Vietnam and Beyond

We finished our last leg of the journey riding about 1000kms down the beautiful coastline of Vietnam. One of the most interesting things on this trip is the difference between countries and culture. One hundred metres to cross the border and wham, what does this country have in store for the two hammers?

Vietnam, right away we noticed that the people and the country was a lot louder than Laos. The people in Laos are really easy going and quiet people, no one raises there voice. In Vietnam, the traffic was much more in your face and the people were not shy at all about letting you know they were there. The volume in Laos was about a 3 and Vietnam being a 9 out of 10. Very similar humour though and very light hearted about things. I felt both cultures have a good laugh at us "foreigners" and they also have a good laugh at themselves. The major difference between the two countries is that Vietnam is number 13 and Laos is number 101 in the world for most population per country.

We visited the old capital "Hue" where there was a huge imperial palace fortified by walls for almost a square kilometer. We did a motorcycle trip around the area to visit all the grave sites where royalty was buried, other landmarks and sat in on a Buddhist prayer at this huge Monastery.

We continued south to DaNang, a large port city and the 3rd largest city in Vietnam. We met a friend of Coral's named Brian. He is teaching English in DaNang which has lead me to my next adventure in this experience called life. I met some students of Brian's and had a great time talking and sharing my knowledge of the English language with them. After meeting Brian everything seemed to fall into place. DaNang has about 30km of coastline and surrounded by some nice passes and mountains. You could see why I might want to stay here for a while, fresh tropical fruits, beaches, mountains and a warm climate all year round.

Onwards to Hoi An a world heritage city. There are a tonne of tailor shops there and it was only 30km outside of DaNang so I can get some tailor made clothes for my new career. You could buy new tailor fit clothes, shoes and any style of clothing, bags or accessories for a fraction of the cost of any designer label and the quality is fantastic. There is a lot to see in the area with many reminents of the Cham empire that ruled much of the central region of Vietnam. I can't wait to go exploring in my free time.

The coastline south continued to amaze us, the views were breathtaking. We arrived in a city called Nha Trang were many Vietnamese go to for R&R on the beach. In the area were some hot springs, probably my favourite attraction for a weary cycle tourist. Coral and I(Steve) treated ourselves to a mudbath and massage.

Moving forward we headed into the tea and coffee country to a city called Dalat. This was the honeymoon capital of Vietnam. They call the city little Paris, it has a communications tower that looks like the Eiffel tower. We climbed about 1400m from the sea which turned out to be a long 120km day. There was a 3% grade for the first 70km which can be a bit demoralizing and a 50km climb to finish the day. What a view! The temperature drops at night which was awesome after spending some really hot days riding by the sea. The coffee in Vietnam rivals the Italian espresso and Turkish Kave that will kickstart the day. It's been really neat experiencing all the regional teas and coffees, different ways of preparation and presentation through out our travels. I could see myself living in Dalat, it was the place to be in Vietnam before air conditioning was invented. Waking up with the smell of pines and fresh mountain air, oh yeah!

The final km's were in front of us, 3 days of riding to Ho Chi Minh. It finally set in that these were the last days of our travels. The Two Hammers were about to sing their swan song on this one year journey. Exactly one year from departing Lisbon we arrived in Ho Chi Minh on March 21st. We reached Ho Chi Minh and the days leading in to the capital were extremely hot(35) with 80% humidity, pushing it up to 40%.

Now Kevin is in Canada making his way across the country from Vancouver(by bus) back to Southern Ontario. He will be laboring for another long season of back breaking manual labour at Plan B. I am studying in Ho Chi Minh to be an english teacher. I will be on my way back to DaNang shortly. My days will be spent learning Vietnamese in my spare time, riding my bike in the mountains in the morning, sitting by the sea drinking coconuts in the afternoon and teaching a few hours a night. Sorry Kev, I don't mean to rub it in... hehe. Coral is currently doing some more traveling in SE Asia before she returns to Canada for some back breaking labour as well.

I will be writing some conclusions about our thoughts on the journey. Until then thanks to everyone who fed us, provided us shelter, made us laugh and most importantly made our journey a memorable one.

Laidback Laos

Been some time now since our last post. Unless you are doing the well trailblazed Lonely Planet routes it is hard to find internet in Laos. It's pretty funny whenever you want to find westerners pick up the lonely planet guide and you will find "Falang" (Laosian for Foreigners).

