Tour de Vietnam

November 2, 2011  about News, Travel

I had done my research before signing up for a four day, three night cycling tour in Lao Cai province with Lotussia Travel. My friends thought I was mad cycling around one of the most mountainous parts of northern Vietnam!
But the trip is well planned, so you’re not always in the saddle, and you’re never on your own. But I didn’t tell my friends that – I liked to think they pictured me huffing and puffing on my father’s rickety old Peugeot up and down the hills under a blazing hot sun.
However, not even riders in the Tour de France go solo – everyone needs a team, a car, and a medic! My friend and I met our team from Lotussia Travel at Lao Cai station after taking the overnight train from Hanoi.
First things first, we headed for a big hearty breakfast. With a long day of riding ahead we needed to ‘feed the engine’. Afterwards, we drove to Phong Hai town, 20km from Lao Cai railway station, where we kick-started our journey on two wheels.
Our destination from there was Coc Ly, a cycle of 18km or so. The landscapes were stunning with rolling mountain ranges, wild forests and the yellow Chay river slowly meandering through the valleys below. We stopped at Coc Ly market, which bustles with hill tribes flocking from all over the area to buy or sell goods, or simply eat, drink and have fun.
Here you can buy handicrafts or simply hang out and watch the world go by as members of Flower H’mong, Phu La and Dao Tuyen hill tribes wander past in colourful costumes. The atmosphere is lively and everyone is smiling. Nearby, I see a photography studio and a dentist’s clinic filled with boys and girls – signs of the changing times we live in.
After an hour exploring the market, we cycled to the nearby village of Sa Koun Ho inhabited by members of both the Flower H’mong and Black Dao ethnic minorities. Next we embark on a motor-boat cruise along the Chay river. This is an exciting boat cruise winding us through breathtaking, out-of-this-world-scenery where the mountains grow out of the water, presenting us with hidden mysteries, including beautiful caves and grottos. There’s an added sense of poignancy as we travel around as I am informed that the market and the area around will be submerged by a manmade lake created for Coc Ly hydroelectricity plant in the future.
We disembark at Trung Do village which is home to members of the Tay hill tribe. We are picked up by car and then transferred to a local restaurant for lunch. Before you start to accuse us of not cycling very much on our so-called cycling tour, we hop back into the saddle after lunch, and this time we’re going uphill! Our destination is Bac Ha town. The road from Coc Ly to Bac Ha is in good shape but the uphill segment is tough going. But we push on, inspired by our awe-inspiring surroundings, and the thought of dinner!
We eat at a Tay family’s house and after a day of cycling, we devour our food. There is nothing more delicious on earth than a hot meal for a hungry soul! Grilled chicken and purple sticky-rice,  stir-fried bamboo shoot with buffalo meat, and boiled wild vegetables with a wonderful dipping sauce -  everything hits the spot.
That night we slept like babies on a mat in the corner of the stilt house after being provided with pillows, a thin blanket and a mosquito net. Not even the grunting of the local buffalos can disturb our slumber!
After breakfast, Lotussisa Travel transfers us by car to Si Ma Cai. Upon arrival we start cycling upstream along the banks of the Chay river. The sky above Si Ma Cai is clear and blue. With a cool breeze on my face I take a deep breath and bask in the glory of the seemingly endless mountain ranges around.
On the road I can see the roof-tops of hamlets down below in the green and yellow valleys and the terraced fields in harvest season. The landscape is the most beautiful and peaceful I have seen on my journey so far. Every now and then a young Flower H’Mong appears with a beautiful smile that further lights up this rural paradise.
Si Ma Cai is not as frequented as much as Bac Ha or Sapa, since it is nestled at the far end of a road near the border with China, but it’s just 40km from Bac Ha and worth the trip.
The town is beautifully quiet and the people here live a simple daily life. The streets and the market are rather deserted except on Sundays when the market draws a crowd of Mong, La Chi, Phu La, and Nung ethnic minorities in colourful costumes from the surrounding area.
Although cycling across some tough terrain in relentless heat may seem pretty hellish to some, what better way is there to experience such awe-inspiring scenery? So don’t delay! Dust off your paddle and prepare to be enchanted by the delights of North Vietnam.
Time-out

Globe-trotting cyclist hits town

Pablo Garcia, a 36-year-old Argentinean man who has embarked on an 11-year "world tour" by bicycle, has reached Ha Noi and is taking a break to enjoy the city.

