Knowing
that it would be my last cycling day with the trailer I wanted to push myself
and that worked: I felt full of energy and was racing passed everything. There
wasnt much to see around here and I had plenty of water so I only had to stop
for food once in a while. At 12.30 I reached Hanoi: 65 km done! Now I still had
to find the house of Cans parents which is the total other side of the city. I
had to go on the internet to find the exact route description. A few moments
later I was making my way through traffic, Luckily I had decided to only take
major roads so I had to follow the big road 12 km north. There I was looking
for the house, but couldnt immediately find it; Can told me that there was
this kind of factory around but nobody knew it. He forgot to mention the name
of the restaurant: there were signs everywhere but I didnt know that that was
it. After passing it 3 times I decided to go in and ask; I didnt have to ask:
they already knew who I was. This was the place where I had to be. They have a
lovely garden! His mother prepared a great meal and afterwards we went out to
meet the family
After
a short night sleep I had to wake up the owner of the hotel to be able to
leave. Its strange that here people dont get up before 7 am while only 30 km
away they all get up at 6 or earlier I arrived at the house that Dong and Sôn
pointed out as being theirs but there were other people sitting outside so I
texted them and they let me up to their room. I have to say that they are poor:
it was smaller than my last place in Leuven and they lived there with 5 people!
They had 2 wooden beds, some blankets, 1 rope to hang their clothes, a pipe
with some tobacco and everyone had a toothbrush. That was really everything
they had! I felt bad about them treating me a beer 2 nights ago (ok, I returned
the favour last night but still). We went out to eat Pho at the same
restaurant, apparently the owner was really happy that I had been there a
couple of times and we didnt have to pay. People can be soo nice!
Anyway time to head out and I packed my bicycle and checked out. But I couldnt
leave yet, I met a Canadian who I had met up with for the past few evenings and
he wanted to check whether we could do some trekking together in the
North-West We went over some possibilities with the guide and finally I set of
towards Hanoi (it was already 11 am so I missed 4 good cycling hours). I wanted
to avoid highway No.1 at all cost so that meant going east, then turning onto
some small road, which was full of potholes, then going some more east, again
north and finally west. Totally shaken up but with quite a good average speed I
reached highway No.1 35 km north of Ninh Binh. This was a primary goal but then
it wasnt late yet so I continued looking for road 21 B. I couldnt find it so
I asked where it was and he said 2 km back. The milestones indicated that it
was 7 km back so that was a detour of 14 km! If I had known I would have taken
another road Once on 21 B I forgot all the trouble, it was a very nice road
trough the fields on an elevated road: lovely. I soon arrived in the city where
I wanted to sleep: 60 km from Hanoi but as it seemed there was no hotel or
guesthouse in this city. I couldnt believe my ears: such a big city and no
guesthouse or hotel? So I asked for homestays but nobody seemed willing so I
had to go back to the previous city. Another detour of 12 km but I found a
pretty nice guesthouse.
I slept long today since I didnt have that
much on my planning and it got pretty late last night. I first did some extra
research on the internet before going to the restaurant because I have learned
that they start serving the daily rice dishes at around 10 am so I went and yes
it tasted even better than the evening before since everything was still warm! After
a good breakfast I headed towards the touristy sights of Ninh Binh area: Karsts
mountains and a few old pagodas. They call this place Halong bay in the rice
paddies When I arrived there were already quite a few tourists around so I
tried to get away from them, which didnt work that well, the paths I took
always ended in the middle of nowhere so I had to turn back. Finally I found a
place where the scenery was nice and where there are no tourists around.
Completely surrounded by nature I took my flute and started to play some tunes,
the mountains had a nice echo on the high tones After a while I went to some
pagodas, when I drove past the river again it was traffic jam of all the boats
with tourists. These boats are pretty interesting to see/ they have a special
way of rowing with their feet as you can see below on the picture.
I saw around 50 big busses at the parking lot and it was white from the
tourists, unbelievable how many people do the daytrip from Hanoi. Luckily they
were all first taking the boat trip so I hurried to the pagodas, which werent
that special at all so not really worth it. It was getting crowded again so I
went back still passing one last temple. This temple is said to be a great
sunset spot but it was too early for sunset so I didnt go up (they have a
pretty big entrance fee and its said to be not worth the effort if its not
time for sunset). Instead I heard some traditional music from another temple
nearby so I went to take a look. There was a ceremony going on which I believe
is very interesting and they invited me in to watch. I noticed that it was
similar to the one that I had seen 9 years ago and then took for a bachelor
party which as I learned is a ceremony for strength and power. It can be done
before they get married but it is more general. I watched for a while and
listened to the music but it is always the same thing with different clothes so
I went back to the guesthouse. I didnt have wifi for quite a long time so now
that I have a hotel with wifi I want to use it! For dinner I went back to the
same restaurant (the food changes all the time and it tastes good) and met up
with Dong, Sôn and the others. We made an appointment for breakfast (anh sang
or something similar) at 6 am next morning at their house. In the evening I met
some guys from Antwerp and later in the evening a couple from Holland, it was
nice to speak dutch again!
In the morning I went to Kim Son, there should be a festival
out here so I wanted to check it out. It is about 30 km from Ninh Binh but it
didnt seem that far: the road was very good and on the way I could see some
interesting things: the church (see picture below) was the most interesting.
