Shy but curious.

The detour into the mountains certainly gave our energy levels a severe depleting, so we have taken it a bit easier over the past few days.
We've still been knocking out over 100 km's a day, but with an earlier, cooler start, and with a few more rest breaks along the way...
And that's given me more opportunity to snap the pix I love to snap.
As we were sat, or rather, laying, somewhat flaked out on the side of the road at the far end of a small village we'd just passed through, a small girl kept peeking at us, out of her little house over the road.
For 10 minutes, she sat between the doors, crouched down, intently watching us as we ate some snacks, drank some water, and mopped our sweaty brows.
However, once I dug out my camera, she jumped up and hid, giggling behind the door... But not before I'd managed to snap one good shot...











After that, I pretended to ignore her just and shoot other things, and sure enough, she came back out, and seemingly nonchalantly, began to dance around and alternated between pretending to ignore us back, and then wave at us... It was quite amusing!
As we packed up, with her Nanna nearby, she just decided to lean up against the front post, and watch what we were up to...





Hopefully, I can get some more pics of the locals we are meeting, as they are all wonderful and interesting in their own ways... We certainly seem to be unusual and interesting to them, and hopefully they are enjoying meeting us as much as we are them...


- Posted using BlogPress from my amazing iPad!

Need wheels?

Yup. Ass-break time again.
Yup. Sat on the side of the road again too.
Opposite a typical wheels n tyre shop.



I've given up trying to out-stare them, so I just took a photo instead, and that broke them... Now they've gone back to work!

Once some blood and feeling has returned to our rears, we make the final push to town, where we will be taking a zero tomorrow, and I can fill y'all in on the past week, and why we are pretty knackered!

Cheers!

RWK.

- Posted from my amazing iPhone 4!

Location:1A,,Vietnam

Ass-break!

Yes, it's that time... Time for an ass-break.
We are 65 kms down for the day so far, and are on track to knock out another 45-50 by mid afternoon when we pull into Quy Nhon.



The weather is pretty good in that it's heavily clouded over, but it still a sweat-fest, and we have a good 10-15 kph headwind, so we've been taking turns drafting each other... It seems to work!

More to come soon...


RWK
OUT.
- Posted from my amazing iPhone 4!

Location:1A,,Vietnam

Just a quickie...

Apologies for the lack of updates... We've been makin' miles & are also pretty whacked...

I'll be uploading a proper update, with a bunch of pictures tonight... But for now, here we are taking 5 at a small gas station alongside the road.
Cheers!



RWK.


- Posted from my amazing iPhone 4!

Location:1A,,Vietnam

What does it take..?

What does it take to be a Roadwarrior..?

We've been asked that many times, and over the past couple of days, yet again, have discovered in ourselves, reasons and answers...

Also, some questions. Like, "what the hell are we doing!?".

That was what we were pondering on as we lay in the shade, exhausted and rubber-legged, after slogging up about the 8th 10% grade climb we'd hit that morning...



















We had left Da Nang under a cloudless sky, but with a welcome tailwind. Pushing south, we'd knocked out 30-odd kms by mid-morning, before we turned off the noisy, busy highway 1, and started to head in a more westerly direction, and towards the hills and mountains.

We knew we'd have some climbing to do, but having studied the maps, it looked to be an evenly graded, mostly gradual ascent... Which it was for the next 60-70 kms. The roads were just what we'd hoped for... Gently rolling, with much less traffic and small towns to take a break at along the way.

By the time we'd done around 100 clicks, we were a bit tired, but the gently rolling ride, being more scenic and less filled with air-horns was very enjoyable, and so the kilometers were passing faster.

Then we hit the side of a mountain, of which the road seems to go straight up... And thus, the tough stuff began.

How we managed another 40 kms that evening, I don't know, but we did, pushing through sheer exhaustion and pain to finally get to the top of what actually was, at last, the last climb, and roll down the pitch black hill, headlamps throwing a barely sufficient wobbling light out ahead of us, into the small town of Kham Duc.






