From the Sea to Coffee and Tea

just another coffee plantation, and it tastes so fresh and lovely from the small stalls besides the road.

rolling down from the mountains

Coffee and tea plantations

Our hotel in Dalat

The feather duster lady

George buying rubbish again!

Dalat sky line

The dried fruit and tea section of dalat market
The city of Dalat

Vegetarians look away,every part of the pig or cow was available to buy
mmmmmmm where shall we stay?

Shrimps anyone? the red piles that look like lentils are tiny shrimps!

Ladies and limes
Fish at dalat market

1,2,3 Drink!! (again)

Hello again to the wild Vietnam Adventure!

Finally we left Nha Thrang and cycled south again always towards Ho Chi Minh City. This time we decided to aim for some mountains for a change. Once we turned of towards Dalat the road was winding its way up from sea level to 1600m on the newly built road which had already some decent pot holes in it. We went through many hill villages who never seem to have seen westerners before let alone two dreadlocked cyclists. After turning off hwy 1 we stopped at a pretty small place for the night which was a rundown government "spa resort" which included the only guesthouse in town. After a hard day of cycling we decided to take advantage of this hot water and payed one dollar each to relax in some hot mineral water in a concrete bowl (the water was actually more piss warm), anyway, this relaxation did not last long as a bigger vietnamese family with a few crates of beer and food arrived at the pool next door. Soon we found ourselves completely invited and included in the pretty rapid drinking action. As we still can't manage a conversation in vietnamese and they could not speak a word english the only thing left was cheering and laughing...after a while everybody was drunk and the vietnamese people decided that we can't stay in this place and we have to come with them to their village at the same night. So we packed all our stuff in a hurry and very drunk, payed half the night, loaded the bikes on the lorry and in the car they came with and off we went. After half an hour drive (luckily in the direction we wanted to cycle the next day!) we stopped in a restaurant and we were invited to really yummy food and, of course, more beer. This time there were some other people on the table next to us which made us drink some homedestilled schnaps as well...so thats how vietnamese man celebrate anything at all! Even more drunk we left in hope of a bed, but not quite yet! Our very excited hosts had to show us around in their village and of went to awake the grandparents, have a tea, smile and nod. Eventually we just had to drive another half an hour in the car with the son to fetch his girlfriend and go for a coffee...by the time we got home we were really ready for a good sleep! 6 in the morning we woke for breakfast..as the vietnamese do...never sleep longer than 5 or 6 in the morning. After breakfast we had to look at all the family photos to find out how many relatives they had and then we went all dressed up to meet all of them for lunch in the house of the brother. This turned out to be a real treat, we all sat on the floor and ate, drank (of course beer and schnaps) and by the end of it we were all invited to come back after dalat and stay another night...this was a really intense adventure because we were in the middle of the attention all the time, everything we ate, we drank, the direction of our looks...strongly observed. However it was a great time and we now have a home in vietnam. Still we managed to leave again half drunk in the afternoon to tackle the hill up to Dalat where we arrived completely soaked from the rain which should last the next 2 days without a break.

Dalat itself is flooded with hostels, quite a large town in the middle of the mountains and sure it looks prettier in the sun, however it has its own feeling to it which makes it attractive. It is the prefered honeymoon spot for many vietnamese couples so its the Paris of vietnam, ha ha.

A huge market made the rainy days bearable for us as we discovered everything living and dead you are able to buy there, very interesting! We had a big laundry action going on which took 2,5 days to dry due to the rainy weather and the cold temperatures.

Finally we left and had some sun while rolling the same hill down we were entering the coffee and tea plantation area and the scenery was just stunning until a huge cloud came and flooded us and the road again...nevermind. We are only 177km away from Ho Chi Minh..wahoo! Did anybody read this far?

Around Nha Thrang

Mineral hot springs.

does our skin look more radiant?!!!

This was a 38 degree swimming pool, we were happy that it was raining outside as it would have been unbearable in the sun.

Nils!
Mud bath full also about 40 degrees
Hot mineral shower 40 degrees

Morning catch-huge sword fishes.
Cycling to the mud baths.
The Mud baths! Before we were waist high init.

Nils tucking into some yummy rice rolls, this day we visited the resturant twice! for a huge plate and refils when want the whole meal costs 50p each!
A rice roll party in Nha Thrang with new friends.
Dread making a new rastafari is born!!!
Ruben from the well known capital of the Basque country called Vittoria! And Jani from malaysia,

We love you!



Some more pictures of our time in Nha Thrang for you. We have managed to stay here much longer than expected, nearly 2 weeks now. Made some great friends and had a few partys and enjoyed chilling out! Its going to be hard to leave.