After asking for directions a few times, I arrived at the temple and was right
in time for the devotions. I got a book with prayers and after a while I could
join a few sentences. 2 hours later, the devotion was finished and they gave me
some bananas and sticky rice for lunch. I enjoyed it together with the monks
and afterwards they showed me a lock and signed that I had to leave. Apparently
that was it, no sign of the swimming competition/ folk games/ folk singing/ I
went to an internet café and checked the website. I asked the owner whether or
not this was going on and where it was, he had no clue what it was about (100 m
from the temple). I tried to call the tourist information service but they
didnt answer
Anyway I found out that Kim Son is famous for its straw weaving:
basketry, carpets and such things. With a new mission I drove through the town,
I wanted to learn as much as possible about this weaving and maybe I could get
something small as presents? 500 meter further I found some women finishing off
the baskets with leather handles. Another 500 meter further I drove past a
factory where they were painting the straw but that was it. I wasnt
satisfied so I drove into some smaller suburb of the city, apparently the wrong
one because there was nothing going on. However I ran into some churches so it
was worth it School was about to start again after lunchbreak and thus I could
follow the stream of students into another suburb. This time I found a
factory where they were making baskets from scratch, tons of baskets! In the
storage rooms thousands of baskets where piled up and you could find them in
all sizes and colours. All work was put on pause and they guided me around,
which was not good for taking pictures so I kindly asked them to keep on
working and not be disturbed by me wandering around. After a glass of tea with
the owner I continued my exploration through the straw fields. A bit later I
found a lot of straw on a street so I gave it a closer look and found a weaving
tool, the owner was on his afternoon nap so I couldnt see him in action :( . A
bit further I found some people working again and the entire inner square of
the house was filled with straw handicrafts, they invited me in so of course I
followed my curious nose
The people were very nice and we had a talk (with
the use of my phrasebook and pen and paper ) with some tea. They had some
really nice handicrafts that I wanted to buy but instead of buying them I
received them and quite a few more handicrafts. I was invited to stay for
dinner but I was 33 km from my hotel so I had to go back before it was dark. Back
in Ninh Binh I found a nice restaurant where I enjoyed some rice and met a few
locals: Sôn and Dong are the two names that I remember. They all worked in the
same company and lived together. I ended the day with some beers and tourists
at the guesthouse, finally some decent English. I notice that mine is
deteriorating :(
I
woke up not knowing that today would be a day that Ill never forget! In the
morning I took my usual shower and went for breakfast as I do every day. I had
Pho bo as I do most of the time, for dessert I went to get some ice cream in a
local store. To my surprise the owner spoke German so we had a little talk; he
used to work in germany for 2 years. I was really impressed about his German:
it was very fluent and he said that he hadnt used it in 8 years! Anyway this is
not the event that I will never forget no, no. After I loaded everything on my
trailer, I went to check out; I got my passport back but when I wanted to pay,
she returned the money and said that she needed more. I told her that I
negotiated with the son and that this would be it, so I put the money on the
desk and got on my bicycle. She ran to the gate and locked it so that I
couldnt leave; then it happened: she came after me with a knife. Not a
table-knife but a big meat-chopping knife and waved it in front of my nose then
towards my bicycle and yelled money! I got my coat and my camera (the valuable
things in sight; my coat contains my wallet since I have no pockets) and ran
for the gate, still being chased by a woman with a knife. I climbed over the gate
and ran across the street to the police station; the woman stopped when she
noticed that everyone could see her and walked back.
At the police station I
encountered a problem: nobody speaks English around here and I had had to leave
my phrasebook with my bicycle. After a
few phonecalls with someone that spoke a few sentences English I had my story
together and surrounded by a police force I headed back towards the hotel. The
gate wasnt locked anymore so we could walk in and I found all my stuff untouched
(except for the bicycle; they always mess with my bicycle, luckily it is very
durable).It was now 1 pm and I still
had to leave! Luckily I only had 40 km planned and soon I was surrounded by
beautiful rock-formations! The rest of the day was a beautiful tour along a
good road until I reached highway 1. Its pure evil for a cyclist: a lot, a lot
of trucks, busses and cars that constantly honk. I raced along this road and
then took a break halfway where I met a guy who wanted to show me around his
neighbourhood. He paid for my ice-cream and was really nice so I followed him
and met a bunch of his friends in his back yard (he made a phone call after I
said that I would go with). They all worked together to make full questions and
then asked them to me. I enjoyed the peace and quiet neighbourhood but it was
getting late so we quickly visited his church and then I had to go again. In
Ninh Binh I had some difficulties finding a cheap hotel or guesthouse but
finally I ended up in this German-speaking hotel where I had a very small
room but they had wifi and a beergarden. The beergarden is the main attraction
and is always filled with Germans! I met some nice people in the evening and
got a chance to contact home.
