Northbound

Train to Nam Dinh
Nam Dinh - Nimh Binh and Nimh Binh Environs
DATES
day:
cume:
avg:
max:
time:
highs: The solitude of the Ninh Binh environs away from the tourist routes, cool, foggy weather, "The Halong Bay of the Rice Fields," festival music echoing up an empty valley to the pagoda at the top of the hill I climbed
lows: LP FAILS AGAIN! CYCLISTS TAKE NOTE: No train will drop a bike in Ninh Binh and no train will pick a bike up anywhere this close to Hanoi, lots of tourist in Ninh Binh area




My northbound train ride was actually pretty nice! I felt, in many ways, the Vietnamese trains were much nicer than the Thai trains...they felt more European in that I was in a birth with four cots. I was with two Vietnamese ladies who slept the entire day and a couple other Vietnamese who came and went, but our car was mostly very very quiet. I slept pretty well through the night and woke in the wea hours of the morning to a remote coastal view out the window with waves crashing into a steap, jungley coast. I knew it, I just knew that we were negotiating Hai Van Pass!!! I had a feeling and felt so lucky to be able to see it from the train, which stays very close to the water most of the way and offers much better water views than the road. I knew that eventually, the familiar shape of Long Co Beach would come into view and the fishing boats of the fishermen I met. Low and behold, from behind the rolling jungle emerged the shape of land I came to know so well from days of strolling up and down its sands. What a treasure!

The remainder of the day passed with little scenary of interest. The skies were cloudy and the air misty, so I could only see rice fields and fog in the distance. I cracked open and nearly finished "The Kite Runner" on my top bunk, which was delightful way to pass a day. I went to the restaurant car where I had placed a yummy treat Chung gave to me before I left in the fridge. YUM! Rice noodles, rice milk, mashed bananas and peanuts! YUM YUM YUM!

I arrived in Nam Dinh in the evening, found a cyclo who I asked to take me to a CHEAP hotel and who brought me to the nicest hotel in town. It was late, I was tired so I haggled with the clerk until I got a more reasonable price and stayed in the lap of luxury for one night. I had to wait until morning to pick up my bike (in whatever condition I would find it) and, fortunately, when I arrived at the train station, it was sitting inside the rail office in the same shape I sent it in. After a spin around town and a few bowls of pho bo (beef noodle soup), I quickly loaded up and pedaled out of town to Ninh Binh, 30km away. A short ride, not too much traffic, scenary was not terribly interesting.

Ninh Binh was a nice stop. It was lovely. It was unexpectedly VERY VERY busy with MANY MANY buses plying its newly constructed straight shot roads through the rice fields. There were caves to look at, pagodas to visit and an ancient capital to see. The first day I was there, I discovered how insane the tourist traffic was and decided to skip most of the attractions and simply enjoy the pedaling. I did stop at a few pagodas and climbed a few stairs to see a couple views. But, it wasn't until the second day, when I left early with my full load of gear to ride to the ancient capital and then on to the modern capital, that I saw some real Ninh Binh scenary and landscape. I got off on a small, lumpy bumpy backwoods road and road through the rice fields and small farming villages. I ended up at a spot called the Mua Cave well before any tourist traffic arrived...the guard was still making breakfast at his house when I pedaled right by and went straight to the cave with a host of cheers and hollers. He ran after me and escorted me back to his house where I left the bike and all my gear under his watch. The valley was filled with music! Not recorded music, but LIVE traditional musics! Some festival was going on that morning and the pleasant, spiraling sounds echoed up the valley. I plied the hundred or two hundred some steps to the top of the hill to the pagoda for a view of the whole area and the notes of the flutes, drums and other instruments followed me! This was a lovely stop at this time of day. Everything, including the birds were still sleepy, though their singing from their nests within crevaces in the rock blended with the music to make quiet a lovely scene.

The remainder of they day brought more and more traffic. I stopped at the ancient capital, not much of interest and not entirely worth the 12 or so kms I went out of my way to get to it (I took a wrong turn somewhere and should have rode right by). I rode on to the next big town which was the last big town prior to the start of 60 kms of freeway leading into Hanoi. I had been warned more than once by cyclists not to ride in to Hanoi. With the help of five kind men, I hailed a local bus with a roof rack in Phu Li and got a ride the remainder of the distance to the nations capital. I will say, from my limited view from my plastic seat in the middle of the aisle on the packed bus, it was totally possible to ride this section of road. It was busy, but there was a very wide shoulder. The only thing is, there isn't food, water or a town alongside the road for much of the 60km of highway 1 preceding Hanoi. I was fine with the bus, I only had 2.5 hours to make the 60km and, in the end, arrived in Hanoi with plenty of daylight to ride the remaining 5 or so kms into the city center IN TRAFFIC!

