Cycling The Road Less Travelled

Woohoo! It’s Christmas in January. Thanks to Mel and the awesome folks at Bowmans Bicycle shop in Cape Town, South Africa our wheel woes are over. We have a brand new touring wheel which means we no longer need to spend our rides in nervous anticipation of another snapping sound or the litany of expletives that usually followed the snapping sound. And if lugging a huge, heavily padded box with our new wheel (which was considerably larger then her own luggage btw) wasn’t enough, she also brought us many more goodies like tools, tubes, chocolate and new socks. For the record, at this stage in the game a brand new pair of socks is big…really BIG. And the enormous Swiss chocolate bar? Well, that’s almost a religious experience. But even better then a new wheel, even better then the chocolate and brand new socks was that we got to spend several days with Mel and her daughter Jesse. We toured, saw the sights, laughed, talked for hours, shared tuk-tuk rides and sipped countless fruit shakes. So much fun! Thanks Mel and Jesse.

Since we’ve been in Asia, we’ve seen many techniques to help the cyclist along on his or her ride. There is:

The push: Motorbike pushing a cyclist (note the motorist’s foot).

The pull: Motorbike pulling a cyclist.

The Joint Effort Look carefully at their feet. Two pedals and four feet per bike.

Not sure what this is about but we saw it often enough.

Alls I want to know is: why didn’t anyone tell me about these options before we cycled 20,000 km. I’m mad people…mad!

Over the past several days we’ve been plagued by more & more back wheel issues. Our experiences with the bike shops along the route have been all over the map; from being shooed away before we could even try to explain the issue, to passer-bys stopping so they could help translate. Some tried, some didn’t but we never found a shop that had the proper tools. Admittedly, not bringing the tools to remove the cassette was a foolish mistake on our part. We didn’t need it in Africa, any bicycle shop in Europe would have them and we expected it to be the case in Asia. It’s not. Live and learn. On a side-note, one thing you should keep in mind before handling over your bicycle for repair here is that they are a nation of “doers” and Mr. Fixits. If removing the cassette means they have to take a hammer and chisel to it, then so be it.

At any rate, by the time we got to Nha Trang, the wheel was unrideable so Spiros took an overnight bus to Ho Chi Minh City, got it fixed and returned the next day. Unfortunately, the fix was short lived; we broke another spoke the very next day. Its looking like the wheel we replaced in Bangkok is buckling under the pressure. So, its Mel and Bowman’s bicycle shop in Cape Town to the rescue. She’ll be bringing us a brand new touring wheel. Yeehah!

From Hoi An we cycled 587 km south to Nha Trang. We spent almost the entire time on chaotic Highway 1. It’s too bad there is so much traffic because there are segments that are really pretty, particularly between Quy Nhon and Nha Trang. We had a tailwind blowing us into Nha Trang so we got there without too much effort at all. Sweet! A good tailwind is a glorious thing.

Nha Trang is nice spot, a bustling city with a pretty beach in a nice setting. It’s very popular with tourists. Unfortunately however, it does mean that you can’t walk the streets without constantly being harangued for a motor scooter, postcards, “smokey, smokey” or just about anything else. We had one tout follow us for at least 40 minutes trying to get us to go to his hotel despite us repeatedly telling him we weren’t interested. When I tried to exchange some money at the bank, the teller also tried to get me to move to her hotel. It does get a bit tiresome but you can’t blame someone for trying to make a living. We try to keep it into perspective and not let it get to us but you do feel like a walking dollar bill at times. Thankfully, smaller, less popular spots have a different feel to them.

From Nha Trang, we continued cycling south for another 2 days. The wind continued to blow in our favour making for fast and easy days. The weather was scorching with temperatures reaching up to 40C so fruit breaks along the way were a huge, huge treat. We’ve been staying at some of the beaches in the South like, Mui Ne, Ho Coc and Long Hai. While the coastline is pretty, I have to say that the beaches were disappointing because of this. Garbage; coke cans, cigarette butts, wrappers, anything you can imagine scarring the otherwise pretty shoreline. It’s a pity.

Tomorrow we make our way to Ho Chi Minh City where we are in for a huge, HUGE treat. We’re meeting Mel, a wonderful friend from the TDA. How awesome is that!

Today we left Quy Nhon, making our way South toward Nha Trang. To our delight, there is an alternate route out of Quy Nhon that allowed us to escape the mayhem of Highway 1 for awhile. It’s a gorgeous, relatively quiet stretch of road that hugs the coastline almost the entire way. Beautiful! Don’t miss it if you’re cycling in the area.

