Hello everybody, after a couple of wonderfull days in the ancient city of Hue' we made our way over the mighty Hai Van pass, the highest one in beautiful Vietnam. One night we spent in a sleepy little beach village called Lang Co. When we walked around the old part of town a local approached us and asked us to come to his house because he is teaching English to his family and some children in the neighbourhood. We were ambushed in to his house by about 30 children! Here we were sat on little plastic chairs on the tiled floor and asked numerous questions, and spelt words on the small blackboard in the corner. All the children wanted their pictures taken and very keen to talk,touch and learn. Hai ( the teacher), after asking the girls, invited us to have dinner with him and family and after to go to the cafe for a coffee. Nils and I felt very privileged, nearly the whole neighbourhood watched us eat with them, in the back room. This was a very special thing as the family hardly had much and they cooked us a most georgeous pudding of corn and peanut stuff of which they insisted was just for us, although not one of them had eaten much at all. After dinner we walked with Hai and his neices arm in arm to the small cafe, and as all local places sat on children sized chairs and bought them all a drink. It was a really lovely experience and the children so wonderful. We agreed to meet them all before school time again to say good bye, and as school starts for them at 7 in the morning we were back in the cafe at 6am!! Hai also insisted that he buy us breakfast, even though he was running late for a friends wedding.
Due to such an early start we were on the road again heading south earlier than normal in the rain! However rain was welcomed due to the climb ahead of the Hai Van pass, and the views from the top were well worth the hours climb. Down on the other side the climate changed to a bit more tropical weather, and the air smelt completely different. Our day stopped in the busy industrial city od Da Nang, the traffic and business hit us suddenly so we couldnt wait to get out again and spent the night in watching tv!! A rare luxury for us! Today we have cycled to the ancient town of Hoi An. Along the way we stopped for breakfast by the beach and followed its coast line. Hoi An is really relaxed and we are plannin to stay here for atleast a few days to explore, and get a visa extension. Despite all the political Chaos in Burma, Vietnam is far away from all of this and each day is presenting new beautiful landscapes and people. No one needs to worry!
Hope everyone is doing well, stay in touch Nils and George x x
Saturday 29 September 2007
Saturday 22 September 2007
Good morning Vietnam!
Hi everyone!
so we have arrived in Vietnam! We cycled over the border yesterday, after a bit of interest into the validity of our passports and pictures it was pretty easy! We spent the last few days in Laos takng in the scenery and relaxed atmosphere, as we had heard that Vietnam, unlike its neighbour was busy and noisy. Wow and how true they were. Its not as busy as a weston country, however the contrast from Laos is great. Where there are 10 million living in Laos, there are 80 million here! how funny it is to cross a magic dividing line and be greeted with such difference. Here they like to use the horn, and its a constant noise from any vehical, unlike our car horns they are much louder and regular, like fog horns. However the people especially the children are as equally friendly, no corner turned without the hearing of "hello" or "where you go?". Nearly all children and some adults have bicycles, and they have been riding along side us talking and chatting away, and often looking for a race! These children are amazing on their 1 geared bike and we both found it pretty hard to keep up with them, especially when it started to down pour with rain and whilst climbing up the mountain!
The scenery so far has been great, since the border we have, more than not been descending through the dividing mountains. We have seen some tanks and reminants of the war along the way and been through small villages. Our first town today-Dang Ha, where we have decided to splash out and celebrate by booking into our most expensive hotel to date(all of $10!), with hot shower and tv!
Again we can't upload the photos but we should be in a bigger city very soon, until then .......The Pumpkins. x x x x x
so we have arrived in Vietnam! We cycled over the border yesterday, after a bit of interest into the validity of our passports and pictures it was pretty easy! We spent the last few days in Laos takng in the scenery and relaxed atmosphere, as we had heard that Vietnam, unlike its neighbour was busy and noisy. Wow and how true they were. Its not as busy as a weston country, however the contrast from Laos is great. Where there are 10 million living in Laos, there are 80 million here! how funny it is to cross a magic dividing line and be greeted with such difference. Here they like to use the horn, and its a constant noise from any vehical, unlike our car horns they are much louder and regular, like fog horns. However the people especially the children are as equally friendly, no corner turned without the hearing of "hello" or "where you go?". Nearly all children and some adults have bicycles, and they have been riding along side us talking and chatting away, and often looking for a race! These children are amazing on their 1 geared bike and we both found it pretty hard to keep up with them, especially when it started to down pour with rain and whilst climbing up the mountain!
