Lazy days on Cat Ba Island...

We arrived in Cat Ba island, just off the coast from Halong bay, late last night- it looked just like the Jurrasic park island (don't pretend that you didn't see that movie...)!
After cruising through the crazy karst rocky outcrops scattered all through Halong bay for the best part of 3 1/2 hours, the approach to Cat Ba island was pretty surreal - suddenly a big, craggy, jungle-clad, rocky island appeared in front of us with no signs of habitation except for a very long deserted pier stretching out into the bay.

We disembarked from the boat with a fun German couple who were also travelling independantly, and an organised tour group. The tour group loaded onto a bus waiting around the corner from the pier, and although we were hoping that we could negotiate a fare into town on the bus, the driver wouldn't take us into town unless we paid an exhorbidant fee. Needless to say that the bus took off without us... Not to worry though, a guy that had arrived at the pier called a few of his friends from the nearby village, and us and the German couple were soon whizzing the 30 kms accross the island on the back of motorbikes -fun!

Because it is the down season on the island, we managed to score a great room right on the waterfront with a big balcony for only $6!! Brilliant luck for us!
Today we have just gotten back from sea kayaking around part of the island, checking out the karsts up close, and lazing for a few hours on our own private little beach. Ahhh, this is the life for sure.....
Oh, the other great thing about hanging around the coast here is all of the fresh, delicious seafood available everywhere at rediculously low prices! I have never eaten so much seafood in all my life - I even had prawn noodle soup for breakfast this morning!! Mmmmm seafood...

Well, I am sure that everyone is now feeling sufficiently jealous ;). Too bad for me that Vanessa and I are now almost onto the final week of our SE Asia holiday....


I hope that everyone following us is keeping well and making their own holiday plans; Christmas is nearly upon us all!

Take care,
E & V.

Haiphong City and Halong Bay

Total Kilometers cycled: 2197.3km
Total punctures: 2

Ater having a wonderful time at Cuc Phuong National Park, we set off to Haiphong City, which sounded lovely (in the gospel according to Lonely Planet, that is) ...

The cycle to Haiphong was long-ish (124km), and pretty busy. We were going to break this into two lazy days, but decided enroute to combine it into one decent one. In the end we had a mixed ride - along the way we passed a road accident, where someone had been killed on their motorbike, which was sad and quite sobering. Makes us glad to be wearing our helmets...

We also passed and endless stream of restaurants offering dog-meat (and were passed by many motorbikes loaded up with caged dogs,clearly NOT destined for the pet shop!). Also, along the way, two teenage girls joined us for a break and we all shared some food and they practiced their English on us, which was really nice.

Despite Lonely Planet's lyrical waxing about Haiphong, we were not too impressed - the town was full of traffic and had a depressing "economic-decline" feeling about it. It seemed to be crammed with lazy men drinking coffee and leering at us as we walked about the city (although, I have to say that the few women we saw were very friendly and kind to us). Both the hotel and icecream shop recommended by Lonely Planet had been demolished, so I guess they hadn't been there for a while!

We decided to go to the port and see if there was a mid-day sailing to Cat Ba Island so that we could leave Hsaiphong a day early, but found that the only (official) sailing had been at 9am... A couple of women tried to sell us a ticket on their boat (no boat in sight!) from a fold-out table, but we were not as stupid as they would have liked, and decided to just grab a liesurely lunch and high-tail it to Halong Bay the following morning...

So, we arrived in Halong Bay last night, and it is beautiful! Clean sea air and long boulevards for walking. Even the people are really chilled out and don't constantly harass you to "buy something madame; moto-bike Miss; etc etc" Just a really chilled-out sleepy beachy town, right at the start of the high-season. Lovely ; )

Speaking of lovely, Halong Bay is not only known for it's Bay, but also for its seafood. We had a delicious seafood feast last night, including a pile of calamari and a whole grilled fish (Elisha and I both agreed - the best calamari we had ever tasted!). Mmmmm!

Yesterday we also bought tickets for the Government boat to Cat Ba Island, and are looking forward to sailing at 1pm today - we get a 3 1/2 hour cruise through Halong Bays highlights, and should arrive in Cat Ba in time to check-in to a Hotel and seek a(nother) yummy seafood dinner. Can't Wait!

Cuc Phuong National Park

kilometers cycled: 1998.8
Total punctures: 2

We have spent the last two nights and a full day in the Cuc Phuong National Park, which is just over 45km from Ninh Binh. It has been absolutely beautiful, and very peaceful.

The past two mornings, we have awoken in our stilt-house to the sound of a pack of Gibbons whooping near by - sooo lovely, and a refreshing break from traffic and roosters, both of which seem to get going around 5am! The Gibbons were much more considerate and waited 'till 7am before they pleasantly woke us with their chorus.

The first day, we cycled from Ninh Binh to the National Park, and after checking into our lovely stilt-house (kind of like a tree hut), we checked out the Primate Rescue Centre that they have on-site. We were shown around by an informative park ranger, and it really was great to see all the different monkeys (and gibbons) swinging around their (big and comfortable!) cages. The Gibbons especially were an amazing sight when they really got into full flight, the speed at which they zipped around their encolusure with their looong arms was surprising!

