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.
This morning I woke up together with the rest of the family,
it was a Sunday today so my hosts where at home. After breakfast it was already
really hot and it was only 7.30 I explained them that I would like to see the
beach and when I wanted to leave by bicycle he said: no no, too far away. As
if 20 km is far when you have already done 500. He took his helmet and keys of
the motorbike, so I took a helmet too and off I went; with my own private guide
who doesnt speak a word of English! It was absolutely incredible, the beach
was so white and the sea so crystal clear; all that under a perfect blue sky
with a burning sun. I would have loved to go and take a dip but had no clue how
to explain him and apparently he had planned out where we would go. He just
kept going past Mui Ne town over a nice road with some of the most incredible
coastline views one can get. Out of nowhere we arrived at a tourist spot;
pretty clear with all the busses and English signs Some red sand-hills on top
of which you had a view over the entire coastline. We climbed up trying to
ignore all the kids that wanted to rent out a plastic sheet with which you
could slide down the hill. The sun was burning and so was the sand, for once I
wished I wasnt wearing sandals :o. We continued the road to a land tongue
which was full of purple flowers. Then we took the road back to their house
with a stop for fresh coconut on the way. When we arrived back there was a
surprise for me: my cousin and his mother had come from Vung Tau to Phan Thiet
for a holiday. They surprised me with some more bananas and a special kind of
soy-corn-rice, hmm. After playing with my cousin for a while and joining his
uncle for a drinking session (with 6 people we drank 48 bottles and 9 cans of
beer, quite a few of them were really drunk), I took a nap; everyone was taking
a nap so I joined. I normally never take a nap but for some reason I felt
really tired Maybe the long distance from yesterday were still weighting on
me. After the nap I felt better but still very weak. I ate some of the bananas
but it didnt help, anyway it was time to go to church. Children have to go to
church 3 times a week from 6 till 14 year old to study catechism. I became
totally unwell and almost fainted during the ceremony so I was very happy when
we were going to eat something right after church! Anyway it was a nice day of
discovering Phan Thiet, tomorrow Ill have to say bye again and I will be going
to the mountains
It was time for some real exercise again: today I have to do
125 km in order to reach Phan Thiêt. I set of and felt really good on my
bicycle: the road was good (a little bit up and down) and the scenery was
beautiful. After 20 km the quality of the road deteriorated, there were a lot
of bridges; before and after every bridge are potholes and bumps so I have to
slow down to 5 km an hour every time. It hurt but the view was well worth it so
I kept going. 10 km further I stopped for something to eat; when Im cycling I
easily eat 6 mains a day just to keep up the energy that I use and still
sometimes that isnt enough Anyway I asked for directions since this
roundabout was not on my map and there were no signs. The guy told me to go left
so after my meal I turned left. After 6 km I ended up at a spa resort! I was at
some hot springs, definitely not the right road. I asked directions again and
they said to go back to the roundabout and go left (which means that I should
have went straight where I ate). Vietnamese and directions, it simply doesnt
work!!! Anyway I turned back and after this detour of 12 km I was back on
track. I wanted to make up for the lost time so I pushed a little harder and by
noon I was back on schedule! I treated myself for lunch: I just asked her to
recommend me something and turned out I got a fried fish that just melted on my
tongue, ooh yes this is the food I like! During lunch I considered my options
for the next part and noticed that I wasnt on schedule after all, it was 1 pm
and I still had 68 km to go! I decided to make that 69 and go past the main highway
because that should be in better condition. The road towards the highway was
very hilly and every time it turned towards a very high mountain which in my
thoughts became the mountain of doom. When I got to highway 1 I saw that the
highway went up this mountain for quite a bit Time for a break :P. After the
break I climbed the mountain and it was ok, it felt like riding up a bridge;
but then a very long bridge. The rest of the highway went through dragon fruit
plantations and for those who dont know it: its my favourite fruit out here.
Not only the colour is very nice, its also refreshing and easy to eat, ooh
lovely. By the time it got dark I reached Phan Thiêt, now I had to find the
supermarket because that is where I would meat my host for tonight. The uncle
of my cousins lived here and he said I could sleep there. I asked around but
nobody seemed to understand the word supermarket or even with my phrasebook
they didnt want to send me in the right direction. This is the problem when a
town gets touristy: the people become less friendly :(. I just followed the
main road and at the other side of the city I found the supermarket so after
some phonecalls my host came to pick me up. The family is very nice and I got
my own room with a bed. I first took a shower because I was really tired: 137
km! Then we went for dinner and afterwards for a drink in a very nice bar.
Afterwards he asked if I wanted to go and drink some rice wine with his friends
but I thankfully refused and went to bed.
