Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Dining in style.




Before we get a load of emails, comments and complaints that we are not suffering enough, we never claimed to be only roughing it! We are capable of doing so, have done so... And probably will still do so... But when there's a chance for a good meal and nice accommodation, well, yeah, we're damn well gonna take it!

Survival isn't just about filtering dodgy water to make drinkable water, making fire from rubbing 2 sticks, or from catching and killing game for food... Although we can and have done so... It's much more about adapting to your surroundings and using what you have at hand to your advantage...

That now all being said, yeah, the Roadwarriors are livin' it up in a fancy spa resort, and dinner last night was so damn good, we had to take pictures!



I had the FANTASTIC Australian steak, (bloody) and Tom had a huge chunk of grilled snapper... I even had a beer, and slept like a log for a solid, much needed 9 hours.

We'd done some decent KMs the previous few days, and yesterday's ride was long and hot. We had the puncture to deal with, which was a half-hour inconvenience, but the all-day-long persistent 15-20kph headwind that we were always riding into really sapped us... So a big feed and nice bed were very welcome. The complimentary Kimono was quite fetching too, I thought... :o)




Tomorrow we check out and carry on south to Da Nang. We hope to be getting in by mid afternoon in 3 days time, depending on the riding conditions...

More to come from the road.

Cheers!

RWK.

- Posted using BlogPress from my amazing iPad 2!

Location:Nhật Lệ,Dong Hoi,Vietnam

Coke & curious kids.

What a hoot!
We stopped at a small store in a town we were passing though for a much needed ass-break, and to have a nice cold soda... And within minutes, were surrounded by a bunch of well behaved but very curious children...There were two small girls who found Tom quite interesting... One in particular was incredibly taken with him...




She kept walking around him, prodding him a bunch if times, laughed a lot at his tan lines and white skin, and removed his sunglasses to stare at his uncovered face... It was quite strange, but we got a laugh out of it, and the lady who ran the shop thought is was quite amusing too..! :o)

More to come soon...

Cheers,

RWK.
Out.




- Posted using BlogPress from my amazing iPad 2!

The colours of the country

From bike helmets to fishing boats to rice fields... We've been enjoying the variety and colour around us.

(Don't forget, you can click on the photos to open them larger in a new window...)





















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Some happy critters.

For a change, we saw some happier animals the past few days...
Ones that were able to relax, to play, and to not be on tomorrow's menu!

One little scruffy puppy was having a ball, playing with a discarded plastic yoghurt carton:



Toms shoes were another thing to chew on, until Tom picked him up for a belly rub...







The water buffalo that was by the side of the road in his watering hole looked pretty content too.




I'll be posting a few more pix of the colorful sights we've seen shortly.
Cheers!
RWK.
OUT.

- Posted using BlogPress from my amazing iPad 2!

Hello, hello, hello..!

It can be from beside us as we ride, from fellow road users on mopeds, buses and cars, from some distance away, from rice field workers, and often, from children along the street... the call of "hello" is frequent, and almost always friendly.

It has been quite amazing, the amount of "hello"s we had... I'm stunned by how far they come too... Especially from the kids. We might still be 300m away, often hidden from view by trees or vehicles (well, you'd think, but...) but somehow, we've been spotted already, and the excited screams of "Hello, hello, hellohellohello...HELLOHELLO!!!!" are already reaching us as a bunch of children come barreling out into the road, frantically waving, and often reaching for a fly-by high-five.

We sometimes get a loud "OY!" or similar, usually from some punkish teenagers or half-drunk middle-aged men, which is less appealing, but we do try to call back a hello as well, or more often, the Vietnamese version, "Chao Ban", although that is usually met with a fit of laughter... Especially from the teenage girls... Usually 2 to a bicycle, one in the saddle, the other on the rear rack, but both pedaling, they wobble all over the road as they crank their heads around to giggle and wave bashfully.

Sometimes, we've had someone tail us slowly on a moped, just staring with amazed curiosity at our bikes... Sometimes those that can speak some, will ride alongside to practice their English with us.

The roads have certainly brought us some fun sights and sounds. And sometimes, some obstacles to avoid... Water buffalo have still yet to learn the highway code...







We have also suffered our first puncture... Toms rear tyre got that sinking feeling yesterday lunchtime. Luckily, there was a small shack nearby that we could shelter under away from the traffic and out of the sun, whilst we set about fixing it.














The offending barb was duly recorded too... Small but effective... Unfortunately!


Ok, more entries soon...

Cheers!

RWK.
OUT.



- Posted using BlogPress from my amazing iPad 2!

Location:Dong Hoi, Vietnam.