I woke up feeling slightly better and left pretty early
(7.30 am) towards where-ever I would get tonight. Thingsactually went pretty well and after barely 1
hour I met another cyclist. The guy was very well prepared and his handlebar
was full of electronic gadgets: Iphone for mp3 player and if necessary google
maps for more detailed streets, a garmin gps with the major roads of Vietnam so
he could keep track of his speed and the altitude, All of this blended in
with his touring bicycle, he only had panniers in the back so he was travelling
light. He was surprised to see a guy drag a trailer around and asked for my
picture. He told me that I was completely crazy and pointed out that it was
pretty hilly out here so I told him that I have been to Da Lat and that this is
absolutely nothing compared to that place. He also suggested some road but it
would take me in the opposite direction as where I want to go so I thanked him
and kept going. A look on my map told me that I had already done 20 km so that
means Im going really well! About 40 km further I noticed the first Karsts
Mountains and another cyclist so we had a meal together. Its really nice to
meet other cyclists; it takes away the feeling that you are doing something completely
insane. Too bad that they are all going the opposite direction which is
actually understandable. If you ever want to cycle through Vietnam I also
recommend you to do it the opposite way; the wind is always coming from the
north so it would be easier to go from North to South. Anyway, the environment
gave me some new energy but that was not the only thing: there was a tractor
that was going about the same speed as me. Uphill he was faster and surpassed
me but downhill I was faster so I could take him over again. For 20 km we continued
this game until he turned left towards his home and I stopped for a picknick.
Everyone came to look and told me that a bit further was a restaurant but I had
tomatoes, cucumber, ketchup, sausage and bread so why would I want to eat rice?
I felt like eating some bread so I enjoyed it! A bit later I arrived in Cam
Thuy and the view was just amazing so I decided to explore these surroundings
some more and stop for the night. I drove around and arrived at a river where I
had a nice view but I noticed some movement a bit further along the river. When
I arrived there I saw some people with ox-carts digging sand and transporting
it to another place. I took some pictures and they were really into that so
they started posing on their buffaloes and pulling some jokes on the other
guys. Really entertaining for me! They also appreciated that I had some candy
for them so they took a break from the work. It was starting to get dark so I
went to look for some food; there wasnt anything really interesting in this
part of town so I went across the river and I found a soccerfield with a lot of
children playing. I could only watch for one minute before they dragged me of
my bicycle and I had to join. I found myself in the light-coloured-shirt team
and we won! With 1 goal and 2 assists I had my share in the game and we were
all very happy!
I
noticed something new on my map: an arrow indicating a steep hill, I have to
say that I noticed that. It was already there after 2 km; I found myself trying
pushing really hard to get up while on the side of the road quite a few local
people where cutting manioc roots into small pieces and laying them on the
street to dry. Accompanied by the beating of the knives and occasionally a more
sophisticated chopping wheel I reached the top and could go down for 3 km! Then
it was up again, the word flat has no meaning at all around here! Next on my
route was the national park of Cuc Phuong; a beautiful elevated road (FLAT!!!)
circled past the mountains and a river was the only barrier between the
national park and the road I was on. Soon I had to turn right away from the Ho
Chi Minh road; merely 2 km further the road went from good, to bad, to worse,
to horrible! Kilometres long the road was in a horrible state followed by 1 km
of decent road and then again a road full of potholes. I think that I passed at
least 600 potholes in the 20 km that I drove from the Ho Chi Minh road towards
Nho Quan. Definitely no terrain for a trailer, but actually quite a peaceful
road with a cave along the way. For my Chinese friends I took a picture of the
Chinese description of the place. There was nobody there so if one of you would
be so kind to translate this In the evening I checked in in a fancy hotel
where they said was wifi available. There indeed was wifi but the internet was
not working so I negotiated with the son of the family that I would pay less
since the internet was not working and they told me there would be internet.
Everything seemed fine so I went to an internet bar instead and went to bed
afterwards.
Today I would cycle a full day along the Ho Chi Minh road, through
the sugar cane, manioc and rice fields. I saw a lot of the local life and I met
another cyclist: a French woman joined me for a drink however she was going the
other way so we only chatted for 15 minutes exchanging some information about
the roads and the life of a cyclist. It was definitely interesting and she told
me that I would soon enter a more interesting part of Vietnam: Karsts Mountains!
I was planning on taking a detour for that but apparently you can see it on the
road as well Maybe Ill have to change my plans again. Anyway there is not
much to say about today, its the same story as the past few days: nice
scenery, nice people, some rice wine and a horrible wind ahead. Oh one other
thing: the trailer started ieping really loud, the sound gave me some sense of
rhythm and thus stimulated me to keep a stable speed. In the evening (starts at
4 pm) I drove trough town and into a village nearby where I found a machine to
peal the rice. Maybe you remember that we saw a similar machine in the north-east
of Thailand. This one is a bit less sophisticated but it works, up to you to
decide which one is better. To give some information about where I am: I am in
Yen Cat, the city I wanted to reach in 2 days from Vinh. I am still suffering
from being ill in Buon Me Thuot
Felt horrible in the morning: every muscle hurt
as I went for breakfast and an internet bar. I think I passed every street in
the entire city before I found one: in a small alley there was a small shop
with 12 pcs. Mentally refreshed by the e-mails from home I set off over again
wonderful roads trough places rarely visited by foreigners. I saw a lot of
farmers ploughing the fields with the use of an buffalo or cow. Again a very
nice ride and then I arrived on the Ho Chi Minh road, a big road with not so
much traffic but its never flat and the wind is always coming from the
North/North-East which made it very hard from time to time. One thing that I
didnt like are the traces of deforestation. There are also a couple of very
steep hills with elevations of more than 10%. I dont know what was wrong with
me but after 60 km I was really tired and thus had to call it for the day. In
the evening I went to the bigger town nearby to get some internet so that I
could send a message home, apparently there was no internet here but the people
I asked had a computer and they let me in so that I could use theirs. I love
the Vietnamese hospitality! On the way back I went up a hill to watch the
sunset and play a bit on my bamboo flute, I kind of miss playing the bassoon or
bagpipes. It was very relaxing but I had to hurry in order to get back before
it was completely dark. When I got back the electricity was down so there was
not much to do except for going to a bar and enjoying a beer at candle light. The
ideal setting for a romantic evening but too bad, Im travelling alone.