The smell of the big city in the morning, hmm delicious! I
walked around the roads at 5.30 in search for breakfast; found a very nice
street restaurant selling Bun Bo Hue (with some accents on the vowels, but to
hard to pronounce) Then I walked further to the minibus office and at 6.15 my
bus left for Vung Tau, the ride takes 3 hours so I fell asleep; waking up and
remembering the streets we were on. We followed the same route as I did a few
days ago from Bien Hoa to Vung Tau. Falling asleep again and waking up in Vung
Tau; completely disoriented since we entered via a different road and Id never
been there. I tried to explain him that I wanted to go to Hodeco Place (the apartment
complex where Mai lives) but he didnt understand me or didnt know it. After
pronouncing it 9 times with all the different tones I could imagine I gave up
and just said: Co.op supermarket. He knows the supermarket down the building!
When we arrived I showed him the huge sign: HODECO PLACE and he just laught at
me, pointing towards the small sign: Co.op Vietnamese are so strange :(.
Anyway I went to pick up my luggage and we were off to
grandmothers place where I had to have lunch. Quyen already picked up my
trousers, they had a lot of food and water for my trip and there was a meal
fitted for a feast! After the lunch I loaded the trailer and with the entire
neighbourhood watching I left Vung Tau, flanked by two motorbikes. Some people
were going with me however I had no clue until where With one motorbike
leading and one following me, I reached my top speed and even the bridges didnt
slow me down! I reached an average speed of 25 km/h for the first hour, so I
asked for a break. There were drinks and laughter so I guess we were fine!
After 3 km back on the bike we stopped again: there was a restaurant with a
local specialty and Quyen didnt have lunch (dont know the reason, there was
plenty). If I had known, I wouldnt have asked for the first stop The food was
incredibly tasty: some kind of rice wrapper that you could make with spring
rolls, pork, salad, cucumber, tomato, soy shoots, After the meal one motorbike
went back to Vung Tau, the other one was still following. Even the rain didnt
make Mai, Quyen and Tin turn around their motorbike, but when it was 4 pm the
sun began to lower and I was 3 km from the city where I would spend the night
she said that they would go back. I still think its strange, but it was nice
to have them around.
Today I woke up early without any reason so I
already packed all my luggage and waited until Mai would wake up to go and get
breakfast and then bring me to the boat. Once in HCMC I first looked for
transport to Vung Tau for the next morning but the boat was already fully
booked until 10 am (seems a little late to me). I found a minibus service which
runs 24/7 so I just had to turn up there the next morning and will have to wait
for maximum 30 minutes before it leaves. So be it The next thing was a place
to sleep, the first hotels I tried were a bit above my budget so I kept
looking. Finally I found a very decent place (with a hot shower) in a touristy
area. I found myself a map and booked a water-puppet show for the evening (I
wanted some traditional music performance and this was the only performance
with traditional music) well its been 9 years since I saw one, so I guess it
would have changed. Anyway I walked around town with one goal: see as much of
Saigon before 5.30 as possible. This really worked: I saw tons of buildings, a
dozen statues, 4 parks, a museum, a traditional arts exhibition and a
eco-architecture exhibition! Then I went to relax in the park to see the people
exercise. After 15 minutes an old guy walks up to me showing one of the
shuttles and doing the gesture that he wants to play with me. I had been hoping
to join in such a game for quite a while, but all the people I saw using it are
pretty good so I never dared While we were playing more and more people were
joining, some of which were pretty good at it and loved to show off. I tried to
do their tricks as well, but mostly failed which made them laugh Then I
learned how to climb a tree in style: the guy that did it was doing some Kung
Fu like stuff before he joined and now that the shuttle was stuck in a tree, it
was time for him to show off. He just jumped, grasped a branch with one arm and
with a swing he threw himself onto another branch (standing up a meter above
the branch he had been hanging on before). I was amazed and before I knew it I
was applauding for him which encouraged him to show off more! He did some
things that youd see on television with the line dont try this at home
under it. I dont have to tell you that he got the shuttle out within a few
minutes It was soon time for me to go to the water puppets performance where I
enjoyed the spectacle and the music; there indeed was a live 6 headed band who
were also doubling as the voices of the puppets Completely satisfied I went for
dinner and afterwards for a beer in a local bar.
These 3 days I spent in Vung Tau: the first day it was still
raining (it never stopped since last night). All the streets were flooded so I
stayed inside and bought a detailed road atlas of Vietnam. Its not the newest
edition, but it has every town and quite a lot of roads on it so thats what I
need. This day I would just call a day of eating: a long breakfast prepared by
Mai, a lunch of 1.5 hours at grandmothers, a snack at 3, dinner, dessert and
of course fruit during the entire day!
