I had an exceptional day yesterday.  I competed in the Ham Da Mountain Bike Race and it was hot and humid but thankfully no rain so the track was not that muddy.  There were 11 in the Women’s division and I was the only foreigner.  The men’s divisions were large and the older men went off before us.

We had a bitumen start so I took off like I had stolen the bike, which was probably not the wisest decision as I have done very little (aka no) training.  I ended up in 4th position at the start of the technical part.  The course consisted of gravel, rocks, mud, very short steep hills and a BMX track.  I managed to nail the BMX track that I fell off on last week!  We even had steps that we had to go over by lifting our bikes over them and I even managed to get tangled in barbed wire.  I hear you say “what is barbed wire doing on the course”.  My reply is “this is Vietnam”.

The laps were 5 km and we had three laps.  At the end of the first lap I thought I was going to die but I hung in there and got over that.  I ended up catching some of the older males that started before us.  There was one old guy, I know his race number but will not mention for fear of retaliation!  He would not let me pass and if I did he would speed up.  I managed to pass him and then we came to a very muddy part and someone had fallen in so I was waiting for them to get out of the way and the old guy just went right past me.  Some of you may find this surprising but I let him know how I felt, no swearing of course, this is a family show, anyway I got some laughs from the spectators.  I then passed him again! On one of the steep hills a child was having trouble getting up the hill so we helped him and then this old man tried to get passed me again so I hit my tyre into his and gave him a dirty look!  I never saw him again.

I finished the race and to my surprise I was approached by a TV camera.  I have done my first TV interview now and they even gave me a drink of water before I started.  They asked me what I though of the course, the competition and then at the end, how old I was.  Only in Vietnam.  The Bike Shop then put on a BBQ for our team and so we sat and ate real sausages, and beer and watched the men’s race.  I positioned myself in a good position and captured a few interesting riding techniques.  I manged to get through this section without getting off my bike.

I secured 4th position out of 11 so I was pretty happy with that effort.  To my surprise they awarded to number 7 so I was up on the podium.  I got a bike pump, a ribbon and 500,000 VND.  How many people can say they got half a million in prize money?

That is James in the photo with the white cap on who works at The Bike Shop and did a fantastic job organising our team with transport, bike support, food and drink.

Here is an article about the race and sorry that it isn’t translated, but it is basically saying how awesome I am:).

The article

I have been asked if it was a running race by a cheeky individual and I my reply is “I am giving the competition some help”

Only in Vietnam.  So I arrived back at my desk from getting a hot chocolate and my screen was closed on my laptop.  My colleague, Lauren, who I sit beside said that I had missed some excitement at the office.

Lauren had been sitting at her desk working tirelessly when there was a pop, her screen flashed and the computer got hot and started to smell.  IT was on the job quicker than flies on shit.  The charger was quickly disconnected and shown to be the problem.

I then got IT to look at my charger as part of it was held together by masking tape.  So our IT department did some extraordinary work with scissors and electrical tape and fixed my issue.  We even pulled the plug out for extra safety.  As is commonly said in the construction industry, “Safety First”.

Now you are probably wondering what the upside down stubby cooler with “Fed Ex” and a Cheese Wafer sticking out of it is doing there.  Well if you can work it out, let me know:)

I don’t think it is a coincidence that I am here in HCM and President Obama decided to visit also.  However, to his disappointment my schedule was too busy for a quick catch up, and because he is an avid reader of my blog he went to have Bun Chả in Hanoi.

Now you might think there is no truth to this, but in a previous blog I have stated that Bun Chả is my favourite food and I also had it for lunch yesterday.

My Favourite Dish

Now the other thing is the President got ripped off and I am sure the hard working tax payers of America need to hear this.  In the article below he paid $6 USD, which equates to about 100,000 VND, I can get the same meal in the picture for 82,000 VND.

President Ripped off

President Obama arrived in HCM yesterday and caused a massive traffic jam.  The photo below is a two way street!

It is amazing the influence he is having on the population of Vietnam.  Here is a post from one of my friends here.

Facebook Post 1

Now it has to be mentioned that Trang, author of the above post is an Angel.

 

 

 

I have entered a MTB (Mountain Bike Race) next weekend so I thought I better

1. Get back on my bike
2. Roll around the course

The Bike Shop organise a ride each Sunday lead by James so we went off to practise on the course.  We had a great group and had a bit of highway riding to get to the course.

Below is the course which is about 30km from the centre of HCM and on the day I have to do 3 laps, 5km per lap.  It is a fun and technical course with some really steep parts.  Because the rainy season has started it was muddy too.

Thanks to James, I got some action shots, however it seems to be becoming a habit, I had a crash.  Nothing serious, was going about 5km/hr and was on the BMX part of the course and took a nose dive.