since the last post doesn't have a lot of pictures I took a lot of them today:
7th of November:
I went to pick up my bicycle and noticed that my
tire was flat but there seemed to be no hole however the jepap = ventiel
(sorry, I have no clue about the English word: the thing where the air enters
the tube) was broken. I couldnt fix it and had to go to a repair guy, he
immediately knew the problem and after 2 minutes I was 3000 dong poorer and my
bike was fixed. I also asked him to put some oil on my chain and I was ready to
go! I started off taking the wrong road, apparently there have been a lot of
road constructions in Vinh that are not on my map. I realised when the road
went from a 2- lane to a 1-lane to a dirtroad and kept going north while it
should go west. I stopped to ask directions and 2 out of 3 told me to go left
so I went left (there is always someone who tells you the wrong direction). I
stopped 500 m further to make sure that it was the correct way and yes it was;
3 km further I was totally shaken by all the potholes and arrived at Highway
1A, one of the new roads that is not on my map. I had to go back east and then
get on the right road. Conclusion: it was now noon and I hadnt even started! I
knew that I could never reach my goal but still I drove faster than normal and
passed some really nice scenery; the road was pretty good with only little traffic,
lots of hills, lakes, locals, Everything you need to have a nice cycling
afternoon!
first of all sorry for not having any pictures: this has 2 reasons: I forgot my camera and the weather was really bad most of the time...
2nd of November
Today I took it easy and just went walking through town,
checking on the monuments, looking for a way to go back home since the bus from
the hotel is not going due to excessive rain! The other bus companies also
didnt go so I would have to find something to do. I didnt have to look much:
when I was buying fried bananas (one of the most delicious snacks), a guy came
up to me and said that he was doing some guiding. I asked for more information
and well it seemed interesting so we made a deal. Afterwards he invited me to
go have some dinner and a few drinks with his friends for tonight. It was a
nice dinner and we had some rice wine, vodka and red wine. Meanwhile we had
past about 5 houses where we always got some food and a drink ;), he knows
quite a lot of people so that is promising for tomorrow. We also made an
appointment to have an English conversation class tomorrow evening so
everything was great and I went to bed!
3rd of November
I woke up feeling horrible! I checked my symptoms on the
internet and called my mom (at 2 am for them ;-)) she told me to go to a
doctor. I was lucky that I hired a guide because English is usually a problem
when going to a doctor or non touristy institution. This doctor spoke a few
words of English (the names of symptoms and such) and then my guide knew the
basic conversation so with the 3 of us we could understand each other. The
doctor couldnt find anything serious but the fever was worrying him so he I
had to take a blood test and a radiography for my stomach. Conclusion: Im
still ok, I just have a viral infection and so he subscribed me 4 medicines! I
still felt horrible but I had the guide for the day so I wanted to use it and
go see some things. I hopped on the back of his motorbike and zoom, through the
rain we went!
The first stop was his grandmother, a really old but strong
woman. She is a monk in a small monastery where they also have a coffee and
pepper plantation. We had some tea and fruits and then explored the garden
where I learned all about picking coffee beans!
Next stop was the DraySap waterfall; maybe one of the most beautiful waterfalls
Ive ever seen. Due to all the rain, the waterfall was way bigger than normal
but it was not the size and the strength that made this one so amazing. It was
the whole setting: a broad yet calm river flowing in a rocky valley (not a
big valley, in dutch you would call it rivierbekken) and then getting smaller
and smaller until the edge of this rocky plateau where the water splashed down
for about 13 m high. Completely white from the power the water then flowed into
a big calm pool which would be ideal for swimming if the weather is good. All
this beauty is in the middle of the jungle so completely surrounded by vast
forrest (with the usual insects as a consequence).
Now it was time for some real ethnic minorities: we went to an Ede village
nearby, normally they dont allow tourists but my guide has some friends there
so we enjoyed some tea and local sweets in a longhouse. I learned that the
longhouses are for multiple couples and their children: when a girl marries,
the husband has to move in with the family of the girl and they get a part of
the longhouse. Very intriguing was that there are no doors between the
compartments, which makes you wonder Anyway this visit was very interesting!
The last stop was another coffee farm: we went to another friend of him and
enjoyed some food there: fish, soup, pork, rice and chips (not French fries but
the snack). Here he explained what happens after the picking and drying of the
coffee beans and I got first hand experiences! Too bad I forgot my camera in
the guesthouse this morning :(
Now it was time to head back because I had to go to English
class for another conversation class. The teacher was very excited when I
showed up and after a brief explanation about how she wanted to handle the
class we went in. I faced a group of students who were all the same age as me
and some of the girls were really shy in the beginning but then after half an
hour the questions were fired at me one after the other. During the class they
asked about my favourite Vietnamese food and then they invited me to join them
after class so that I could enjoy it, this was really great. Its pretty hard
to find such a restaurant and usually you eat it with a group so this was
perfect!!!