The next day it was better: the weather was good, I was
allowed to make breakfast (French toast), we went for a drink with a friend of
Mai, went for a motorbike ride along the beach, played with the smallest cousin
Tin (and the rest of the cousins while dinner was being prepared or after
dinner) and of course ate a lot. In the evening we had a skype appointment with
my mom about the progress of Trams ear and just an update of my travel and the
family. My mom couldnt get the webcam, nor the microphone working so it became
an MSN session with my webcam on
The next morning we would have breakfast with
the friend of Mai, but I overslept and apparently she doesnt dare to wake me
up. At 8 I finally woke up and we went to have breakfast just the two of us
Afterwards we went to pick up grandmother, Tin and one of the twins (cant
remember the names but I think it was Thui or how it is spelled) and went to
church. It was a holy day and thus a special ceremony: we arrived half an hour
before it started and couldnt even stand inside. There were so many people! I
made a rough estimation afterwards and I think it was close to 600 or 700
people! Imagine that in Belgium And imagine what a devotion that gives when
they all start to sing or speak together In Belgium this is never synchronised
as some people say the words fast and others say it slow but here it stays
understandable; the experience was incredible however I didnt understand a
word besides Chuà and Amen. After that it was time to have lunch but we still
stopped over at Lois place for a drink and to say hi. Lunch existed out of
soup, everyone got a normal sized bowl except for me. They put a bowl out of
which the soup is normally served in front of me with a spoon and chopsticks in
it. I thought it was a joke but when they all started and signed that I had to
start too, well I ate as well Luckily I was very hungry so I could finish it
all, you should have seen their faces when I did. However this wasnt such a
good idea as now they expected me to eat even more! For dinner I got 5 servings
of rice and a lot of spring rolls, fish balls, fried fish, steamed fish,
vegetables, fried shrimps (yes there was a lot of food) Between lunch and
dinner I went to get some pants made and to buy my boat ticket to HCMC for the
next morning. There was still some time before we would go to church again and
we took Tin to the playground (Ive never seen a kid that is afraid of a swing,
it made me laugh) After the playground we took a walk along the beach to eat
an ice-cream and then we went for a snack; yes time to eat again. Then we went
to church which was an open-air ceremony and Xuan had to play the keyboard
while May (their mother) was singing. There was a lot of music and we even got
a paper with the lyrics so after rehearsing the songs a few times I could sing
along. This really impressed Mai and I had to sing before dinner :(. Time for
another skype appointment, this time my dad was home and for some strange reason
it worked this time
I woke up early this morning and went back to the student
restaurant across the street for breakfast; the menu is pretty strange: they
have a menu but everything I asked was unavailable so I just pointed to a pot
and when he said the name I found out that it was not on the menu. The people
are very friendly here and the meals are definitely good value! My day started
good and I went to the book store without the trailer, I found a map and took
of to Vung Tau. If everything goes well Ill be with the family tonight! I
loaded the trailer and by 8 am I was ready to leave I was very happy that they
drew me a map last night because the city was pretty tricky and there were some
hills (every hill I only went up once!!!) After an hour driving mostly uphill I
was out of the city and to celebrate I stopped at a bar for a fruit shake. The
girl who owned the place was very friendly and I got a delicious passion-fruit
juice (she understood me wrong ). With that I also got some water; it turned
out I drank more than a liter there but it just felt so good: almost frozen
bottled water and she kept refilling :P. When I wanted to leave she gave me a
remember me present: a passion fruit! I was happy and the next hill felt like
nothing. In the descent of that hill I passed a woman and child on a motorbike
who kept driving besides me for an hour! It was nice because the traffic was
busy and she made sure they didnt hit my trailer again She didnt speak a
word of English though so it was a strange silence with some gestures and names
of a city once in a while. Anyway I was quite happy that she left because that
meant that I could take another break ;-). This time there was a delicious cold
coconut waiting for me! So lovely!!! I checked the map and I noticed that I was
good on schedule, I would definitely reach Vung Tau tonight, this taught gave
me new energy and I went even faster. I couldnt really go full speed because
of all the traffic: busses, trucks, motorbikes and everything else that goes on
a road was racing past or I was racing past them! By 3 pm I reached Ba Ria,
which is the last city before Vung Tau; only 25 km left but then I ran out of
luck The rain was very heavy and the wind was in the wrong direction :(. I
first had a drink, but it was still raining; I went for a meal and after that
it was over so I continued. Now I was driving as fast as I could because the
clouds were looking bad, really bad. Only 5 km further it started to rain
again, I had the choice to stop again but it would probably keep going for the
rest of the evening. So I tightened the plastic cover over my trailer and just
got wet Totally soaked I arrived in Vung Tau and my mobile wasnt working
anymore; luckily I still remember the streets and I soon arrived at Mais apartment.
