Back in the UK and thanks

It seems almost surreal to be back in the UK looking out on a frosty field in Cheltenham. I have been back almost a week and much of me still seems to be cycling in Vietnam.

Having flown from Hanoi to Hong Kong, I was treated to two days hospitality at Hong Kong airport since I had a standby ticket. My arrival coincided with the busiest period after the Christmas holidays as virtually all of the Asian student population (or so it seemed) converged on the airport to be decanted to London, Sydney and North America. There are four flights a day with Cathay Pacific to London, all were full. I managed to get a seat on the seventh flight having crashed out in the airport overnight. Mine was not the only delay, in fact many on standby were worse, spending three or four days in the airport. I hooked up with an errant hippy from Torquay who told me he had been deported from Singapore and was looking to clear his name before returning and continuing to earn a crust busking. His name was Tim and he was quite a character, apparently ingratiating himself with the airport staff by picking up litter and collecting trolleys, all done with a smile and barefoot! The flight back was excellent and pleased to say Cynthia arrived safe as well.

I have just looked at the Virgin Giving Site on my blogsite and see that there have been many recent donations. This is the main reason for the blog, to thank all of you who have so generously donated. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the gesture, every penny goes to the charity and I'm chuffed to bits that in these harsh times, you have been so kind. THANK YOU to all, believe me, it means so much.

Not sure what the future holds in the short term other than replenishing the coffers, but another long distance cycle is planned down the line. Best wishes and grateful thanks to you all.

Correction and thanks

Have just realised that my maths in the last blog were incorrect and I have done the Vietnamese retail traders a great disservice. I quoted $60 dollars or so for the price of trousers and jackets; well its half that as I miscalculated the exchange rate, so forgive the senior moment. Mind you that having been said, I still think Paramo is the best quality gear you can get and its not available over here.

I know that people have been kindly writing on my Facebook page and as some of you will be aware from previous blogs; Facebook have cut me down in my prime so to speak and witheld access as I am a security risk visiting so many countries!!!! So I am unable to receive, read or reply to anyone which defeats the whole object of that social network site.

As I strongly hinted in the last blog, I have now taken the decision to return to the UK, a real shame in many ways, but the maths didn't add up (well they didn't above I know!). I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time and trouble to read the blogs which I hope you enjoyed and which I hope gave you a flavour of the diversity of countries and cultures it was my pleasure to experience along the way. I should also like to thank those who regularly sent emails of encouragement and support; always terrific to receive them and boosted the pedal ratios when the going was a little tough. I have appreciated every one of them believe me.

The bike:
Well what can I say about Cynthia! What a girl, my admiration for build quality goes to the chaps at Thorn who built a masterpiece of a bicycle. The Nomad is a cracking machine, bombproof, although I didn't hit ripio conditions as found in South America, she had enough to deal with plus weight and was superb. It is true to say she had many admiring glances along the way; may other cyclists recognised the bike and took photos. Thank you to Thorn for producing British bikes that sit with the best in the world, in fact they are the best. (By the way this is not a promo to Thorn, I'm not getting paid a penny, simply an appreciation of a quality machine.) During the approximate 10,300 kms covered (my computer went awol due to an iffy connection I think, so I cannot be exact.) all that went wrong was 10 punctures (8 before India); 2 broken spokes in Turkey and a slashed rear tyre in the Czech Republic.

I changed the chain in Hoi An, Vietnam
I changed the saddle in Turkey

Thats it; pretty good I think.

I would love to give you a breakdown as to the good and bad countries visited, but won't at this stage, except to say my favourite was Vietnam; a wonderful place.

Not sure what lies ahead; I have certainly got the cycling bug and maybe opportunities lie in cycle tourism which I shall investigate when I get home. At least I can appreciate what is required on such holidays and the planning that is necessary.

Thank you again to everyone; I've turned 62 today (there you go Quent and JB the secrets out) and you know what, it feels great.

Hanoi and waffles!

