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Cheers for the update @ough the pictures looks amazing as ever!
I'm a total sucker for names (Vladivostok, Istanbul, Montevideo, Sarajevo, Nairobi, Samarkand, Odessa, Cartagena, Kashgar, oh, the list goes on – yes, I have a list).
Me too. Vladivostok is a favourite as well but also Ouagadougou, Tegucigalpa and Ngorongoro... I can spend hours pouring over a maps marvelling at little towns in places miles away that I'll never visit!
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Riding in Vietnam was just amazing, despite enough reasons for the opposite: it’s loud, dirty, chaotic and impossibly busy. People are just too fond of noise, when it’s not the honking it’s a karaoke or worse, a ridiculously loud speaker thumping beats in the middle of a perfectly picturesque rural setting. It’s curious to have a mellow time in a hectic country, but mellow it was.
We had two stages in Vietnam, North and South. North was an area called Mai Chau and Pu Luong: mountains, rice terraces, and minority villages. It’s a beautiful area, relatively free of mass tourism and with a mild climate. On our way to Mai Chau we crossed our first mountain pass since my girlfriend’s injury, which was great for our confidence. We felt we had turned a corner and would be able to enjoy our cycling again.
From there we rode to the Ninh Binh area, which is also very nice with karst mountains dotting rice plantations. The plan was to turn West and head to Laos, but we changed it all and decided to head South to the Mekong Delta. I’m so glad we did, because this place made me happier than I could have wished for. There are so many tracks and side roads to be explored, and the land is just so rich. There are many river crossings on shabby ferries, which just add to the romance.
Vietnam breaks are the best we had so far. Cafes with hammocks, coconut water, sugarcane juice, and the amazing ice coffees with complimentary tea. Most people we met were lovely and quite upbeat, comfortable in their own skin. The absolute best were the schoolchildren we shared the road with every day. They were such a joy to be around, racing us on their bikes or scooters.
Accommodation is good and easy to find (we stayed in Nha Nghis, aka guesthouses). Most things are very cheap, and vegetarians can eat well enough. It’s very easy to avoid the tourist areas and there’s plenty to enjoy in most regions of the country. For our kind of touring, it was perfect.
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When reading about SE Asia on cycling blogs, I noticed some form of competition where people say 'in country A all children say hello, unlike country B'. Personally, I would prefer not having millions of hellos to reply to (some derisory) as I'm at my happiest just seeing people get on with their lives as I get on with mine. However, I understand people say that as a roundabout way of saying country A is friendlier than country B.
It's easy to compare countries when crossing via land borders, there's always a change of vibe, even if it's just in my head. In the example above, Vietnam is my country A, Cambodia is B (though we had endless hellos in both).
Cambodia is at the same time less developed and much more expensive. The lack of development means we had less roads to choose from. Either we stayed in the main roads with all the country's traffic, or we'd be in dirt roads of unpredictable quality, direction and length. If we'd be bike packing with solo bikes, I think Cambodia could offer lots of nice riding, but on the tandem we kept to the main roads and they were mostly flat and boring. Our route was Kep, a quick look at Kampot, then Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, and Poipet. Headwind all the way.
Kampot looked a bit creepy with retired westerners drinking away their last days by the river, Phnom Penh is pleasant enough but with off-putting levels of inequality (though to be honest we appreciated the comforts of having good restaurants and trendy cafes), Siem Reap is very touristic but again we enjoyed having the chance to have a gelato, and there's not much I'd say about the other towns and roadside markets. People are nice, food is ok, and the best experiences we had were staying in the countryside guesthouses.
Unfortunately, I think what will stay with me the most is a bad taste of officialdom, corruption and sleaziness. It sounds pretty bad when I put it like this, but we didn't have any direct experience apart from being ripped off by cunts at the immigration border. Plus, I know almost all SE Asian countries suffer with similar problems, but in Cambodia I felt it a bit more, like a cloud hanging above everything. It comes with the entitlement of the SUVs on the road, the omnipresence of State and Army licence plates, the billboards of the Cambodian People's Party, the stories we heard from the guesthouse landlord we spoke to. There are places we gave up on seeing (Sihanoukville) because they are reportedly destroyed by corrupt development, which is a shame. Arriving in Phnom Penh was a bit of a shock, with bling Rolls Royces and Range Rovers pushing everyone aside when less than 15km away we saw people living very precariously. There is a lot of 'aid' around, NGOs left and right, which was surprisingly upsetting for me to see (I still didn't process why).
I know most countries have the same issues, to a smaller or larger degree. This is not a Cambodian problem, I'm sure, but in most places I find enough small pleasures to distract me: food, landscapes, weather, culture, and so on. My passage through Cambodia was short of these comforts, so I might have paid too much attention to what was bugging me.
Anyway, we crossed to Thailand, and we'll ride here for the next couple of months. For now we're sitting out a storm battering the trees outside, looks wild!
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Thanks for sharing. Enjoy!
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Hey, great write up and some really nice photos! I think you’ve captured the spirit of Vietnam in these very well.
We’re still in Vietnam, right now in HCMC but won’t stay here long. We’re heading to Cambodia. I’ve heard about corruption that rules the country, but what you’ve wrote suddens me even more. Where did you cross from VN to Cambodia?