WHOO HOO! Riding in Hanoi traffic is like riding a roller coaster! Exilerating! I'm EXCITED and PROUD to ride my bicycle in a place where automobiles are really third class citizens on the roads behind bikes and motor bikes (at the top of the totem)!!! YEAH!!! If only LA was like this!!!! There's so much motor bike traffic, cars are really forced to find small niches in traffic and ply their way carefully through the crowds, often being battered around by the whims of the motor bikes or the needs of the bicycles. This meant I could easily swerve around them, cut them off, ride ahead of them in traffic and the like (all the things I DREAM of doing back home!!!) because there was ABSOLUTELY nowhere for them to go and nothing to do except TAKE IT! Hahahhahhahaahahaaaaa (*evil laugh*)!!! This with a full load of gear, too!

I explored the Old Quarter briefly only to find prices way too high for my budget and resorted to the LP which led me to a guest house. Fortunately, that guest house lost standing with all the guide books and is no longer listed in new guide books and was mostly vacant of travelers! I got a cheap little mouse hole of a room with a TV and BBC and they had a place for my bike indoors. They said they'd keep it, too, while I was away at Halong, so I stayed.

Note: I'm growing increasingly concerned about slippage in the drive train on the bike. The cog set and chain need to be replaced before I move on to the high mountains and long long climbs. If not, I'll just have to ride around town and then bus or fly to my next destination.

Skipping ahead a bit

Hey folks,

I promise I'm gonna catch up my ride log, but I just wanted to put a shout out that I'm back in Bangkok. The cycling portion of my trip officially ended in Hanoi after more than 2800 amazing kilometers of pedaling in three countries. I made the call that both my bike and my body were telling me that this was enough mileage for this trip. I was really pushing for 3200 kms and the 2000 mile mark, but with slippage in the cog set (and no real parts available in Hanoi...I'd have to travel to China and there was no guarantee they'd have what I need) and some creaks in my body, I decided that the Northern ride would have to wait until next time. I talked with a really great tour guide (who in his free time loves motor biking all over his country) and he kindly hipped me to the best cycling spots in North Vietnam and the route he gave me could easily occupy a month or two (with typical stops to gawk at amazing scenary I love to make). This, along with the fact that I didn't give Laos nearly as much time as it truly deserves, ensures that a follow up ride is certainly called for. Perhaps next time, I'll be pedaling with one of you folks!

So, my bike is safely packed away in its bike box and I'm officially a true farang traveler, stuck on the bus, train, tuk tuk, songtao, etc. I really still feel the urge to pedal, so I'm going to be renting bikes in the places I visit for the remainder of my time.

I head next back to the Northern border with Thailand and Laos to go on the Gibbon Experience trip (http://www.gibbonx.org/). I'll then move on from there to spend a little more time in the far north of Laos and Thailand before returning to BKK to prep for my trans-Pacific journey back to lovely San Francisco.

I understand spring has sprung back in California. I look forward to returning home to my love, my cat and my garden. As soon as I can, I'm going to go back, edit and add photos to the blog. At that point, I'll put up a message that I've done so so you'll know to go back and look through the blog. Cheers for now!

Halong Bay

Hi all!

This is Sharon, just wanted to post this cool site I found with beautiful images of Halong Bay where Jamie is staying right now.  Be warned, my jaw dropped when I first saw these pics,

cause they pretty much look like something out of a dream!  See for yourselves....

And btw,  Jamie returns to the US. in just over two weeks!  Yay. 

So let's all send him our best travel vibes for a safe and amazing last few weeks!

Thanks to everyone for following his progress I know how much it means to him...

