Hoi An to Hanoi: Experiencing the Beauty of Northern Vietnam

One of the most challenging rides on the tour included a six mile climb up Hai Van, which means Pass of the Ocean Clouds. We rode slowly so we didn’t overheat while we climbed almost 2,000 vertical feet to the top. The views were fantastic!



Along the road we saw altars with incense.



After a fun descent we saw oyster farms along the bay. The wooden poles are used to hold old bike and scooter tires that have the oysters attached to them. There were tires on the road that the bus ran over – this was done to clear out the old oyster shells so that the tires could be reused for the next crop of oysters. One of the riders on the trip got a flat tire when he ran over the sharp oyster shells on the road.



Most riding days on the tour also include riding on the bus. Our tour leader Chi often tells us about Vietnamese history and culture on the bus rides. He told us how superstitious Vietnamese people are, especially rural folks. For example, babies shouldn’t be fawned over and told they are cute, as the bad spirits would hear and could decide to take the child into the spirit world. As a further precaution, most country children are given both an ugly name and a nice name. The ugly name is what the parents call the child, so that the bad spirits aren’t tempted to steal them. Chi’s ugly name was “cu”, which means penis, and he had a friend whose ugly name was “cut”, which means shit!



We have seen many burial plots as we cycled, as this is preferred to cremation. Often the plots are lavished with adornments and quite large. It was common to see the burial plots next to houses, rice fields and roads instead of confined to a cemetery.



This year in Vietnam the Buddha’s birthday was celebrated on May 23rd. It appears that a different lunar calendar is used here than in Korea. While riding we saw similar temple decorations and floats as Korea, but less elaborate.



We enjoyed cycling in the city of Hue, which has a lot of history and the most monasteries of any city in Vietnam.



We saw incense for sale along the side of the road.



This was the oldest pagoda in Hue, named Thien Mu pagoda. It was on the banks of the Perfume river.



This dragon boat cruised for 30 minutes on the Perfume river to take us to lunch.



There were seven giant lotus sculptures on the river, to commemorate the Buddha’s birthday.



This is a Merry Rose tree and it blooms all summer in Vietnam.



We took the Reunification Express train traveling overnight from Hue to Hanoi. It took 13 hours to go 400 miles, so it wasn't really an "express" way to travel. Then we took a bus to Ha Long Bay for a boat cruise on this boat, which was named the Sea Wind Cruise.



Our time on the boat was quite deluxe and the meals included outstanding seafood dishes. This was our room, which had charming round windows for enjoying the views.



Ha Long means “descending dragon”, named because the islands look like the backs of dragons diving into the sea. There are about 3,000 of these limestone karst isles. The bay has unbelievable scenery and is a UNESCO world heritage site.



We always enjoy kayaking and here we could get close to the islands for great views of the steep limestone formations. We used our waterproof camera and took photos as we approached this arch, paddled through it, and came out the other side.



We walked through this cave which was deliciously cool and huge inside - it could have held 1,000 people. The limestone formations were varied and beautiful, and the lighting inside the cave added nice colors.



The sunset was dramatic and gorgeous. (We didn’t get up early enough to see the sunrise!)



The last day of the cycling trip included a walking tour of Hanoi where we visited some of the city’s historical highlights. This is the Temple of Literature, which was built in 1,070 as the first Confucian university in Vietnam. After 3-7 years of study, a student would take a national exam, hoping to be awarded degrees in literature and poetry writing. Kristina is in front of the Constellation of Literature pavilion, which is a well-known landmark in Hanoi.




During our two week cycling trip we sweated our brains out, made new friends, pedaled over 300 miles and had a great time seeing Vietnam!

Nha Trang to Hoi An: Along the Vietnamese Coast

We are cycling with a big group, as the tour was completely filled with 18 riders. Pictured here are all the riders, who are from England (5), Scotland (2), Denmark (1) Ireland (2), Northern Ireland (1), Australia (2), Canada (1) and the US (4, counting us). Everyone is very friendly!



We are enjoying being around so many native English speakers and riding through this beautiful country with other cyclists.



We are averaging 40 miles of cycling on the days we ride. Vietnam is a very long country, with over 2,000 miles of coastline. We’ve seen shrimp farming along the coast. Since Vietnam has extreme tides (3-6 feet), the shrimp ponds get their water changed naturally twice a day. The farmers need to raise the oxygen content in the water in order to support the quantity of shrimp in ponds, so they use these mechanized paddles. It takes about 3 months to raise the shrimp.



Along the coast there are many fishing boats.



Here we had turned away from the water and started riding up a small hill. You can see the ocean in the background with its turquoise color.



We like this photo that shows the vibrant green rice fields and a farmer riding her bike to carry what we guess is food for her animals: grass and some kind of grain.



We went to the Long Son temple in Nha Trang. It was late in the afternoon and took this photo which captures the look of the clouds and the Buddha statue in the soft light.