However I forgot the floor and number I decided to try and make my way to the
grandmothers place and after checking out 2 wrong streets I arrived. At first
they were angry at me for arriving wet and they were pretty worried (as always)
but then they were happy to see me and I could take a shower and change. They
called Mai and a nice meal was prepared, a very, very nice meal; I ate as if I
hadnt eaten for days. Then I went on the back of Mais motorbike and we
arrived at the apartment again. I would be staying here for the next few days
Today
I cycled from the village where I stayed to the border, which isnt very far
but it was my last day in Cambodia and I wanted to take it easy. I was lucky
because it was the highday of the holidays so everyone had time After barely 5
km of cycling I was invited for a drink and something to eat at some locals
home. They gave me sticky rice with meat and nuts inside And then we had a
nice conversation about the holiday and the local customs while having some
tea. It was very interesting but I had to get going again if I wanted to make
it to the border. 15 km further a tuk-tuk driver drove next to me to train his
English. He is a very nice guy and after 5 km of talking, he invited me in his
home. I could see how they prepared the meal for the monks for the holiday. It
was very interesting and like any cooking event I got to try all the food which
was really nice. I learned a new recipe for pumpkin and pork Meanwhile the
entire family was preparing themselves for the temple: they had a shower,
changed in their traditional clothes and then the tuk-tuk was loaded. I was
getting interested in the ceremony so I asked if I could join, he said there
was absolutely no space on the tuk-tuk but if I wanted I could cycle with him.
I left the trailer there and of I went, following the tuk-tuk through the rice
paddies and the dirtroads, some beautiful scenery and the usual kids that say
hi. This time I got even more weird looks like: what is he doing here? but
then in a very friendly way. At the temple I had to follow him and just do
everything after him Then he showed me around the temple and even introduced
me to the head-monk :o. I was honoured! After the first 3 songs of traditional
music and dancing I left (it was already past noon and I only did 25 km thus
far). But the experiences I had were totally worth all the delay! At around 4
oclock, I arrived at the border and checked in at a local guesthouse. Ready to
go to Vietnam the next morning!
9th of October 2010
I woke up without any reason at 5 am while
thinking that it was already 8. My mobile is broken due to the heat under the
plastic of the trailer. And that is my only personal source of time besides my
laptop. Luckily the border opens at 6 am so after having breakfast and checking
out the environment I loaded my trailer and set of for Vietnam!!! The border
passing went smoothly until one of the guys told me that he had to check my
luggage. He doesnt know how carefully balanced I loaded the trailer this
morning? Anyway I took my small bag and went back in for the security check;
when I came back out, there was nobody around so I quickly put the bag back on
the trailer and drove off At first
sight it looked still the same, but after 15 km, the differences became clear:
the people live completely different. I entered the territory of the Cao Dai
religion but that is not all, you can see that they are better of here: they
have machines to work the land, they have electric scooters which are getting
pretty popular, people are constantly working, Today I wanted to reach Ho Chi
Minh, but for that I needed a map. I entered a lot of bookshops, gas stations,
supermarkets but nowhere I could find a map of Vietnam. In a bar where I
stopped I could take a glimpse at the map and saw that it would be better to go
to Bien Hoa instead of Ho Chi Minh City. This way I would avoid the totally
crazy traffic of the big city and I would take a shortcut as well To find the
road to Bien Hoa was more tricky than I would have ever imagined: I knew that
Vietnamese arent good at directions but this was really bad. I took 3 times
the wrong turn from the main road and when I got to the city before Bien Hoa I
arrived at the same hilltop for 4 times and from all directions there is a sign
careful slope of 10%. A bridge is difficult with a trailer but a steep slope
is just dying! Ill have to get used to that if I want to go to Hanoi Anyway
at 15 km from Bien Hoa it started to rain so I took a brake and went for something
to eat. I had a delicious grilled chicken! After an hour the rain almost
stopped and I continued to my destination. Once in the city I went for dinner
in a student restaurant: the perfect spot to get information in a country where
barely anyone speaks English. They advised me a hotel which I would have never
found (everything in Vietnamese only) but I have a phrasebook and after 5
minutes I got a cheap room. Well I paid slightly more than a normal Vietnamese
but that is because they arent allowed to house foreigners At the restaurant
I also got directions to a book shop where they should have a map and
directions to Vung Tau. I was pretty tired and had a long ride to Vung Tau
tomorrow so I went to bed early after calling my cousin (it was her birthday today).