We spent 31 days of our 30 day visa in Thailand and were charged late fees at the Border... whoops! We arrived in the Capital city Vientiene and met up with Coral's friend another Canadian, Ramsey from Toronto. Thanks to Ramsey and his friend Soo (forgive my spelling) we were treated to some great information about Laos over a delicious Laosian lunch in the park on the banks of the Mekong. We found some wicked spots in Central Laos were few Falang venture.

We headed north to Vang Vieng to meet an organic farmer Mr. T who allowed us to stay in his busy guest house. They really had it going on, many projects on the go with local villagers. They were building a community Library and there was a group of 20 people from a Asian group called AVAN that assists poorer Asian countries to help develop skills and modern practices to increase their standards of living. While Coral and Kevin were farming and working on the projects I decided to take some time off and relax after riding a 7 day push from Bangkok. We met a group of four from the US that I took a lazy day off with. We floated down the river on a tube while many locals were yelling "Beer Laos! Beer Laos! Cold cold! Cmon cmon". Fun in the sun! Thanks Adam, Irene, Allie and Joanna for the good company and many laughs.

On the road again we headed south east towards the Vietnam border to a place known as the Banglor caves. The Laosian country side is breathtaking, we headed up through a steep pass that was probably pushing a 10% grade, no long switchbacks up this hill just pure punishment of our quads. The mountain ranges in this area were unlike anything I have seen on this trip. The ranges were very rigid and the rock formations were stunning. Onwards toward the banglor caves, this lesser known place was off the beaten path and the path was beaten to say the least. Crawling along at about 7 to 12 km an hour we made our way in the deep bush. We stayed a night in a guest house along the river, what a serene place in the mountains far from any sort of civilization. I watched kids play in the river and the local fisherman pulling out dinner for their families, I felt so tranquil and just sat there taking a minute to breathe and enjoy this moment. The next day we had a date with the river men. I had my optimism about placing our bikes on a barely floating river skiff accompanied by my captain no more than a teenager. We headed down the river to the mouth of a 8km cave that passed through a mountain. We had to jump off the skiff a few times to pull the boat up the cascading falls and rapids. We made it to the other side with no problems, but what an adventure!

Two more days on some tough roads, we were still in the thick of things in the Laos jungle roads. Seeing nothing but small villages and astonished faces, we camped out in the jungles scraping by on our rations of food. The final day we headed out of the jungle we came up against some hills that we could not ride up due to steep grades and loose gravel and rocks. Sitting on the 4th hill exhausted, eating our last ration, not knowing how far we had to go, we see a lonely falang heading up the hill. Robert a French worker for a new dam project in the area was going out for his Sunday ride. What a relief, he told us civilization was only two more ascents away. Robert guided us to the village and fooood!!! He returned with a truck to bring us back to the workers compound and treated us to another huge spread of food with desert. Oh yes, we ate again, did I ever say how veracious our appetites were? What an truly amazing time we spent in Laos.

The people in Laos were very quiet and had a very easy going demeanour about them, and not to mention very warm and super hospitable in Laos. Very different volume level from our next and final country Vietnam. We are about 900km from our destination, I can't believe it.

Some big news in the next post, as I have decided to put off my return to Canada.

Steve

Buns of Steel and Banged up in Bangkok

We have been somewhat stuck here in Bangkok waiting for a Vietnamese Visa. The office was closed due to Chinese New Year... for 5 days! We were able to stay with a friend for the week so that helped cut down on expenses. A big thanks to Toy and Michael from the US who allowed 3 dirty cyclists to take up some floor space in there bachelor pads. They showed us around town and we "made party"!

We went to a floating market outside of Bangkok where all the commerce is done in canals. It was really cool to see gondola like water crafts paked with all their wares. It was a very nice contrast to see a more grass route style of commerce rather than the bland hegemonic american style malls that are plaguing the earth.

A few days ago I had a rough time in the big city. I was playing bumper bikes with Coral. I was looking to merge with traffic as I turn around I got a little up close and personal with Coral's buns of steel and literally bounced of her ass and fell into traffic. Cars honked at me on the ground, luckily no one ran me over. Later on in the same day I was once again looking over my shoulder to merge with traffic and I ran into a stopped car, this time I braked just in time and kissed his bumper with my front tire, the problem was I was clipped in and took a nasty fall trying to get out of my bike. By the end of the day some bruised knees, calves and thighs and another scar to add to my already scarred left knee. Mostly just a bruised ego. The traffic is pretty much the same as every big city, heavily polluted, big parking lots which are called expressways. I hear Canada is having an abnormally warm winter, keep burning those fossil fuels. I hear global warming is all just a big hoax anyways. I have complete faith in the government and scientists to fix everything... right?