Cheers,

Sharon

http://www.halongbay-vietnam.com/photos/index.htm

  

Nha Trang: A Beach Town, A Family and Too Much Food

I have been procrastinating this post because I had such an unbelievably good time staying with my friends' parents in Nha Trang, I don't really know how to talk about it! It was kind of like the perfect dream in many ways. Here goes an attempt at least:

I rode into Nha Trang in the morning and went straight to the beach. I had to gander the lovely coast line I had heard so much about and it was really lovely (more lovely than My Khe in Da Nang, in my opinion). Whereas My Khe looked out on industrial Da Nang and bridges and such, Nha Trang looked out on islands and mountains and lovely open sea. It was the stereotypical coconut palm lined tourist area, but if you could get your mind out of that, it was truly a lovely place. It only got better from there.

Nha Trang is a pretty busy town, but not too too crazy with the horns and such. There are a lot of motor bikes and, surprisingly, a LOT of electric motor bikes. I took note to check with my local electric vehicle dealer to see if they had ever heard of these brangds: Asama, *****EDIT ADD BRAND NAMES HERE*******. I learned that they only cost from $500-1000 in Vietnam, which should translate to $1000-2000 in the US. They have a range of about 20km, which is not too far, but if you run out of juice, they have pedals and a crank and ride just like a single speed bike! How's that!

To sum it up without too many words, I stayed with my friends sweet sweet parents and sister-in-law for five or six days. Hue, the dad, is so much fun to be around! He speaks and understands English due to time spent fighting along side the Americans in the South Vietnamese Army during the American-Vietnamese War. This also means that he has sooooooo many stories and I just delighted any time he shared. We talked a lot about family, his time in the army and then in prison after the war (he spent 10 years in "re-education") and life after 1975. He has such a brilliant sense of humor and is such a giggler! He's very very gregarious and makes friends with people wherever we go with his humor---I didn't understand anything he'd say to others, but I'd still laugh because his giggle was so funny and others' laughter was so contageous! He is truly a fun soul!

The family not only invited me to the honor of spending time in the small apartment on the third floor of their home which is dedicated for use only by their kids (and me...I guess I'm the only one who has stayed there besides their kids!) when they come home for three weeks each Tet; they filled my time with interesting cultural experiences and the pleasure of experiencing their day to day lives. The first day I was there, Pappa Hue took me with him to a family wedding! This is something I had longed to see as I watched many wedding processions drive by on the roads! The following day, he took me to a memorial service for a relative who had died the year before (which included, consequentally, 200 other monks and visitors paying respects on that day and a WHOLE LOT OF GREAT FOOD!). Each morning, I woke at my usual time and then went with Hue for his sunrise walk on the beach. This was my favorite because he would share stories and I could ask a million questions! He was so patient with me and I delighted in our walks and his stories. Afterwards, they would take me to these little hidden holes in the wall where we'd get the most delicious breakfasts for next to nothing! I ate so many different things I hadn't even known existed. Each evening, except when we had something else going on, I'd travel with Hue to watch tennis matches at the local tennis courts. Apparently, up until ten years ago (he turns 81 on March 30), he played tennis with the same club of men who we watched each evening. I loved the banter from the sidelines from the onlookers and the competition was pretty good at times as well. Hue was definitely a dominant personality in the crowd of hecklers!

Hue and his daughter-in-law's brother, Minh, and I went on a few small trips in the area. We all took a Mamma Linh boat tour and LOVED it!!! So much fun! I was on a Vietnamese tourist boat, so the tour guide only spoke in Vietnamese to the crowd. Again, I experienced the Vietnamese heckling and it was just like a great big riot to watch them all cracking jokes and laughing the boat ride away while the tour guide introduced the history and ecology of the area. Hue would translate some things, but most of the time, I just enjoyed watching the tourquoise water slip by. We stopped for snorkeling with a boat load of Western tourists and I rented a pair of fins to go with my face mask and got to experience the best underwater scenary yet! The corals were vibrant and the fish were colorful and plentiful. The floor was down at like 3-7 meters and I delighted in being one of very few people cruising around the depths (most people just floated in tubes above drinking beers). Mamma Linn knows how to run a good tour! It was CHEAP (120,000 dong or $7 US), they took us to great places and they fed us SO SOOOO WELL! The best spread of food to date (excluding the wedding, which was ultra-special)! The snorkeling was great. Then, after lunch, the English speaking guides on the Western Boat brought out impromptu style instruments (including a bucket drum kit!) and an amped electric guitars and they proceeded to embarass people from every represented nationality by calling them up on stage and having them sing a popular song in their language in front of everyone! AND, the guides knew the songs in Spanish, English, Italian, French and Russian. To see the foreigner on stage light up when the song began and after hearing the guide speaking in their native tongue was such a treat! It was a hoot of a time. Happily, I noticed both Hue and Minh really enjoying themselves (and, luckily, I didn't get pulled up to sing "Yellow Submarine"). Very fun, very funny and I DEFINITELY recommend it!

