Pic: Tamcoc, Nihn Bihn, Vietnam 2009 (Forgot to Add earlier)

Day 33 25/11/2009

Another miserable day in Hue… at first it was ok but when I went on a cycle trip to see the Citadel and the forbidden city it pissed it down. Personally these sights were terrible, $4 entry fee to see some rubble and scaffolding. If I knew a little more about the history and the weather didnt dampen my mood I certainly would have enjoyed it more. oh well.

I reckon Ill head off tomorrow and make my way towards Hoi an, passing Danang to pick up my passport and Visa extension on the way.

Day 32 24/11/2009

Today J.T and I headed to the

Temple a little ways outside the city… I really was in need to get away from the

hostel and see some of the

sights; also it was a nice day out.

We both cycled there and as we are both into our photography started shooting away.

He had a great suggestion to make it look like I was levitating, as you can see by the pic on the right… how awesome is that!

I put together a few HDR’s and panos for later processing and headed back to the city.

For the evening I drank more beer and ate more noodles… without spending a cent.

Pics: Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue, Vietnam

Center: Tank Museum, outside citadel, Hue

Day 31 23/11/2009

Repair Costs : 70,000 VND

It has now been exactly a month since I had arrived in Vietnam. I fixed up my bike at a local shop across the river where they repair dude actually found a replacement tire for my rear wheel.

With J.T’s help we managed to temporarily fix the rear breaks and give the bicycle an overall tune up. The bodge job we performed on the faulty spring mechanism for the rear break was genius… hopefully this temporarily fix will last 3 weeks till I get to HCMC.

Pic: Side entrance into Forbidden City, Hue (Taken on the 25/11/09)

Photoshop effect to make a Panoramic look like a Little World (Tancoc, Nihm Bihn)

Day 30 22/11/2009

Another one of those days where things are uneventful… and as they say in Vietnam all too often… “same same”. I did manage to get 4 free beers during free beer hour…. What an achievement for the day. Whoopee!

HDR Image of the Dragon Boats on the River in Hue

Day 29 21/11/2009

Another one of those days where I didn’t even leave the hostel. I managed to scam/get food from people who I had just befriended. Im really beginning to think that this financially situation I’m in is turning me into some kind of bum who manages to score free food and alcohol.. but I’m not going to complain, free food is free food…Now that does make me sound like a bum. Lol.

Anyways, today was uneventful I just met a bunch of people, introduced some to Shithead and as the weather was no better than yesterday, I just stayed indoors.

I think its going to be much of the same tomorrow and for the following week

Day 29 21/11/2009

Another one of those days where I didn’t even leave the hostel. I managed to scam/get food from people who I had just befriended. Im really beginning to think that this financially situation I’m in is turning me into some kind of bum who manages to score free food and alcohol.. but I’m not going to complain, free food is free food…Now that does make me sound like a bum. Lol.
Anyways, today was uneventful I just met a bunch of people, introduced some to Shithead and as the weather was no better than yesterday, I just stayed indoors.
I think its going to be much of the same tomorrow and for the following week.

Day 28 20/11/2009

Today I had to sort out an extension for my visa for another 30 days, so I had to get a bus to Danang for 50000 dong and go to the embassy. It turns out that I didn’t need to go to Danang because the hostel here in Hue sorts out this type of thing. I paid $35 US to have it sorted in Danang, it apparently costs only $25 for it to be done here… shame, a little wasted money. L

When I was in Danang whilst waiting for the embassy to open I went to go find a replacement tire for my bike. I couldn’t find the right sized tire… but I have my fingers crossed that I can find the right tire in Hue.

I now have to wait 6 days for my Visa to process, so im stuck here in Hue for that time.

At least the Hostel has free breakfast and free beer between 5-6 pm. J

Also bumped onto JT who I met on the road up to Sapa, he is also staying in this hostel for a little while.

Day 27 19/11/2009

Distance Cycled: 67

At the time of writing this I am quite drunk…

The weather today was terrible… raining constantly.