We stayed at two Buddhist Temples before arriving in Bangkok. Recently I finished reading the 4 noble truths by the Dalai Lama and it had a profound affect on me. I have really enjoyed the eastern philosophy and their outlook on human nature, compassion and finding inner peace. In highschool I remember learning about Buddhism and I really find the religion is very close to my own views on life. I am really enjoying the immersion into the Buddhist lifestyles. I am looking forward to our journey into two more Buddhist countries Laos and Vietnam. We found out that many Thai will spend a period of time in their life, living as monks in the temples. The beauty of this is that they do this on there own free will, however they do not abandon their old lives and renounce their families like the traditional ways. It is more of a celebration and party nowadays. Some of the old traditions have been lost and the version we see today is a more of a Neo-Buddhism. Like a lot of religions it is always evolving braking off into different sects, changing to the times.

20 countries and counting.

Steve

Malaysia to Thailand, Damn it's hot!!!

It was a four day ride into KL (Kuala Lumpur). We started in JB and cycled to PK to Muar to PD. Everyone in Malaysia pronounces the cities by their initials like the hip people in Toronto that call the city TO. The Petronas towers stood out in the skyline of KL and helped guide us into the downtown core of the metropolitan city. The infrastructure was well designed by their civil engineers. The light rail transit system was outstanding. We had an inspiring interview in PJ, we took the LRT to meet with a NGO called CETDEM. Ok no more acronyms... Tan Siew Luang and her colleagues provided us with some good information about the organic farming movement, sustainable housing and alternative energy in Malaysia.

We headed north to the Cameron Highlands to meet 2 organic farmers. We met Fung after climbing a 40km 1000m ascent, needless to say our legs were a little rubbery but the scenery and waterfalls were breathtaking. Fung had a great piece of land in a small village in the mountains. He gave us an excellent tour and a great interview of his farm and his practices. We were introduced to another local farmer Mr. Ho and his son Jason. Jason operated the organic farm while his father ran a few local businesses including an organic restaurant where Kevin and I enjoyed and Organic steamboat dinner. It was hands down the best meal we had in Malaysia. The Cameron Highlands had a really cool climate which was a refreshing change from the humidity and hot temperatures in the lowlands. The crops were much different in this area due to the more temperate weather, which was considered the salad bowl of the country.



We continued towards Pinang and bumped into a fellow cycle tourist named David. He took us on a whirlwind tour for the short time we stayed with him. We went to a Chinese Funeral, visited a pottery shop where they made hand crafted pottery on site, a rice mill, 2 prawn farms, a fish farm, to "hell" in a Chinese temple in the middle of a huge palm oil plantation and another Hindi Temple. He also helped us with meeting another Organic Farm in Pinang where David was introduced to Organic farms for the first time. A big thanks to Kenny and Tan who drove us around Pinang to the local organic farm. We saw our first live organic pineapple, I never knew they grow straight up from the ground and take 4 months to produce one fruit, whoa! David then showed us around to some of the local spots where they drink "totty" which comes from a coconut tree by splitting a chute which produces a juice which ferments and turns alcoholic in 2-3 hours. It is only good up to 8 hours but the longer you wait the stiffer the alcohol content. The only downfall is it smells more sulfury near 8 hours.

We are now on an exotic Thai beach getting some well deserved R&R after doing a 7 day haul up the Thai coast. I hope it is not to cold in Canada... hahahaha. We hope everyone in Canada has voted for our new PM, we did our Civic duty overseas here in Kuala Lumpur. We have met up with our friend Coral from Ottawa, she is also an Organic Farmer from Plan B Organic farm in Flamborough Ontario. We have our first female rider woohooo!! I hope I did not scare her off, the first day we met with hit the beach and I broke out my Romanian speedo courtesy of our good friend Gabi. I won't post that picture on the web, we want people to come back and visit our adventure.

Peace out, Steve.

Good Riddance India, Helloooooo South East Asia, phew!?!?!