We rounded the first bend, now with welcome street-lights into town and like a glorious bright beacon, there right ahead was a huge sign bearing the welcome words "Khach San"... "Hotel".
We crashed out hard that night, and woke the next day, aching and still tired, but ready to push on.
By around 0800 the next morning, whilst stopped at a roadside cafe to have a nice cold water, a huge moth paid us a visit...






And it was that morning that found us, 3 hours and 40kms later, flat on our backs, legs like lead, totally exhausted, half-way up a thigh-busting, crazy-legs-gearing steep-ass 10% grade ascent...
Laying there, again, we asked ourselves, what are we doing..!? And just what does it take to be a Roadwarrior?

We came up with a few answers;

-You have to have some somewhat crazy ideas and be willing to put yourself through the most god-awful painful experiences...
-You have to manage to still enjoy the surroundings even when completely knackered and barely able to stand... ( OK, yeah, at that point we were laying down, but...)
-You have to be able to take a leave of absence from work, or just quit it all together.
And,
-You have to put in some serious training, and know that it still won't be enough.

I'm sure we could come up with some more reasons and ideas, but by then, we'd come down to one final answer...

-You have to know when to make a route change!

Not call it quits, as we wouldn't do that, but we knew we'd not make it to HCMC inside of 4 weeks at the rate we were going over the mountains, so for the first time ever, we made a deliberate back-track...
A 100 kilometer back-track to be precise, and it meant tackling some of the kick-ass hills we'd already been up and over.
However, it did mean that the REALLY big bad ones that we'd slowly and painfully ground our way up the day previously became the most amazing, fast sweet downhills!

So other than it being a 280 km detour, and pretty much 3 days of not getting south, it was an interesting ride, and we did get to see some amazing countryside and small villages.






We stopped at a few little cafés and shelter areas where we enjoyed a cold soda or fresh sugarcane drink, often being surrounded by curious children, all very amused at the strange tan lines we are acquiring, or that we use sunblock on our faces...

We also got to have a great chat with a local lady, Pham, who spoke good English, learnt during her school days, so we got to answer a few local questions we'd had, such as the local weather, food and correct pronunciation of a few words we'd been having trouble with.













So now we have rolled on, back along the more coastal road of highway 1, amongst the honking vehicles and suicidal scooters, making better K's south, and still enjoying the scenery and the people we are meeting.

Ok, this has been long overdue, so I'm just gonna post it now, but will add some more new pictures later this evening, once I'm sprawled out in the HUGE firm bed in the hotel we've stopes at here in Quy Nhon.

More soon...

Cheers!

RWK.
OUT.



- Posted from my amazing iPad 2!

Location:1,,Vietnam

Digging Da Nang.

We came, we saw, we conquered...
The steep climb to Hai Van Pass that is...

And what a climb it was. 8% grade, most of the way, we started it at just after 0900, and reached the pass right around noon.
The sun was blazing down on us, as we made our way, winding up the steep switch-backs around the eastern side of the mountain.



















Right around the half-way point, with everything feeling pretty toasted, and thighs, calves and lungs burning internally from the effort, I spotted a large shade tree, next to a running creek, so we had a decent 30 minute break there before cranking on further.
A few more kilometers later, we stopped again, at a larger waterfall and creek, to wash ourselves down again, and sit under the bridge there, enjoying the cool breeze and shade it afforded us.
A bit of luck was on our side too, as some clouds blew in to give us a break from the searing 36 degree sun, so we saddled up again, and pumped out the last few km's to the pass.
Compared to other climbs we've done in the past, 1600+ feet isn't that high, but doing in it humid 36 degree weather makes it a lot tougher!

As requested, here's a pretty accurate route-map of the journey we've taken so far to Da Nang.