After dinner I headed back to the school for the next class: these were the
more advanced students but surprisingly they were more shy than the previous
class. Only one guy was really comfortable with his English so despite all my
effort to involve other people I basically ended up having a long conversation
with him. He is a nice guy so I didnt mind at all!
After this class the teacher asked if I was available the next day but I was
leaving for Nha Trang again She was really pleased that I came to the class so
I guess everything was good!
4th of November
I woke up early since I had to take the bus at 7 am (the
only bus) to Nha Trang, it seemed to last longer than the ride to buon me
thout. Maybe that was because I couldnt sleep and a few days ago I was almost
always sleeping The road is actually very nice and if it werent that long I
would have done it by bicycle. I checked in at the hotel again and then went to
arrange my train tickets (for the bicycle, trailer and me). This caused a lot
of problems: I wanted to be on the same train as my bicycle but that was not
possible for foreigners! Foreigners have to go on the express train and then
the price for a soft or hard bed is only 1 dollar different. For local people
the difference is way bigger and thus I was upset, I wanted to have an
experience with the train ride but instead I ended up paying a lot more than
officially listed and was put in a comfort cabin. I sent my bicycle and trailer
on the train leaving at 7 pm while I would be on the train of tomorrow 1 pm. It
started to rain again so I didnt do much in the evening.
5th and 6th of November
In the morning I went shopping for snacks,
drinks, Because I knew that the slow train take more than 27 hours (yes this
is the express train so it will go faster but I had no idea how much faster).
Then I repacked my bag so that the things that I would need first were on top
of the things I needed second etc. Oh yes, I am learning ;-) in the train I had
one of the top beds in a cabin of 4; the other 3 beds in my cabin were occupied
with around 60-year-old Vietnamese who didnt speak a word of English and had
troubles with reading Vietnamese. I already know that there would be little
contact but no worries, I was prepared with a fully charged battery I can last
10 hours of movies, studying, catching up with my blog, Before 7 pm my
roommates went to sleep so I joined them at 8 pm. I kept waking up not
knowing where we were and I had no idea how long it would take and thus I was
very restless and kept asking other people in the alley where we were and what
time we would be in Vinh. Nobody knew when we would arrive in Vinh but after
asking 4 times I had an idea how fast we went and thus estimated that we would
arrive at 9.30 am. At 5.30 I got up and had breakfast with the other people in
the cabin; they had rice, I had bread with jam and cheese (long live
supermarkets!). The train started to go really slow because the railway was
badly damaged by the floods. You could see that entire strokes were washed away
and they were rebuilding it by putting some rails loose on a pile of rocks. At
a record speed of about 5 km an hour it had to pass several of those temporary
tracks. Next to the railway you could see what the damage was: the road
following the railway was not repaired yet. You could see that the road just
stopped and then 3m vertically down you saw some pieces of this road. It made
me realise that I would have never made it on this road and to be honest that
was the road that I wanted to take around here. The smaller highway between
Danang, Hue and then the Ho Chi Minh road. Anyway with a serious delay we
reached Vinh at 1.45 pm so that means more than 24 hours! The pick-up service
for my bicycle and trailer was closed so I first went looking for a hotel and
found a decent and really cheap one on the street between the railway and
highway 1. In the evening I went to a restaurant and as usual some local people
wanted to drink rice wine with me after my meal. Time to go to bed again
Yesterday
I had decided to not cycle through the typhoon territory, the weather reports
say that it will keep raining and it is really bad! Even the trains are
cancelled so I cant take the train to the north today. Instead I took a bus to
Buon Me Thuot and took my bicycle with. Buon me Thuot is a big city with very
few tourists but quite some things to see. It is famous for its coffee,
elephants, waterfalls and has a lot of stone factories I guess I can see
something around here The busride took 6 hours for 190 km, it is in the middle
of the mountains and I took the local bus so it stopped everywhere. I totally
didnt mind, the boy who has to handle the money of the passengers knew a few
words of English and was really happy that I was on board. He treated me well
with lots of cookies, local foods and water. I resided in the hotel that is
owned by the same family as the bus company, planned my trip for the next day
and went to bed early.