The scenery so far has been great, since the border we have, more than not been descending through the dividing mountains. We have seen some tanks and reminants of the war along the way and been through small villages. Our first town today-Dang Ha, where we have decided to splash out and celebrate by booking into our most expensive hotel to date(all of $10!), with hot shower and tv!
Again we can't upload the photos but we should be in a bigger city very soon, until then .......The Pumpkins. x x x x x
Monday 17 September 2007
Still cycling in Laos
Sabaidee!
So now our next attempt to include some photos but it is very slow..two photos in 20 minutes...anyway, therefore you get a little bit more text!
We made it to the capital Vietiane with our speedy japanese friend and spent a few very needed relaxing days in the city. Very small, not too much to see but relaxing all the same. Found a great Scandinavian bakery and thanks to the french colonisation some great baguettes. Sadly we here had to say goodbye to Tadashi as his next and last journey ends cycling to Bangkok, we thoroughly enjoyed the cycling experience and stories (of which he had plenty) and would love to meet again.
Off again on ourselves, this time heading south where not many tourist ever venture. The scenery changed completely, giving us flat roads as long as we followed the mekong river which stretched about 300kms. Only a few guest houses along the way, which are often used as love hotels at the same time! A lot of the Thai or Lao business man have at least another girl next to their wife which she doesn't know about??? anyway, this is the place to meet and we were wondering sometimes why it is all pink and very cheesy romantic rooms...but very clean and we just had no other choice, ether!
We hit on a small problem on day 2 after leaving the city. getting to one of the larger towns we had seen late in the afternoon we found a guest house and relised that our money had run out completley, we located a bank only to find out there was no atm and could only change travellers cheques, but having left these at the room and it closing in 5 minutes we asked wether we could do the transaction the day after. the only problem travelling is that you seem to loose track of days and thinking it was fri we walked to the bank early the next day and stood at the gates wondering why it was closed ad what to do next. After quite a while we relised it was sat, the local bank shuts on the weekend and we were stuck. Aggggghhhhh, the lovely boy from our guest house had to lend us the bus fare to go back to the city and we retraced our last 2 days on bus to reach an atm!! The joueney was def an experience however as there was no more space for us so we sat on very wobbly plastic chairs in the isle the whole way, praying for our lives as the driver seemed to have a death wish and by inches missed a small child crossing the road swerving to the other side of the road and creating an uproar on the bus!
Problem solved and back on the road south we stopped for the night only to bump into 4 other bike tourers staying at the same place! 2 from Thailand who have been cycling for 6 years around the world and 2 french guys who have juat finnished India and Bangladesh, great to meet others and hear there stories.It was here that Nils got his first offer from a Laos lady who fell in love with his beard and hairs both of which are never seen on a Laos man! However we think she wanted to get her daughter in with a westoner! After a short and funny conversation with our new Thai friends they all decided that it was one of the French guys who was the most handsome without a girlfriend so the heat was taken away and mr French soon went a shade of red!
Today we cycled 100kms almost with no break, very exhausting although pretty flat, however we didnt want to stop as once we did our bodies sweated more sweat than we cound have though possible, sweat in the eyes is never a fun thing, so pedaling the whole day is actually a much nicer experience. We visited a few schools along the way and handed out books to the head teachers that we had bought in Luang Probang, as most schools do not have such things and it was really great to give something to the children.Outside is one huge rain storm thankfully one that has waited untill after cycling, lightning and thunder and possibly some floods tomorrow. Although we are quite experienced now at cycling through floods as hopefully a few pictures will show. One day we went through a whole village that was washed out and the water came up to our knees! The locals watched as we sped through and cheered us with laughs and splashes.
So now our next attempt to include some photos but it is very slow..two photos in 20 minutes...anyway, therefore you get a little bit more text!
We made it to the capital Vietiane with our speedy japanese friend and spent a few very needed relaxing days in the city. Very small, not too much to see but relaxing all the same. Found a great Scandinavian bakery and thanks to the french colonisation some great baguettes. Sadly we here had to say goodbye to Tadashi as his next and last journey ends cycling to Bangkok, we thoroughly enjoyed the cycling experience and stories (of which he had plenty) and would love to meet again.