Along the way to Da Nang, we've seen some interesting sights...from the eucalyptus oil sellers that were lining the highway at one district, to the war scarred tanks in the central town square of Dong Ha, some little shoes by the front door of a seemingly abandoned house, to the small fishing canoes along the coastline...







































Since we have been in Da Nang, we've had a good wander around the streets near the hotel we're staying at, and I've been watched with great curiosity and bewilderment, as I've gotten into some strange positions to take some strange photos... Spotting the drying, perhaps even discarded sugarcane stems, I got down low on the pavement to shoot them, only to get up after to find a small bunch of teenagers gathered behind me, peering at the photo on the rear screen of my Nikon... The nearest girl looked at the image, then up at me, and said "why!?"... It was a bit hard to explain, so I showed them a few other pictures on my iPhone, (odd, abstract pictures) and received a group "aaah!" and several nods and smiles of understanding...!
I like my picture anyway... It captures what I wanted it to... The city streets of Da Nang;










Today, Tom and I were up early to make our way 10kms south (by taxi... It's a rest day after all!) to The Marble Mountains.

A very worthwhile trip, we felt... We spent a good 3 hours climbing up and down the many steps and seeing all the caves, various alters and prayer areas where incense and Buddha sculptures stood.

We met a very nice, friendly old auntie who insisted we take lots of incense sticks and place them at many of the Buddha prayer areas... I gave a donation to her, for the upkeep of the area, and she was more than happy to have her picture taken too, smiling a happy, but very black, rotten toothy smile..!














































This afternoon, we are going to be stocking up on some supplies, as we will be riding back inland, heading south-west along the Ho Chi Minh Highway for the next 900 kms, heading down to Ho Chi Minh City.

From what I can see on the map, we have a reasonable chance of some resupply at a town in 130 km's time, but we might not get that far tomorrow, so we might need some tucker for tomorrow night.
After that town, it'll be another 160-180 km's before pretty much anything else, as my maps show a whole lots of nothing... Just beautiful, uncluttered, uninhabited nothing, which is what we love.

I'll try and do some updates from the road as we go.

There's nothing new on the main website yet, as the Internet here is a bit hit and miss... So I hope this update goes ok, given that I've included a fair number of photos... Fingers crossed!

As always, comments and/or emails are always welcome, and very much appreciated...

Until next time...

RWK.

OUT!

Posted using BlogPress from my amazing iPad 2!

Location:Phan Chu Trinh,,Vietnam

Rehydrating rest stop.

35kms done already, & it's not even 0930...



We've stopped at a nice little café along the roadside to chug down an ICE cold Pepsi... Straight out of the freezer... It was awesome! I then washed that down with a litre of nice cold ice cold H20 too...
60kms to go to our probable planned stop for the night... But if we continue to make good time & the wind stays low, (or even better, becomes a tailwind) we might push on for another 20kms to the next town... We'll see!
Cheers...

RWK & RWT.

-Posted from my amazing iPhone 4!

Location:1A,,Vietnam

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...)





















- Posted using BlogPress from my amazing iPad 2!

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.

A visit around Vinh.

Today was a good rest day, spent doing photo and video back-ups, a bit of TV, a walk around town for some needed supplies, and a damn good massage at the health centre in the hotel.

I had to find a replacement helmet to ride in, so we set out looking for that once the shops had opened.
We'd had no luck at all yesterday afternoon, so this time took Toms bike helmet to point at... And at one shop, a stern, silent elderly Vietnamese gent who ran the shop gave us a a curt nod, shot in and out of his store in seconds, and had a perfect replacement right there for me.






It didn't have a peak, so we went off to our new favorite store, "The Big C" (like a Walmart) to find something I could make a peak out of... A black plastic dustbin looked like it'd do the trick.







After that, we had a general wander, taking in some of the sights of the city, as well as picking up a mozzie net, as some of the basic places we have stayed are bite-central...






We also thought we were cycling with a fairly heavy payload, until we saw this guy...







We have mapped out our route out of Vinh, and have decided to stay here in Vietnam a bit longer... We might be taking the slightly longer route down towards Ho Chi Minh City, and not going over to Laos now... Our next stop, in about 4-5 days time, will be the coastal city of Da Nang...

I'll post more along the way.


Until then,

RWK,
OUT!

- Posted using BlogPress from my amazing iPad 2!

Location:Phan Bội Châu,Vinh,Vietnam

A rough start... But we're making tracks...

At last...! A post for the faithful out there...

