not quite into a burning ring of fire, after Cuc Phuong National Park, we headed down the length of Vietnam, hoping to make it all the way to Ho Chi Minh City (on the southern end of the country, otherwise known as Saigon), before our visas expired. That was not meant to be, but regardless, the next three weeks or so were filled with serendipity and fun times. You can read about the bike sights like Paradise Cave, and Hoi An, in other posts, but keep scrolling here to get an idea of how my day-to-day looked.
Yours truly riding through the karst-encrusted landscape outside of Cuc Phuong National Park. (Photo: www.threeruleride.com)
After a couple days, we met up with Katya (Slovenia) and Mirek (Czech Republic), two long-term bicycle travelers who have been on the road together for more than 12 years. Jewelers by trade, Katya and Mirek decided to take their business mobile several years ago, and now they hand-make all kinds of jewelry from local materials, then sell their products at markets or through their online shop. Mike met them in Hanoi several months before, and had been hatching a secret scheme to make our paths converge ever since. Finally his plans came to fruition, and I was lucky enough to spend the next two weeks or so with Katya and Mirek.
When we need a calorie boost, we stop at one of these places – deep fried bananas, sweet potato, taro, etc, usually 5 for $1 or so!
There was a brief section of northern Vietnam where temples and what not were suddenly displaced by cathedrals, and everyone had Catholic shrines in their homes instead of Buddhist ones. Sometimes they were a little bit creepy, like this neon trinity found in the lobby of one of our hotels.
Most hotels in SE Asia are run by a family, and sometimes it's a really awesome family, like these guys, who cooked us an incredible meal for a reasonable price, and upgraded us to the VIP suite for no reason at all. Their daughter's English was excellent; I foresee a future for her in the translation business. Nice people!
There was a stretch of road where logging operations, such as the one above, appeared to be slowly floating their stockpile of timber down the river. What I saw was probably just a drop in the bucket compared to the actual number of trees cut down. I wonder how much of that timber is illegally cut from nearby Cuc Phuong National Park.
Then there are the random strangers who invite you into their home and offer to share their lunch (and lunch time beers!) with you for free.
These guys appeared to be constructing shrines, or gravestones, by the side of the road.
Cute grandma makes the best Banh Mi (baguette sandwiches) ever.
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Slash and burn farming? Forest fire prevention?
An old army truck up for repairs.
Water buffalo out for a stroll down to the watering hole.
At this time, there were five shakies traveling together; Moi, Mirek, Mike, Minseong, and Katya.
Countryside night scene.
Fertile fields.
We are always popular at the local markets. Unfortunately, it's only the middle-aged ladies who seem interested in me.
Sunset over the rice padis.
Hey guy on a scooter! Get out of my water buffalo picture!
This renegade took Minseong's bike for a joy ride!
Breakfast of rice and eggs on the street! Good start to the day!
There seemed to be kind of a suspension bridge fetish in Vietnam. This one was pretty sturdy, but sometimes they're not much more than ropes and planks of wood.
Katya and Mirek chow down on a giant puffed rice cracker.
Weird skeleton birds. Anybody know what these are? I may have eaten one.
Karst formations at dusk.
I have also taken up the habit of using my cell phone and cycling at the same time.
Shakies on the go.
The weather in Vietnam was cool and misty most of the time. There were quite a few times when my camping gear didn't keep me *quite* warm enough to be comfortable at night, and during the day time we rarely saw the sun.
Local shopkeepers.
A lot of the fishing boats were these bamboo affairs, tarred on the bottom to make them waterproof. And of course trash everywhere.
What begins with coffee and coconuts on a rainy morning....
Ends with coconut boobies! We obviously have way too much free time.
This is how the locals stay dry in a drizzle.
Once we got to the coast, there were a lot of these beach-side graveyards. I'm told that every family aspires to have a grave like this, and they already cover quite a bit of land. Sometimes we even saw graves in the middle of rice fields.
I don't know what you're sayin', Ho Chi Minh, but we're into it.
Windy morning.
Up and over the Hai Van pass. They kind of made a big deal of how tall it was, but after crossing through northern Laos, this was a piece of cake.
Top of the pass! On this day, we met Mark and Claire (far left in the orange, and woman in the pink jacket), a British couple who've cycled all the way from England! Now we're 7 shakies! We all cycled together for a few days before Katya and Mirek took off to southern Vietnam, while Mike, Minseong, Mark, Claire, and I headed to Laos for some Four Thousand Islands fun.
Down the other side! The wind was so strong it almost picked up my bike and deposited me on the side of the road. Luckily I came out unscathed.
Now we're camping on the beach!
Beach night scene.
Multitudinous shakies on the road.
After making it to Hoi An, which you can read about in another post, we headed west into Laos.