Another day, I took some time to pedal around town and see tourist sites. I took in some temples and other spots, but relished finding a little hidden beach where only Viet on motor bikes were present just outside of town and the tourist areas. It was sweet, quiet and had not a single taut!

Another day, Hue, Minh and I went to a local mud bath! This was great! There are a handful of natural mud and hot spring resorts around, but the one we went to was really really nice. (I promise to ****ADD PHOTO HERE*******) We rinsed off in hot mineral water showers, soaked for a while in warm mud baths, rinsed again in warm mineral water showers before heading into the hot tubs and then on to the hot swimming pool. Hue had been to one of these places before, but for Minh, it was his first time and I could tell he was really enjoying himself! Unfortunately, the sun wasn't out, so we couldn't get the mud to dry into a hard shell around us before we rinsed off, but it was still lovely. I'd definitely return in the future and bring a book! Very relaxing.

The remainder of the time was spent relaxing, talking, sharing photographs and stories and eating. Nhon and Chung (mom and daughter-in-law) took it upon themselves to make certain I ate enough. But, they were the ones to define what was "enough'! Dinner was always comical when Chung would load up my rice bowl with a heaping pile of rice. I'd finish it and she'd ask for my bowl again. She wouldn't take "No" for an answer and would heap my bowl again! Then, they would just laugh at me! They were so sweet!!! Chung kept wandering to the market each morning and coming back with a different fruit I'd never seen, heard of or tasted before and offered that for desert after dinner each night. What a treat! I tried several fruit that were in season just for a short while. Hue taught me the names in Vietnamese (and/or French), but didn't know the English names for each one. I tried bread fruit, durien, longan, the best mangoes I've ever eaten, a fruit that looks like the scales of a dragon I still don't know the name of and a fruit called "vu shur" in Vietnamese (which translates to "Milky Breast" in English, Hue informed me) among several others. WOW!

I really enjoyed my time with Hue. I really enjoyed hearing his giggle at the tennis courts or in the kitchen when his wife made some wise crack comment. Mom made me promise that when I return I will speak some Vietnamese. Visiting with the family reminded me again how sad I am that I still have not yet followed through with my long time desire to learn the language. Perhaps this will be the final impetus to push me over to get the audio tapes or take the night language course at the community college, FINALLY.

Hue finally helped me negotiate the train station to get my bike and gear and myself to the north of the country. The famly came to the train station to see me off and was waving to me through my window as my train pulled away. This made me very sad to leave, because I had most certainly fallen in love with the family!

I do hope to fulfill my promise and fulfill it soon! After all, we're all not getting any younger.

So, off I went to Nam Dinh, Hue's "Motherland," to pedal through the "Halong Bay of the Rice Fields" in Ninh Binh and then on to Hanoi.

Comin' DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!!!!!!!!!

Dalat - Nha Trang
DATES
Day:
Cume:
Avg:
Max:
Time:
Highs:
Lows:

I spent two days pedaling to Nha Trang. I think I could have made it in one if it wasn't so darn hot on this ride day. By the time I made it to _____***EDIT: ADD CONTENT***_______, I was totally wiped. It was ok, though, because on the first day, many great things happened.

First, taking the suggestion of a kind Dutch woman I met in the market who lives in Dalat with her husband, I took the new road. This was a total blessing because the new road is so new it's not entirely finished yet and, hence, not a major transportation corridor (YET...bicyclists, get on your iron horses and get to Dalat!!!)! This route is so incredible, I agree with The Dulwich Boy (http://dulwichboy.blogspot.com/) when I say this route BY BIKE is by far the PREFERRED method of transportation for anyone with even a hint of physical fitness traveling from Dalat to Nha Trang. It's possible to rent a bike, a guide and a van that follows you down this hill and scrapes you off the pavement when the temperatures in the low lands melt you into a puddle.