As I was cycling down this beautiful coastal road I suddenly had a flashback of a day back in Tunisia. We had just cycled into Chebika, a desert oasis and very popular tourist spot. We must have caught the attention of a group of Italian tourists because they pointed and we could hear them talking about “la bicicletta”. A couple soon came over to ask us about our trip. Somehow, with basic English, a word or two in Italian and some hand gestures, we managed to communicate our route. As we spoke, the man kept patting the handlebars of my bicycle. I know that must sound ridiculous but cyclists do love their bikes. I’ll admit to giving mine a pat or two. Your bicycle is what takes you off the well beaten tourist track, what frees you from restrictive bus schedules and limited destinations. Your bicycle is the icebreaker that starts a million conversations and new friendships. It’s what allows you to feel the wind in your hair, to smell the fields of lavender and to feel the exhilaration of a sweeping descent. Your bicycle is your freedom. We talked for a long while. Before he left, he patted my bicycle one last time, smiled and said “Bella Vita! Bella Vita!” (Beautiful life). Yes, I couldn’t agree more.

We’ve read that the cycling between Hoi An and Quy Nhon along Highway 1 is “really boring”. My thought as I read that was: “Are you kidding me?”

Vietnam is a country of 80 million people. Highway 1 is lined with towns, tiny villages, big cities, millions of people, livestock, ride paddies and beautiful coastline. Everywhere you look, there is something new to see, something that will make you smile, laugh, wonder or make you angry. Whether it’s the emerald green fields dotted with conical hats or the motor scooter piled mile high with live chickens, you’re going to have some kind of reaction. You’re going to wonder: “How did they get that many people on a motorbike?” or “I wonder if that poor little piggy knows it’s going to the market?” You will marvel at how things are fixed, reused and hacked together. (I’m not being sarcastic there, it is incredible to see how resourceful someone can be when going to the mega store and replacing a broken item with something better and shinier is not an option.) Here are a couple images to prove my point.

See what I mean? It is a feast for the eyes anyway you slice it. You will get a million “Hellos” along the way; you will have people come up to you on a motor scooter to start up a conversation and ask you where you are from (nice). You will also have people come up to you on a motor scooter and stare, stare for a long time, without saying a word (okay, less nice). And finally, if all that weren’t enough to keep you occupied, you still have the million or so motor scooters and bicycles coming at you from every direction to keep the ride action-packed and adrenalin-filled.

I wouldn’t call cycling Vietnam’s Highway 1 “a pleasant and peaceful ride”. Would I recommend it? Hmmm, no I probably wouldn’t due to the heavy traffic and continuous drone of horns. But it’s anything, anything but boring.

Today we visited the Son My (My Lai) Memorial. It commemorates the massacres that took place in this area on March 16th 1968 during the American war when US troops killed 504 unarmed villagers.

The memorial is very well done and truly one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen. Many of the homes that had been destroyed have been rebuilt with a plaque naming the family members that were killed. The concrete path connecting the houses is covered in boot prints to represent the soldiers and bare footprints to represent the villagers. Yet another plaque marks the ditch where 170 villagers were gathered and shot. A museum documents the events and displays many very graphic photos. I’m not sure what was worse to look at; the photos of the victim’s bodies or the photos taken moments before they were killed. It shakes you to the core, and leaves you wondering how people can perpetuate such unspeakable acts…how people can be ordered to perpetuate such acts. There were soldiers that bravely tried to stop the massacre and help the villagers. One soldier shot himself in the foot so that he wouldn’t have to take part. The memorial honors them and those that stood up and blew the whistle.

Such unspeakable and senseless acts have occurred throughout history and will unfortunately continue to do so. It’s a grim reminder of what war is and the cruelty that humankind is capable of. I’m usually talking about the beauty and kindness in the world, today I had to talk about the ugliness. If you are in the area, I do recommend going to see the memorial.

As we were cycling today, the day after the whole tube drama, one of the spokes on the wheel we replaced in Bangkok snapped. We have extra spokes, but the one that broke is on the cassette side and we don’t have the tools needed to remove the cassette. So once again, we were on the search for a bike shop. Again, shop owners would shake their heads and point us further down the road. Eventually we got to this little shop. Unlike the previous shops, the lady in the photo grabbed the wheel and went to work.

After removing the tube and preparing the wheel, she went to the back and started screaming at her son (son-in-law?) to come out. They argued for awhile but he eventually came out and went to work. He didn’t have the right tool either but he managed to re-true the wheel so that it can at least be ridden.

For now, we’re just rolling with it until we can find a bike shop with the right tool but it’s only a matter a time before more spokes snap. We’ll see how far we get.

(As you can tell from the photos btw, I’m being hugely useful. Documenting the events is of the upmost importance of course).

After many days lounging in Hoi An we decided it was time to go. As we loaded our panniers onto the bikes, we noticed that Spiros had a flat. Shoot! Okay, no biggie, we have plenty of spares. At first, we figured we would just patch the tube, but as I tried to pump it back up, the valve broke off. Okay, I got out a new tube. The minute I grabbed the valve it completely separated from the tube and fell off. What the?!!!! I’ve never seen that happen before. I grabbed another new tube…same thing. Ten minutes later we were scratching our heads and standing over 5 completely useless new tubes. Now, I don’t want to be harsh or anything, but me thinks Kenda are some pretty crappy tubes.