Off again on ourselves, this time heading south where not many tourist ever venture. The scenery changed completely, giving us flat roads as long as we followed the mekong river which stretched about 300kms. Only a few guest houses along the way, which are often used as love hotels at the same time! A lot of the Thai or Lao business man have at least another girl next to their wife which she doesn't know about??? anyway, this is the place to meet and we were wondering sometimes why it is all pink and very cheesy romantic rooms...but very clean and we just had no other choice, ether!
We hit on a small problem on day 2 after leaving the city. getting to one of the larger towns we had seen late in the afternoon we found a guest house and relised that our money had run out completley, we located a bank only to find out there was no atm and could only change travellers cheques, but having left these at the room and it closing in 5 minutes we asked wether we could do the transaction the day after. the only problem travelling is that you seem to loose track of days and thinking it was fri we walked to the bank early the next day and stood at the gates wondering why it was closed ad what to do next. After quite a while we relised it was sat, the local bank shuts on the weekend and we were stuck. Aggggghhhhh, the lovely boy from our guest house had to lend us the bus fare to go back to the city and we retraced our last 2 days on bus to reach an atm!! The joueney was def an experience however as there was no more space for us so we sat on very wobbly plastic chairs in the isle the whole way, praying for our lives as the driver seemed to have a death wish and by inches missed a small child crossing the road swerving to the other side of the road and creating an uproar on the bus!
Problem solved and back on the road south we stopped for the night only to bump into 4 other bike tourers staying at the same place! 2 from Thailand who have been cycling for 6 years around the world and 2 french guys who have juat finnished India and Bangladesh, great to meet others and hear there stories.It was here that Nils got his first offer from a Laos lady who fell in love with his beard and hairs both of which are never seen on a Laos man! However we think she wanted to get her daughter in with a westoner! After a short and funny conversation with our new Thai friends they all decided that it was one of the French guys who was the most handsome without a girlfriend so the heat was taken away and mr French soon went a shade of red!
Today we cycled 100kms almost with no break, very exhausting although pretty flat, however we didnt want to stop as once we did our bodies sweated more sweat than we cound have though possible, sweat in the eyes is never a fun thing, so pedaling the whole day is actually a much nicer experience. We visited a few schools along the way and handed out books to the head teachers that we had bought in Luang Probang, as most schools do not have such things and it was really great to give something to the children.Outside is one huge rain storm thankfully one that has waited untill after cycling, lightning and thunder and possibly some floods tomorrow. Although we are quite experienced now at cycling through floods as hopefully a few pictures will show. One day we went through a whole village that was washed out and the water came up to our knees! The locals watched as we sped through and cheered us with laughs and splashes.
so, now finally some photos, like always in random order and supersizable when you double click on the pic. Enjoy!!
Tadashi and George fighting through the floods
Goodbye Tadashi!!!
rain brings flooding every year
today we dress like locals, he he!(don't repeat this at home, special qualified doubles)
A close encounter with a racing pig!
A well needed break in a village along the way
At the top!
One thirsty George after a day of climbing
Looking back at our path upwards
Setting off for our Laos adventure
Up and away in the mountains of Northern Laos
After 5 days one silk scarf is finnished
Wading through the flooded walkways of the waterfall
A close encounter with a racing pig!
A well needed break in a village along the way
At the top!
One thirsty George after a day of climbing
Looking back at our path upwards
Setting off for our Laos adventure
Up and away in the mountains of Northern Laos
After 5 days one silk scarf is finnished
Wading through the flooded walkways of the waterfallMonday 10 September 2007
Saturday 8 September 2007
Laos i want to marry you....
Hello you, thanks for calling in again!
We made our way down to Vang Vieng, had some hard days of cycling but some very good experiences. Let's start at the beginning, Luang Prabang, the old residence city of the king when Laos was still a monarchy is very beautiful and has a very relaxing vibe to it and lots to see and do. We didn't plan to but we ended up meeting a very nice French couple which are traveling the world since 4 years and went kayaking together with them for two days. There were some massive rapids in between the flat bits and everybody capsized at least once, but it was great fun and the stay in a little village over night was very interesting. We slept together with all the locals in a big bedroom everybody together without walls in between, no shower except water out of buckets and the men wash first before the women allowed to wash...at night we had to drink the self made Lao Lao (which is a schnaps made from rice and tasted like old meet, about 50% alcohol) and teached them to play mau mau which they loved...