I
left early because the trip that I planned was going to be around 120 km and
there would be rain, a lot of rain. The streets where already full of water
(about 20 cm); so I was completely soaked within 5 minutes. Problem was that my
tire was broken and I had to stop 4 times at a repair shop since they dont
know how to fix my mountain bike tire. Anyway the 4th time he knew
my type of tire so he fixed it right! And he even bought me a coffee and made
me a meal: rice with stir fried pork, hmm! But time to move on, I was just out
of the city and I had already been out for an hour. But then I felt really good
so I was going smoothly in my highest gear (I have 3x8 gears) and nothing
seemed to be a problem. At an average speed of around 28 30 km an hour I
raced through the countryside on a good road and a nice view when the fog was
gone :(. It stopped raining right when I entered a field full of stone
factories so I stopped as well. The people that were working all stopped
working and gave me a tour, I didnt understand a thing but it was definitely
nice! After the break I continued and soon arrived at the end of the road
(according to the manager and to my maps) but on google maps the road continues
so I wanted to check it out. The road turned into a dustroad, well more like a
dirtroad. The dirtroad went on for a few kilometres and then I arrived at some
kind of working camp, there was a small ferry to get across the river and some
people who were eating. I asked them whether I could get to the other side and
they told me I had to wait, I didnt understand whatever else they were saying
so I just waited. At the other side of the river there was a clay mine which
was very difficult to climb; my wheels got blocked by the clay every few
minutes so I had to carry my bike up. Once up I had to go down again which was just
a big slide: braking so that the clay wouldnt stick on my wheels and just
trying to balance At least I was faster than the motorbike who was trying the
same and crashed multiple times! The road continued as a dirtroad for 12 km, it
was very exhausting but incredibly beautiful and I am certain that no tourist
has ever done that before by bicycle! When I stopped for a drink this was such
an event that they took there phone and called someone that could speak
English. I still had to use my phrasebook, but at least she knew the basic
words and I found out that she was the only one in the village that spoke a few
words of English. Afterwards I continued towards Lake Lac, which is very
beautiful but it was very foggy when I was there; giving it a very mysterious
look. There is also a minority village there but it is quite touristy and you
have to pay to get in I guess Ill have enough opportunities to see minority
villages so I didnt go in. After a brief visit to the lake I started the way
home: 53 more km to go but over a national way so I though that it would go
fast. I was mistaken: as soon as I arrived on the road, the wind started to get
stronger. I wanted to go fast since it was already late and today should be the
day where I tested my limits. I passed the local public transport: a small
tractor pulling a cart. But then the wind was really coming from straight ahead
so I decided to save some energy and cycling behind the cart. This really
helped a lot but I knew it couldnt last. After merely 7 km the cart stopped at
a village and I had to continue on my own. I made the last 50 km in less than 2
hours including some drink stop so I guess I did ok! I was really tired when I
arrived in the hotel and went to bed early.
The
27th was a planning day and I found out that I should renew my visa
in Nha Trang because I want to go off the main tourist track So I went to the
tourist office and they told me that it would be ready on the 30th
at 6 pm. The weather was not nice so for the rest of the day I studied a bit. The
28th was about the same as the 27th: the weather was
gloomy but I wanted to see something so I still got on my bicycle and drove
around. I saw some rock formations and some French colonial style villas, for
the rest of the day it was studying time again :p. The 29th it started
to rain really bad, is this the typhoon already? Streets started to flood badly
and I decided to stay indoor another day. The 30th was exactly the
same as the 29th except for the evening: I faced the flooded streets
and went to the travel agency to retrieve my passport. The office was closed
because of the rain, after some phonecalls they told me that the passport would
be sent to my hotel. Half an hour later it still wasnt there and I dont like
to take any risk if it comes to my passport so I called them again. They said
it had been delivered to the hotel, the hotel manager said it wasnt there.
After they talked to each other he told me that they send it to hoang ha
instead of hong ha. The agency didnt know the hotel where I was staying and I
even gave them the name of the street! They though I made a mistake in
pronouncing it, which I have to admit is always possible! So after calling them
a few times I demanded that the passport should be delivered to me the same
evening. They called me a few more times and then finally told me that the
immigration had to know the hotel where I am staying so I could only get it the
31st at 10 am I hate visa services!!!
Today
is my first day of Nha Trang so I used this day to go and do some sightseeing:
they have a nice cathedral with a mysterious look, some cham towers which are
being renovated, a beach straight from paradise, some statues, First I went to
the cathedral which was pretty nice and definitely worth a visit but I found
out that I forgot my camera in the hotel so I went back to get it. Then I went
to the market because I was really in the mood for some fruit. I bought a
couple of very delicious mangoes; I liked them so much that I bought a few more
to take with me to the cham towers. The cham towers are pretty impressive but
they are under reconstruction so I enjoyed the museum like exhibition more than
the actual towers They also had some kind of traditional dance performance
going on: the perfect scenery to enjoy a mango! The cham towers are built on
the side of a hill so you have a pretty nice view over Nha Trang town and the
sea. After my visit here I went to the beach, there was a lot of kite surfing
going on and it got me interested but the sport is so expensive and Id
probably almost never be able to do it so I just watched and saw others perform
some stunts For the rest of the day I just wondered around the city,
occasionally running into something interesting but not worth the mention here.
I
slept at an altitude of around 1800 m and had to go to sea level so that is
going to be a big descent today! At least thats what I thought the first 15 km
but then I noticed that I was following a river uphill instead of downhill
This was just plain weird and I looked at my map, my map showed that there
would be one big pass but didnt give the altitude. It was the only paved road
out here so I just kept going. After following the river for a few km there was
a waterfall so that is a great spot for some bread and bananas. I was still
thinking that I wouldnt have to climb a lot today but that was wrong: about 10
minutes later I arrived at the foot of a mountain and saw a road and
electricity lines about 200 m higher! An hour later I was at the top: soaked in
my sweat I looked over a misty valley, would this be the last one? I took my
raincoat to protect me from the ice cold wind when I went down. It was very
steep, and Im not just talking about the road: next to the road there were
numerous waterfalls and it seemed to go almost vertically down. They even had
some strange traffic sign for it :P. 24 km of pure braking further I arrived in
the valley and my hands were really sore! 24km!!! that is the same as going from
Leuven to Brussels: imagine just going straight down, constantly braking and
still going pretty fast I felt bad; all my effort of the last few days wasted
in this way-to-steep descent :(. I still had about 40 km to go to nha trang
when the road turned from great to 1 km good, 1km full of potholes and the wind
was right in my face. It felt great to arrive in Nha Trang in the evening and I
found a nice hotel: Hong Ha!