The tube that I had replaced yesterday constantly got flat every few kilometers or so…. So you can imagine it was an exhausting journey to get to Hue. At one point one of my peddles stopped rotating because some bearing came loose and I had to bash it out to make the peddle rotate again.

When I arrived in Hue I searched for a cheap hotel, the cheapest I could find was 130,000 dong… but after a while I found a backpackers hostel for 110,000 dong with free beer between 5 and 6, and free breakfast.

I had a many free beers as I could get during this time… then moved onto the cheap 2 for 1 rum and cokes for the rest of the evening, I even had a guy buy me a drink after a showed him and a few English girls my photoshop work. J

Tomorrow I have to get to Danang early to extend my visa for another month.

Day 26 18/11/2009

Distance Cycled: 87km

Repair cost: 50000 Dong

Today I didn’t leave the Hotel till just before midday. I grabbed another bowl of Noodle soup from down the road and some nibblys for the journey. I knew I didn’t have to cycle far only to get to Dong Ha just less than 90km away.

It was much more of the same terrain from every other day on Highway 1.

I did encounter my first problem with my bicycle… nothing serious (well at first) just a flat back tire. I pulled over on the side of the road to patch up the puncture but again I had a bunch of locals turn up, 15 to be precise that basically did the job for me.

Whist fixing the puncture I noticed that the back tire wasn’t looking so good, it was rather run down, I thought it would last till I got to Dong Ha but unfortuanately the repaired puncture was leaking a little air. So for the 45km I had to cycle to Dong Ha I had to pull over every 5-10 km to inflate the tire. This was only so good till the last kilometer before the tube would not hold any air what-so-ever. Luckily for me there was a mechanic/bicycle repair shop accoss the road. I took it there and had some dinner while the guy attempted to fix the wheel. Again unfortunately the size of the wheel is uncommon in Vietnam and he could not find a new tire, although he did attempt to prolong the durablility of the tire by cutting a rubber tube and placing it between the tire and the new tube. I cycled off after paying 50,000 Dong but before long the tire had deflated again. L

Just as the tire deflated I saw a Westerner walking along the road, Michael was from the Ukraine, nice guy but didn’t really have anything interesting to say even after he had traveled around Asia for 3 years. I joined him for dinner… second one for me and found a small crappy hotel thing paying only 60,000 Dong where I crashed for the night.

Day 25 17/11/2009

Distance Cycled: 130km

I left the truck stop after having a good nights rest and not having to pay for anything in Vietnamese Dong... well I would have given them something but Le asked if he could have the $10 Australian I had in my wallet last night.

Todays weather was so terrible, it rained all morning! All the stuff even inside my pack were at best wet.

I Finally saw the coast, it wasn’t particularly pleasant as it was pissing it down, the waves were choppy and the sky was a dark grey.

I stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the side of the highway where after ordering some noodle soup some locals offered me their leftovers, I couldne have been more greatful, they also kept on offering me some rice wine shooters.. they certainly warmed me up a little.

I pushed on through the rain and the wind sometimes with quite a struggle and up a bit of a hill, the first one on Hwy 1 and my bike handled it quite fine it was coming down the otherside that was a bit of a worry as neither of my breaks were working. It was a little frightening going at the speed I was going unable to stop but I was able to after some distance.

I pulled over to some shelter at another restaurant where I asked for some tea to warm up and to fix my breaks. Some locals then asked me to join them for what seemed to be a seafood hotpot, but I refused gesturing that I had already ate and was full, so they offered me some rice wine, that I could not refuse. As I sat down warming from the alcohol the guy sitting next to me lights one of my back dreads on fire. I only realize this when I get the smell of burnt hair. As you could imagine I was pissed off. I shouted at the guy and stood up, as did he. I shoved him and went to put all my gear back on my bike as I had removed it all to fix the breaks. This guy kept on coming over to me, not to apologize but to attempt to take my headphones. I shoved him again and again telling him to piss off. He kept on coming over to take something of mine so I kept on shouting at him.

Finally I had all my stuff back on my bike and set off.

Frustrated I pushed myself to cycle a little faster till I got to Dong Hai.