Roddie Rob would be saying that I probably needed to attach more, a little out of practise.  Here are some of the guys that did the course

Can’t wait for next weekend, should be a great day out

Different cultures have things that they find rude.  Here in Vietnam is it not rude to do the following:

• eat with your mouth open
• stare at people
• Slurp when eating food
• spit in public
• pick at your toes
• Pick lice out of your hair on the street and restaurant
• cut your finger nails at work
• burping
• urinate in public, especially men
• Men walk around in their underwear
• When it is hot lifting your t-shirt up over your stomach – men only
• talking in movies
• answering phone calls in the middle of meetings
• Asking how old you are
• OK to touch people
• OK to be in people’s personal space
• Jumping the queue/line
• Taking pictures of people without permission

The best way to get around Ho Chi Minh is by motorcycle.  The most common are Honda automatics and around the 125cc.  They are the family vehicle and also the business vehicle.  During Niels’ visit we spent a lot of time traveling around and we managed to get some video of the roads however it doesn’t show you exactly how busy it is.

It looks chaotic, however the traffic is only going about 25 km/hr, somehow it just works. I have ridden over 1000km in Ho Chi Minh and I have learnt a few things. Not many foreigners drive and so you get looked at.  You drive by only looking ahead and if you are crossing lanes, you do it slowly and you don’t need to really look back, only if there is a bus.  If you go the wrong way, it is simply fixed, just stop turn around even if you are on a one way road and go back.  You stick to the curb and occasionally beep and have your indicator on.

You can also ride on the foot path, this is done when traffic is particularly heavy or again you have gone the wrong way, so pedestrians beware. You are only allowed to carry two adults including the driver on the bike, however, it has been necessary for me to carry up to 3 adults, including me. Now this is a real test of skills.  One, the weight distribution is at the back so it makes steering hard and also you are only sitting on a tiny portion  of the seat so it makes changing gears and breaking harder.

You see some funny things on the road and I must admit this doesn’t look comfortable.

Now you would think I would have seen a lot of accidents, but I haven’t, only a scooter slipping or being nudged by a car.

We had a long weekend to celebrate the fall of Saigon in 1975, 4 days in total so I decided to saddle up Oscar and head off into the sunset for Nha Trang or in Vietnamese terms dodge other motorbikes while trying to stay upright.

I headed off on Friday 29th April at about 4:30pm with my first destination Vung Tau all loaded up.

This involved a ferry ride at Cat Lai and then the open road.  Well I wouldn’t really say it was the open road.  It was windy and very busy and at one stage the traffic slowed right down to almost a stop and then it veered abruptly.  When I got to the same spot I saw what the disruption was, a man was on what looked like a large skate board, the size of a door and he was lying down pushing himself along and on the back was a small child.  This is on a road where the speed limit is 60km/hr and it was going on dusk!  I managed to make it safely to Vung Tau, however I have decided that road signs don’t seem to be part of the features of the road.  I used google maps and would stop in the middle of an intersection (surprising safe and common to do in Vietnam) and point my phone and see what direction was indicated on the map.

I slept in the next day and then headed off to my next destination, Phan Thiet.  This was a wonderful day on the road where I drove along side the beach, saw lots of fishing boats and dragon fruit growing on trees.

Now you know when you see a giant fruit you have to get a selfie with it.

I then stumbled upon a pagoda and I think I got my bike blessed.

It is hard to forget the affect that war has had on the country, China, French, America, so you are always seeing these types of things around, a bunker.

I made it to Mui Ne where I was staying and most of the night my power was out so it was hot and sticky.  It had a great beach near where I was staying and the popular thing for the Vietnamese to do is sit on the beach or near the beach on a piece of grass and eat.  Most Vietnamese do not know how to swim and so you see children in life jackets.

The next day, Sunday was a big day as I couldn’t find accommodation in Phan Rang Thap Cham so I may have to ride all the way through to Nha Trang.

This was different landscape to the day before.  There were sand dunes and red earth

And it was hot.  I would stop every 1-2 hours at the rest stops and get a drink.  You can even take a nap if you want to.  I didn’t, as I thought I would probably just stay there.

In one village I decided to have a look around and it was fascinating as I went to areas that no cars could fit and it got so narrow that only one motorbike at a time would fit.

However all was not going to end well.  I got to the end of one alley and it was a dead end however it was on an incline.  I applied my brakes however I kept sliding down the hill and I left a black rubber skid mark.  A guy then helped me turn my bike around. It was quite a frighting moment.  Anyway I managed to find my way out of the maze and headed for the open road.

Along the way I saw this and I pointed to my camera and he stopped for me so I could take his photo.  That was awesome.

I got to Phan Rang Thap Cham and tried about 4 Hotels and there was no vacancy and it was only 1:30pm so I decided to push on to Nha Trang.  From here to Nha Trang was my favourite bit of the whole trip in terms of scenery.

There were lots of young Vietnamese couples doing something similar to me (riding their motorbikes) so if I was unsure of what direction to go in I just followed them and it worked out well.