Today
I left for Nha Trang, but I knew that I would never be able to make the 140
something kilometres in one day. I started quite late since I didnt want to
get out of bed and I took a long breakfast. Then it took me about 1 hour to get
out of the city: a maze of streets that are not on my map, going up and down
and worst of all: hundreds of potholes that I had to avoid But once I was out
of the city, the road was ok: this is the new highway; its only on one of my
maps and not even on google maps. Despite it being so new, the road already
showed signs of deterioration but it was nice for cycling. The road took me
over pass after pass and I had to stop a lot in order to catch my breath.
Normally when I get tired I look at the milestones and mentally drag myself to
the next one, but there were no milestones on this road so what I did was drag
myself to the next mountain. At around 2 pm things got pretty bad: it started
to rain; I didnt care about getting wet because I was already wet from my
sweat but the road was getting slippery. When I go downhill I have to brake
constantly and then my trailer is shaking big time, so if the road gets
slippery I get scared about missing one turn I could only see about 30 meters
in front of me because I was in the clouds. Luckily for me I was almost at the
bottom of a long climb when it started to rain. An hour later I reached the top
and decided to call it for today. With only about 60 km (of which 10 km in Da
Lat) done I stranded in a small village with about 20 houses. I first ordered
some pho to return to my strength and then asked if I could stay at their house
for tonight. A phrasebook came in handy because they didnt know any English
except for hello and bye bye But that doesnt keep me from playing with the
cute little daughter, we played pictionary so that I taught her the English
words and she taught me the Vietnamese word. It was great fun until it got
dark. I learned that the electricity was very unstable here and that batteries
are expensive so we just sat around the cooking fire drinking some tea. As soon
as the dinner was ready, the electricity was back and I could enjoy the meal:
they eat everything and so did I. We had pork chops with the bones since they
were grilled crispy, pork organs (dont ask me which ones but I got the best
parts, my hosts made sure of that), some soup with I dont know what but I
think it was pork fat and vegetables and some fried spinach. The women and
daughter had to eat rice but we didnt get any: we had to enjoy the taste of
meat and vegetables When the women had finished eating, we could fill
ourselves with the rice and some soup to make it soft. I think this is a very
strange custom. Oh and then for drinks for us men there was some kind of rice
wine made with about 20 seahorses. The wine was really strong but this was ok
since I had to share the bed with a man who appeared to be the uncle of the
girl. It was only 8 oclock when we got to bed but I fell asleep within 5
minutes
last night in the evening I still went with one of my guides to a boxing tournament; apparently he used to be the champion of the province and he is now training others. He is only 24 years old... Anyway after the boxing we went for dinner: hotpot and warm ricewine. It was really nice! I decided that I would go mountainbiking today. They have a nice tour in the north of Dalat through the pine forrest over the mountains on single trails. Sounds pretty interesting and oh it was! I got a new guide, he does this tour 3 times a week... And yet I was in way better shape than him, on the first slope he already had to get off his bicycle and walk the rest up, ok I admit that it was steep but I wasn't having my trailer so it shouldn't be a problem! We passed some very nice scenery and it was challenging from time to time! Just imagine driving on a small path through the forrest in the middle of nowhere and then at once the view opens up and reveals a valley where some locals are growing vegetables! Simply amazing...
Anyway we had lunch on the way, the lunch was not as nice as yesterday because we were only the two of us and so the bread was already made; there were still some bananas for starter and dessert though... After lunch he asked me whether I wanted to take the normal way or a longer route; guess which one I picked. He said that it was a lot more tricky and tried to change my mind but I was having a great time and didn't want to go back this soon. He was getting a lot of problems to keep up with me so I slowed down and tried to stay in his wheel but when we got back to civilization I was tired of driving slowly and tried to get him to race. It wasn't really a race :(...
Anyway it was a great ride!
In the evening he took me to a metal workshop so that I could replace the attachment of my trailer which badly suffered from dragging the trailer up the mountains...
hello again, it's quite a long time since I posted something on my blog so I will try to catch up!
During my tour around the city I stopped at a couple of travel agencies to see what is worth visiting and doing around here. I found an adventureous travel agency that only worked with part-time students. They had a relatively cheap canyoning tour going on for today so I wanted to join them. Apparently it was the same place as where I laid down 2 days ago and took the 'sweat picture'. After a short walk through the jungle we arrived at the practise wall; a rock formation af about 6 meter high to learn the basics of abseiling (=rappel). I'd done it quite a few times before but it was nice to check it again. The two other people: an Englishman who lived in Vietnam and his son were pretty new at this. After trying it a couple of times we were all ready for the next one! This one was higher, about 20 meter, but it was still dry so a nice one to do some jumping... Now time for something different: swimming! The water was ice cold so just swimming would not have been fun, but we got to try out the strength of the water. A few minutes under a very strong hot shower later we could go down a natural slide. The first time felt so good that I wanted to go a second time; the guide laught and said that I could go a second time but I would have to take a different position so I went backwards. Quite frightening to see rocks passing by an inch :P Next was another rappel with in the end a jump into the water. Nothing too spectacular and time for lunch! First a big bag of breads came out of the backpack followed by a can of tuna, vegetables, sausages, cheese, jam, salt & pepper, apples, pineapple, longan, bananas, mangoes and I'm sure that I'm still forgetting something. It was very good!
