Fire Crackers and White Sand

Hello from Koh Samui...this is where we have been now for a few days. We had a hellish time getting here, especially with the bikes with numerous buses, a train and a ferry which added up to 24 hours of sleepless stress, oh and another sketchy shifty hotel dude named "Mr. Joe"....BUT we made it and it is all worth it. We are in full-on holiday mode, which includes lots of beach time (we are a hotel right on the beach), some form of water activity, relaxing on lawn chairs in the evening people-watching and unfortunately hearing fire crackers blown off every 3 seconds, it is quite something, in every direction imaginable. The weather has been mix of sun and cloud which is fine. We are getting into the routine here of what every one else does....except we drink about 25% of what they do and only have about 5% of the tatoos that they do.

After the drama of getting to this island with our bikes, we have decided to fly out of here to Phuket on New Years Eve, which is going to be nutty, we hear that Phuket is even crazier than this place, so maybe we will have two more beer each and get some Henna tatoos to fit right in.

Happy New Year, and hope that everyone is enjoying the last few days of 2008. Woooo hooooooooooo!!!!

Merry Christmas from Thailand!!

Whoo hooo!!! We are in Thailand and in a very nice place called Hua Hin. It's kinda like Wikiki, Hawaii. We landed in Bangkok the other day, and drove 150 k.m. South East to a place called Kranchaburi. We decided that a beach resort was in order for Christmas, so we hopped a few trains yesterday and landed here. What a treat. The hotel that we are staying in is brand new and very nice. Today we are hitting the beach and working on our tans. We wanted to send a very Merry Christmas to everyone, and we will report back soon!

Marni and Cory.

Click on December and you'll get a new post!

Caveat Emptor

Well buyer beware is an understatement! We will try not be negative here but it's gonna be hard based on some less than ideal things we've got into lately. We rode into HaLong Bay (they are trying to make it the 7th wonder of the world - it really is amazing) by 10km outta town we were already being followed by motorcycles trying to lure us into their hotels. After riding around for a few hours we found a great hotel with an overly helpful guy. Bonus was the room had an amazing view of the ocean and surrounding city. The guy who sold us the room also had a great deal on a boat tour of Ha Long Bay....sure. Basically Ha Long City is on the edge of the ocean and everyone goes there to explore the limestone outcrops/mountains by boat. Well the boat tour WAS great due to the spectacular scenery, and we spent a lot of time in some really cool caves. The downside was we got ripped off so badly that the other guests on our same boat paid one tenth the price (no joke)and they had a waaaaay better lunch served. Well this same bastard also arranged a bus ride to Hanoi where we would go for our last few days in Vietnam. No word of a lie...it was the absolute scariest thing we have EVER done in our lives. The driver was going soooo fast and swerving and missing on-coming buses and dump trucks by a matter of feet. All of the people in the row in front of us puked in the first fifteen minutes and we were literally hanging on for our lives and they wouldn't stop the bus or slow down despite us begging them to. It was 2 hours where we honstly thought we were going to die and we were so happy to finally arrive in Ha Noi. We spent 3 days in Hanoi exploring the cities unique regions and eating lots of good food. Had a scare yesterday when a guy pick pocketed my wallet right outta by shoulder bag but LUCKILY Marni kinda saw him and we were able to grab him right away. Definitely a good reminder to be more careful. It also left us ready to get outta dodge and experience a new country.

This morning we flew into Bangkok and then rented a cabbie to take us to Kranchanaburi (east of Bangkok 130km) where we'll hang for a day or two. We want to spend x-mas day on a warm beach so we gotta get our asses in gear and start pedaling south soon. It's pretty hot here...like 30 and high humidity so we're looking forward to the hot sun again. I'm thinking that's probably about 65+ degrees warmer than the ski trails in Saskabush so no complaints from us.

Hope everyone is getting geared up for a white x-mas and some quality relaxing. We miss y'all.

Cooky Rooky and Co Fo

Scooters, trains and bicycles

We are now in Hai Phang en route to Halong Bay. We spent two days in Hoi An, toured the city, rented a scooter and zipped up to Marble Mountain which was a pretty cool journey. We met a war vet from Canada, it was his first time visiting since the war. He shared some of his stories with us as we were looking outward to China Beach from Marble Mountain. Last night we took a 15 hour train ride from Da Nang to Ninh Binh, they are always entertaining! Today we did our longest ride yet, we found a hotel and ate Thai food for dinner in preparation of our next adventure in a few weeks:) The traffic in this area is pretty insane. We are both looking forward to new scenery, looks like we are climbing big mountains tomorrow and now I am wishing I didn't buy those shorts and 2 dresses in Hoi An! When we arrive in Halong Bay we are going to do a boat tour of the majestic limestone islands. Apparently they taped part of the 007 "Tomorrow Never Dies" there (what useless information you find out in a 15 hour train ride. Hope all is well and you're enjoying the snow.