After riding 1200km south from Kathmandu to Kolkata we have seen about enough of India to last a lifetime. India is really in a sad state of affairs. There is no education about pollution, food handling and hygiene. The World Health Organization reports that it is a hot spot for Malaria amongst a list of other health warnings. So you might think that there would be some education and thought about combating this problem. Nope almost every Hotel we stayed in had open windows, no screens, windows that couldn't close and even if they could there were many spots where the mosquitoes could get in. The solution for 90% of the mosquito problem, "Here's a coil to burn, Sir". Yeah, I really want to be breathing in pesticides all night, along with all the other black air pollution my poor pink lungs are taking a beating from. Let me get to the air pollution, Kevin's mask had a black outline within a few hours of riding and you could only imagine what it looked like after three days. Everyday our bodies had a layer of black film and I won't go into anything coming out of our nostrils. We spent Christmas day repairing my bike box hours before we had to take our flight to Singapore. The Hotel we stayed at had water all over and they let my box sit in this for days... let's just say we are extremely happy to be leaving India behind.

We arrived in Singapore after spending most of Christmas day in the airport. They say Singapore is a fine city, meaning you get fined for so many outrageous things. Failing to flush the toilet, spitting and even chewing gum is outlawed and punishable. I just read an article that after the 12 year ban they are allowing therapeutic gums, teeth whitening and Nicorette but you have to show ID. If the buyer does not show ID, the pharmacist is jailed for 2 years and fined $2940 dollars. Talk about strict government whoa!!

Ok other than the obscene police state Singapore is in, (Singaporeans are really worried about breaking laws) Singapore is an amazing place. It is a city/country no bigger than Toronto and there is literally mall after consumerfest mall. The place is bustling with commerce and the city is so clean. Leaving Kolkata and entering Singapore was like night and day, total polar opposites. There is sooo much to see and do here we could have spent at least two weeks exploring the beaches, theme parks and limitless amount of malls. We had to do some bike part shopping and finally after hitting every store we were able to locate the specialty rims we required. Singapore is quite the place and if anyone is thinking of traveling to an exotic tropical location, check out Singapore. It is as culturally diverse as Toronto, Indian, Arab, Chinese and even us white cake are spread throughout the streets. There is no religious majority either, a true city of the world. The buildings and architecture is stunning, we could have spent a month here just taking pictures of the scenery here. The food is excellent as well, every meal was fully digested and ready for us to burn on the bikes, did I mention we were ecstatic about being out of India?

We arrived in Malaysia two days before new years, it was a 45k ride out of Singapore. Malaysia so far has been great, the tropical climate is fantastic and we are working on some wicked cycling tan lines. The roads are fantastic, huge motorcycle lanes that we also have free reign in. No more horns that were constantly blarring from the Indian trucks, nice and peaceful with smooth tarmac and no pollution. We are headed towards Kuala Lumpur in a few days, another big hub city in South Asia. We will be interviewing an organization for Organic Farming in Kuala Lumpur. The largest towers in the world are here (CN tower is still the tallest free standing). New years was spent near the coast, not to many people were celebrating. The population is largely Muslim and Chinese so there were no rowdy drunks and the Chinese New Year us not until the end of January.

Looking forward to 2006! Today we had an amazing ride up the western Malaysian coastline. There are so many weird looking tropical fruits on the trees. Ahh fresh fruit mmmmmm!!! We pumped out some good KM's today and I was enjoying a huge high from the endorphine rush, it was unlike any New Years day I have ever had. A good start to the New Year instead of my usual nursing of a killer hang over. A great start to begin 2006.

Happy New Year everyone!!! Happy Birthday to my sister Julie and my Grandma!!

Steve

Nemaste Nepal - Top of the World

We entered Nepal on November 21st almost walking by the border without a Visa. The western border of Nepal is a relaxed dirt road along a canal with migrating Indians, Nepalese and various assorted farm animals walking to and fro, country to country. Nepal is in the middle of a cease fire with Maoist rebels which will be ending shortly but may be extended with talks from both sides. December 2nd there is a large manifestation being organized to demand democracy at the King's Palace. They are expecting upwards of 1 million citizens. This could be the beginning of a new era here in Nepal. There has been increased pressure from the US and UN demanding the King to listen to the Parliament, the Maoist movement and the people. There are many military checkpoints that we are allowed to pass freely on our bicycles. All buses and other transportation is stopped and searched at each chekpoint for rebel activity.

