Vietnam

10 posts

There are a handful of things that still manage to fill me with childlike excitement. Elephants (which we have yet to see on this trip), riding my bicycle and messing about in or on the water. When Gez suggested that we leave Vietnam and enter Cambodia by speed boat, I let out a small squeal of […]

1 Jan 2017

Cambodia Vietnam

Look at what you could have won…

It’s getting dark now and I’m tired. Just a few more kilometres to go… I had been riding incredibly carefully since we noticed the crack in the rear rim so the impending darkness made me very nervous. These Crossmax wheels may be super lightweight but they were built for serious off road riding, 40km after […]

27 Dec 2016

Escape from Siagon (part deux)

Ho Chi Minh City (also called Saigon) is home to 10 million people – the most populated urban area in Vietnam. Saigon is big, noisy and busy – not really our kind of place. We arrived, saw some things, picked up some bike spares, visited a dentist, bought some sweets, began to suffer respiratory problems […]

20 Dec 2016

Escape from Saigon

Not being natural city types, we approached Hội An via the coast road from Da Nang avoiding as many built up areas as possible and bracing ourselves for another busy city. As we reached the final leg of our 80km day and found ourselves cycling through rice fields rather than the outskirts of a city, we […]

12 Dec 2016

Hội An is special.

After spending much time underground in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, we were in need of some altitude again. Continuing South via Dong Hoi, we arrived at Huế – the old capital of Vietnam from 1802-1945, during the Feudal Nguyen Dynasty. 19th Century soup & Karaoke At the heart of Huế, surrounded by the Perfume river and 2 moats is […]

10 Dec 2016

Hải Vân Pass: gravity in Vietnam

I thought that between us we had done our homework however, when travelling in a country as vast as Vietnam I think it may be impossible not to overlook something …we nearly overlooked the largest cave in the world. In our defence Hang Sơn Đoòng is quite well hidden in the jungle of Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng […]

28 Nov 2016

Echo

A few weeks ago we followed a dinner recommendation and ended up eating some of the most delicious vegan food we have ever tasted (in the business end of someone’s garage). The creator of these Vietnamese vegan treats (and part owner of the garage) recommended we visit Ninh Bình on our journey south. Ninh Bình […]

28 Nov 2016

Tam Cốc-Bích Động

We started this cycling adventure in Northern Vietnam, in what probably used to be a small town or village called Sa Pa. While the rice fields of Sa Pa are truly beautiful, progress, modernisation and tourism are rapidly beating this place into a very different shape. Construction teams are everywhere, any time from first […]

24 Nov 2016

Off the beaten track.

It’s probably fine…? Health and safety would both appear to be a term that is very much lost in translation. Vietnamese kitchens are blackened or mouldy rooms where flies buzz over warm raw meat. Restaurants are garages or tiny plastic chairs of doom nestled under tarpaulins seated on broken paving slabs. Vietnamese building sites are […]

7 Nov 2016

It’s probably fine…?

As we approach the end of our second week in Vietnam and in light of all the adventuring evidence gathered to date we have drawn the following conclusions: The Vietnamese are a very friendly and incredibly patient people. We are carrying too much stuff. Even when it’s cold here it’s still hot. Spring onion flavour […]

25 Oct 2016

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