When we came back to our Guesthouse we had some pastis with our french friends and found out a japanese cyclist arrived. Takashi Sato his name, cycling around the word since 6 years (made far over 100000kms already), just cycled down from tibet through china, waited one more day so we can cycle together down to Vietiane (the new Capital city). The first day took us up into the mountains, over two hills, more than 80kms and 2200m uphill and the last 4 hours in pouring rain... the whole thing on a diet of noodle soup and cake. But we finally made it and the views on the next day which we spent over 1600m were so wonderful that we did not mind all the effort. After a 44km downhill we arrived in Kasi and the views again, never seen anything like that before! There on the market we saw our first dog to eat, they had a little market store with only dog meat, like small puppies fresh from the barbecue or bigger dogs with or without fur, yummy! In all the villages we came past we had to say sabaidee ten thousand times because the children would come running out on the street and want to do high five, waving while you are rolling past, really amazingly friendly! The last day we did a relaxing 60kms to Vang Vieng, where i am sitting now, sad because i cannot upload photos again, because they use satellite internet. Well, you will be rewarded with some very nice photos soon...
Anyway, except of some of Montezuma revenge we do have a great time here and it is just such an fascinating country, come and visit!
You will hear from us soon again, stay tuned for the photos!
the pumpkins
We made our way down to Vang Vieng, had some hard days of cycling but some very good experiences. Let's start at the beginning, Luang Prabang, the old residence city of the king when Laos was still a monarchy is very beautiful and has a very relaxing vibe to it and lots to see and do. We didn't plan to but we ended up meeting a very nice French couple which are traveling the world since 4 years and went kayaking together with them for two days. There were some massive rapids in between the flat bits and everybody capsized at least once, but it was great fun and the stay in a little village over night was very interesting. We slept together with all the locals in a big bedroom everybody together without walls in between, no shower except water out of buckets and the men wash first before the women allowed to wash...at night we had to drink the self made Lao Lao (which is a schnaps made from rice and tasted like old meet, about 50% alcohol) and teached them to play mau mau which they loved...
When we came back to our Guesthouse we had some pastis with our french friends and found out a japanese cyclist arrived. Takashi Sato his name, cycling around the word since 6 years (made far over 100000kms already), just cycled down from tibet through china, waited one more day so we can cycle together down to Vietiane (the new Capital city). The first day took us up into the mountains, over two hills, more than 80kms and 2200m uphill and the last 4 hours in pouring rain... the whole thing on a diet of noodle soup and cake. But we finally made it and the views on the next day which we spent over 1600m were so wonderful that we did not mind all the effort. After a 44km downhill we arrived in Kasi and the views again, never seen anything like that before! There on the market we saw our first dog to eat, they had a little market store with only dog meat, like small puppies fresh from the barbecue or bigger dogs with or without fur, yummy! In all the villages we came past we had to say sabaidee ten thousand times because the children would come running out on the street and want to do high five, waving while you are rolling past, really amazingly friendly! The last day we did a relaxing 60kms to Vang Vieng, where i am sitting now, sad because i cannot upload photos again, because they use satellite internet. Well, you will be rewarded with some very nice photos soon...
Anyway, except of some of Montezuma revenge we do have a great time here and it is just such an fascinating country, come and visit!
You will hear from us soon again, stay tuned for the photos!
the pumpkins
Saturday 1 September 2007
Climbing Ton Sai and Cycling from Chiang Mai
hello!
So... from Bangkok we went straight to Ton Sai, for a bit of relaxation and of course climbing! After a pretty long journey on bus and boat we were happy to get to a beach not only beautiful but surrounded by climbing heaven! thinking we would only stay for a week, we eventually ended up there for 2(would have been much longer if Nils got his way!). We did a lot of climbing, bouldering,deep water soloing and kayaking. maybe not the most relaxing beach holiday! think we will re visit this beautiful part of Thailand as there is definatley much more rock un climbed or found.