Firstly.I wish you all a very happy and peaceful 2013 and thank you to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to look at this blog.

Well as you will keenly observe from the title I have now hit the capital, a feat I attained at 5am on a very wet and darn cold New Years Eve. In terms of weather, Vietnam is a real curate's egg; there seems to be a clear boundary at this time of year between the warmer south, which kicks in at Da Nang and wet and much colder conditions north of Hue which is just north of Da Nang. To illustrate, Da Nang was 27 degrees and sunny, compared with Hue which was very wet and 18 degrees; it is currently a balmy 16 degrees in Hanoi!

The cycle north of Nha Trang to Quy Nhon was excellent; coastal views abound and as with much of the topography along AH1 (the main route) gently undulating. Quy Nhon itself is a medium sized city having a long, gently shelving beach. It bears similarities with Nha Trang, albeit that it is some 10 years behind in terms of development and marketing. Potential though, it certainly has. I stayed at Au Oc 2; Au Oc 1 being just up the road, fronting onto the main coast road opposite the beach. I would recomment either of these places to stay; ideal for backpackers.Sandwiched inbetween is the Kiwi Experience (a hostel and cafe) offering dorm accommodation for $4 a night! If your bowels are in need of a little western style food, this is an excellent place to fulfill that need! The Kiwi Experience or Barbara's as it is also called, is a focal point for foreign travellers, so a great place to get some first hand information whether you are travelling north or south. The beach is great but you wouldn't want to hang around too long after sunset. This is because the place is populated by rats, and big ones at that. Without a word of a lie, these creatures are about a foot long, as big as Ferrets and some of the locals feed them so they are quite used to humans being around.

From Quy Nhon it is about a 300 km cycle to Hoi An which lies some 30 kms south of Da Nang. Hoi An is a must. A quintessential tourist trap. A very attractive city featuring narrow streets with boutiques, cafes, the lot really accommodated within some superb examples of French colonial architecture. The city is bisected by a river along which are cafes where you can people watch and enjoy life on the water. Apologies if I sound like a BBC holiday programme (heaven forbid!!) but it is quite unique for Vietnam and because it is, its very expensive but definately worth a stop. Hoi An lies a few kilometers from the beach, so for a couple of dollars, a lot of visitors hire cycles and explore the city, visit the Japanese bridge and the coast; its a good way to explore. For those cyclists head to the coast from Hoi An and then follow that into Da Nang, an excellent road with sea glimpses that takes you into Da Nang avoiding the city centre and follow the beach right to the end, before turning left and cycling around the Da Nang Bay. Its a terrific run with very little traffic since most of it seemes to focus on the city centre itself. Da Nang is Vietnam's third city having a population of around 1 million. It is unlike Saigon or Hanoi in so far as tourism is the dominent feature here. Just south of the city along the road I cycled there are examples of just how developed and tourism focused the local economy is. There is a Greg Norman Golf Resort and major international resorts by the usual suspects like Hyatt etc with more in the pipeline. Once you have negotiated the Bay, which is very attractive, the cyclist is given a choice; either go through a tunnel or take the mountain pass. Well the weather was good, had the sun on my back so I took the latter and glad I did. Although its a 7 km climb (which I walked) the scenery was stunning, its a place where the mountains literally meet the sea. There is a leper colony set amongst the lower reaches, which I was told is the last of its type in the country. This was told to me by a delightful Vietnamese lady on a scooter who passed me coming down the mountain and who managed to sell me a bit of jewelry for good measure!