Yesterday I was quite tired and couldnt get up at the time
I wanted to; instead of getting up at 5, I got up at 7.30 No problem there,
after getting breakfast and arranging the last things in Phnom Penh, I took off
at 8.30 with my nice, fully loaded trailer! After 5 km the first problem was
there: its a holiday and a lot of people were heading out of the city so there
was traffic jam. It didnt take long before a minivan hit the left wheel of my
trailer which got quite a hit! The trailer still went on smoothly so not that
big a problem Another 5 km further, they were repairing the road which means a
lot of potholes and small stony roads. Definitely not the ideal road to go on
with a trailer. But my trailer is built well and it could stand all the holes that
I couldnt avoid; ok I had to push a little harder on the small stones. Then
there was a bridge so I had the 4 things that arent very good for my trailer:
bridge (pretty tough to push), potholes (pretty bad for my wheels), stony road
(pretty tough to push) and getting hit by a car (not good for my wheels
either)! 20 km further the road works were finished and I took my first break:
my body welcomed a cold sprite and I refilled my water supply. The next 30 km
to the boat went smooth with a stop for eating and refilling my water Behind
the ferry is a town with some guesthouses, the last guesthouses for another 65
km. I was in doubt: it was now 1.10 pm; should I play safe or keep going? I
decided that I already had enough bad luck for the day so I kept going. I
stopped at a few temples on the road and 35 km further I stopped for the day.
Its now 5 am and I am awake after not much sleep. Yesterday
I ended up in a village about 30 km from Svay Rieng and 100 km from Phnom Penh.
Since there arent any guesthouses around I wanted to stay at the temple. On
the way to the temple some people asked where I was going and they offered me a
place in their house. However before sleeping I had to join them to drink some
rice wine (it was only 5 oclock). Then I told them that I wanted to look for
internet because it was my birthday and my cellphone died during the day so I
cant call home. I searched the entire village but to my surprise there was no
internet bar or no rich guy who has internet Then back to the house where I
had to eat something, apparently it was double feast today: It is a Buddhist
holiday and a Falang is staying in the neighbourhood. The food was good and
after an evening walk through the beautiful rice fields with a nice sunset due
to some clouds, we went upstairs. The house is quite big for the standards here
and completely covered in metal plates so I wont have to worry about rain. We
watched a summary of a game from the premier league and then some monks came
over to practise their English. Soon it was 8 oclock and that is very late
over here: the housewife had already prepared the beds. My bed is a big straw
carpet with a mosquito net, a little bit hard but sure it will do for tonight.
I fell asleep immediately but at about 10 oclock there was some very loud
music at the temple! They partied from 10 till 2 and kept me from sleeping
What was even worse was that the closings of the window kept opening; there was
a cold heavy wind coming in and I left my jacket and sweater downstairs After
hitting it pretty hard a couple of times it stayed closed and I could sleep
again, until the roosters started at 4.15 am. I always thought that they should
announce the sunrise but that is only at 5.30! Stupid animals
Anyway, after breakfast I will be leaving for the border
today which is about 70 km from here. The next country is coming close.
Yesterday was a good start of a great adventure!
a story about a guy trying to get a bicycle and a trailer
while having some fun. I got a friend who normally lives in Phnom Penh but is
now working in Belgium. Her family still wanted to meet me and help me on my
quest. The first 2 days I went looking for a good bicycle, the choices are tuff
since there are a lot of bicycles in Phnom Penh. Most of them are crap; some
seem to have potential but lack credibility; others have credibility but seem
too old. I was going to try a Chinese mountain bike when Thyas brother brought
me to a Giant shop. The new mountain bikes were a bit too pricy for me, but he
had a second hand Trek which looked great! Thyas older brother and I were
getting closer and he took me out to see Sorya mall with on top a skating rink.
We didnt go skating though, but it was pretty fun looking at the guys
performing some tricks. Then it was time for dessert and yes he knows where to
go, I just had to hop on the back of his motorbike and soon we were racing
through the streets of Phnom Penh. We were not very lucky since it started to
rain really bad as you can see on the picture; a real mousson rain The rain
wouldnt stop so he drove through some small alleys (with plastics hanging
everywhere to protect against the rain) and before I knew it I was back at the
guesthouse. A really good guesthouse btw, if you are ever going to Phnom Penh
and you want a clean, cheap guesthouse with friendly staff: go to ORussei
market, go down the road next to Capitol guesthouse (107street), follow this
road and just after the first crossing there is a pink/orange building on your
right hand side This is a good guesthouse.
Now the next goal was to find a trailer; not the easiest
task. To get one delivered from America or Europe costs 300$ shipping only +
250 $ for the trailer itself. Way too pricy so no option I drew some
schematics about what I wanted and downloaded some pictures from the internet.
