VIETNAM TO SINGAPORE

The executive decision has been taken. The El Camino adventure in Spain will now happen in 2013, and this year the plan is to cycle 5000 kilometers from Hanoi in Vietnam through Bangkok down to Singapore.

Starting from Hanoi on Saturday 1 September 2012, and arriving Singapore 1 December 2012. The twist for this ride is that we are planning to ride ELECTRIC ASSIST bicycles! This means each bicycle will have 30-40 kilometers of TAILWIND in a battery to help us  up hills and make riding easier. The average day will be 65 kilometers, and we may not get a recharge each night. Although I intend to ride the entire distance, we plan to have a support vehicle as well.

Currently looking for more participants of any fitness level, bicycles, sponsors and other sources of funding. We like to have a support vehicle ride with us, so there will be opportunity to cheat a little.

We are doing this to raise funds and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis. It may result in another documentary/book if we receive enough interest. email viet2sing@coughing4cf.com for info.

If you like to see what it is like to cycle such trip have a look at Rebecca and Ryan's blog. They are riding from the UK to NZ right now. Read this bit for instance.

Coughing de Camino

Ai, it has been a little while since I updated this blog. I obviously arrived home safely from Vietnam and made my way back to Tasmania. Then I got the call to confirm my availability for project in PNG, it was definitely on and I should get my act together!

With Cystic Fibrosis getting out of routine is always fraught with danger, I just survived Vietnam. So I beefed up my exercise, made sure I rode a little  more, walked a little more and got myself in good shape to go help my mate Andrew in PNG. He is aware of my health, I stay with him, and he promises to look after me and take me to the gym regularly.

I am there now, to help out for three weeks. Three weeks I deem max without fresh air and good aerobic exercise. And I am just now entering my third and last week here. I ran with the Hash House Harriers a few times (life saver!) as they happily run (safety in numbers and good local knowledge). But I am starting to struggle now. Taking three different antibiotics and a barrage of other stuff, and I think I will be fine. Of course if it comes to the crunch I'll be on the first plane out.

Whilst here I am reading my second book on the El Camino de Santiago de Compostella, my next adventure.

EL CAMINO DE SANTIAGO

The Way of St. James has existed for over a thousand years. It was one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during medieval times, together with Rome and Jerusalem. Legend holds that St. James's remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where he was buried on the site of what is now the city of Santiago de Compostela. St James incidentally was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus.

And why would a good Jewish born person like me attempt an 800+ kilometer walk with backpack? I will do it to bring attention to Cystic Fibrosis and Organ Donation and provide inspiration to people with disabilities. Of course I also think it would be fun, and might even be the source of another book or documentary - like www.coughingthedistance.com.

Slowly I am starting to work on logistics, taking names of interested people to join me, looking for sponsors who might like to donate money or goods. If you have a good reason to be involved, like to walk or support for 2-6 weeks in September/October 2012 do let me know (pilgrim@coughing4cf.com). Although I will carry my own gear, we may have a support vehicle with us. The vehicle may not be seen for days at a time, but will carry team members that need a break (that won't be me!!) and do some sightseeing. Of course it is also important to have a vehicle for emergency backup as I do have Cystic Fibrosis and tides can always change - besides I am on the wrong side of the life-expactancy bell-curve). Things can always turn ugly, but really it also means people who want to come but not necessarily walk the whole way have the option to come along.

Hoa Lu

Another step closer to home... The last day in Sapa I went on a Geocache Hunt, and found a treasure only 280 meters across from the hotel, but about 300m up the hill. Provided for some more exercise and took Ree and I to some great sights.

The night train home was uneventful apart from a dig sized cockroach, and we were glad to be back in Hanoi at the schwanky Rising Dragon Palace at about 5am yesterday morning.

I thought it was time to check the local pharmacy for insulin (Lantus) and sure enough the pharmacy my iPhone took me to had it in the fridge! Cheap too. I also bought some antibiotics that I was running low on! All without prescription of course, and all exactly the same packaging as what I get in Australia. Amazing.