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@ough Superb. This really gets me excited to go pedal around SE Asia again.
I do understand what you mean about Cambodia though. I wasn't so much as surprised as more angry about the situation, and for that, as selfish as it sounds and probably is, I left more in bad state of mind.
I'd totally do it again though.Thanks for the updates.
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Hello there! We crossed in Ha Tien, there was barely any other traffic so it was quick. What's your route?
Oh, and please don't let my impressions of Cambodia put you off, as you know plenty of cyclists enjoy riding there.
This guy for instance. We crossed paths in Vietnam and he was in Cambodia at the exact same time as us, but he had a totally different experience. Depending on the riding you guys are doing, he might be a much better reference than us. -
Awesome stories and photos! Thanks for sharing! I was just wondering how stressful it is to pack and transport the bike to airports and all that? I found it already a big hassle with my 'normal' bike and 4 panniers. And what speed would you guys normally cruise on a flat road without wind? Don't know much about tandems but I'm getting pretty excited reading all of this.
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Couplers are amazing, it'd be a totally different trip without them. That said, we're set on not taking flights apart from the one that took us to the starting point. All the rest is ferries and trains or buses when we want to reposition on the map. It's definitely more hassle than a solo bike, but not a lot and easily measured: 5 minutes to decouple the front section, another 30 if the rear bit is to be decoupled too (rarely happens). If you're packing it, it's quite a bit of volume to carry but still less than two solo bikes.
Now, let me tell you this: tandems are amazing. Just amazing. There's no end to my love for them. They make SO much sense for touring, they are not agile or easy to manoeuvre but perfectly suited for plugging along at a steady, comfortable pace. Speeds are very relative, depends on how lazy we are, how far we want to ride on the day, how much there is to see. I'd say that on a flat road, no wind, there's no reason why two accomplished riders shouldn't be able to at least match their pace on solo bikes (unless you're climbing!)
To give you a bit of context, my girlfriend rarely cycles solo, and when she does it's the 5 minutes ride to the grocery store. If we'd be on solo bikes she'd really struggle to cover half of the distance I could ride on a day. If we'd be on solo bikes this trip would never happen. But together on the tandem we probably move at a pace only 10% slower than I would do solo. In other words, it's a wonderful leveller for cyclists of different aptitudes and it allows us to share something we had very little chance of doing together.
One last point: tandems put more stress on the components, so it's worth spending a bit more to make sure you get quality stuff. Wheels, tires, brakes and drivetrain take a hell of a beating on a tandem. We wanted peace of mind and that definitely comes at a price.
But hey, do it. If it wouldn't be for me seeing people riding tandems on this forum I'd never think that's a reasonable thing to do. They're amazing things.
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One more thing, but this you know already: tandems are ridiculous. It's very easy to notice the reaction of people when we ride by. Sometimes they see us from the front, and it must look like two 'normal' riders so we're about to be ignored, but when they decode what it is that they are seeing their reaction changes immediately. We get claps, thumbs ups, shouts, drunken hellos, lovely smiles, all the lot. I really, really appreciate the fact that we are amusing and somewhat ridiculous to them. They want to take a picture of us as much as we want to take a picture of them. It disarms my tourist guilt, it feels like a fairer exchange to me, we are an attraction too*
*says someone who hates being an attraction
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We were going to cross in Ha Tien as well, but according to our initial plan we should be reaching Siem Reap soon. Unfortunately I have a bad tooth and we have to stay for a couple more days in Can Tho. This means we will have to choose the shortest route from Vietnam to Siem Reap and (unfortunately) we won’t be able to ride through Cardamom Mountains. We’ll probably cross in Vinh Xuong.
This guy who’s Instagram you’ve linked - what a legend. I wish I have the strength, health and motivation to do what he does when I’m his age. I’m very excited about Cambodia even though I realize crossing the boarder might be unpleasant.
How was your crossing? You’ve said it was quick so I’m guessing you’ve paid the extra for the Visa and medical examination on top of that. Wasn’t you worried about leaving the bike + bags out of sight?
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Oh, tooth ache sucks.
We had to pay the USD35 instead of 30. First we gave the officer USD60, he just looked at us and rubbed his fingers, totally self-satisfied with his cheapo gangsta impersonation. We asked 'what?', he just said 'money'. We protested in vain. Of course he put it all on his pocket.
Then the 'doctor' called us to a screening room, I asked what was it about, he said 'check', I said no thanks, I don't need it, and walked away. He didn't even try very hard.
It was easy to keep an eye on the bike and take turns, but that's because it was totally empty.
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About
Asia on a tandem
Posted by
@ough
This is so cool.
I just returned from doing the 4 rivers and really enjoyed it. Impressive level of infrastructure, not high on the adventure scales but great fun and pretty beautiful (particularly in the middle of the country). Possibly the easiest place i've ever travelled with no local language.
Speaking of adventure, I lived in central Vietnam for about 18mths. If you want an amazing ride, albeit fairly remote and challenging, there is the Ho Chi Minh Highway that run parallel to the Laos border (https://goo.gl/maps/miYn6F9S2tu). For a country and densely populated as Vietnam it is surprisingly quiet and idyllic. The scenery tho....