mine at the moment but for $2000 for flights and $200 a week it could be yours too, but you would have to have a fan room.