Luckily we still had one good new tube (different brand). We were up and running but with over a 1000 km to go before Ho Chi Minh City, we needed to get some replacement tubes. We went to the local market to ask around and within minutes, we had a crowd around us; the owner of the shop, one to help fit the tube, a couple to translate and of course, a few who just wanted to watch, squeeze the tires, check out the peddles, discuss the gears etc, etc. Back home we probably would have freaked out if strangers came over and started poking at our bikes, but it’s just very commonplace now.

To make a long story slightly shorter, they didn’t have tubes but they sold valves separately that are secured onto a tube using a nut and washer. They don’t fit our tires very well and they loose air but they’ll do in a pinch. We bought a few and since it was now too late to go forward, we stayed in Hoi An for another day and did a day trip to Danang, Vietnam’s 4th largest city, to see if we can find something better.

With the number of bicycles in Vietnam, we didn’t suspect we would have any trouble finding tubes but we went to about 15 shops, each shop owner shook their head and pointed us to the next shop. Just as we were about to give up, a young local man cycled up to us, grabbed the tube, shook his head, pointed at himself and then pointed down the street. Okay. We followed him down the street, through back roads, down alleyways, ducking corners till we finally arrived to his house. When we got in, he pointed at a display case that held spare parts, a picture of himself and some medals. Nice! He rummaged through a huge bag of old tubes and pulled out one of these valves. He seemed so happy to have helped us we didn’t have the heart to tell him we already had 3 just like it. When we offered to pay for the part, he refused and wished us a good journey.

So, we didn’t leave Hoi An as planned and never found the tubes we were looking for. But we got to ride our bikes, had some great banana cake and someone went out of their way to help us, just because. It was a very good day.

A little while ago we posted about needing to find a way to make some money. Many of you sent in suggestions.

The wonderful Janet suggested a song and dance duo featuring Spiros on the accordion and me on the dance floor. We talked it over but Spiros doesn’t feel the world is ready for his sweet soul-full sounds.

Another suggestion was robbing a bank. Now, I know what you’re thinking; “that’s illegal” but let’s not be too hasty. It would solve the money issue and it does sound pretty exciting after all. Imagine the doors to the bank bursting open, us running out with our loot, Spiros unlocking the bikes while I load the money into the panniers (making sure the right and left panniers are evenly weighted of course) and then riding off into the sunset. We just have to remember to put the racing tires on and we’d be golden. Easy Peasy! But… I guess there are some problems with the idea. For one, we are non-violence, tree-hugger types, so a firearm is definitely out of the question. So getting them to hand over the loot would be difficult and probably a little awkward, us not speaking Vietnamese and all. And then there is the currency issue: one US dollar is equivalent to 18,000 dong. Do you realize how many bills we would have to take? We’re cycling; we can’t carry that much weight. No, no, no, we prefer to travel light. So unfortunately, robbing a bank is not going to be the answer either. Shoot!

Okay, jokes aside, thank you very, VERY much to all those who added comments and sent emails. Your suggestions have been both inspirational and very thoughtful. We couldn’t ask for more. And yes, we are looking into many of the suggestions.

With the exception of comments from other unemployed folk, our feeler was pretty much met with almost deafening silence. So, were going to have to start looking into the “cycling in Siberia” idea. We’re not too upset about it. We’ve been travelling for about 12 months now and we quite like the lifestyle after all. Sure, we’re a little stinky most of the time, but we get to cycle all day, see beautiful places and meet interesting people. The pay is crap but the hours are flexible. The only problem of course: the ever shrinking bank account. We need to find a way to prolong this experience as long as possible. So, it looks like we have some brainstorming to do. There must be something we can do; somewhere our experiences frivolously traipsing around the world can add some value…. I’m drawing a blank right now too, but we’re determined to think of something. We have a starting point: a) Spiros takes beautiful pictures b) He can play the accordion c) I have those red pants and d) we really have no shame whatsoever. We used to have some pride, but I checked; it’s pretty much all gone now. Kinda freeing actually! Anyway, we think that last one should really work in our favor.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and cheques, cheques would be good too.

The forecast for the area around and to the South of Hoi An had been and continues to be very, very bleak. We waited a few days in Hue for it to clear up but eventually decided we wanted to move on. Luckily, it didn’t rain much as we cycled over the Hai Van pass (one of the highlights on the route) but it was still very cloudy and dark. To bad, through the broken clouds we could tell that the views of the sea would have been spectacular. Oh well, we can’t complain too much. We still had a very nice day.

We are now in beautiful, beautiful Hoi An, another Unesco World Heritage site. In 2006 we spent three weeks in Vietnam, Hoi An was definitely one of the highlights. It’s changed a little; new construction, more tourists and higher prices. No matter, it’s still a really, really nice spot to spend a few days.