Most species were very endangered, and many had been rescued from poachers or smugglers. Lots of the primates had small babies with them, so apparently the breeding programme is working well... The Rescue Centre rehabilitates the primates intensively (in large cages), and then they are released to a protected enclosure, where they receive limited food and human contact, and then some are eventually released into the larger park, where they are self-sufficient. It really is great work.

Yesterday, we cycled into the park centre (20km from the entry gate - a beautiful ride through temperate rainforest) and completed two treks - one to see an enormous "thousand-year-old" tree. We also stopped off along the way into the centre to trek to a "cave of prehistoric man", which, when discovered in the 1960's contained remains of three prehistoric people, suggestive of elaborate burial ritual. The cave itself was quite impressive, and we were grateful to have headlamps to explore it a little better - we even managed to spot a group of small bats on the ceiling!

Cuc Phuong National Park really was beautiful, and a slice of Vietnam that many people don't get to see - it was really great to experience the forest, animals, and other people without the huge amount of pollution and garbage that seems to intrude the rest of the country...

Anyway, we are back in Ninh Binh this afternoon, and will continue on to Thai Binh tomorrow, then Haiphong.

All the best to everyone at home - we love hearing from you.

E & V xoxo

To the coast!

Distance cycled: 1866.6 kms
Punctures: 2.

So this morning we cycled out of Hanoi...hmmm, what can I say? It was a hooting, tooting, smoggy ride for the first 60 kms, then seemed to mellow out as the busses and trucks continued to zoom by, but the countryside started to take over from the city smog and grime. Within 106 kms, and after an incident involving a police officer waving us to stop at the side of the road and then proceeding to sexually proposition us (thank-you wedding ring, you saved me!!), we arrived in Ninh Binh, and a much more sedate pace of life :).

So tomorrow we plan to cycle the 45 - 50 kms to Cuc Phong national park to visit the primate rehab centre they have there and maybe go for a bit of a treck too. Should be quite nice to be in the national park for a day or two; we are both looking forward to it!

Take care everyone,
E & V.

Good morning Vietnam!

Total kilometers: 1760km
Total punctures: 2

We are in Hanoi at the moment, and it is fantastic to be able to communicate with people in English and (especially) order food from an English menu. Ohh, the little things...

Over the past four days, we have crossed over the Lao-Vietnamese border and have been cycling through remote North-Western Vietnam from Dien Bien Phu to Tuan Gio.

Although the mountainous topography (and ensuing mountain passes) have continued, the roads are in far better condtion than in Laos. However, apart from the beautiful H'mong women in their traditional dress, the scenery has been far less attractive, compared to the beautiful temperate jungles and crystal-clear rivers of Laos... I think that I really forgot how polluted and dusty Vietnam is!

Having cycled to Tuan Gio, we decided to sit down and take stock of our travel plans for Vietnam and reconcile those with the amount of time we actually have left... As suspected, we were cutting things really fine, and were not leaving enough time to explore the beautiful coast. So, we hatched a plan to fast-track ourselves (and bikes) to Hanoi and continue from there.

Yesterday, we caught a 5am local bus from Tuan Gio to Hanoi (420km) for only $12 each (!!), and 10 hours later we were in Hanoi. Yes, 10 hours! Lucky we are on holiday and in no real rush ; )

So, after navigating insane Hanoi trafffic from the bus station, we managed to find a lovely little guest-house down a quiet alley-way, and have been enjoying civilisation before we head off to Cuc Phong National Park tomorrow morning. We are hoping to leave early and hopefully beat the horrendeous traffic - heading out on a Sunday morning should help too...

We have had a lovely day walking around the Old Quarter and central lake, stocking up on reading books and groceries, and treating ourselves to a delicious breakfast and pizza and beer for lunch. Yum!

We are having a fab time, and looking forward to squeezing the last out of our holiday and catching up with family and friends when we return.

E & V.

Laos update

Kilometers cycled: 1680.8
Punctures: 2 :(.


I know tht it has been a while between posts people - sorry about that, but we have really been living rural Laos styles for the past wee while!

So we DID get the boat to Nong Kwai from Luang Prabang, a tiny little 10 person long boat to be precise. The boat itself was a real laugh, but thankfully water tight, and perched upon our tiny wooden seats we got the most amazing picture-postcard scenic trip up the Nam Ou river. The trip took ~7 hours all up, so definately not a speedy trip, but it really was a brilliant way to travel.
In Nong Kwai we had a brilliant evening drinking Beer Lao with our new French and German friends, and spending the night in a little bungalow by the river. Next morning we went over to see about getting a boat up to Muang Khua, near the border crossing to Vietnam we wanted to use. Hmm, as it turned out there may or may not be a boat going that way at 11am depending on how many passengers show up... Instead of sitting around waiting 'till 11am we just decided to cycle it to Muang Khua over 2 days. After studying our Laos map and it sounded reasonable so we set off...