I searched for a cheap hotel and found one for 120,000 Dong about $6 got some more noodle soup, hung up my clothes and had an amazing hot shower. The places I stayed at over the past 2 nights only had cold showers.

Day 24 16/11/2009

Distance Cycled: 120km

I left the truck stop at 8am after having a good nights rest although it was a little damp, all of my things that were touching the walls of the tent were drenched, and that was most of my clothes. The sky looked a little overcast and about to rain, and rain it did… all day, although there was a small gap in the weather when I had lunch. I had perhaps the best pho ba (beef noodle soup) ever and it was a generous portion too.

Whist at the restaurant I fixed my bike a little… the back breaks were not working and especially in the rain I needed them to.

I had forgotten that I had put some audiobooks on my iPod for tree planting in Canada, so I started listening to The Hobbit. It certainly killed a lot of time, most if not all my attention was involved with the book and before I knew it was getting close to 4 but by then it was dumping down. All the clothes I was wearing were absolutely drenched.

I then pulled into another truck stop where they couldn’t have been any more hospitable, they let me stay in one of the their rooms and take a shower and hang up my wet clothes (I highly doubt they will be dry by tomorrow)

I was asked by the restaurant owner next door to cook a dish for him and a few others after he had found out I am a chef.

It was quite amusing to cook something else other than Pho (noodle soup) not that I had cooked it before its just stock with rice noodles, a few veg and some kind of meat, it’s the fact that it’s the food of choice all over Vietnam.

The restaurant owner stood over me watching my every move, although I didn’t have much in terms of ingredients nor did I have the proper equipment, but I made do. I cooked up a quick dry noodle stir-fry with beef, spring onion, bean sprouts and tomatoes. His reaction to the dish was surprising… it seemed he liked it and finished his plate but I then gestured to him ‘thumbs up’ or thumbs down’… apparently they don’t use this type of gesturing in Vietnam, so I don’t know whether he liked it or not… seeing that he had finished his plate im going to go with that fact that he enjoyed it. J

I then went back to where I was staying and then was fed fish, spinach and rice with a lot of shots of rice wine.

After at east 10 shots of rice wine I got a bit tipsy and set off to bed, wrapping my ankle with a bandage. It certainly was more painful than yesterday and was making a creaking noise every time I would stretch it. Hopefully tomorrow it will feel better.

Day 23 15/11/2009

Distance Cycled: 150km

My ‘early’ morning start wasn’t very early at all, I didn’t leave the hotel till 9 after eating some sugared up Banana pancakes. The weather wasn’t so good, it was drizzling on and off all day, I suppose it beats the heat of the summer sun but it would have been nice to get my camera out at times to do a few panoramics without the images looking all washed out.

Oh, just after leaving the city limits if Ninh Bihn a truck almost run me off the road… it was unbelievably close… Im beginning to wonder whether I make it to the south alive?

4 things I am now sick of: People Staring excessively, kids shouting hello over and over… don’t get me wrong at first it was cute but now I just ignore them… speaking of which I have just discovered that I can put my headphones over my helmet, turn the iPod on max and it masks out most of the noises apart from the truck horns which incidentally is the 3^rd thing I’m sick of whist cycling. And the last is Hwy 1, its fucking boring…. There really inst much in terms of sight seeing and it’s generally flat… Hopefully that will change when I get closer to the coast.

I managed to get a free lift today with a unsuspecting truck driver for about a kilometer before he saw me in his side mirror holding onto a piece of rope flailing around the back of his truck.

Its also now official, this bike has now outlasted my previous one… hopefully it gets me to HCMC… fingers crossed.

One problem that I am having is my right leg, that tendon between the heel and the back of my leg isn’t doing too well, its just occasionally that its so painful I have to rub it better but thankfully a woman at a Xe May somewhere down the track gave me some tiger balm equivalent to rub on it.

After cycling past the 400km road tombstone (suitable name) I found a truck stop and I asked whether I could pitch my tent, they tried to sell me a room for the night but as it turned out the teenage boy didn’t want to share his room with me so I set up my tent, joined the three siblings that actually ran the truck stop for dinner which was delicious, showed them some pics of my family and some photoshop work that I have put together and crashed out for the night. Its weird that when I show Vietnamese people my talents with photoshop they don’t seem to be impressed… they just kinda agree with it... meh.