Phe Phi PHO no mo

Pho for breakfast, Pho for lunch and Pho for dinner. If we're lucky some M&M peanuts for dessert. Well we officially broke our record of Pho for 9 straight meals after we arrived in this beautiful ocean city. We've hit Italian food and every form of Western food we can since we don't know what comes with our next adventure north. We've had a great time here in Nha Trang highlighted by our Spa experience today. 5 hrs long - booyeah. Salt scrub to start, followed by an amazing smelling warm chocolate wrap, then massage by two people at the same time, then facials, then reflexology finished with a rose petal bath. Oh Snap. It was just plain awesome. And Marni was especially excited cause we found a restaurant that served Muesli with fruit and yogourt and she also had fresh crisp salad tonight. (supposedly washed with purfied water!) The sad thing is the fruits and vegetables here are off the hook...the only problem is they are grown in substandard soils and watered with the same water we're told to avoid. So it makes it really hard to get anything fresh because it has to be cooked. Or maybe we're just too picky? Whatever, we don't want to risk being bed ridden.

We're off on a sleeper train tonight to Da Nang then riding to the small town of Hoi Ann. We'll hang there for a couple of days then head north again to Ninh Binh and get on our bikes for the final assault of northern Vietnam. Should be fun.

Oh and I should also mention - only 6 more weeks to SYTYCDC show in KTown! (Nico rocks)

Ahhh, sillyness...

Political Unrest

No I'm not talking about Thailand...I'm talking about the cracked out Canadian Government! We just learned today (thanks mom) of what's been happeneing as we've been so removed from it all. We're hoping by the time we're due back to Canada that we can actually land and their aren't political groups taking over airports! Ha. Seriously though, things are looking much better and calmer in Thailand so we will venture there at the end of the month. We looked into flights yesterday and will either bus or fly to Chang Mai in the north of Thailand.

Here's some random thoughts about our time in Vietnam.
1) We feel everyone is out to rip us off. Since we can afford to be here they think we're rich...sooo, that comes with constant over pricing schemes. We're used to it but its really annoying.
2) Schools - Kids go to school 7 days a week from 7:30 until 4:30. No buses and they walk or ride bikes a looooong way to get there. Neat to see.
3) Child safety - or lack there of. Christine and Crystal - you would both be so appaulled by the way they transport children. Picture this - on scooters, holding onto them with one hand, or behind them and relying on them to hold on. It's absolutely shocking but the interesting thing is we have seen no accidents. Ever.
4)Breakfast - It's always Pho and it you luck out and get eggs you really don't want to eat them.
5) The flow of the day - People start their day here at 6:00 am. And I mean everyone. It's as busy at 6:00 am as it is at 7:00 at night. Speaking of which we've adjusted our clocks and go to bed at 8:00 pm and get up at 5:30. No joke.

Today we're going back to a Spa that kicks ass. It's the only professional spa we've encountered and they do it right. What a treat. We might head over to the beach too...but it's kinda cloudy today. After checking the forecast in K-Town, no complaints.

Tomorrow we're off to Hoi An via train. It's about 600km but way too flat and boring to ride. Not to mention the 35 km/hr unrelenting headwind. We'll hang out there for a day or two then head north again towards Hanoi and Halong Bay.

Adios.

Sandy beaches and BBQ Chicken

Whoo hooo! We made it, we are in Nha Trang and it is fab-u-lous. I felt like we just rode stage 2 of the Tour of Gila yesterday, without the hills, but the wind was insane! Last night we had the best dinner yet right on the beach. Today is going to be a beach day with some serious relaxing. This place is definately one of our favourites so far, we'll be hangin' here for a few days, maybe a mud spa tomorrow with some monkey sightseeing. Tonight we are going to go to the moon festival, which sounds like a blast! This place is very much a resort town, and it is nice to have some of our comforts from home. Alright, gotta go, Cory has his jar of Peanut butter in his hand, so it must be breakfast time!