The locals are friendly and the children ring out "bye bye" and wave very excitedly as we pass them. In the western region there is not much food variety for us and our ferocious apetites. We have been living on biscuits, rice, dal, curried potato/cauliflower and a mustard green of some sort almost EVERY DAY! We decided to spend a couple nights in one of the National Parks named the Royal Bardia. It was amazing, we saw rhinos, leopards, two varities of deer (tiger food) but no tigers. The guide has never seen leopards in his 13 years in the park so we were very lucky to see these predatory cats. We could smell the scent of Tiger pee and saw fresh scratch marks on the side of the trail travelling to the next lookout tower. We then heard an Elephant roar to warn that there was a tiger in the immediate vicinity. We then met up with the Elephant that made our guide turn and almost run for a tree until he looked again and noticed it was domesticated. Our guide was armed with a bamboo stick and his wits. What an exciting day, seeing these large mamals roaming in there natural habitat and not in some zoo. It was $25 dollars for two days and a Jungle trek with lodging and 3 square Cycle tourist sized meals. What a deal!!!

The last few days we started to make our ascent from the southern plains of Nepal into Pokhara. We stopped in the city of Butwal a major hub in Nepal where we finally had a selection of food other than the Nepalese standard (good food but you can only each so much of it). We saw the mountains to the north as we prepared our tummies for the hills ahead. All I can say is we spent almost half our time off of the bike seat stopping to take pictures of utterly breathtaking views of valleys, moutains, forest and river. We arrived in Pokhara on the 29th. Just a few kilometers north of Pokhara is Annapurna the 9th highest mountain in the world WOW!!! (Picture of Annapurna above)

Kathmandu here we come, lets hope the King will do the right thing and listen to his subjects! The next few days will prove to be very interesting as we will be in the heart of the matter.

Stev-0

Chai, Bickies and Numbers

After spending some time in McLeod Ganj we headed east through the mountains just south of the Himalyans called the Shiwalik range. What an inspiring ride after being spiritually lifted through these intense mountains. The population was much more sparce through the mountains and the air was clean. To the south you could see the haze of pollution which makes for good photos at sun set. There is always a good and a bad for everything.

We picked up another rider to make our bike posse more international. Before heading into Dharmsala we stopped to take some photos of a valley. I saw a man passed out on a small tea hut. I looked again and noticed a fully loaded bicycle. He was also experiencing the after affects (stomach problems) from Lahorrible Pakistan. Alex from Switzerland has joined our ride towards Katmandu Nepal. We have nick named him the Terminator for his deep Arnold-esque Austrian English accent.

We made our way through some mountain villages that made our quads scream and jaws drop. Monkeys were scattered throughout the mountains hanging out on the sides of the roads grooming each other and the mothers carrying their young around. They are amazing animals to watch, they are so graceful playing in the trees. We stayed in the provincial capital Shimla for an extra day. This beautiful city was perched in the foothills of the Shiwalik Range at about 2205m above sea level. As much of a pain the mountain climbs can be there is always breathtaking downhill. I love watching the choreography when we are following each other down the hills picking our lines around the curves, cutting and weaving down the passes.

Today we are at the head of the Ganga river in a town called Rishikesh. At the base of the Ganges the total length is about 2,510 km. It is one of the densest human population belts on earth. We are close to the source which flows from a glacier in the Himalayas. The water is clean here and we are going to take a quick dip in the cold waters. Rishikesh is named the Yoga capital of the world. There are many places to learn and teach many different styles of Yoga, massage and meditation. Cows and monkeys are everywhere here. If you have never tried yoga, I highly recommend it. I was practicing a few months before I left and I never felt so good after the class, all my stress was gone and I felt I was walking on air.

We should be in Nepal climbing back into the mountains in 3 or 4 days. I can't wait for more fresh air and watching more wildlife. There are leopards and other large mammals still living in harmony with the eco systems that have been untouched by man. We are headed towards some national parks in India and Nepal.

India is an amazing place and I will definitely be coming back to spend some time in the mountains for a retreat if I ever feel spiritually, mentally or physically depleted. There is an amazing blend of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist and many other eastern religions here. It is truly a spiritually uplifting place. Accommodations are $2 to $5 a night, you can eat like a calorie crazed cyclist spending $3 for a huge spread of amazing Indian food and spend $7 for a full hour body massage. Try doing that in Canada for under $20. Words can't describe it, you have to experience this amazing place for yourself.

Until the next post.
Steve