Definitely having an early start tomorrow.

Day 22 14/11/2009

Slept terrible last night… no idea why. But still got up early to meet with the Czech’s to hire motorbikes and see some sights around town. First we headed to Tamcoc to see Halong bays land/river equivalent which was a cool boat trip through 3 caves but a little too pricy.

Next stop was Thai Vi Temple found just around the corner for the boat ride…. This gave me lots of opportunities to take some decent HDR’s and small panos… a beautiful place.

We then went to a temple situated at the top of one of the mountains apparently not having a name that took a lengthy staircase that looked so incredibly asian to a Temple and a Dragon Statue at the top. The panoramic view from the top was breathtaking; thankfully I brought my tripod to capture this, although it was a bit of a shame that it was a little foggy. At this point I was tired as fuck but still pushed on for the day to see as much as I could. We headed out to see small fishing Village called Kenh Ga but we got lost along the way… terribly lost… by the time we made it there it was getting close to dark and it really wasn’t going to be worth it.

We headed back to the hotel in the dark where I met a few randoms and had noodles…again. Said my farewells to the Czechs where they refused money for the rental of the motor bikes from me and went to bed for hopefully an early days cycling.

Day 21 13/11/09

Distance Cycled: 93km

Telling myself last night I would wake at 5 to avoid the treacherous morning traffic just didn’t happen, after packing my things and getting it all onto my bike and eating breaky, I didn’t set off till 7. I said my farewells to the staff at Drift and set off to Nihm Bihn 100km south of Hanoi… also stealing some bananas that would later on be pulped by my bike landing on them.

It was too easy to get out of the city… its one road between Hanoi and HCMC of which I have to gun to Danang 600 km by next Friday.

Even with the extra weight my bike was handling it quite well with really no problems apart from what seemed to be a puncture, but was just a flat tire. The locals trying to help me ‘fix’ the problem were more interested in my hair and the pen that I have in one of them… I was glad to entertain them all when half the village arrived.

Saw a lot of random things on the backs of scooters including, furniturem, chickens, geese, a huge pig and even a dead water buffalo.

I arrived in Nihm Bihn at 12, so I was averaging 20km an hour hopefully my average will increase as time goes on and I get fitter.

I checked into this nice hotel paying $3 US a night, slept for a few hours and met some Czechs, 2 guys and a girl, where we went to the local market and watched some locals play badminton.

After having dindins in the hotel the Czech ppl and myself were asked to teach some English to some students wanting to learn and it was good fun doing something a little different like this for a change. One very interesting fact was that Girls like Guys with long thumb nails, they say it makes them more attractive..?? I know WTF!

Looking at the map and the Lonely Planet guide, there is really nothing along this path until Hue… So Im going to see the Tam Coc which is similar to Halong bay but apparently more intimate tomorrow and set off the day after.

Day 20 12/11/09

After being bedridden all day yesterday I needed to get myself organized today. I still wasn’t feeling 100 percent but if I stayed any longer in Hanoi I would spend too much money. I set off at midday to pimp out my new bike, the holographic stickers of flowers and purple paint just weren’t enough, a very gay basket was much in need. I went back to one of the vendors on the 2^nd hand ‘parts’ street and picked up a basket and an extension for the rack. There was a bit of difficulty attaching the basket as the bike I have is an American bike… hopefully lasting longer than my previous one.

I didn’t eat anything all day, but because I had food poisoning my stomach had shrunk… hopefully this will benefit me on my cycle trip tomorrow.

I also sent my stuff on the train to HCMC to pick up in a months time for 100,000 dong roughly 5 dollars.

Also finding out that my visa expires in 7 days from tomorrow I really needed to make a move to Danang to extend it for another month… Well technically I have 9 days but that falls on a Sunday where the embassy is closed.

I also paid for my flight from HCMC to Phuket on the 19^th of December for $11 US but with $17 of extra charges. Really not bad at all.