March 24

This will be the last issue for this blog. My father is sick and I am heading back to Canada as quick as I can. Thanks for watching and particularly for commenting. Tim

March 23 Tbong Khmum to Kampong Cham

After yesterday’s pain and suffering I had an easy ride today. 30km to Kampong Cham and there is even a bridge across the Mekong river. I started late, rode easy and arrived early. I stopped at a Buddhist temple for an hour and I was still at my destination by noon. After a shower and a leisurely lunch I went to the Internet café to upload my blog. It’s slow, but it works. In the area of Kampong Cham is the ruins of an eleventh century temple (Nicor Wat). I asked, at my guesthouse, where it was but he couldn’t understand me. When I came back downstairs with my camera and tripod a tuk-tuk driver was waiting. I think the guesthouse owner smelled an opportunity. For only $5 I had a lift to the site and a good dose of information too. Nicor Wat was built in the eleventh century, but unfortunately in 1922 a Buddhist temple was built right in the middle of the ruins. Total desecration! It is now the centre for Buddhist learning for Cambodian and a community of Buddhist building has formed around the ruins. They are colourful.

March 22 Svay Rieng to Tbong Khmum

Today was a tough day. I started at 7 AM and I had planned to bike about 50km. The plan changed when the pavement ended and the villages shrank. I ended up doing 110km on dirt roads, some in very bad shape. I finished the day tired, sunburned and very very dirty.
I’m travelling light carrying only 1 litre of water. In Asia, no matter how rural you travel, it seems like every house is selling something. I bought water along the way and I ate a pineapple, ice cream sandwich (4 scoops in a bun), watermelon, spare ribs (I think), and noodle soup during the ride. I also had 1 sip of firewater - so bad it belongs in a gas tank.
Along the way I amused the locals by wearing my bike shorts, almost hit a cow, watched the villagers drain a pond so they could catch the fish and scared the water buffalo. I saw more of rural Cambodian than I bargained for.
Other observations: Young Cambodians speak excellent English, Cambodians are very friendly – 9 out of 10 children say hello and my smile muscles are sore, hot food is hard to find at midday. And my rear end is very very sore.

March 21 Go Dau to Svay Rieng Cambodia

I was up and on my way by 6:20 this morning and I crossed the Cambodian border at 9 AM. I don’t know what it is, but even though there were 50 people waiting they processed me right away. Can biking shorts really have that much effect on officials? So at 9:30 I was in Cambodia and it was hot. I stopped after half an hour at a small roadside café that had nobody in it. I ordered 2 waters and within 5 minutes there were 20 plus old ladies and young children sitting in a circle around me. When one old lady came up and touched me I got out my camera and took some pictures. It seemed to amuse them greatly when I showed them the results. I am going to change my lunch hour. By 11:30 I was hungry and I hit a town with lots of restaurants, but no cooks. Finally one lady boiled me up an instant noodle soup. It seems that the Cambodians eat lunch early and sleep from 11:30 to 22:30. I found a hotel and then went for a ride around the area. A rainstorm came up and I took shelter in a small Buddhist shrine. Then another family showed up (3 people) and them 2 more motorbikes pulled over. On the 3 motorbikes there were 10 people, not a bad average. The shrine we were in was strange. There was a Buddha, but on both sides of the Buddha there were boxes of human skulls. Judging from the mural behind the Buddha the shrine was commemorating the massacre of Khmer Rouge victims.

March 20 HCMC to Cu Chi plus 10km

I got underway at 12:00 noon and I rode my bicycle through HCMC. It took 1 hr to get through the city by bike. Not bad, since it takes 30 minutes by taxi. I looked at my map and their was a road which seemed almost direct, so I headed that way. It was closed in several places because of construction covering the whole street. But I followed the motorbikes and hopped up on the sidewalk and away I went. I’m riding a mountain bike so I can navigate the construction sites better than the motorbikes. I sort of like this lawlessness on the roads.
By one o’clock I was feeling the heat so I stopped for a coconut drink. They trim a coconut shell so it stands upright and when you ask for a drink the chop the end off and give you a straw. The inside juice is watery, with just a mind coconut taste, and there is about a litre of liquid. It’s very refreshing and cheap. An hour later I stopped for my afternoon tea and had a nice green tea with lemon drink. The first one went down so quickly I had two. The temperature was about 33 °C and very humid. But I expect it will get much warmer before I finish. I’m going to be careful with hydration.
After 30km we finally entered the rural area. The space opened up and the fields were full of workers and water buffalo. I wanted to stop in Cu Chi for the night but I couldn’t find a hotel. When I did I was obvious that Hotel is not a Vietnamese word – it’s Khack (I think). I might need to learn some more Vietnamese to survive. The lady at the desk doesn’t speak English, but she’s taking good care of me and I have a nice room with a hot shower for $10 a night.