Ahhh, The Ocean

Today we rode from the mountain town of Dalat to the ocean. It was 115 km and basically all downhill - on paper it sounded pretty simple and we thought it would be an easy day on the bikes. Well it wasn't. Despite enjoying two super fun loooong descents it turned into another 5hr day only to arrive at our destination with no place to stay. We stopped at a cafe and they had not bought groceries but still made us soup - how bizarre is that? Headed further north to the small town of Ninh Chu Beach and we got the only place in town. A 5 star resort...and while we're paying for it, it's so worth it. But imagine this..we're the ONLY guests here! It's kinda eery and I feel like we're in some type of horror movie and its all gonna turn sideways. Ahhh, not to worry, it's all good. The view from our room is spectacular, overlooking a huge pool with swim up bar and the ocean beyond that.

Tomorrow we have to ride 110 km to the beach city of Nah Trang. We've heard it can take 10 hours because of the super stiff headwind. Ahh, what a joy that will be. We're gonna hang there for a day or two, rent some surfboards, then continue on north. At this point we're not sure we'll ride all the way north because we'll have headwinds the whole way...hence our original plans to ride from the north end to the south end of the country. Whatev, it'll work out either way...

Holy Sheep Ka Ka

Ughhhh, we made it. It WAS a 7 hour slog with a wicked headwind the entire way and a climb the WHOLE way. (not just that NASTY 10 km pitch at the end!!) I thought racing was hard - good gawd - add on the fact that we had sesame snacks and peanuts for breakfast and lunch and we are nackered! It was a really cool day and probably the hardest day we'll do on this entire trip. But it was all worth it - the mountain town of Da Lat is far superior to anything we've experienced so far. Well by superior I mean we have a few luxaries which i guess kinda goes against emersing ourselves in the Vietnamese Culture but after the day we had we need 'some' luxaries. So we checked into a sweet hotel, hit a pizza joint that served the best pizza EVER and soon we're going out for some Vietnamese food from a restaurant that also has English on the menu. What a treat!. Anyway, we're gonna huncker down here for a day or two and check out some waterfalls and the town which is really unique. Kinda a mix between an 'Asian' Boulder,CO with a hint of Whistler. But just a 2 star Whistler, not a 5 star Whistler. ;o)

So speaking of massages we've been enjoying massages overy other day. But they're definitely the hardest thing to understand when it comes to paying. It's like $3 for an hour but they always only do about 30 minutes then they expect a big tip. Go figure.

See ya!

The Mountains of Bao Loc...

So Day 2 of riding and we certainly didn't save the 'hardest' for last. Holy man - we only rode 70km today but it was basically ALL uphill...with a terrific 10km climb into the town of Bao Lac. Gorgeous weather and very humid--which is taking a bit to get used to. But the views are s-p-e-c-t-a-c-u-l-a-r. The drivers are nuts, but soooo friendly. They love that we're slogging or bikes up these roads as they whiz by on their scooters (usually 2-4 on each scooter) So far our greatest challenge is finding food - when you can't read a thing on the menu and no-one speaks English you kinda just sit down and eat what you get. In fact for breakfast thismorning we ate banana chips...what a great way to start a 4 hour bike ride. ;o) But we're diggin the PHO and basically eat for breakfast lunch and dinner. We're gonna ripinto some waterfalls this afternoon then get ready for a huge day tomorrow - we're thinking about 7 hours on the bike with mega climbing. I'm sure some of you are reeeeally envious while others are thinking that would be murderous! Lata skaters

Organized Chaos

So we arrived last night after a looong flight but all things considered it was pretty good. Marni managed to sleep a good 4-5 hours and me not so much. Whatev. The drive here from the airport was absolutely comical...there are no traffic lines and no lights. So everyone goes wherever they want with no apparent concern for others. Organized chaos. The best part was the hotel the driver took us to was not the one we intended but it all worked out. Hit the streets today after Marni got the most ungawdly pedi and mani ever dreamed possible but...she fits in. Now we're trying to figure out how to get outta town...which is much harder than one would imagine. People speak super worser English but it makes for lots of 'stop and laugh our asses off' situations. Oh and get this - Marni wears size XL pants here...huh???

Off to find some beers and a ride outta town. Adios.

FINALLY....

After an absolute shit-show of a last 48 hours we are finally making our way to the airport. We flew into Vancouver last night and are heading to Hong Kong today then onto Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam after that. We are basically making our way from the south to the north end of Vietnam which isn't ideal cause prevailing winds are from the north. But, as we see it, this will make our first time bike touring that much more fun. ;o) When Marnes and I loaded our bikes yesterday we had a good laugh--I think our bikes were about 50 lbs--a good 30+ lbs heavier than what we're used to. Oh well, the adventure begins...