A barber shop in the small streets of Nha trang

Just outside the tourist area of Nha Trang

Get that body tanned miss Cobley!

A typical barber on the side of the road, this is an early sat morning hair cut!

Nha Trang beach. Blue sea and clad with palm and coconut trees.

Today we splashed out all of $2 for the luxury of laying on one of these,soaking in the sun and atmosphere and well...doing nothing! Luxury!!!

These machines are everywhere, they push through sugar cane to get the juice out and serve with lime, yummy and good for power on the bike.

we passed beautiful beaches along the way

Our typical tea break, a pot of loose fresh green tea and strong Vietnamese coffee.

flooded rice fields

Cycling along the coast

The view from our cheep government lodgings for a few days, the beach was deserted.

Fermenting coconut along the road side, this smells like rotting cheese and its everywhere!

My rain attire!

UH Oh! think I lost Nils!

Hoi An ancient village and port.

From Hoi An onwards it rained and rained thankfully we didn't get hit by the typhoon in the north, but plenty of rice fields and villages were flooded, and an excuse to buy some fetching rain clothes!

Get that motor running!

Tailor made shoes for $12, no confusion to whos shoes they may be!!

Hoi An, and a cheeky looking Nils!?

Street vendors catch of the day

Small street in Hoi An, drying palm leaves for wrapping food in.

First Vietnam Pictures!

my updated cycling outfit looks just stunning!

if you ever wonder how stones for driveways are made in Vietnam, here is the answer:
1)choose a big boulder somewhere in the landscape
2) Hammer and chisel big quarters apart
3) Divide the big quarter into small quarters, again just with hammer and chisel!

Great Beaches, green and blue Sea, Palm trees! After some stressful days in the sticks and three days with more than 120km in a row that was exactly what we needed! And thats what you find besides many other tourists in Nha Thrang. So we could get some change to our foe' diet, which is the noodle soup with veggies and some dubious meet which you don't know what it is...sounds not too bad but if you have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner it becomes less appealing and doesn't give you much energy for cycling. We never thought that a normal pizza would be so adorable and it took us 5 minutes to explain to the waitress that we want the biggest pizza they have because we just cycled 135km more or less on breakfast alone.

So on the way between the touristy city's, mentioned in the lonely planet you find the real nice spots and you don't pay the tourist prices if you let them know that you know that a room is not normally 10 dollars but more like 5 for a standard room and after some haggling and attempts to go away you normally end up paying the normal price. Although after a long day of cycling in the heat the haggling bit is the least you want but just to get some food and a shower. So we discovered an old government run bungalow style hotel directly on a wonderful beach where we stayed in a room with 3 beds for 60000VND which is about 4 dollars for the both of us. The lonely planet doesn't even mention this hotel, but, of course the more expensive one's close to the highway where you pay 10 dollars. Of course you rather prefer an air conditioned room close to the highway than a room with sea view but only with fan and a little bit older! So for anyone who is still fond of lonely planet guidebooks, this was just one example for wrong, missing or just overpriced hotels listed and we can really recommend the Rough Guide which at least gives you the chance to choose between the possibility's...so enough bitching about lonely planet for today!

So, we are in the very tourist area of Nha Trang. This is a beautiful but very built up area with a long beach clad with palm trees and coconut trees. We are staying in a fairly cheep hotel that has a slight beach view, and the weather, (well except from today) is just hot hot hot! Yesterday it was so hot we even gave in and paid 40000 dong ( $2.50) to have the pleasure of reclining on a huge sun bed with a palm tree roof for shade, that and a very over priced beer looking out to the aqua blue sea and small islands was expensive heaven!! We have inquired about some snorkeling around these islands and hopefully we will do a trip tomorrow, the pictures look great, and we will def get to see lots of finding nemos. We both feel we are on holiday at the moment, sounds funny prob to you as we have been for a while but we are actually relaxing and doing no cycling or anything for that matter....love it! except eating!

Cycling through Vietnam so far has been beautiful, the landscapes are ever changing from paddy fields to great mountains on either side, we have been doing some very long distances with mostly over 100kms a day but the views have been well worth it, although the traffic is sometimes a little crazy, its part of the fun and experience, and i have fully enjoyed getting fitter and recently giving Nils a run for his money with speed and endurance!!! ha ha I now cycle in the front! well sometimes but its enough to scare him with thunder thighs Cobley and her amazing talents that just get better and better!!!

oh and for the record, would be cool to get some comments from people! no one so far since Asia where are you guys...! Love to hear from you

Love George and Nils

Cycling, Teaching and Learning

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

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