March 18 HCMC

Today I bought a bicycle and what a beauty it is. I went up to the bicycle district in town and visited about 5 bike stores. I was looking for a typical Vietnamese bike – single speed and a basket on the front. I found them for 2,500,000 to 3,500,000 VND (about $200 US). Then I went down a alleyway and found a used bike. It was love at first sight. It was dirty, rusty and good quality. The brakes worked, the chain didn’t slip, and the balance was very good. It also had 2 bells. I tried my best negotiating skills and failed miserably. I offered 700,000 VND and he countered with 1.8 million. We agreed on 1.6 million after about 1 hour. I did get a new saddle and an extra tube thrown in. When he came out with my new saddle, all the onlookers (about a dozen) started to laugh. They all thought I was getting conned because the replacement saddle was so small. I couldn’t be happier – it’s the closest thing to a racing saddle I’ve seen in Vietnam. They fixed it up and I rode home straight away. I went around 2 traffic circles and crossed one major highway on my new bike just like the Vietnamese. I didn’t stop once. What an exhilarating ride.
Oh, we also saw the Reunification Place this morning. It was nice.

March 17 HCMC

We have returned to HCMC. This is the final stop before Joan flies home and I go for a bike ride. Joan did some final shopping and I picked up a Laos visa and some maps today. The visa was a challenge to my good humour. I went to the embassy twice, I sat in the waiting room for 2 hours, I paid $50 US, and I got a visa – all without speaking. The guard was sullen and the staff at the embassy didn’t talk - they just pointed and handed me papers to fill out. When they brought my visa out, they just stood there until I guessed they wanted money. When I left there I looked at the guard and we didn’t even acknowledge each other. I hope the real Lao people are different.
I am riding through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. I am having trouble finding decent maps of the area. I have a good map of Vietnam but I lack maps of Cambodia and Laos. I went to the recommended book store today and they had 1 map. I bought it because I’m desperate, but I’m hoping I’ll find a country map when I cross the border. The map I bought is good because I can cut out the part I want and it will fit in my wallet.

March 16 Hoi An to HCMC

We did not fly back to HCMC until 6 PM so we had time for a bike ride in the morning. We rode out of town and down a road to the rice paddies but before we had gone 2 km we found a Buddhist monastery. The grounds were so well maintained we went in for a look and spent over an hour wandering around. The buildings were in very good shape and the grounds were covered with bonsai plants. Everywhere we went the buildings seemed to be new or freshly painted. We were approached by a guy wanting to show us the Japanese tomb, once was enough. We did wander out back to the graveyard and we saw lots of tombs – maybe even Japanese. The afternoon was rest and relaxation at the hotel pool before we flew to HCMC. The flight takes 1hour and 45 minutes, but it only cost $42 CDN. I like this flying in Asia travel.

March 15 Hoi An

Having clothes and shoes made is an interesting learning experience. We got some things right and some not. Kath and I each had linen capris made that we both really like although we needed a bit of alteration which is included, of course in the price [$13]. I had brought a blue dress with me that I have always liked and had it copied . The tailoring was fine but my choice of material and colour leads me to believe that I will not wear this dress as much as I did the original. Kath had two shirts made in the same style copying a shirt she had brought with her . She is happy with one but not the second as the material is too heavy for a summer shirt. The best story is of Tim’s bicycle shorts which we brought to our tailor to have copied. They have a thick seamless lining to prevent seat sores. The first pair came back with regular cross seams –ouch for a long distance bike rider. We asked them to redo them with no seams –as they spoke very little English, there was a lot of gesturing on how those seams would hurt. They did redo them seamlessly but the lining is much thinner and Tim is pretty sure that these will not be good biking shorts. Hopefully, he is wrong because Kath and I actually ordered two pairs for him – good thing we are not spending big sums!
Kath has trouble finding shoes to fit her in Canada never mind in Vietnam so she had several pairs made.She got two pairs of really nice evening heels that she really likes and which fit well. She also bought two pairs of more casual shoes that were a little tight but we both said –they will stretch won’t they ? Kath wore a pair home on the plane and her feet were killing her so I am now the owner of those shoes as I really like them and they fit me well – I take one shoe size smaller than Katherine. I had a pair of my shoes copied and they seem to fit ok but have not been truly tested yet. So, our shopping experience was fun but not totally successful.
And we await the outcome on Tim’s bike shorts!!!

