Archives
By Jane Mountain | February 28, 2014
10,704 km so far. There are knives in my belly. Not literal knives, you understand. But they might as well be, for the pain I’m feeling. It’s safe to say that I now know what it’s like to be shived. While riding a bike. Up a mountain. OK, let’s start at the beginning. The Preamble […]
By Stephen Ewashkiw | February 27, 2014
10,625 km so far. We chose poorly. Hindsight, and all that, but we really shouldn’t have taken a rest day in Son La. The town offered little to entertain us, and our hotel was less than perfect. Yes, it had a beautiful view from the window, but the rice fields are awash with mosquitos, so […]
By Jane Mountain | February 26, 2014
10,625 km so far. Since today’s ride was to take us over the infamous Pha Din pass, where Heaven meets Earth, I was going to call this post “A Hellish Ride To Heaven”. But, as it turns out, nothing about the day was hellish. I might even say it was heavenly. I’d definitely say it […]
By Stephen Ewashkiw | February 25, 2014
10,531 km so far. We decided that we would take a day off in Son La. Not because there’s anything here we particularly wanted to see, but because our bodies are tired from the past few days of mountainous rides, and our minds are tired from thinking about all the mountains still to come. We […]
By Jane Mountain | February 24, 2014
10,531 km so far. Today ranks as one of the best rides we’ve done on the trip. It helped that the first 60 km or so were virtually all downhill. But the easy ride was only a small part of the attraction. Villages And Vistas With visibility up to 25 km, we finally got to […]
By Stephen Ewashkiw | February 23, 2014
10,411 km so far. We began our mountain climbs in earnest today. Over the course of the next seven days we will ascend about 20,000 m through the Annamite Range, and climb the Pha Din Pass, which translates as Heaven And Earth, giving you some idea of how high it reaches. This is going to […]
By Jane Mountain | February 22, 2014
10,339 km so far. There is a serious set of mountains between Hanoi in Vietnam and Luang Prabang in Laos. Being slightly insane cycle tourists, we’ve decided to ride right over the middle of them. Today is the first day of about a week’s worth of big climbs. It’s been a long time since we […]
By Stephen Ewashkiw | February 21, 2014
10,273 km so far. We finally got our lazy butts out of our comfy bed and left Hanoi today. It has been so nice relaxing, going to yoga, getting massaged, and eating incredible food, but our bike trip, and the rest of Southeast Asia, awaits. Easy Rider As we were leaving the hotel we met […]
By Jane Mountain | February 20, 2014
10,197 km so far. Our big project for today was to go to the spa. I know, poor us right? Before we could do that though, we had to move from the fabulous Elegance Emerald to the also lovely Elegance Elite, since the Emerald didn’t have a room for us tonight. Their great service continued […]
By Stephen Ewashkiw | February 19, 2014
10,197 km so far. We have been thoroughly enjoying our few days in Ha Noi, though we haven’t done many of the touristy things everyone recommends: no water puppet theatre, no visits to the temples or museums, no ghastly tour of the Hanoi Hilton. Instead we have been enjoying experiencing a more local Hanoi. Yoga, […]