From teh blog, January 2012:

“What? You’ve lost your passport?” I shout, mouth gaping in disbelief.

The year was off to a highly inauspicious start. It wasn’t even noon on January 1st 2012 and we’d already witnessed a serious accident involving a semi and a now very compact car plus a minor crash between a car and a motorbike.


A quest to cycle every country on the PLANET: www.worldbiking.info

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Cat Ba island promises to be a reprieve from all the clatter. Eric has been selling me on the place for weeks. When my whining kicks in (The traffic! The noise! The confusion!), he paints me a picture of a quiet island plopped down in Halong Bay where I can enjoy views of the limestone peaks in the distance.

Blog excerpt from January 2012:

Cat Ba has undergone a change or two since Eric first visited in 1996. The two family-owned guest houses that he recalls have mushroomed into hundreds of hotels. HUNDREDS.

It’s the off season so we have our pick. Six dollars a night gets us a view of the bay, clean sheets, a hot shower and WiFi. The place is mostly deserted except for a few hardy backpackers. Thankfully, because I doubt I’d stick around when Cat Ba is in full swing, full of boisterous Chinese tourists frequenting the massage parlours.

Photos from the Asia leg of our multi-year world cycle tour.

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A quest to cycle every country on the PLANET: www.worldbiking.info

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Excerpt from the blog February 2012:
Laos is the current darling of Southeast Asia and it’s not hard to figure out why.
Sure the scenery is stunning, thick tropical jungle and fast-flowing rivers, and there’s certainly plenty of culture in this temple-dotted land, but what really makes the country stand out is its people.
The Lao people are friendly and warm and surely among the most gentle on the planet. And for cyclists, they’re always ready with a big smile and an enthusiastic SAWAIDEE!!!!!

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You can always count on a warm and enthusiastic welcome as you pedal through villages in the highlands of Laos!

From the blog: March 2012

Roll across the border from Vietnam into Laos and you notice an immediate change of mood. The entire nation seems to be infected with a laidback sort of happiness and contentment.

And what a knack for making a touring cyclist feel welcome…the Sawaidees and Hello’s hardly let up. Need a place to rest for the night? No problem, there’s room at the village health center, the primary school or, heck, why not just pitch your tent right here at my house and while you’re at it, come on in and join us for dinner.

One of the Lao people’s favorite expressions is bow penh nyang —no problem.

Want to snap my photo? Bow penh nyang!

Like to fill up your water bottles? Bow penh nyang!

Need a lift because you’ve got a busted derailleur? Bow penh nyang!

A quest to cycle every country on the planet: www.worldbiking.info

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