March 14 Hoi An

Katherine has joined us and the shopping is in full swing. Joan and Katherine are having clothes and shoes made to measure today. While they were shopping I took a ferry to an island where they specialize in boat building. The ferry ride was an adventure to watch - all the locals seemed to have motorbikes to load on. The loading was quick and dirty - run them up the plank and put them on the kickstand. If we ever hit a big wave I'm sure we would have lost all the motorbikes. Later I joined the shopping spree and am having 2 copies of my favourite bicycle shorts made. I hope they understand what I’m asking for. I gave them my best pair of bicycle shorts to use as a copy. After ordering 7 pairs of shoes and 12 articles of clothes we still had the afternoon. We did a walking tour of the old town. There are several heritage buildings from the 16th and 17th century open for viewing. The first one we chose we the Tran family chapel. It has been in the family for 8 generations and it seems the 8th generation is doing the tours today. The tour was exactly 1 room and then the 2 different sales rooms. All this after we paid admission. I was so impressed I bought two coins from the 13th century. They are genuine and only cost $8 for both coins.
Shopping and walking is such hard work we stopped early for happy hour. Here in Hoi An they serve a beer called fresh beer. (draught beer in Canada). There seems to be a price war on with all the locales advertising the beer for 30 to 45 cents per mug. The fairest thing to do is share my trade around.

March 13: Hoi An

Another day in Vietnam – Another lesson in life. Joan and I got bikes from our hotel and rode down the road looking for rice patties this morning. We were successful at last and we ended up in a large field of rice patties with rice growing all around us. There were several people working in the fields and the first lady posed for pictures but couldn’t answer any of our questions. Then we came across a man pulling up rice plants and he spoke a little English so he was able to answer some of our questions. He showed us some rice almost ready to harvest and the could see the rice forming. Then we got a lesson in the Buddhist religion. There was a Japanese tomb close by and the man led us there and showed us how to pay out respects. We lit incense, we bowed 3 times, we planted 3 incense sticks here and one there and then he told me to give him some money for the alter. I had often seen the worshippers putting money on the alter to burn so I took out a 2000 VND bill (about 15 cents) and handed it to him. Quick as a wink he gave me back the 2000 and extracted a 100,000 VND dong bill from my wallet. I protested and he gave it back but then he made me go through so rubbing, kissing, and touching the gravestone until the bill was buried under the urn and I was wondering how come I’m such a sucker. When we finally parted company guess who made a beeline for the grave and emptied the urn. I never took my wallet out of my pants the rest of the day.

March 12: Da Nang to Hoi An

After only one day we left Da Nang and headed to Hoi An – one hour south. We took the bus (the open bus it is called) and we were in Hoi An in an hour. I had tried to book a room last night and I had logged on to the website of the hotel and reserved a deluxe room overlooking the rice patties. Shortly after leaving the website I wrote down the name of the hotel so I wouldn’t forget it. Way too late! I showed up at the hotel and informed them I had a reservation. They couldn’t find it - but they didn’t want me to leave and I didn’t want to confess I was at the wrong hotel – so we have a nice room in the Phouc An Hotel that overlooks the alleyway.
Hoi An is an old village that has preserved most of the building from the 17th and 18th century. It is a tourist town, but still has some charm. However it’s major claim to fame is a clothing centre. There are 500 tailors on town and all are quick and good. I’m might have a few Tilly shirts made here. Katherine will join us tomorrow for the weekend
in Hoi An.

March 10 and 11th

What a difference a day makes! On Tuesday, we booked a bus trip to the Perfume Pagoda, 2 hours from Hanoi. Upon leaving the bus, we (15 of us from the tour) got into a rowboat and were rowed for 45 minutes to the base of a mountain where there are many pagodas in caves and on the mountainside. However, much to our dismay, there were also rows and rows of vendors all the way up the mountainside, blaring music, litter all over the place and thousands of people. It was really not an enjoyable day.
Wednesday morning, we flew to Danang and took a cab into the city . I sat at a café with our luggage while Tim went to find a hotel. A Vietnamese gentleman joined me, asked how long we were staying ,suggested that he could drive us by motorbike to see the caves and pagodas in the nearby Marble mountains then phoned a friend to come by to meet us – he would be the second driver. By the time Tim returned, this fellow had planned our afternoon for us. We decided to take him up on his offer, negotiated a price and agreed to be picked up at our hotel at 2pm. We had a lovely afternoon. The mountain, caves and pagodas were peaceful, beautiful, clean and had only a few vendors selling refreshments, not tacky souvenirs. After our mountain visit, the drivers took us to
China Beach-an absolutely beautiful stretch of sandy beach that goes for kilometres.
What a difference a day makes!

