I left you last time at the end of our epic ride to Nha Trang.
Currently I am sitting in an Internet cafe in Trang Town, Trang Province on the Andaman Coast in Southern Thailand. I'm sipping a lemon smoothie which I'd become addicted to in Cambodia, much healthier than Coke and tastier than water.
As it stands I'll be meeting my girlfriend, Eunjin tomorrow afternoon at the airport and on Monday we'll be heading to a nearby island for a week before we part ways once more for the holidays. Throughout this trip I attempted to 'blog' to keep friends and family updated on my progress but as you know I fell short of that several times. Perhaps I'm not cut out for the wild world of blogging or I'm just too busy living right now to find time to write about it. For this I apologize, I will not retire my shoddy blog though I will try to sum up the last two months in this final post on the topic of my cycling trip. I'll keep this blog and update as much as I can about where I end up and what I'm doing, but please forgive me for cramming the past months into one post. Needless to say I will not talk about everything, maybe even skipping weeks and please know that even though I will do my best, there will be many things you'll have to ask me about face to face. My good friend Anderson Muth, whose blog "Watch Out World" is far more up to date than mine, has kept up with his writing with the vigilance of a Phu Quoc rat. You can read his account of our trip as well as his fantastic articles published both on ESL Daily as well as Travelfish.org. Please check them out and I'm sure you'll see his perspectives are right on the money. Without further adieu, the rest of my life changing experience:
When we rolled into Nha Trang it was pitch black, though thanks to the huge ex-pat scene and tourist attraction of this place, there were plenty of lights to guide our way to a cosy guesthouse run by a beautiful Vietnamese family. Nha Trang has a lot of restaurants. A lot. I have eaten a lot of food and this place was the mecca of selection, Indian, Western, European, Asian, everything. We spent a day on a party boat before I parted ways with the team for the first time. Nha Trang has some excellent diving and I decided to do my PADI Open water certification here which would take several days. The course was awesome and the center I did it through was thorough and very professional. I feel 100% capable of prepping my own equipment and being a capable diver. I am even considering furthering my certification in the future as I have had one of the most awesome times of my life while underwater. The aquatic life was plentiful and the feeling of being around such a diverse ecosystem was thrilling. I have truly never experienced anything like it before, even diving with sharks in Korea cannot compare to this.
Being alone, I grabbed an overnight bus to meet my friends in the town of Hoi An, which was another amazing little town. Here we extended our visas for Vietnam to see more of the country. We moved north to Danang through torrential rains that almost beat out the worst of Cambodian rains, almost. I think I would have remained drier had I jumped in the river, as I was pedaling around looking for the hotel the flood waters were well above my crank set. We had intended to go directly to Hue from Hoi An but we took a 15 km detour up a mountain where our road abruptly ended in the ocean. I had mentioned in passing to my friends "I don't think this is the right way guys, that road just goes up a mountain". But my lack of conviction in my observation ended in us just continuing on our way. It was a nice view of the ocean though...
The forecast predicted level 4 tropical storms coming our way. This of course didn't materialize in our area until a few days after we had left.
Hue was a great place with such incredible history and sights. We partook in walking tours as well as more than our share of street-side coffee breaks as we watched the rain pour down.
From Hue we jumped a bus to Hanoi. Another bus, I know. This was starting to irritate everyone as we all just wanted to clock some k's on the saddle but the reality of our situation was that there was nothing to do between here and Hanoi and if we tried we would be in more than a little trouble with the Vietnamese government for over staying our visas.
Hanoi was a very busy place with lots to see. I made up for my lack of cycling by walking through the entire city to see the Army Museum, the Hanoi Hilton and a few other sights. The amount of shopping in Hanoi is ridiculous. It's completely retarded how many stores there are and the hilarity of the design was not lost on me. Whatever you need in Hanoi can be found quite easily (except actual chain oil), and when you find the area where your desired goods are sold all you have to do is pick which store on the street you'd like to buy from. There is a tin box street, there is a silk street, there is a Buddhist street, there is even a plush animal street. Each product and good has it's own street. This is common in Asia but on no such scale as in Hanoi.
We saddled up and headed the two days to Halong Bay, on the coast. Stopping for the night in the usual dive. This time ending in a massage hotel complete with sketchy pink lights and termite infested bedposts.