Well, we knew they would be big days, and indeed they were!

The first day we cycled just over 100km to Oudomxay. Which doesn't sound too bad, except that in covering that dstance we had to conquer two massive mountain passes on very dodgy rutted roads.... Cycling up the mountain passes themselves are not so much the issue, but it is the time that it takes to climb so high and also the fact that that time is not regained on the downhill because we had to take it slow due to the dodgy road... So toward the end of the day Vanessa's rear tyre suffered a puncture, but we eventually got to a guesthouse just outside of Oudomxay as the sun was fading. Whew! The guesthouse was pretty fun - little school-camp-like cabins out the back of a familiy's house, and over a bamboo bridge -very rural and tranqil.

We were given some random tentacle soup (spicy!) with sticky rice and beer Lao for dinner, which was actually pretty good! Electricity for lighting only between 6:30pm and 10pm.

Next day was much the sameness although a bit easier with less big hills but the same dodgy roads, but we made the 110kms to Muang Khua just fine. The scenery was breathtaking, so a very good distraction from those thigh-burning hills ; ) Again only limited power from 6:30pm and 10pm.

Next day we going to be a big one with the border crossing into Vietnam. So we set of early at 7am, cycled down the hill to the bridge to cross the river...but there was no bridge. OK no problem, we waited for the small longboat that we ferrying people accross, and got us and our bikes to the otherside to continue along the road to Vietnam.

After setting off on he other side of the river, the "road" soon deteriorated into what could be described as an ox-cart style track, composed of silt, mud and sharp big rocks.... hmm, this couldn't be the major road linking noth Laos with Vienam, could it?? We asked several people "Vietnam?" and they all pointed up the ox track and confirmed "Vietnam". So this and the fact that it really was the only road out of Muang Khua confirmed that yes, indeed this was the road to Vietnam.... So over 5 1/2 hours we forded 2 rivers (photographic evidence comming soon), crossed 2 dodgy little bamboo bridges, climbed one large mountain pass (they don't seen to come in "small" in north Laos!) and covered 45 bone shaking kms along this "road" before it got to mid afternoon and was becoming patently obvious that we would NEVER get to the remote border crosing in time. We both decided that the best option was to try and hitch a lift to the cossing, which was probably going to be easier said than done as we had only had 2 vehicles pass in our direction all day!

But afer about 30 minutes a dump truck came along... A dump truck is probably not the most obvious choice for a lift, but really we were not picky and were certainly going to give it a try! Good thing we did; Our bikes and bags were nestled atop the load of road gravel in the back, and the two of us were nestled in the cab with the 3 Loa truckies :). We had a good time with them all laughing at each others Vietnamese, and pretty soon we had covered the 30kms to the Lao border. No problems there, then another 10 kms of hell-road to the Vietnamese border control where we were hit-on by one of the border guards (very sweet), and then cycled the remaining 45 kms on beautiful sealed Vienamese roads to Dien Bien Phu, arriving just as the sun set.....

So pretty crazy last days in the far north of Laos. We have definately had the whole "rural experience", and have well and truly gotten quite literally "off he beaten track"!! Brilliant.

Hope you are all keeping well,
E & V.

Luang Prabang

Yesterday we left Vang Vieng for Kasi, with the intention of cycling onwards and upwards to Luang Prabang over the following four days. However, we got to Kasi with plenty of energy left and hatched a plan to make better use of our remaining holiday time...

We decided to get a sawngthaew (little open-air truck with bench seats along each side) from Kasi to LP to give us a bit more time to cycle around Vietnam rather than cycling all the way to LP. So after cycling 60 very hilly kms from Vang Vieng to Kasi we wheeled our bikes to the market and tracked down one which was heading north... jumped on the sawnghthaew full of locals and had a bone-shaking 4 1/2 hour ride to cover the 160kms to Luang Prabang. Very fun I have to say, and we didn't miss any of the scenery seeing as it is all completely open air! Would highly recommend.

So LP is just the most amazingly beautiful city! It is very much aimed at the "older traveller" euphamism for 'people with money and style', but we are staying in a slightly run-down little guesthouse in the best area (score!), and mostly eating at local little restaurants. Thanks to our many days spent cycling through the rural parts of the countries we have visited we are now just fine to order a variety of basic food in Lao, Thai, Khmer and Vietnamese so we can cope without the western translations, comfort dining and accompanying price... Really it sounds like I am learning the languages, but in reality it is more the insane driving need to eat after many hours cycling that has forced me to memorise such gems as "fried rice" "noodles" "soup" and several meats in a variety of SE Asian languages :).

So tomorrow, we are going to be at the boat ticket office bright and early to purchase our tickets for the boat trip to Nong Kiaw and then get another boat up to Muong Khoua. From there we will hightail it to the Loas-Vietnam border crossing and cross over the Dien Bien Phu on the Vietnam side. So that is the plan.... fingers crossed that the boat trips all work out!!

Take care,
E&V.