With this and Thyas brother as a translator we went to some workshops. All of
them looked at me as if I came from a different planet and said that they
couldnt make it Then we went to a place where they have thousands of
bicycles; all junk that they are giving a second life. Maybe there would be a
trailer for sale We werent lucky I would have to make it myself and then
bring it to a welder, for that I could use the motorbike workshop on Sunday. On
Saturday I went looking for materials to see what I could use; the materials
here are different from home. For example, they dont have aluminium, which I
would normally use to make the thing lighter But they did have a wheel from a
shopping cart, which I could use for the attachment to the bicycle. This would
take care of 2 options for rotation! All I found for material was steel, so I
knew the cart would be pretty heavy I still had one problem: what to do about
the wheels. Then I stumbled across the carts that they use for the motorbike.
The size is about what I need and well, the design is pretty similar Some
minor adjustments and it should be ok!
So instead of using the workshop on Sunday we went to check
out the street where they make these carts; maybe there would be someone who
could make my design We didnt find anyone to make my design but we found a
pretty cheap cart without the small fat wheels for 35$. Across the street there
were 26 wheels with a bigger opening so they would fit on the axis but they
use normal bicycle tires. I bought them for 20$... It was getting late so I
would come back the next day. The next day I found a workshop where someone
spoke English and I explained him what I wanted. He helped me really well and
modified the newly bought cart to my wishes! While he was doing it he said:
why didnt you let me make it from scratch? this almost freaked me out: did I
finally find someone who was willing to make it now that it is too late? He
would have made the thing for 20$ and then I would have to buy the axis with
wheels for 25$ so that would safe me 10$ + the 25$ that he charged me now to
modify it Anyway it was too late now His men did a good job and I was even
allowed to help, I made the attachment to my bicycle and could go wild while
cutting of a bar from the original cart Now I still needed tires and I would
be set to go! I bought the tires for 10$, not the cheapest one but Japanese
ones so that I wouldnt get a puncture that easily I was proud of the
result!!!
Another thing I had to do in Phnom Penh was to get my visa
for Vietnam, for this I first checked some prices in different travel agencies
and Excellent tours on 107 street offered a closeby and good rate. I asked them
for a normal 30-day visa, the normal means that it will take 2 days; you can
also take an express The next day in the evening I went back and my visa was
ready however they had a 15-day visa! How could I ever cross Vietnam by bicycle
in 15-days? So I said that I needed a 30-day visa and I needed it fast: my visa
of Cambodia was running out and it would take me at least 2 days to the border
Another word of advise: when you want to use your Vietnamese visa for the
fullest, you need to give them the date of entry when you are applying for your
visa. Vietnam is the only country around here where that is necessary Anyway,
she recognised that it was her fault so she would fix it and said I could come
back in two days in the evening. This was not possible for me, so I said I
needed it the next day in the evening After playing a little cat and mouse
game it was ok and I could come pick it up the next day at 5 pm.
I'd been staying at the bar till pretty late so I left at 11.30 on my cycling trip of today. The goal: some caves about 13 km away but I wouldn't go the normal route: I first went to the market to buy my parents a gift. Then I went to the railway station, which has a special design. The railway is currently not used by any trains but quite a few locals use it as a road to their home so I followed them. The trail ended at the last house, but I still had to go a few kilometers further so I drove over the railway. It's quite bumpy that I have to say but for the rest it's something different: you get to see the countryside from a total different angle. A bit later my ass started to hurt and I saw a top of a temple sticking out of a small village so I went there. The temple was rather nice and I had a talk with some of the monks before leaving. They said that the caves weren't really worth a visit and that you have to pay an entrance fee for it so I decided to just run around and see how far that would take me... It went pretty well and soon I was 20 km from Kampot, I looked on the map and saw that it was only 10 km further to the delicious crabs!
I got a lot of energy left so off I went, over some dustroads past a few nice mountains on the way to Kep! About 4 km from Kep it started to rain really heavily so time for a drink, I talked to some locals to find out which shop sells the best crab and how much it costs about because they are known for their rip-off. He told me that a Kg of crab should cost between 12000 and 15000 riel (3 to 4 dollar) and the best are the locals, the restaurants don't serve 'fresh' crab. He says they catch it in the morning and then leave it in a box with ice, that's not fresh! For us that would be really fresh but I took his advice and bought a kilo from the local people. Asked them to cook it with the special Kampot pepper and I also wanted some rice and sauce with it. So after selecting which crabs I wanted (still alive), I waited for the crabs to be ready... They didn't have a chair nor table so I had to sit on the border while I could look at a beautiful sunset! A kg of crab is actually quite a lot (5 crabs) and after 2 crabs I was pretty full so I asked for a plastic bag and took them on my way. I was barely on my bicycle when it started to rain again; I had no time to stop for shelter since I saw that it would last pretty long and it was 4.30 (2 hours before sunset) while being 30 km from my guesthouse.