Today we took a day trip to the ancient Vietnamese capital of Hoa Lu. The tour was poorly run but totally unique. It included an hour of cycling on the worst ever maintained bikes and an amazing row boat ride for about two hours through rice paddies and spectacular mountains. Mountain goats on the cliffs and going though caves, and rowing was done Vietnamese style with the feet!

My 8GB chip is almost full!!

Health holding out. For the life of me I cannot find any more saline sachets for nebulising and am using ventolin instead. I also apparently missed a CF clinic appointment in Devonport today :( Can't believe I stuffed that up.

Anyways, off to HoChiMinh City tomorrow with Vietnam Airlines and the day after back to Australia with Malaysian Airlines and Qantas.

So this may well be my last blog as I'll be busy eating and flying and trying to fit in my last massages!

High up in Sapa

The night train was comfortable, and I did an abridged neb session so as not to disturb Pedro and his girl, the Spanish couple sharing the cabin with us. It was about 5am when we were woken up by knocks on the door, marking our arrival in Pho Moi - right on the Chinese border.
Large green mountains around us, the buzz of typical railway activity, and in a sleepy stupor we ended up in a mini bus with other Vietnamese people. It drove us high up the green mountains to Sapa, a small But bustling town situated at 1600m. Sapa is one of the main market towns in the Lao Cai province, where several ethnic minority groups such as H'mong, Dao (Yao), Giay, Pho Lu, and Tay live. A crowd of traditionally dressed locals crowded the bus and followed us to the hotel.
All we knew was that we had 2 hotel nights and one 'home-stay' night here. I needed to do some meds and was hoping to get a hotel room.
Turned out we had to start hiking to our homestay at 930am and had to stay in the very dingy hotel restaurant and eat.
We quickly repacked our bags and left the wheeled weekend bag at the hotel, me carrying the absolutely bare minimum of meds.
The same crowd of local women and children were still waiting for us and with our guide they walked with us to the home-stay. Walk was great, as was the home-stay. the sales-pitch of all the locals and their babies and children was also great. We bought numerous bits and pieces of handicraft we didn't need. There were lots of rice paddies and lots of creeks, lively views and Vietnam Telecom/power poles and wires.
Doing good meds in the village was also minimal, but I coughed/expectorated plenty on the trail! Ree and I did keep up well with the small group of walkers. There were about 16 travelers that converged into the same hut with us.
It was a stormy night and we didn't sleep very well as the old tiles threatened to blow off the bamboo hut along with the rest of the structure.
In the rain we all decided to take a shortcut to avoid the worst mud and terrain. Late afternoon, via a waterfall for
lunch, we returned to the modest hotel in Sapa.
As typhoons were flooding cities in Vietnam we were saved as we were in about the only spared corner of the country.
Today we have a rest day and tomorrow we hike a little more and catch the night-train back to Hanoi.
Glad to be back in hotel room where I can empty my treatment bag on the bed and return each potion and device into the bag after using it. I needed a good session or two.

A Seachange

Perfectly on time a tour-guide from Galaxy Cruises came to pick us up to take us to Halong Bay.

I had barely recovered from a fever that came out of the blue the previous evening. Ree suspected my recurrent malaria (from my past travels), but I wasn't so sure. But i sure felt a lot better after the hotel manager had raced me past a few pharmacies (without finding any anti-malarian drugs) on his Vespa.

With all the happy punters picked up we drove for 3+ hours to be dropped off on the Cruise Junk at Halong Bay.

Again the humble price of the tour could not possibly cover the food, petrol or entry fees of the two days with Galaxy. Gazillions of tourists on the Bay, but no complaints there either, all was fantastic. An hour of kayaking, an hours walk through a cave...