3 days ago, Tom and hit the congested road south out of Hanoi, mixing it up with the locals in the general mayhem they call traffic, bouncing our way out of the city along some well rutted streets.

All was well as we stopped at a small roadside stall, some 30+ km's into the day, to have a cold drink.
Auntie was most amused with us 2 sweaty riders, and once she'd got us some cold drinks, using lots of gestures and sign language, kindly invited us into the house area where it was cooler.

We sat in there on the floor with her and her 3 daughters and their children, and with a lot more sign language, the little English one of the girls knew, and my translator app on the trusty iPhone, with much laughter, we "chatted".

That was great, but even though our bikes were less than 6m away outside, we missed the little sod who rode up on his bike, and stole my bike helmet... And it wasn't just the helmet... It had my strobe light and GoPro helmet mount on it... Thank goodness the GoPro camera itself wasn't locked on there at the time.

Needless to say, Tom and I were royally pissed off, and the ladies were very upset for us too... I was kindly offered a baseball cap from one of the girls, as they thought it was mostly to keep the sun off my head... But I already had one anyway... It was very kind of her though.
We were glad that nothing else got pinched, and have now been super security conscious...

So now I am lid-less, and doing my best to be careful and not fall off... Even more careful than I usually am!

Stopping later at a roadside café, Tom got his first taste of freshly prepared local cuisine... It was a bit of a mystery meal to start with, as we weren't exactly sure what we'd agreed to eat..!



I was trying to figure it out as it turned up... Pho Bo, is beef noodles, and it was awesome. Tom was mightily impressed too, and we both were pleased with our (at the time) unknown choice!

Lunch was great, but that day was a bit of a long one in the end, what with the annoying feeling of being ripped off, plus the very oppressive humidity... By the time we had done 95kms, we were beat.

Whilst Tom watched the bikes at the base of a big hill we found ourselves at, both needing a break before attempting it, I went for a bit of a recon mission, and found a great flat spot, cut into the side of the hill where a house had once stood, and we reckoned it was a perfect camp site... Flat, off the road, out of sight.
And it was... Until later in the evening, when we discovered that a lot of trucks are driven at night. Blowing their air horns, using their engine-braking... So we both had, at best, about 2 hours sleep...

Needless to say, the next day, day 2, really kicked our asses. The heat and humidity was rising, and combined with a huge lack of sleep, some stiff hill climbs, and very little food, we rolled into a tiny little village, 84-odd km's later, WRECKED!

We did do OK though, as we eventually found a small guesthouse, where we put up for the night.
Power came on at 1900, when the generator got kicked into life, and the simple room with a fan was just great.
Tom managed to get a good nights sleep, but again, for some reason, I was unable to, and was prepared for another rough days ride.

However, leaving this morning in some light rain, the ride started pretty cool, and stayed at a decent temperature for most of the day. It poured down mid morning, and we were soaked though, so we stopped for some food at the next place we could find... Which ended up being a newly built, pretty swish restaurant.

Again, lots of sign language, iPhone use, and the little Vietnamese we are picking up and/or recognizing, we ordered some Ga (chicken) and Bo (beef)... But that's about all we knew of the meal.


When it arrived, with a huge bowl of steaming gao (rice) it was awesome: there was plenty of tender beef, veggies and garlic, and the chicken, although chopped up, bones, beaks, feet n' all, was grilled to perfection, lightly seasoned with chili and lemongrass, and tasted amazing... we both chowed down with gusto, fueling up with much needed real food, ready for the rest of the afternoons ride.

So now we are resting up, having clocked up almost 94 km's today, the last 2 of which were a much not needed big-ass steep hill... Not what you want at the end of the day... But resting up in a basic, but decent little guest house out back of a small tea café.

Tomorrow, we ride on out more towards the coast, heading south east to the larger city of Vinh, where we will take a zero, and hopefully, I can collect my new bike helmet my good friend Guy is waiting to FedEx to me, once I can confirm where I'm gonna be..!

More soon...

Cheers,

RWK,

OUT!



- Posted using BlogPress from my amazing iPad 2!

Location:48,Thái Hòa,Vietnam