Halong Bay is the UNESCO site that has Halong drooling over itself as it revels in it's not-so unique limestone karsts. World heritage status would have you believe it's unique but I can promise you it is not. For miles along the coast these karsts appear in grand form and are being blown up or smashed down by quarry companies where the tourism boom decided to ignore. That's not to say that Halong Bay isn't amazing, it truly is. It's absolutely breathtaking and is the closest I'll ever feel to being a non-violent pirate navigating my way through shrouded cliffs and foggy caves. We ate some great seafood and bartered our way onto a tour which ended in us having a boat to ourselves as we toured around this fantasy land. Oh, I forgot to mention another detour we took. 10 or so km's before Halong Bay is a newly built bridge about 1.5 km's long that attaches a large island to the mainland. The sign clearly reads"Cat Ba Island blah blah blah". Since our Vietnamese is a little rusty we asked to confirm that this Island was indeed Cat Ba. "Cat Ba, Cat Ba, yes yes" said the guardsmen at the gate. Great we thought, Cat Ba Island is a sought after tourist destination with several wildlife parks and sights to see as well, we should just stay here! We rode across the bridge and up some seriously steep hills and all around this nearly deserted Island before ending on the other side without the slightest sight of any accommodation besides a100$ a night resort. It turns out from this island you can catch a ferry, once in awhile with no real schedule to the REAL Cat Ba Island. We had no choice but to turn around and repeat the journey back to the mainland, and on to Halong City in the dark. Luckily the number of hotels here match the number of Sea food restaurants so we ended up in the middle of a bidding war between several hotel owners slashing their prices for our business.
We rode back to Hanoi the same way we had come where I celebrated my 23rd birthday with some Bia Hoi (fresh beer, 50cents a liter) and a trip the best club in town. Turns out the best club in town is a mostly gay bar where a poisonous snake decided it wanted to dance too. The screams and turmoil which ensued ended in several people smashing the life out of this snake in the middle of the dance floor. All in all, an interesting 23rd.
From Hanoi we started the toughest, longest part of our journey yet. The trip west to the Laos border was gruelling but dwarfed by the ride through Northern Laos.
All I can say is mountains. Mountains, mountains and more mountains. Each day ending in us freezing as we made our way through the dark to the power-less villages. It's hard to feel full on noodle soup after 8 hours of solid biking but it was all we could get most days so we made due and watched our muscles shrink further away.
Laos is another amazing country that I knew nothing about. I can now say I know a thousand times more than I did before which is still insignificant for a country that barely knows itself. Most Laos people didn't even know they belonged to a country called Laos, and most of them aren't even Laotian. Over 70% of the population live in rural farming villages and are remote hill tribes in themselves. The sentiment toward westerners here is pretty good considering the atrocities that have befallen them at the hands of America and the secret war which went on here. To this day UXO, or unexploded ordinance kills many Laos people every year. Usually in the form of un-primed 'Bombies" which are tennis ball sized spheres that are sent hurling from cluster bomb casings to land inhabited by innocent civilians who belonged to a completely neutral country. If you don't know what I'm talking about it is well worth the research.
Laos holds some great gems too, besides war ravaged valleys. The Plain of Jars is a mysterious collage of giant stone jars, believed to have held water for travelers or perhaps have been used as funeral containers. No one knows for sure.
There is also the uber-famous Vang Vieng where a 3 km stretch of the Nam Song river in Vientiane province that has been transformed into a hippie mecca and adult playground of crippling water swings and day-long bucket fests. A bucket for the older readers is a plastic bucket filled with booze.
I did succumb and buy a t-shirt...
Of course there is also Luang Prabang. The ancient capitol that is a temple-fanatic's wet dream. There are so many temples here, spaced so closely together that you literally only have to walk down the main drag to see most of the guidebook's recommended sights. It was a great place with amazing sandwiches. The sandwiches were so good I ate them everyday, and they were only 10,000 kip, slightly over 1$.
We pedaled down to the capitol city of Vientiane where I applied for my 1 month tourist visa for Thailand, ate some good food and met some great new Chinese friends who are cycling around Asia as well. They are slightly more important than us in that they meet with Chinese officials and promote the the 2010 Asian games. We did however show our new friends how to bowl, and how to party ;).
The morning of November 24th, Christine and I said our heartfelt goodbyes to our other three cycling friends as they departed early for the Laos-Thai friendship bridge and to begin their 600km trip to Bangkok. I was awaiting my visa and then C and I would bike the 30ish km's into Thailand before catching an overnight bus to Bangkok. When we arrived in Bangkok around 4:30am we biked in darkness to the still closed Amarin plaza to sell our bikes back to Fausto at BikeZone Bangkok, before we finally said goodbye to each other. Christine was heading to nearby Koh Samet, and I was heading for another 16hour bus ride to the South.
It is nearly the end of this journey for me and I cannot tell you how deeply it has affected me and improved my outlook on life and the world. I have learned many things about myself, life and this most fascinating region of the world. I have met so many great people and done things that will bring a smile to my face for years to come. I am truly saddened by the end but hopeful for a future in which traveling plays a major role. The world is enormous, and if you detract planes from the equation is only gets bigger. I am in the process of planning my next cycling tour, perhaps along my southern neighbours coast and into my own country. With it's vastness I can only imagine what I will discover about a people and history so young in comparison, though I am embarrassed to say I know very little about. I will forever be indebted to my friends who have allowed me to share this experience with them, and who have become my life long friends.