Ree drifted off with the warm current during her late afternoon swim but was heroically dragged back from the ship's front to the safety of the aft ladder by fellow camper Pete. As she clambered on board I mentioned I needed more Panadol for my second fever spike (confirming it was indeed malaria). Ree was not impressed with my lack of compassion but the cocktails on board soon made us forget near drownings and malaria and refocussed our attention to the splendid cruise. The next few cruises were cancelled due to an approaching monsoon (I now remember reading the travel advice to avoid Northern Vietnam this in July/August).

It was all too soon before we were deposited back on the bus and eventually returned, in one piece, back in Hanoi at our perfect Dragon hotel in time for a nap and a bite prior to catching the over-night train to the Chinese border en-route to Sapan. The rain and thunder started as we hopped on board the overnight tourist train.

I

Rising Dragon

Flying with Air Vietnam really is pleasant. No fussy checkins where they measure and weigh and charge. Both Ree and I carried the majority of our medicine as hand luggage. Although we are only allowed one piece we both carried on two each, and they weren't small. Even our checked baggage is about 20kg a piece. Mine had condensation forming on the outside from the ice cooled medicine bag. They noticed and alerted me to the fact something may be leaking, but that was all.

At the airport we found the usual tourist desk where we spent the next 30 minutes planning our final week. We had already heard from other tourists about prices and what to look out for. We booked the whole lot from the airport at what we thought were very competitive prices.

Long and scary drive from airport to the Hanoi Old Quarters. Traffic here is much scarier than anywhere else we had seen. We almost wiped out a dozen vehicles in our taxi. Even the cyclists that narrowly avoided death by quickly maneuvering out of the way looked totally un-phased by the driver's driving.

The Rising Dragon Palace Hotel, the latest of the 3* Rising Dragon chain, was welcoming. Efficient check in and we were guided to the room by the gent who checked us in. Room is perfect. Best we have had. And all for under $40 per night including breakfast (just had it and it is excellent!). Wifi in the stylish room too.

For dinner we walked through the old quarters to a Vietnamese/French restaurant which was nothing short worthy of a Michelin Star; The Green Tangerine.

Walking at night through Hanoi is mind boggling. 90% motorbikes traveling at a rate of knots in all directions. It is amazing we have seen no accidents anywhere in Vietnam yet (we saw one scraped tourist in HoiAn and one man come off a bike in HoChiMinh).

Hawkers selling food everywhere, and young people sitting on woven mats having picnics with beer! Everybody happy and peaceful. The main food was dried cuttlefish which was hammered flat with metal bars, and grilled on coals right there on the very narrow pavements. There was no room for us to walk on the walkways, and like everyone else we walked on the harrowing road with traffic buzzing around us. This was one heck of a special evening.

At a small pharmacy I bought my granulated oral Acetylcysteine (an expectorant not available in Australia) at half the price I get it for in other countries like Holland and Singapore or HK.

Travel in Vietnam

Hoi An was an incredibly good experience. Mostly thanks to Mr Long booking us into the Vinh Hung Resort! Excellent value and brilliant location. Many Dutch people there too - which is a recommendation alone!

Apart from the walking around we also hired bicycles for $1/day, which was a good exercise. My smell is next to none, and I did not smell the motorbike fumes or the market smells. Even going through the fishmarket as part of a cooking class I must say I smelled nothing fishy. I felt the resorts pool chloride in my eyes, but did not smell anything :( I do occasionally smell certain things, but am pretty much spared from any bad smells. Even if I don't wash for a month I still don't smell!!

Health doing remarkably well. Lung function is even getting better! I do need to watch my sugar levels, and remember to take more insulin with the food. Vietnamese food has cane sugar in it. Also I eat a lot more fruit here. How can you resist the Pomelos, the dragon fruit and the bananas...

Cycling from Vietnam to Singapore is starting to look a little daunting now I've seen how they drive here. No rules to speak of. Riding against the traffic is fine and crossing I. Front of traffic is accepted too. People dodge each other in a miraculous manner, usually within millimeters. Drivers beep their horns repeatedly when overtaking, even when there is no need for it. They do not beep when we would feel compelled to blow the horn mercilessly - when a truck or motorbike cuts you off or threatens to ram into you.