Second, the day was monumental because I got to experience it for the first time with another westerner (two in fact) by bike! Sure, I've ridden with countless Thai, Lao and Vietnamese kids and youth in the countryside, but this was the first time I felt like I was experiencing the ride with someone else. For this, I say, I had my first cycling partners of the tour, Fred and Daniel from London. Mostly, we just confirmed with each other over and over that, yes, this ride was so epic it was nearly beyond belief and, no, we weren't dreaming! I needed confirmation, truly.

Third, I'm awarding this ride the "Best Brake Burner Award" for my tour. I've ridden some killer downhills on this tour, but this one is just so epic and so fast and such good road quality and such unbelieveably expansive scenary and so little traffic (cyclists: read, " reroute your tour to hit this downhill! and do it soon!") and such good visibility for oncoming traffic. At 30km on the nose, this was truly truly a decent downhill. Starting at 1500 meters and dropping to I'd say near 50-70 meters at the bottom over a 30km decent that comes in several sections and traveling down a valley whose canyon walls are so steap, one would not thing a road travels through it....WOW...what can I say. Even thinking about it in hindsight exilerates me!

Fourth, as I said, the scenary was just phenominal. The downhill isn't until 50 or 60 km into the ride from Dalat. In that span leading up to the descent is some lovely lovely pine forest. The road skirts the shoulder of Mt. Longbian and travels through coffee lands and other ag lands before setting out into forest. In my imagination, I was continually transported back to the Plumas, a pine and cedar filled land in California now sacred to me. Fortunately, for the 20km uphill leading up to the descent, I had company which made the climbing SO much easier!

THE DESCENT

From the pass, I looked down on verdent green forests filling a steep ravine that dropped in the far distance into tree covered foothills and then a flatlands. That was if I craned my eyes and peered through the thick, moist air. In the foreground, there was nothing except space. The canyon walls are so steep, I spent most of the time looking off at the canyon floor down below, ocassionally getting a glance at the road WAY WAY down below and laughing that that was where I was heading. In some cases, it took five or ten minutes to get to that location because of switchbacks. There was so little traffic and such good visibility, I spent most of my time tucked and hauling, rarely touching the brakes. The road switches back across a cascade I later discovered falls over 3-400 meters down the limestone canyon wall and there are plenty of opportunities to stop for a photograph or a quick dip. There are several long sections of rapid descent followed by flatter or slower descent, as well as the ocassional hairpin switchback. Looking up canyon, it's just lush, dark green forest and jungle. Falling 500 then 1000 meters, temperatures began to substantially rise and the lovely pine forest turned into lush low lands jungle. Ciceda sound like I've never heard before emanated from within the trees (not ordinary cicedas, I'm sure, they sounded four times louder!). I stopped a few times to get shots up valley, but mostly enjoyed what I called "desert." Hey, I deserved killer downhill after all that climbing! This had a cherry on top because I didn't have to listen to horns or look out for mad truck drivers...there weren't any!

Arriving at the bottom, the river squiggled away down toward the beach, out of reach for swimming because of a steep embankment. The road began to go up and down the foothills and in the heat, the uphills were nearly unbearable. I broke my own rule to never ride after 11:30 as we continued on to a lunch spot picked out by my friends' guide. We stopped for drinks and lunch followed by 12 more kms and then my friends hopped in their van and left me for the sands of Nha Trang. I'd have to ride on for another 3km to find a place to stay (a total rat hole, let me tell you...for 100,000 dong? What?). It was just a place to sleep. I woke at sunrise and hit the pedals to find there was little to no climbing remaining. A short 35km of flat land and back in traffic landed me on the beaches of Nha Trang. I made it by 9:30AM.

Let me add one last thing. There is one unfortunate thing about this route. The "New Road" dead ends in the flat lands in the "Old Road." I'm having a hard time believing that the two roads have anything to do with one another, but it's true. Buses will eventually travel (if the road is not upgraded) at outrageous break neck speed (I did see a few buses do this) on a one lane, potholed, smashed concrete partial dirt piece of trash road that is in miserable condition for about 15kms or so. If your touring this way, don't say I didn't warn you! (it hardly matters, though...the downhill would make 35kms of nasty dirt or gravel road worth it!)

The sun was out in Nha Trang when I arrived. The water was glistening in the bay and around the offshore islands. It was hot! I took some time to mellow out before contacting my friends' family where I was invited to stay, still reminiscing Dalat.