Luke has invited me join him and the others on a bike tour of his home state of Iowa which I will do everything in my power to accomplish. While this is the end of one chapter in my life, I am returning to a family and friends back home who have been nothing but supportive of me and my decisions. I have missed them so very much and cannot wait to spend the holidays together at last. My plans are to return to Korea, a place I have grown to love and to find a new way to finance my future travels. I would love to one day return to these majestic countries, because there are thousands of years of history and culture cannot be appreciated with just one trip.
Thank you for following along with me and sharing in my ups and downs. Thank you everyone so very much.
Until next time; Keep on Keepin' on.
Blaise
P.S- I don't have any pictures at the moment, but I'll work on getting an online album soon^^
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Saigon to Dalat
We grabbed a bus from Saigon to Dalat and thanks to my all natural over-the-counter tranquilizers I was unconscious for most of the winding trip. It was a good thing too because in the moments of wavering wakefulness all I could hear was the wretching of the unfortunate people who are afflicted with such a terrible thing as motion sickness. I've decided that buses suck. I rarely use them but the constant sound of yacking, coughing, sneezing and weezing, coupled with midget seats and varying degrees of climate control they are my least favorite form of transportation.
When we rolled into Dalat we pulled our bikes out of the cargo compartment to inspect the damage which is always inevitable. If memory serves correct there was only minor brake damage and some other insignificant adjustments to be made before we were back on our way.
Almost immediately we were greeted by the ever present moto drivers who would love to show us their "most beautiful clean and cheap guesthouses". We took the offer of one of them and followed him up a series of hills to the elegant 'Pink House Hotel'. It turned out to be a great place and much cheaper than expected. Being the off season this had happened a lot and we usually get the sympathy/hardcore discount because of bikes...even when we don't ride them^^
Dalat was really beautiful and I have been assured they bear a remarkable resemblance to the Swiss country-side, though with the Euro I 'm not sure I'll ever know for certain. The town was and still is used as a getaway and was known as a safe area during the war. The temperature was much cooler and we had to break out the long sleeves. I even remember thinking the heat was better, I wasn't very accustomed to the cold anymore.
We filled our days there by seeing a former Emperor's Mansion, as well as the "Hang Nga Crazy House" constructed by a presidents daughter.
The Mansion was pretty retro but we got to try on some royal costumes and have our own little photo shoot which was pretty funny. The grounds were well kept though dotted with an assortment of psychedelic faux-creatures, vintage Vespa's and a few farm animals.
There are enough intricacies in the plaster work to keep you looking for something out of the obvious odd and still enough perilous incomplete over-head walkways to keep you on your toes. These though wacky and interesting, didn't last long.
Apparently it rains in Dalat. And apparently it rains everyday in Dalat. It usually starts during lunch and doesn't really stop for the rest of the day. It's also a pounding massive rain that seems to shoot from the sky. I've been told if you have a lot to do, you should get up at 5 or 6am. So I'm told.
We ate and drank and watched the rain fall before getting ready to head out to see our hotel manager Rot, sing at a club. He was a total pro and the lounge as pretty high class, though without fail our group still resembled bikers even in our 'non-biking' clothes. While the other singers were decked out in suits and hair gel Rot was running around in a hoody and t-shirt. He has sang for the Royal Family among other prestigious people and was a pretty funny guy. After the show was finished we thought we would take-part in the only other activity available in Dalat: Karaoke. Some hilarity ensued and I ended up using my Krama (scarf) as a bandage to hold in the blood after my encounter with a rogue broken beer bottle. The beauty about not going to the hospital is that you're guaranteed not to hear bad news like stitches or infection or something ;). We (I) were even enticed into a full on arm-wrestling competition post-Karaoke.
We had fun in Dalat but it came time to head back east to the beachfront town of Nha Trang. That trip remains the longest distance we traveled in one day yet, and it was one of the most challenging accomplishments of this trip.
The locals had repeatedly told us that it wasn't that difficult. They must have all been in on some sick joke because over 60kms of road leaving Dalat held perhaps 4 real 'downhills' the rest was up. Up, up and more up. The most difficult thing about riding on a high % grade road up a mountain range is the way the road winds. You keep that shred of hope floating at the surface that reassures you "Around this corner and then it'll go down." More often than not you are wrong.
From the opaque folds of air we began our descent, 30km of downhill.
Not big down little up. Not even little down big up. This was all, 100% downhill. The scenery remains unique to my experience throughout this trip, it was sheer rock face wrapped roads with constant picturesque views of the valleys and lesser mountains below. The trip down flew by at over 40km/h, we got good use out of our newer breaks to dodge landslides and continuing construction.
After the 30kms ended we returned to rolling ups and downs as the sun fell below the horizon. Left in the dust of dusk we pushed our bodies further to continue on. By the time we rolled into Nha Trang, we were literally rolling.
140 kms through the Vietnamese Highlands had worn us down, but we all made it alive and were dying for some good food. Luckily Nha Trang holds a wide variety of great international dishes so our stay here would be well fed.
Underwater adventures in Nha Trang to follow soon^^
Till then, Keep on Keepin' on.
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