Nha trang to Hanoi, feast or famine?

Wow cant believe we have been so lax here not only on the blog but also a week of  NO riding , just being plain tourists. We arrived in Nha trang on the coast riding into a blasting headwind and back to the land of rain. The night before we spent our last day camping for  a stretch on a lovlely peninsula of land 40km long,  dunes and very little development but obvious plans for resorts all along the area.

Nha trang is pretty well a city with an amazing  stretch of beaches and coastline which draws the tourists, so it is also filled with tourists.  We were surprised to find ourselves in "little Russia!"  seems like the russians go there for their beach vacations.  In comparison to the vietnamese they are a little larger.  Our routine there like our usual city routine is Stan sets up house( laundy, organizing, polishing and dusting) and I go off on the beer, sandwich,snack run.  Then its relax in  a real room pick up the remote have  a brew or vino snacks shower etc and then venture out into the new world . No longer ratty cyclists but professional tourists.

We had the delightful experience of the "sleeper bus" from Nha trang to Hanoi.  Not a bad experience depending on how many extra passengers they decide they want to seat on the floor or how obnoxious the attendant may be.  Our first bus was that experience but then next bus was a definate improvment except majority of folks travelling were vietnamese going home for TET(Lunar New Year) and I guess they just dont like to sleep.

HANOI!! wow what an experience. Had to describe but that the feast or famine part of the story.  We arrived just before NYear and the city had gone crazy in preparation.  A mass of humanity, mopheads,rickshaws,taxis,buses, more mopheads more mopheads all weaving in and out of narrow little sidestreets of the Old Quarter.  Shops everywhere overflowing into the streets selling not only their usual wares but stuff forTET.  Gift baskets galore, alcohol vendors, oranges oranges more oranges, mopheads with mandarin orange trees cherry blossom trees strapped to the back of them.  Everyone buying stuff, kind alike the pre-christmas rush. On top of that is the usual morning  markets selling fruit,veg,noodles,live chickens dead chickens, butcher shops galore, buckets of live fish and sea creatures.  Firsthand experience of when the markets start up as we are staying right above one of them.
So now it is TET and the city is like a normal western city from n.america as far as traffic and people and in comparison it appears deserted!!  Many shops are closed and buisnesses and folks spend time with family for the next 4 days at least.  In fact a sad time to visit if this was your first day here.  Tonight is the firework display, one reason we have not yet left.  We saw the military setting up their arsenal yesterday and although not a big firework fan I gotta see this one.

We are staying one block from the lake which looks absultely lovley with the coloured chinese lanterns in the trees and lights surrounding the lake.  We heve been staying at a cheap family run guest house and have the penthouse suite.  Top floor surrounded bywindows, balcony, watch the mayhem below.  Its great although a little noisy.  Routinley things dont work in the room but the family have been so helpful and we kinda like it here.  We did a tour out to Halong Bay, a Unesco world heritage site and was able to leave bike and bags here and return to our same old suite(dont think anyone else wants it).

Halong Bay was remarkable and a chance to get away from the noise of the city.  We stayed on one of the junk boats/dragon boats and just loved being back on the water.  It is an isnt a wilderness with much farming going on out there mostly oyster pearl cultivation. We me a couple from california Mike and Tan.  She grew up in Vietnam having spent 20yrs there so it was helpful to have her along to keep the tour guide inline.  As in everywhere inVietnam you kinda have to fight a little bit for what you deserve!  It was a splurge for Stan and I.  We tried to eat our monies worth of food out there.  Stan was particularly impressive as always on the eating department.

Ournext blog shouldbe N.Laos or even china. Its time to ride off theflab we have accumulated while feasting this past week, now time for hopefully not famine but a little less indulgence.  Hope the NYear is treating all of you well.

Chuck mung nuh moi??something like that..Happy new Year

Sally and stan

Dalat, Day 3

Spending an extra day in Dalat as it's such a pretty city and we found a really nice big, clean room for $6 usd with a huge balconcy. Also gave me a chance to finally wash the tent out.  Amazing how much dirt we carry around betweent the tent and our clothes!!

Tomorrow we work our way to Nha Trang on the coast and then on to Hanoi.  Vietnam has become easier as the time goes by.  By the time we leave it should be pretty easy:  except for the language barrier.  Then it's a whole new culture to try to figure out.

Anyway life is good and we love to hear your comments on the blog or just news from home.

Love,  Stan & Sally

Dalat

We are finally in Dalat, a beautiful town at 1500mtrs in the Central Highlands.  Lots of tourists here from Vietnam, Asia not to mention the ever present white folks as well!! Nice and cool at this elevation.  Tomorrow we leave for the coast and Na Trang, about 2-3 day ride away.  Hopefully by the time we get there the rain will have gone elsewhere.

The ride south on 14 has been good with some days with traffic congestion and noise followed especially since we left Boun Ma Thout by empty, quiet roads and beautiful scenery.  Had a couple good passes to cross that we didn't expect and a couple 10 km sections of rough nasty road but all went well and we enjoyed the ride nevertheless.

Life has been good on the road and looking forward to the Hanoi area and eventually back into Loas and then China!!

Central Highlands

We've been riding the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Highway 14 portion, for the past 6 days or so.  It took us 1.5 days to escape the rain of the coast but after a 40 km climb with several 10% grade portions we broke out into sunshine and it's been pretty much that way ever since.  A bit cloudy the past two days off and on but no rain which has been a great relief.

The only drawback has been the heavy traffic and constant honking of the horns.  I'm pretty much convince that the horns are on all the time and they just press a button to shut them off.  This road, compared to Highway 1 on the coast, is narrow with not much of a shoulder and the drivers are just plain crazy:  passing on hills and the bigger the vehicle the greater your percentage of someone yielding.  The Seward Highway back home is quite tame by comparison.

The country side has been spectacular:  very heavy agriculture with lots of cassava, coffee, greens, fruits, potatoes etc and everything seems to be in harvest mode which may account for some of the traffic.  We are now in Ban Mon Thout ( or similiar ) and getting a much needed shower after 6 days on the road.  Tomorrow we head for Dalat, about a 3-4 day ride, where we will take another break before heading to the coast and bussing it to Hanoi.  Apparently the train has been booked for some time for the whole month of January and TET (Vietnamese NY).

I'm sure Vietnam is a great place to bike ride IF you know the backroads and have a GPS, neither of which is in our arsenal at this time.  The food has been good, not really interesting, but good.  It's been good to cook our own food at supper and have some potatoes or pasta for a change from the rice and chicken.

Highway 8 into the country was spectacular.  There are so many different sections of the HCM trail it's no wonder we couldn't shut it off!!  The history and seeing many familar names has been interesting for me.  We've seen many young people and many older folks but not many of the age that would have fought in the "American War".  No wonder....

cental highlands