Back in Kampot I finished the other 3 crabs and went for Khmer desert: a lot of sweets in coconut milk and sirup, topped with some chopped ice and condensed milk, hmmm!
Today the 28th of september I called my grandmother to wish her a happy birthday and for the rest I went for a short tour up north the river into no-man's land. There I sat down to write these lovely reports of the past days. Hope you enjoy it!
Tomorrow I'll leave at 7.30 to Phnom Penh... There I'll get my bicycle if everything goes well!
I woke up full of energy today and went out to find a
mountain bike and breakfast. Soon I was set to go and left for Fishing Island;
as the name explains this island is full of fishermen To get there I had to cross the very interesting old bridge, the bridge has quite some history and has been rebuild in 4 different styles as you can see on the picture.
I took some random roads
throughout the island and soon got stuck: the path was only used in dry season
I think but then I estimated that the water from the creek would not be that
deep. I emptied my pockets and just drove through, it was a bit deeper than I
expected and I had to stand up on my pedals to make sure that my backpack would
not get wet. The only thing of my bicycle sticking out of the water was the
seat and the handle bar Refreshing is the correct word for this. A bit further
I got stuck again, but it was stuck with a wonderful view! The creek in front
of me was a bit deeper so I didnt give it a try, I saw some boys at the other
side and signed that I wanted to get there but didnt know how. The boys signed
that I could just ride through the dried salt fields and some more creeks. 10
minutes later I caught up with them and they lead me to a small village of salt
farmers. Balance after 30 minutes: completely soaked but for the first time nor
from the sweat nor from the rain, lots of beautiful sceneries and friendly
people. The boys invited me in for some tea and I dug out my Khmer phrasebook
to start a conversation.
Time to get going again as I continued my tour around
the island I spot a very small hut in pretty bad shape, it was going to rain
and I felt sorry for the one that lived there. The first drops were already
falling and I really appreciated it, a nice breeze an even better view, some
kids were running through the rain while shouting hello! Hello! Bye bye!
Hello! and they went in the hut that I just described. It wouldnt help them
much for shelter: the plastic on top was full of holes and badly attached so
one side was completely loose. A bit later the mom came past and she told me to
get in since it was starting to rain quite hard. Out of respect for her and to
make sure my backpack wouldnt get too wet I went in, as I though it didnt
help much. The hut was in a really bad shape and I saw that it really was a
house, I had to sit on her blanket (= bed) supposedly for my comfort but I
liked it because this way I could keep it dry As soon as it was over I thanked
them with words and some candy and took off before it would start again. After
2 minutes it started again but this time I kept driving regardless the many
invitations into their huts until I saw a waterproof house. Perfect for
shelter! I got some honey on a stick and some tea. Hmm delicious, this is what
I call fresh honey Now it was time to go and climb the hill of the island,
(only 40 meters high) but it gives very nice views if the sky is clear. It was
misty now I drove around for another hour before heading back to Kampot.
24th of september was a transport day from Sihanoukville to
Kampot. Since I still wasnt feeling very well and had a very nice room in
Sihanoukville I left quite late: I took a shared taxi at 11.00. The ride to
Kampot takes about 2 hours and we arrived at 4 pm. For those that are wandering
how that is possible, let me explain: A shared taxi is a car (Toyota camry)
that waits until its full before it leaves. Full means 6 passengers + the
driver. So I waited and waited until more people showed up, finally there were
4 others and the driver was satisfied. The others first treated me for lunch
since they didnt ate yet, aint gonna say no to food Once we arrived in
Kampot I asked to go to Bodhi villa, a backpackers place about 2 km north of
town. I just arrived there to hear that it is full for the rest of the week. I
wasnt in the mood to hop around guesthouses all the time so I just asked the
driver for a clean and relatively cheap place. In the evening I went for a
stroll down the very charming town towards the river where there is an amazing
sunset. The town consists of a lot of colonial style buildings who are rotting
away.
I also checked with the tour operators if I could do a two
day trekking to the Bokor national park with the famous bokor hill station. The
price was pretty overwhelming so that was out of the question. A one day tour
was still in debate however also pretty expensive for what it is. I told myself
that I would check out a different guesthouse tomorrow and rent a bicycle to go
to the countryside.