So now we had our warm-up and the lunch so we could go to the real deal in the afternoon. First there was another natural slide and we went down in a train, backwards, sitting up, ... Quite some fun but I bruised my ass :P. Now it was time for the real canyoning: abseiling straight down a waterfall, the beginning was ok; very slippery but it was still good. Then it became steeper and the water was hitting me everywhere so I couldn't see anything anymore. A very nice experience and when I came down I could go back up and go for a second time! Ow yes, I had fun!
The last activity was a jump from a cliff... The first jump was from 10 meter and it felt great but one of the guides jumped from a bit higher so I wanted to do the same.
In the evening I walked into another cyclist, he was doing the same thing but the other way around: he started from china and is making his way down to cambodia! It was very nice to chat with him and we exchanged 'must-do roads' and 'try to avoid' roads!
Yesterday I took a break, my legs were really sore, this
climb was heavier than I expected it to be I slept well but wasnt ready to go
to Da Lat just yet. This town was not touristy at all, which caused some money
problems: no atm would accept foreign cards so I had to exchange at a jewellery
store After taking an easy walk through town before noon (nothing to see there
actually), I took my bicycle for a spin through the mountains. Without a
trailer it isnt that hard to drive up the mountains and I didnt have to brake
that much while going down! It felt great and it was a beautiful day but I
forgot my camera :p
Today I made the long ride through the mountains from Di
Linh to Da Lat: more than 80 km over countless mountains with dozens of: caution
slope of 10% signs. Its always 10% here in Vietnam, I havent seen a sign of
8 or 12 or whatever I think it just means that it is steep :P. I had to eat a
lot today and thats what I did, instead of 6 meals I had 7 and a kilo of
bananas! One of them was a really good one: somewhere on the road I had a rice
meal with kind of everything on it: pork chops, chicken, shrimp, vegetables,
soup, Whenever I almost finished the plate she kept scooping some extra on it!
This is the way I like to eat The problem is that I dont know how to ask for
it; when I stopped to eat she asked: lunch and I said yes. It was the only
English that she knew.
The last 20 km to Da Lat were uphill and I was already tired
so I almost died out there. Not literally, but my legs were really tired. About
3 km from the top I took a rest and I just laid down on the parking lot of some
tourist attraction. Afterwards I took a picture of the spot, its shown below.
When I arrived in town I just looked for the first hotel that I could find and
went to sleep. I could barely stand on my feet so I was happy that the owners
son came to help with the luggage!
This morning we had another really local breakfast. Its on
those days that you can see how cheap one can live out here. I had banh canh
for 20 eurocents :s, anyway after breakfast it was time to say goodbye to my
cousin and his mother. His uncle and mother were still going to lead me out of
town onto the right road. This was very useful to me and saved me a couple of kilometres.
Today the target is 100 km with a resulting elevation of 1200 m, a very tough
goal but I set of great! My legs were feeling fine and my first stop was 40 km
from Phan Thiet in a small village. I was getting hungry so I looked for a
restaurant; what I found was not really a restaurant but more like a all-in-one
small shop with some tables and utensils. Everything that the woman sold was
loaded on her motorbike and I had to point to the things that I wanted, I
picked some spring rolls and noodles. Then she yelled at her husband to bring
me the right bowls and tea while I took my seat. A pretty interesting
experience, while I was eating she kept coming to my table with some more food
that I might be interested in. Nobody spoke a word of English but it felt like
I was an attraction on my own: the entire school came to take a look at the
foreigner who was cycling through. After the meal I bought some extra food
supplies because I saw that the mountains were coming close and didnt know if there
would be any more houses. Then I started to climb, in the beginning it was
still ok: not too steep but steep enough to know that I was rising. After 20
minutes I passed an old man on a bicycle coming from the other direction; he
was furiously signing that I should turn around because it was going to be very
very steep. I smiled and kept going, half an hour later I knew what he meant I
felt like I was driving up a wall, this was at least 10% and not just for 1 km
The road was beautiful but it was very tough. I drove like this for 3 hours
(including the many breaks), I was getting really tired but kept going. More
than once the though of me being crazy rose into my mind but then I just looked
to my right and saw a beautiful valley. This made me feel good, I just had to
make sure not to look to much to my left because this mountain was high. Then
it became even steeper and I got into trouble, I was driving on my lowest gear
and still had to push hard, every kilometre I had to take a break. With 5 more
km to go to the top, I started hearing a truck driving up the hill. One kilometre
further he caught up with me and I was so tired that I asked if I could get a
ride, they were very friendly and with the little English and many gestures we
had a conversation. At the top we arrived in a village that resembled the
village in the last samurai, the biggest difference was that some of them use
plastic to make there houses more water proof. It was beautiful but no way that
I could get a good rest here so I asked them to take me to Di Linh: a town 20
km further (my original goal of the day). When I got off I gave them 2 euro and
went on my search for a decent bed. They caught up with me at a restaurant
where they would have dinner and asked me to join them. After a nice meal I
asked them whether they knew a nice and relatively cheap place to sleep, they
showed me a hotel nearby and bargained for me. My legs were really sore so I
just took a shower, went to a local shop to buy some more food for the evening
and just laid myself in bed.
