monkey on a bike

I awoke this morning with a start. There was what appeared to be a Vietcong soldier standing on the other side of my mosquito net, holding a giant machete in his hand. He shouted, the way only Vietnamese can with their tonal language and it sounded like he was very angry. This was not the case, most vietnamese sound angry when they are excited. I opened my bleary eyes and took stock of the situation - I hadn't really done anything wrong, I camped here in the dark, It's not like I'm a spy or anything. Then I saw some more soldiers running over to my tent. It was then that I realised, they weren't soldiers, they were just local farmer peasants, dressed in army surplus clothes as its the most durable and cheapest way to ... read more

I woke up in a terrible mood, as I couldn't sleep on account of my sore back from the bufallo smash. I left the hotel at 12.30 for the 30km as marked on my $10 map. I again, true to form, headed off in the wrong direction, par for the course since I was in a city. I went for about 8kms in the complete wrong direction before stopping for my morning caffiene hit. The waitress in the cafe was asking me various questions, like "do you want milk?" "Would you like some sugar? " "some ice with that?" and my personal favorite "boom boom?" She asked me this in the same run of the mill voice as she had asked me the other questions. The prostitution industry is huge here in Vietnam, with every cafe, ... read more

When I awoke this morning, it was still raining torrentially, so I figured I would wait out the storm and get some coffee whilst exploring the town. There really wasn't much to see here, just a little stop over town. I waited till about 1.30 when the rain had abated a little, then headed off for Hai Phong, which I mistakenly thought would be a nice seaside town because of its proximity to Halong Bay, and because the map showed it to be right on the coast. So about 5km from 'Haiphong', according to the roadside markers, I stopped to have a coffee and to get the water out of all my luggage. When I was sitting outside the cafe, minding my own business and drinking my coffee, a beautiful girl walked up to me and ... read more

I finally left Hanoi today, but I'm sure the city wanted me to stay. I paid a whopping $10 for a Vietnam road atlas, which had no map of Hanoi in it. So I figured if I head east using my compass I will be able to find the road to Halong Bay. So I set of on a bearing of East, and kept going. And Going. And going... Then I saw some toursits who I had met previously clutching a map. I spoke to them and it turned out I was almost back to where I had started after riding 23km. I am coming to realise that cities are not my strong point direction wise, and that internet deals on Casio Hiking watches maybe just are too good to be true if my watch is ... read more

What an eventful day! I woke up feeling much better and ready to get back into it. I know yesterdays entry sounded a little negative, but I am still very happy to be doing what I'm doing. A few kilometres after leaving last nights town, I ran into a fantastic stretch of downhills with magnificent views over a river. My ass was still pretty painful but it started to get better as I went on. I should probably have been paying more attention to the road, rather than the views. As I came to the bottom of a glorious downhill travelling at around 45km/h, the road curved around some trees before the up hill. As I rounded the corner, I noticed too late that a local farmer was walking a herd of 5 or 6 water ... read more

So much for the early start... I got out of bed at 11, feeling tired, but refreshed and ready to go. By the time I packed up my shit, had breakfast and got on the road it was 12.30. The map that the nanning cycle team had given me turned out to be a crock of shit. It had the road I wanted to join that would take me all the way to Vietnam, but no connecting road from the city map. By the time I found the rad, I had wasted 20km just in Nanning. Just before I left Nanning, I stopped for an ice coffee at a hole in the wall coffee shop. I couldn't be bothered having the same inane conversation over again with the owner in Chinese that I had been having ... read more

So After waking up in a puddle of drool in the internet cafe, I went to the vietnamese embassy to pick up my passport. I about shit myself when I realised it was closed for 5 days and was about to drop to my knees and cry. Then I realised the consular section next door was open and a nice guy helped me retrieve my passport from the other department. Thank god or I would have been sleeping in the park eating insects for 5 days. Th only problem was that my Visa started from the day I applied for it which was the 10th of the month so I only have ten days left on it. The guy told me I can extend in Vietnam for $20 so I'll just have to do that. Since ... read more

Well, I have finally left Yangshuo and am now in Nanning. I took the bus from Yangshuo to guilin, followed by a train journey to Nanning. Damn, I was feeling rough after sitting up all night drinking spirits in the bar with Eric. I used most of my remaining RMB to pay for my room in Janes, and since my passport is in Nanning at the Vietnamese embassy, I couldn't change any of my dollars. Damn! I arrived in Nanning at 9pm and went to the parcel company to pick up "Ark" my means of transport for this trip. The dude gave me my bike and told me because it was in storage for a week I had to pay an extra 20Y. This left me with 32Y to my name, or about 2 quid, not ... read more