I made it to Nha Trang and found my accommodation.  I had decided to try something different and I chose a Pod

I loved it.  You had a locker beside your bed where you locked your gear and inside it had A/C, lights, mirror and a TV.  Because I got to Nha Trang a day earlier than planned I had a relaxing time walking around, readying on the beach, visiting pagodas and eating western food.  This was the first time that I had been called Russian. They are everywhere, how many Russians have strawberry blonde hair though, really!  At the pagoda they had a Vietnamese dance where the women danced with pots on their heads.

Overall I had a wonderful trip.

Statistics:

Traveled 572km in 3 days and spent 190,000 VND on petrol which is $11.60 AUD.  It costs about 40,000 VND ($2.40 AUD) to fill my tank.

103 km: Ho Chi Minh to Vung Tau – Day 1 – 3 hrs on the road

188 km: Vung Tau to Phan Thiet – Day 2 – 6hrs on the road

281 km: Phan Thiet to Nha Trang – Day 3 9hrs on the road

I witnessed two crashes, none series and no real injuries.  The first was the one pictured below with the 4wd cutting across in front of the bus.  The bus door wouldn’t open for a while.  The second one was in the middle of an intersection and the highlight for me was the fight that happened afterwards with the guys taking their helmets off and using them to hit other people.

The journey wasn’t over, I still had to make it back with my motorbike to Ho Chi Minh.  I took the train from Nha Trang back to Ho Chi Minh, however there is a bridge that is being fixed so the train stops in Bien Hoa which is about 30 km north of HCM.  My motorbike went on a different train to me and mine was a sleeper train.  It took 7 hrs to get back to HCM.  I stayed the night in Bien Hoa and collected my bike in the morning.

That was an experience in itself.  I arrived at the train station again and asked where do I pick up my motorbike.  I guy motioned for me to get onto his motorbike.  At home you would think twice about this, but here, this is normal.  I jumped on and we proceeded to drive through the station and over the train tracks and onto the other side of the track.  I found my bike, I re-attached the mirrors, filled my motorbike up with some very expensive petrol as it had to be drained to go on the train and headed for home.

I had a great time and didn’t feel unsafe at anytime.  There will be more road trips to come.

 

 

 

I was very lucky to be able to visit this wonderful village.  Habitat was hosting a company and as part of their orientation they visited this village and I came along for the ride:).

Hoa Binh is about 3 hours South West of Hanoi and we took a bus.  This village is one of the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, they are from the Tai group and are no relation to the Thai from Thailand.  The largest ethnic group in Vietnam is Kinh (Viet) at 86.2%.  Tai make up about 1.7% of the population.  The unique thing about these villages are the large bamboo stilt houses:

They also make very colourful clothing and it reminds me of Peru and Bolivia.  I also had a crack at it, it is quite difficult.

We went for a walk around the village and learnt about the rice harvest and this one was about half way through with 2 more months to go.  The skill with rice is planting it so it doesn’t float away when the field is flooded. I had to add this cow…

We then went back and had some great views; the village we were in is to the right in the valley, and a lovely photo with Ms Bay and Ms Mai Anh from Habitat.  Thank you for a wonderful day.

 

 

I had a lovely weekend in Hanoi two weeks ago after being there for work. I stayed with a fellow work colleague, Mai Anh in a hotel as she had work there the next week.  We ate at the “Fat Lady” which serves snails and beef.  I couldn’t get over how dressed up this lady is, the one chopping the meat. Now I wouldn’t like to meet her in a dark alley!

The next day we went to Bat Trang Ceramic Village.  We took a local bus and there were no issues as I was with a native speaker, thanks Mai Anh:).  We wondered around and I bought some chop sticks and a wind chime.

We caught the bus back and then decided we needed Bun Cha.

It was very popular as you can see and the restaurant took up about half of the side walk of one street.  We then went back to our hotel and rested.  As mentioned before, this tourist thing is very tiring! After our rest we went to meet some colleagues from Habitat Korea for coffee and then I had dinner with them and we wondered around the streets.

There were elections on in Hanoi and here is the polling booth, didn’t look very busy.  Talking to various people, not a lot of people vote here.

I have now been to Hanoi about three times, in the winter and the summer.  It is an amazing city, especially the old quarter.

During these visits I have begun to notice some differences between Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi and I discussed them with my friends at work.

Differences:

• More friendly service in HCM
• Less wear motorbike helmets in Hanoi
• Weather is colder in Hanoi in winter
• Less vibrant clothing in Hanoi
• More temples with Chinese characters in Hanoi
• Pronounce words differently, more Z sounding words in Hanoi
• More aggressive driving and harder to cross the street in Hanoi
• The men seem to wear shorts up in the North where in the South it is trousers and jeans only.
• The food is sweeter in the South.

I am obviously biased living here but I prefer HCM, it seems more liberal and vibrant.