The base of the Buddha statue displayed bronze images of the seven monks who self-immolated in 1963 in protest of persecution by the Catholic south Vietnamese government. Persecution of Buddhists had been happening since the mid-fifties, and didn't stop until after President Ngo Dinh Diem's government was overthrown by an army coup later that year, but these fiery protests did put international pressure onto the government which reopened talks.



There are inspirational billboards along the roads, with generally two themes: limiting family size to two children, and all people working for the common goal of improving Vietnam. These are some of the only signs of communism. In this billboard there are many different professions and in the center is Ho Chi Minh, who is revered for unifying Vietnam into one country. It was Uncle Ho's birthday on May 19th, and we saw banners celebrating his accomplishments too.



On one of our days off from cycling we went snorkeling on a boat from Nha Tran. Here’s the view from the boat as it dropped anchor just off an island.



There was coral and fish to enjoy as we swam around. We saw this type of anenome coiled like this photo, but also spread out.



This is the view from our hotel window in Quy Nhon at about 5:30 am. There were lots of people already swimming since it’s so hot.



One of the national dishes of Vietnam is pho, which is a beef stock soup served with noodles, fresh basil leaves, bean sprouts and typically raw beef that gets cooked in the boiling broth. This version has pork and fish cake that were already cooked. Adding chilies or chili sauce makes it spicy.



We had finished cycling for the day, so after the pho lunch we walked around the lovely beach before getting on the bus to drive to Hoi An.



The Old Town of Hoi An is oozing with charm. So much so that UNESCO added it to the world heritage sites list as a well-preserved trading port from the 15th-19th centuries. The historic buildings have been converted into stores and restaurants.



While there weren’t Buddhist temples in Hoi An, there were several Chinese ancestral halls. These are incense coils that are so long that they take a month to burn. The lit coils like these had a tag with the names of the family members who would receive blessings during the month while the incense burned.

Ho Chi Minh City to Dalat: Cycling from Sea to Coffee

We flew from Seoul to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) for a two week bicycling tour along the coast of Vietnam. The tour started with the highlights of HCMC. Shown here is the opera house which was built during the French colonization of Vietnam.



We went to Cu Chi, an outdoor museum which shows the tunnels built by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war. It was more interesting than we had expected. Here is the guide showing us how a soldier could climb into a hidden tunnel and disappear.



Here Pete is climbing out of a different exit of the same tunnel. The tunnel was surrounded by old bomb craters from the war, which had obviously missed their target. It made us visualize how difficult the Vietnam war was for the American military.



We had a wonderful meal while in HCMC. Pictured here are sautéed pumpkin flowers. We also enjoyed carmelized pork cooked in a clay pot, and a salad of pomelo, shrimp and pork that was wonderfully spicy and pungent.



It's quite a change from Korea to be back in the tropics, with its heat and humidity. As we rode we saw a lot of rice, bananas, tapioca and corn growing at lower elevations. The rice fields are vibrant green.



We also saw many lotus ponds. The lotus is such a beautiful flower!



These are rice paper wrappers drying on bamboo mats. The rice paper is used to make spring rolls, one of Vietnam's national dishes. We especially like the fresh (rather than fried) spring rolls.



In addition to agriculture, there are also cows, goats, pigs, chickens and some sheep being herded. We've had to share the road mostly with cows.



It feels great to be riding again! Since Vietnam is such a long country it's not possible to just cycle and cover all the miles in two weeks; Here we are in front of the tour bus that is used to drive us to our over night locations after we finish riding each day.



This is Chi, our cycling guide. He is holding a cashew nut fruit. Only the bottom part is the edible nut. Although it's labor intensive to prepare the cashews for eating, they are readily available and are very tasty!



On our way north we spent a night on the coast in the town of Mui Ne, which is known for fish sauce and dragon fruit. Down on the beach were fishing vessels used to catch the anchovies that are fermented to make fish sauce.



Dragon fruit, or pitahaya, is the fruit of a type of cactus. It's grown in southern Vietnam where it is very hot.



We ate dragon fruit as part of breakfast and also as a snack while we were riding. It is high in vitamin C and also has a bit of protein, calcium and iron. The flavor is mildly sweet.



As we climbed up to 4,500 feet, we came into coffee country. The soil was so red and fertile.



The roads are in great shape. We even saw pine trees, which didn't seem like they belonged in Vietnam.



There are lots of greenhouses growing flowers for HCMC and Hanoi markets.



Although the motor scooter is the predominant form of transportation in Vietnam, we still saw a few local cyclists on the road with us, especially in the countryside and villages. We often received a friendly greeting.



In the city of Dalat we enjoyed cycling around the lake which is used for storing irrigation water. The temperature and humidity was much lower, making it much more comfortable for us to ride. Dalat is a big honeymoon destination for Vietnamese newlyweds.