losing gold

I'm happy I'm usually more interested in practicing sports than watching it on the telly. Ice-hockey is kind of my one exception. Watching Finland loose the olympic gold medal to Sweden yesterday was heart-breaking. I nearly started crying.

vietnam bicycle tour update: back home

The actual bicycle-tour ended the 12th of February when we took the train from... Da nang to Hanoi. Meaning, we changed our plans again. Basically because I very soon got tired of the highway 1 traffic. Instead of 1000 km, we ended up with a mere 800. Cycling day 6 from Hoi An to Quang Ngai was a disappointment and made me look for alternatives. I felt suffocated from the exhaust, and fortunately Lasse didn't protest when I wanted to go back to Hoi An. On the next day we continued south to Sa Huynh, enjoyed the beach, had lunch and waited for a bus to pick us up. The bus system in Vietnam is very efficient. No need for time-tables, just sit by the road and wait for the next bus to pick you up. I think we waited for about 15 minutes. Three hours on the bus and we were back in Hoi An. We never got to Qui Nhon and Tuy Hoa - instead we took a side-trip back and forth to My Son (90 km), a wonderful day, not too much traffic, a perfect distance for a day, and an interesting site to visit.

Bicycle tour tip #3: be flexible and open for alternative routes.

So would I recommend bicycling in Vietnam? Yes I would, but not the whole of national highway 1. Bao Loc - Da Lat -Phan Rang is wonderful as is Hue - Lang Co - Hoi An, and the trip to My Son from Hoi An. I'd recommend cycling different parts of Vietnam though. Taking the bicycle with you on trains and buses is very un-problematic, and you get to see more than highway 1.

What have we done since last Monday? We've seen a lot of Hanoi visiting Edle and Mathias, enjoying the mysterious scenery of Halong Bay, and experienced Singapore - a very different part of Asia, and rather comfortable I must say.

I will of course upload some photos to flickr.

vietnam bicycle tour update: Hoi An (cycling day 5)

We checked the weather forecast when we were in Nha Trang. The wind from north was not going to stop the next few days (if ever?). The natural decision was to take the train to Hue and bicycle the opposite direction. Monday from 7 am to 8.30 pm was thus spent on the train. Not quite the same as bicycling, but at least we were not stranded in Nha Trang. Nha Trang may be beachy but not really all that.

Plan of remaining trip changed to:
Hue - Lang Co: 60,6 km (yesterday)
Lang Co - Hoi An: 75 km (today)
Hoi An - Quang Ngai: 121,5 km
Quang Ngai - Sa Huynh: 64,5 km
Sa Huynh - Qui Nhon: 116,5 km
Qui Nhon - Tuy Hoa: 113 km

Yesterday and today have been wonderful. We reached Lang Co at noon yesterday, the weather was wonderful, the sea amazing with waves to play in. We felt totally ready to move on this morning. Han Van pass (10 km uphill) felt easy. Luckily our Lonely Planet bicycle guide is too old - there's no longer any reason to worry about heavy traffic as a tunnel has been opened. Only light traffic up, and a nice 10 km winding descent down.

Hoi An definitely seems very nice. We've been walking around, had the best strawberry Lassi's at Bo Bo's Cafe (you must try one if you ever come here), and we are already quite tired of silk/tailor-shops (we can hardly buy anything).

I might like to stay here another day, but I guess we will be on our way to Quang Ngai tomorrow. Long ride ahead.

Bicycle tour tip #2: do research on weather and wind conditions before travelling and planning your trip.

Vietnam update from beachy Nha Trang (cycling day 3)

Seriously, I can't type because my left hand is numb from bicycling. A million hours on the saddle does that to you. It's been fun so far, in a rather strange way. We were lucky enough to get on a bus to Bao Loc only three hours after arriving Ho Chi Minh City, and were thus on our way to Da Lat early Friday day morning. 110 km of fun and pain. Grand finale: eight km of steep climbing up to Da Lat. Why on earth are we hurting our bodies purposely? Anyway, we managed yesterday's 110 km quite well. Da Lat to Phan Rang is in fact a very nice and varied trip, including for instance 16 km of winding descent with truely amazing scenery.

Today however, turned out less successfully. We would never have managed the 109 km to Nha Trang on our own. The wind set us back approximately 10 km an hour: I didn't manage more than 12 km an hour no matter how hard I tried. After about 30 km, boyfriend turned down one bus on it's way to Nha Trang. I couldn't believe him. Especially considering I had less trouble than him and was moving faster. We jumped on the next bus though and had a nice and crowded bus-ride the last 80 km: the bus filled with Vietnamese people, five or six goats and two other cycling tourist defeated by the wind.

Am I still enjoying myself? Certainly!

Bicycle-tour tip: don't try to get a nice tan cycling, you will only get hurt (yes, I did use lots of high factor sun lotion.