Dalat and Environs

Well, anyone (Vietnamese or farang) who said so was right in suggesting that Dalat is the place for me! If it's any indication, I stayed six nights in Dalat! And, I'm not talking about the Dalat that's bought and sold in the downtown and that LP talks about (the kitchey part of Dalat that the Vietnamese tourists go for); I'm talking about the Dalat that is the city in the mountains at about 1500 meters in elevation with cool evening temperatures, lovely warm days, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets and the ever present pine scent (once you get out of town)!

I found a decent place to stay on the third floor of a sunrise facing mini-hotel for $6 a night with a balcony, a comfy bed, warm shower, locking cabinets inside the room and a TV with BBC and HBO (partly a good thing, partly a bad thing). The owners spoke little to no English and were a friendly grandmother and her daughter. I had fun shuffling around the bottom floor with the granddaughter, playing silly games and laughing at one another. I liked it because it was so low key, in a quieter neighborhood and there were all the amenities I needed (except for a decent store, which exists in few places in Dalat anyhow) right outside the door, including a travel agent to extend my visa, a motor bike rental shop, a little low key restaurant with decent food at decent prices and an internet cafe with the best computers I have seen in the country so far (still only 3000 dong an hour, or approximately 20 pennies US per hour). Best of all, it was in a part of Dalat not terribly frequented by farang. I did see some now and then, but mostly Vietnamese tourists and locals traveled up and down my street.

I didn't do anything particularly special in Dalat. I walked/strolled around the lake and through the market. I read (Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"...so nice!). I watched BBC and movies. I ate (YUM...found a favorite cheap dive with GREAT food right near the university!). I didn't ride the bike, oddly enough. I was pretty tired from the climb and wanted time to recover, so I decided to walk everywhere. I walked through all the little neighborhoods, down little dirt paths between homes, wandered all over the outskirts of town and then found my way back to downtown and around the lake. This is a very walkable town and I loved walking everywhere. Well, that is until I hopped on a motor bike to explore the greater Dalat area. I had such a delightful time scooting around the mountains like many of the locals (ah...when in Rome/Dalat...). I traveled out from the center of town in every direction roads traveled: up to the gates of Mt. Longbian, down toward Lam Ha (where I found a GREAT alternative road I could have ridden rather than busy, loud, stinky highway 20, see earlier post for directions), out toward Nha Trang (on the road I had been suggested to ride to Nha Trang by a kind Dutch woman who lives in town) and back down highway 20. I also wandered around the prime agricultural areas within the greater Dalat region, peaking in greenhouses growing everything from strawberries to flowers to greens to roses. I did hit a few of the big tourist destinations including the pagodas, "The Crazy House," Bao Dia's "palace" (not nearly as lavish as those Thai palaces), the flower gardens and the central market. But, mostly, I just relaxed and enjoyed the cool temperatures. What a pleasant change from those insanely hot uphills in the Central Highlands!

One of the most beautiful places I found that I returned to several times by motor bike (and wished I had pedalled to) was the dam just outside of town, near which lie several resorts and a zen meditation center ****EDIT: ADD NAME HERE*******. It was also the end of the aerial tram (which I didn't ride) and the destination of many many tourists (mostly Vietnamese). This did not distract from the beauty of the temple and/or the region. Sitting in the temple, I closed my eyes and besides the sound of the gong the monk kept ringing (to offer a sense of sacred silence to the throngs of tourists passing rapidly in and out of the building to bow three times and offer inscents), the wind chimes calmly resonating in the gentle breeze and the sounds of Vietnamese voices and children playing in the garden, I heard an osprey on the wing. I determined on that first visit to return the following morning as early as I could escape my hotel (they lock the door with a padlock from the inside, something morning people like myself lament) and scoot on over to do some bird watching and see the temple early in the day.

I did just that, heard some great bird song while strolling a thin little trail on the south side of the lake and saw the temple early on. I also scooted around the lake to catch a view of some of the resorts, perhaps to catch some ideas for subsequent visit(s) to the area. Found a neat one with little grass hut bungaloes in a quiet cove. Pretty neat spot. This was Oscar night/morning (depending on whether you're in SF or Asia) and I promised Sharon to watch the winners together online. I hurried back to my favorite little internet cafe and discovered, sadly, ABC had barred anyone from watching online. So, we chatted and watched the winners as they were posted on the Official Oscars Website.

