INTRODUCTION


In the fall of 2009 the Cross Canada Cycle Touring Society (CCCTS) announced a planned tour of Vietnam for sixteen participants to take place in November 2010, conducted by Pedaltours of Auckland, NZ. The response was overwhelming in that 48 members signed up! Thus there will be three groups touring. This blog is a rendering of the experiences of the first group who will travel between November 1st and 21st, 2010.

Vietnam is a fabulous experience. We stay at mostly 3* and 4* hotels and beachfront resorts and cycle away from the highway.

Our tour starts in Ho Chi Minh city (formerly Saigon) leading on to the beach resort of Nha Trang, historic Hoi An, and the imperial city of Hue. Thereafter we fly north to Hanoi and spend the next ten days exploring the scenic far North, including Dien Bien Phu. The Northwest is "the roof" of Vietnam, where the Hoang Lien Mountains (Tonkinese Alps) soar to over 3,000 metres (9,900 feet) and some of Vietnam's most spectacular scenery is to be found. This is definitely "the road less travelled"! Much of the area is sparsely populated and the mountains are still home to many ethnic minorities; the Montagnard women still favour elaborate costumes of brightly coloured skirts, tops and hats - each ethnic group favouring its own colour variation and design.

Sapa is an atmospheric former hill station with magnificent views of rice terraces and mountains; the temperature can drop to zero in mid-winter (January, when group three will be travelling).

We will travel by train, boat and bike as we follow the rugged Northwest route right to the border with China at Lao Cai; on several days venturing away from the civilised tourist meccas, cycling through traditional villages and staying in small towns with modest lodgings (Oh, Oh!)

So come prepared for the unexpected, for breathtaking scenery and bring a sense of adventure (and toilet paper!)

Thanks to the folks at Pedaltours for the text above and at the start of each days posts - NB There is no knowing at the start just how often we can update this blog since we don't know the availability of Wi-Fi, but by pre-posting the days activities all you armchair travellers will at least have an idea of what we are hopefully up to. Cheers.


Sunday, October 24, 2010

Day Two - November 2nd, 2010 - HCMC (Saigon) to Loc An Beach

Group One at the start of cycling

During lunch "the heavens opened"!

Today we drive out of town for about 45 minutes to a roadside temple. Here we start cycling on a quiet road to Loc An beach, passing rubber, cashew nut and black pepper plantations".
Cycling section 60km / 37 mi.

HEAT, RAIN AND WIND
We are up bright and early for 6:00 am breakfast (not a problem since most of us are waking up at 4:00 am anyway) - this is our final expereience of the wonderful Bong Sen breakfast buffet. We hop into the two Mercedes (Dodge) Sprinter mini-buses for an hour and a half ride into the countryside where we meet the truck with our bikes all kitted out with cold water in our bottles. It's hot and humid.
Our guides are Phuoc (pronounced - carefully - Fook) and Binh, with Pedaltours chief spoke Richard Oddy riding sweep. Fook runs the shop in Vietnam for Richard, and is a bit of a character. He's about 50, has five kids (the national average) aged 7 to 20 and says he married late because no girl would accept him. He was so poor he could only afford a bike. We say "So what's the problem? We all ride bikes and the local girls don't object". Binh is in his early 30's and from the central highlands. A good herder, important with our group, and superb mechanic, essential in a country where there are no bike shops as we know them.
The first part of the ride goes well save for an uphill one km section of road under construction with patches of thick gravel, that unseats several of us. George, whose bike took a bit of a beating in transit, has lost the "Granny ring" up front and feels no shame in being "first in the van" followed soon after by Barb who is somewhat overheated (gotta drink ahead of the dehydation folks). We dream of a shady Banyan tree for lunch - no such luck but our shady cafe does have a large canopy which was fortunate since just before we were ready to leave "the heavens open" with a torrential downpour that lasts 30 mins. Lucky we aren't on the road at the time. Once the storm is over we set out for the second half of the ride. It's much cooler after the rain, but the wind picks up and it's right in ourt faces. We encounter a roadside weaving operation with two looms turning out mosquito nets, hammocks and fishermen's nets from a clackety shop like something out of Dickens. We would see the latter in operation frequently later on in the trip. Later we came upon a Dragon fruit plantation - the fruit starts off green but turns red on ripening, looking like a coral fish out of "Finding Nemo". Ultimately we arrive at our first Beach Resort, by which time the weather is stormy with squalls of rain. After happy hour we sit down to another multi-course meal, then turn in early.
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