March 9 Hanoi

This morning we decided to try the cyclocab to get around Hanoi. These contraptions have 2 front wheels and can hold 2 people. The driver gets behind and pedals. We tried two today and there isn’t any slower way to get around. The old women walked faster than we went. We had a one-hour tour and we might have covered 2 kilometres before time was up. We did see some interesting streets however and pedaled along two of Hanoi’s lakes .
We have just returned from supper. We worked up our courage and decided to eat on the streets tonight. We started with a beer at the first corner beer parlour. We sat on the street and drank draught beer and ate peanuts. It’s a bit disconcerting when your beer comes out of a plastic hose, but it’s still good beer. Hanoi is covered with these hole-in-the-wall street beer parlours. The beer is brewed in Hanoi according to a Czech recipe and it does not suffer in translation. Then across the street was the Berliner Doner Kebab. I still don’t know what type of meat we ate. It looked like wurst – but I liked it. Joan ate hers too. I liked it so much I followed it with an Istanbul Doner Kebab from a stall down the street (I think the meat was beef). The next stall sold prawn patties – so I ate one. It was a round patty of batter with two large prawns stuck onto it. I guess because I was a foreigner she cut the head off the prawns before I ate them, but they were still in the shell. I ate them shell and all. The next place looked like fish sticks so I asked for one. It was deep fried banana – delicious. It tasted like Tim Horton’s apple fritter. Then we finished it off with more beer and peanuts at the next corner beer parlour. All this and we were only 2 blocks from the hotel. Just wait until tomorrow night.

March 8 Halong bay to Hanoi

We returned to our boat and cruised slowly back to Halong city. A fitting end to a lovely boat trip.

March 7 Halong Bay

We awoke to the sound of waves lapping at the boat. I was up early to get the early morning light, but there was no sunrise, just another grey day. I still took a load of pictures. Shortly after breakfast we landed at Cat Ba Island – a national park. Katherine and I did a one hour hike straight uphill to a fire tower. The uphill was no problem. The climb was steep but there was a rock path and lots of jungle vines to hang onto while we were climbing. Coming down was a bit more challenging since we took the wrong path and did the “adventure trail”. It might have been okay in dry weather but the path was muddy and by the time we descended our shoes were covered in slippery red mud. Now my only pair of long pants are red too. After the big hike we were ferried to Monkey Island, where we overnighted. We slept in bungalows on the beach. They were small but nicely done. We were 5 people at the resort – which had a staff of 5 (or more). The others were 2 girls from England who were on the same tour as us. Joan, Kath and I hiked across the island to a big beach on the other side. It had a café and monkeys. While we were there the monkeys attacked 2 women who were taking pictures. We had our own monkey on our beach also and before we left it attacked the 2 girls. The monkeys don’t seem to like women. Maybe that’s why the guide book said don’t go to Monkey Island. However, we enjoyed our stay on the island-it was peaceful and relaxing.

March 6 Hanoi to Halong Bay

We boarded the bus in Hanoi and drove for 3 hours to Halong Bay. As usual we drove through beautiful scenery and didn’t stop. We saw thousands of rice patties right beside the road and surrounding little towns, but the only stop was a concrete gas station. We arrived at noon and boarded the boat – a large junk that had 12 cabins. Joan and I had cabin number 1 on the upper deck and we had a little balcony we shared with the only other cabin on the upper deck. The scenery in Halong Bay exceeded my expectations. Even in the semi fog the islands were awe-inspiring. Large limestone monoliths rise straight up out of the ocean. The view is 360 degrees. And as we travelled, more inspiring scenery kept appearing. We crammed a lot into day 1. We landed on an island and toured a cave. There are several large caves throughout the bay. After the cave, Katherine and I kayaked through the islands for an hour and then we boarded again for more spectacular scenery before supper. At dark we anchored in a bay and Joan and Katherine enjoyed Baileys coffee whilst I sipped beer and the universe was in order.

March 5 HCMC to Hanoi

At 6 am we were underway to Hanoi. This time we were three since Katherine took time off work to join us for a extended weekend. We arrived in Hanoi at 10 AM and for the first time since arriving in Vietnam it was cold ,just 18°C. Hanoi is smaller than HCMC – only 4 million people and the architecture is different. It also is overrun by scooters but it is less frantic and less aggressive than HCMC. Our hotel was in the old quarter, which seems to be the shopping district of Hanoi, so Joan and Katherine went shopping and I went to visit the Temple of Literature. It was the way I expected a temple to be – it took up the whole block and was surrounded by a nice courtyard and gardens.