It was helpful for me to ride out of town by motor bike on the "new road" to get a sense of what would come when I finally pedaled out of town. I got my bearings straight, assessed at least the first 15-20 km of hills and rest stops and knew I'd have to leave early in the morning the day of my ride. It got me really excited for the scenary to come, but offered me absolutely no idea what was to come about 40 km into the ride. My friend Huang told me I better I have good brakes for that ride and that it was a great ride. He was totally right! (Wait until tomorrow's post)

Ah, Dalat!!! I was sad to leave, but I wanted to move forward to Nha Trang. I stayed as long as I liked, could have stayed another week longer in those cool temperatures, but once I hit the saddle and began pedalling the first uphill away from the lake in the center of town, feeling strong legged and stong backed from days of resting, I knew it was a good thing (both to leave and to have stayed so long). Definitely a place I'd return to!

Climbing to Dalat

2/19/09
Lam Ha-Dalat (by Highway 20)
Day: 49.33 km
Cume: 2539.9 km
Avg: 11.9 kph
Max: 43.0 kph
Time: 4h8m
Highs: So many small and large farms growing greens, flowers, fruit in huge variety, PINE and pine scent reminding me of home, cooler temperatures, flowers proliferate the road side, entering the lovely mountain town Dalat
Lows: Malicious truck driver honks horn for no reason only once and right when his horn is next to my ear; long, steep, busy ascent, tired today from yesterday's long ride, sore in the climb, being locked in the hotel (again) and having to wait for someone to wake up to let me out, starting ride day 45 minutes later than I was ready to depart


This is the big day, the day I knew was coming. A long 30 km ascent, gradual at first and then steep in the last 10km. It was a long day yesterday and I was still pretty sore and tired, so this climb was not going to be easy. The countryside leading up to the climb offered an impressive variety of fresh produce farms. Such huge variety!!!

The climb itself was both good and bad. Seeing the sign at the bottom of the climb welcoming me to the Dalat region made me grow very anxious to finally see this mountain community I had heard so much about from farang and locals alike. I had to get through the 10km climb along a major traffic corridor, first. Once I smelled the pine and saw the pine litter scattered on the roadside, my spirits lifted. I thought of Plumas County, somehow that smell transports me back there every time I smell it. Thinking of old friends and many wonderful experiences while attempting to focus on the road and the rear view mirror. Buses and motor bikes abound, everyone in such a hurry! The road was so narrow, I basically rode up the painted line at the road side. Fortunately, most drivers gave me space. Bus drivers still suck and honk at me more than once and more than necessary because the road is truly just barely wide enough to accomodate two buses passing each other abreast. This occurs frequently on this busy tourist corridor.

I continue to play games with the remaining mileage in the climb, doing and redoing the calculation of the number of miles remaining transposed from the kms, celebrating each additional passing km. I pass a road sign for a mountain zen temple, make a mental note to return by motor bike. Finally, the top of the hill, cresting and then dropping down into the outskirts of Dalat. My first traffic circle, my second, the lake, the hotels, all the homes perched in the hills like the famous residences in San Francisco; a certain feel in the air tells me that I'm going to want to stay a while. It's warm, but not hot, the air is fresh, the lake glistening and something is...missing...can't.....quiet.......figure it........out........horns........there aren't that many horns!........what?...............is this still Vietnam???? Really, there's a lot of motor bike traffic, but only scattered horns here and there in the soundscape. People drive quickly, but most people drive pretty mellow. The pace here is slower. I don't fear for my life in the traffic circles (should I?).

With the plethora of hotels and the lack of patronage, I easily secure a nice third level hotel room with a balcony looking out on sunrise, with BBC and HBO, hot showers and a comfy bed in a quieter neighborhood with a few restaurants, a travel office that says it can help me extend my visa, a motor bike rental shop and a inet cafe with the best computers I've seen yet in the country. I'm definitely staying. Oh yah, the hotel was about $6 per night. Not bad. It's possible to acquire a place that costs less, but this will suit me just fine. I place a chair from downstairs on my balcony and settle in for a longer stay.


-----


in a baby's toy
I think I hear Dave Brubeck---
ah, homesickness



-----