After, much discussion we decided not to stay down south, we could have easily blown our budget on more climbing, snorkling,diving ... but decided we wanted to get on our bikes before our visa's ran out, so back to bangkok it was. Thankfully the bikes were still neatly kept in the storage room as we left then, and we head off that day to the train station(which is not as easy as it sounds with the Bangkok madness of traffic). This then lead to a 15hr journey in 3rd class to Ciang Mai, however uncomfortable it was a great way to see the countryside around you and experience proper thai travel.
Chiang Mai is a really lovely city, easy to get around by bike, lots of temples and markets to visit, very arty and lots of culture, very different to the south. We visited the zoo and saw many animals that we learnt will be in the wild in laos, so we are on the look out now for approaching tigers, pumas, elephants,bears,snakes and crocodiles!! Still a city is a city...lots of traffic and people and we quickly got on the bikes and started to cycle up(up,up,up...) to the countryside. Wow this just got better and better, we cycled through remote farming villages, hill tribes,lush jungle, steep rice fields on the hills and for a week we were the only white people we saw. The heat of the day time is amazing and venturing up nearly 2000meters in the increasingly hot weather was to say the least challenging! but the people egged us on chearing and waving as we passed, sweating like pigs on a barbie and trying to conserve water, we made it! i could not describe how lush and beautiful the scenery is , its just breath taking, and views like i have never seen before. we came very close to the burmese border, and finally hit the mekong where we looked over and could see laos only a few meters away across the river which flows all the way from Tibet. Something we both found amazing and hard to comprehend. Once we reached the boarder town we travelled down this river for 2 days, to Luang Probang(laos). Again this journey is pretty slow and hard on the bum, but well worth it. And here we are, in laos, chilling in the world heritage city for a bit and then back on the bikes to head south. We hope you like the pictures( these will be added soon when we find an internet cafe that lets you upload). Life is good,and we are getting increasingly brown and getting into the asian life style. Love to you all the Pumpkins! x x x
So... from Bangkok we went straight to Ton Sai, for a bit of relaxation and of course climbing! After a pretty long journey on bus and boat we were happy to get to a beach not only beautiful but surrounded by climbing heaven! thinking we would only stay for a week, we eventually ended up there for 2(would have been much longer if Nils got his way!). We did a lot of climbing, bouldering,deep water soloing and kayaking. maybe not the most relaxing beach holiday! think we will re visit this beautiful part of Thailand as there is definatley much more rock un climbed or found.
After, much discussion we decided not to stay down south, we could have easily blown our budget on more climbing, snorkling,diving ... but decided we wanted to get on our bikes before our visa's ran out, so back to bangkok it was. Thankfully the bikes were still neatly kept in the storage room as we left then, and we head off that day to the train station(which is not as easy as it sounds with the Bangkok madness of traffic). This then lead to a 15hr journey in 3rd class to Ciang Mai, however uncomfortable it was a great way to see the countryside around you and experience proper thai travel.
Chiang Mai is a really lovely city, easy to get around by bike, lots of temples and markets to visit, very arty and lots of culture, very different to the south. We visited the zoo and saw many animals that we learnt will be in the wild in laos, so we are on the look out now for approaching tigers, pumas, elephants,bears,snakes and crocodiles!! Still a city is a city...lots of traffic and people and we quickly got on the bikes and started to cycle up(up,up,up...) to the countryside. Wow this just got better and better, we cycled through remote farming villages, hill tribes,lush jungle, steep rice fields on the hills and for a week we were the only white people we saw. The heat of the day time is amazing and venturing up nearly 2000meters in the increasingly hot weather was to say the least challenging! but the people egged us on chearing and waving as we passed, sweating like pigs on a barbie and trying to conserve water, we made it! i could not describe how lush and beautiful the scenery is , its just breath taking, and views like i have never seen before. we came very close to the burmese border, and finally hit the mekong where we looked over and could see laos only a few meters away across the river which flows all the way from Tibet. Something we both found amazing and hard to comprehend. Once we reached the boarder town we travelled down this river for 2 days, to Luang Probang(laos). Again this journey is pretty slow and hard on the bum, but well worth it. And here we are, in laos, chilling in the world heritage city for a bit and then back on the bikes to head south. We hope you like the pictures( these will be added soon when we find an internet cafe that lets you upload). Life is good,and we are getting increasingly brown and getting into the asian life style. Love to you all the Pumpkins! x x x
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