I stopped just short of Hue which is some 105 kms from Da Nang and arrived there the following morning giving me chance to look around and find somewhere to stay. Hue is a very popular city for travellers, a good stop off point. Most congregate around the old quarter where there are shedloads of small hotels and hostels. Its also a good place for onward travel. I stayed there for Xmas Day and Boxing Day. Christmas is a non-event in Vietnam although you will see a number of hotels and businesses decked out in Christmas cheer purely for the tourists. I managed to call home and speak to Mum, my sister and Nick which made the day for me. Chatting in a hotel lobby isnt ideal especially where the locals are massing and are heavily in discussion. They get very exercised when trying to make there point and accordingly the decibel rate increases dramatically. I mainly hung around the main Backpackers hostel where the food was pretty good and the service even better. It was in Hue that the weather turned, chucking it down every day and it looks like that mountain range I traversed between Hue and Da Nang acted as a buffer of sorts. I had met a few cyclists on route all heading south. Without exception (well except for two Chinese fellers) they had all taken either the train or bus from Hanoi to Hue. The reasoning varied from lousy roads, bad weather and little to write home about in terms of scenery. Well the weather was incentive enough in Hue for me to consider bussing it north, but then I had set in my mind that I wanted to cycle as far as I could. The following morning was clear and warm, so I saddled Cynth up and headed out making 130 kms (must have been all that spagetti I ate!). Hanoi is around 630 kms from Hue so still quite a way to go. Well from there on in it all went pear shaped. The weather closed in, and I met strong headwinds and lashing rain every day. It was relentless, reminded me of cycling through morth Holland and Germany at the beginning of the trip. The guys were also correct as to the state of the road. It was bad and very muddy; I couldn't comment on the views, since you couldn't see anything! I made it to Vinh, some 370 kms north of Hue without a dry piece of clothing in the locker and darn cold. I decided to catch the late evening coach for the final 300 kms and was unceremoniously deposited somewhere in Hanoi on a wet morning in pitch dark. A serious injection of caffeine was called for, so having located a posh hotel, grabbed a couple of cups, waited for daylight and found out where I was and where I had to go.

The old quarter just to the north west of Ho Hoan Kiem lake is the place, where I re-aquainted myself with Jomo cafe; having got to know there other branches in Vientiene and Luang Prabang (both in Laos). Wonderful to get good coffee and get the laughing gear around a giant waffle soaked in fresh whipped cream and maple syrup; can there be anything better!!! Having arrived in Hanoi, the overriding issue was to buy some warm clothing. The locals were muffled up like it was -50. The temperature did go down to 10 degrees which from 27 degrees a few days before is quite a difference. Got a sweater but no chance of trousers; if you are over 5ft 6inches and have a waist over 32 inches, forget it; every shop I went into I was met with "no clothes your size"! So I continue to walk the streets in shorts. Well, I did find a pair with a 36 inch waist for which they wanted the princely sum of 650,000 dong (that's 62.5 dollars). I found jackets my size, Jack Wolfskin, North Face and Columbia all made here for which they wanted $60 minimum!!! Looking at the standard of zips, I wasn't convinced these were not knock offs, so left them well alone. The jumper was the main thing, that was 10 dollars and is spot on. The moral of this story is that if you are visiting Vietnam and are over 5 ft 6 inches tall, bring your own gear from home.

I havent yet had time to explore Hanoi; though it has a very different vibe to Saigon. Its quieter and the architecture is much more influenced in the French colonial style. It seems ok though, at first glance it has more character than Saigon but the main commercial heart of this country lies in Saigon; Hanoi is the administrative centre. Planning on staying here for a couple more days before I head out.

At this stage it looks like I shall, with great reluctance and disappointment have to head back to the UK. My original plan was to meet up with Nick my son, in Hong Kong and then head for Canada. Normally such a decision is made on the grounds of ill health or loss of interest; neither of which apply in my case. Unfortunately, President Obama isnt the only one with a fiscal cliff problem!!! Having done the research and sums and given consideration to different routes (LA, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Oklahoma and north east to New York) I would be well out of pocket, given the expected duration of around 8 weeks. The pain in the arse remains my property following flood damage and associated costs as a consequence. I am having to make this decision within the next day or so. So far it has been a sensational experience, beyond my expectations in many respects and it will be hard to take if, as I feel likely, that decision is taken. Whatever the outcome, I will put a blog up.