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Free-wheelin’: With 68kg of baggage on his bicycle, Pablo Garcia has biked around five continents, stopping in Viet Nam as his 66th destination.

Garcia entered Viet Nam from Laos by traveling through Dien Bien Phu and Sa Pa. He has decided to take a short break in the country before moving on to his next destination, China.

He has decorated his bicycle with the national flags of the countries he has already visited. Viet Nam’s flag is currently at the top of column of flags and represents the 66th country he has visited during his adventure. He is currently on his third bicycle of the trip.

"I chose the bicycle as my travelling companion over other means of transportation because it allows me to deeply enter the heart of each country I visit and its people. Slowly and calmly, I have discovered the simplest things in life in a more intense and practical way," Garcia said on Friday during a meeting at the Embassy of Argentina held by the Argentinean Ambassador to Viet Nam, Alberto Jaime Kaminker.

Garcia said his greatest impression of Viet Nam so far was the traffic in Ha Noi.

"I have never seen such a bustling city, where there are always a lot of motorbikes jostling on the streets. Sometimes it is really hard for me to pedal along the Ha Noi streets, but I find it very interesting."

As an adventurer who has a keen interest in observing people’s lives and lifestyles, Garcia has truly enjoyed cycling along Long Bien bridge and looking down at the activities of the locals under the bridge.

"I like the bridge not only because of its beauty but also because from the bridge, I can see a lot of normal things in the life of regular Hanoians, which is very appealing to me," he said.

After a stint as a tour guide in Maceio, Brazil, Garcia cycled 10,000km back to his hometown Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1999 to prepare for his long and adventurous journey around the world.

Garcia set off on his tour on September 26, 2001 to discover the world on his bicycle. Since then he has pedalled 78,468km to pass on a message of friendship and peace.

Garcia prepared for his journey across more than 100 countries on five continents by preparing brochures, sponsorship requests and mass communications for a year and a half prior to his departure. His aim is to document the differences among the cultures and lifestyles of different countries in the world. With this extensive research, he hopes to help strengthen mutual understanding and friendship among people and countries all over the world.

Garcia has developed a habit of writing in his diary almost every day about his experiences with new customs and events that he encounters every day. When he takes the time to stop in a new place, he tries his best to update information about his adventure by posting it on his website www.theworldbybike.com.

Garcia has a voluminous collection of photographs he has taken, and videos and articles that he has developed which carefully describe the countries, people and events happening around him. With this collection, he can share his activities with friends and other followers from around the world.

"Traveling is a wonderful way of experiencing life. Although many people from different countries do not have the opportunity to take a world trip like me, they are still following me on my path through my website and other mass media. They write me quite frequently to share new ideas and experiences," said Garcia.

Garcia said a female Italian partner joined him for more than one year and his brother was with him for awhile as well, but most of his time on this long journey has been solo. "However, I have never felt discouraged or thought about giving up. I meet new people and discover more things with each passing day, so each day brings me a lot of excitement and energy to continue my journey," he said.

Recognized by the United Nations Development Programmer and the United Nations Environment Programmer, Garcia’s cycling project has received a significant amount of attention and support from many organizations, companies and other benefactors in the countries he has visited.

This week, Garcia will continue his cycling journey to other Asian countries before finally finishing in the next two years. The last part of his trip will take him from North America back to Argentina.

Cyclist makes it around the world in record 175 days

Cyclist makes it around the world in record 175 days - World - NZ Herald News: "LONDON - A British man has become the fastest person ever to cycle around the world, pedalling past the finish line in London's Hyde Park less than six months after he set off.

Sporting a shaggy red beard and a suntan, an exhausted James Bowthorpe was greeted by cheers from friends and family yesterday after an epic, 18,000-mile circumnavigation that has taken him through 20 countries in 175 days.

'I'm a bit tired,' said Mr Bowthorpe, 31, whose journey was sponsored by The Independent. 'It's been a long six months and I'm just finally relieved to be here - and glad that the world isn't any bigger because I couldn't have done it.'

Facing an attempted kidnapping in Iran, a bruising encounter with a wombat in Australia and a severe case of 'Delhi belly' in India that saw him lose a fifth of his body weight, Bowthorpe has clocked up an average of more than 100 miles a day, sometimes cycling twice that distance in his effort to bag the biggest prize in endurance cycling.

The cabinet maker from Balham in south London has taken 19 days off the record set last year by the Scottish cyclist Mark Beaumont. Speaking from Mexico, where he is taking on a new challenge, Beaumont called Mr Bowthorpe's achievement"