25th of September was a rainy day, I found a nice
guesthouse: blissful. The room is very basic but there is a mosquito net and
the sheets are clean, they have wifi, a video room and a dutch girl behind the
bar. I didnt do much because of the rain and took my time to do some research
about whats next: the bicycle trip! In the evening I treated myself with a
nice pasta on the riverside, while I was enjoying my beer I met another dutch
girl. She was interested in accompanying me to the monthly concert of the
traditional Khmer music school for disabled and orphaned children (I got the
flyer from the tourist office). So of we went looking for the school, when we
arrived there it was completely empty so I checked the date again: 25th
7.30 pm thats now. We looked around but besides some kids playing hide and
seek there was nobody around Finally someone showed up who spoke some English
and told us that the flyer is from June! Why does the tourist information gives
me a flyer from june! As far as I know I cant time travel yet and I have quite
a lot of travelling experience Anyway instead of a concert we just went for a
drink and talked a little. She advised me to go and check out the crab at Kep
which is supposed to be really good. She also told me that the tour to Bokor is
quite bad: a lot of car and waiting in different places, way too small lunch
and not enough time to walk around and see everything
first of all sorry for the late update but I didn't really feel like writing something so...
During these days I've been busy for the school and some cycling: in the morning I got on my mountain bike and drove into town for breakfast. After that I had a drink in a bar/hotel where they had internet access and then I asked to let my laptop there while it was downloading. It was never a problem as soon as I mentioned that it was for the Goodwill school. Then I got on my bicycle again and went for a ride of mostly about 3 hours along the beach or into the hills with the quaries... Totally exhausted and sweaty I went back to my guesthouse for a shower and then picked up my laptop and went to the school. They have two 'good' pc's: a 2.2 Ghz processor with 512 Mb of memmory, which should be able to run windows xp pretty smoothly... But that is not the case, the pc's are running badly: one of them simply stopped working after one month while the other one had no sound.
For the rest they have a 220 MHz pc with 64 Mb memmory and a few laptops which all are not working...
I'll have some work, because they had some requests of which I never heard and had no clue how to do it. Most of it was a software list and all pc's had to run xp. The two 'good' pc's wheren't that hard but I had to do it slowly because they wanted to learn how to do it. And they only have one windows xp cd so we had to wait a lot. The last day when I came there for the finishing touch I got to hear that one of the screens exploded. So we took the screen from the old pc and that is working now. The laptops are way beyond fixing: one of the laptops' screen isn't working, the other one has an ancient model of a hard drive of barely 1.5 Gb and the keyboard has a lot of characters missing. They said it's ok when I told them that that's not worth fixing.
Lundy (the one that teaches computer class) was really satisfied and he can now install windows + the software that I put on the pc's.
thursday in the evening I had a conversation class, which means that I had to teach them how to make small conversations. The first group were kids of 17 till 21 years old and it went pretty well however the girls were really shy and didn't dare to ask a lot of questions. With the necessary laughter the class ended. The second class was identically the same however with smaller children: 5 till 16 years old, their pronounciation is a lot better and they listen very carefully. After half an hour the class was suspended due to a power cut in town. I was left in the dark classroom without any means of light and bumped into almost everything while making my way out the door. Overall the experience was amazing! The children are so respectful, I will never forget this school!
I completely support the project, I've been there for quite a few days, sometimes without appointment so I know the way they work. They teach the children English, computer, Khmer, ... but most important is that they teach them values. In a school in Cambodia morals are not taught, but this school takes that task: they teach the children to think about their future, to clean up the littering, to create a sustainable environment,...
so today I had to get up at 6.30 which really hurt after the beers of last night, but anyway I told them I would be there and it is an hour drive from the guesthouse. On the way I had a delicious breakfast, it was rice with grilled vegetables, crispy pork and steamed tomatoes. I wanted to get another one but time was running out so I continued, after 5 minutes I got of the map so I was going with my memmory. From time to time I was doubting and I didn't think I would make it but then I saw the house and I was still 5 minutes early. These 5 minutes I used to drink some ice tea and to sweat, I was as wet as 2 days before but this time it wasn't from the rain... The youngest boy lead the procession as we followed trail after trail but then it seemed that we were further than he had ever been so I asked and they said he'd been here once before. The oldest now took the lead but the road was broader so we could walk next to each other, he also put some music on: the most popular English song here in Cambodia, I know you want me from the pittbuls. I know it by heart by now and still have 2 weeks of Cambodia left... We stopped at an old structure that was overgrown by nature and they explained it's one of the remains from Pol Pot. Seems like nature is finally trying to grow over the cruelties...
We continued past some rubber and tree plantations while they were treating me all kind of fruits and explaining me some herbs that they use in their daily life, I had to repeat the Khmer name and then adapt their pronounciation of the English name. It was a nice walk and back at my bicycle another meal was awaiting our presence. I wasn't allowed to pay anything, they said it was an honour to talk to me and guide me around the hills, it was a bit uncomfortable but they are oh soo nice!
On the way back I stopped to take a picture of the men beating the stones, this scenery is everywhere in Sihanoukville province. In the afternoon I went to another beach and in the evening I got a very nice spot for sunset and met some local students who were enjoying their sunday fishing.
