End of the Road

Yesterday was our final day of cycling. We started a few kilometers from the hotel and rode to one of the largest of the "tunnel villages" that were built during the Vietnam (American) war. Around three hundred people lived in these tunnels, only coming out at night, for over three years. During this time seventeen babies were born. The tunnel system allowed the villagers to survive extensive bombing by American forces and to supply nearby military forces. We had a chance to walk through the tunnels. They were almost tall enough for me to stand comfortably throughout and had wells, small side rooms for living spaces, and even a medical area. The tunnels were built into a hillside by the beach and spanned three levels going over 23 meters deep from the surface.

After the tunnels we cycled to the DMZ border on Highway 1. We spent some time at the border, had lunch, and then cycled several more kilometers to the Kids First Vietnam Rehabilitation Village. After meeting with Roger and the staff we went to the hotel for showers and a change of clothes before having dinner at the village. After dinner we had a small party, including a performance by a group of young men and women who have been learning ballroom dancing. It was a very pleasant end to our time on the bikes.

Spin, Spin, Spin

The last two days of cycling went smoothly. Yesterday we cycled for about two and a half hours and covered about 40 km. The day started out rainy, but cleared up after we drove about thirty minutes. We spent most of the time cycling along the ocean side on small country roads.

Today we bicycled for three and half hours and covered 67 km. First we cycled to Phong Nha Cave, a World Heritage Site in Vietnam. We took a boat tour into the cave and got out partway through to walk around inside one of the many land branches. After the boat tour we had one of the best lunches since we left Hanoi. There was a good balance between fried, stir-fried, and boiled food, and between meat, seafood, and vegetable dishes. I especially liked the breaded fried shrimp. They were fried well enough that you could even eat the tails. They reminded me of fried shrimp heads that I used to eat in Japan. Yum!

After lunch we cycled along the Ho Chi Min Highway back to our hotel. The road was smooth with rolling hills and traffic was light, so we were able to make really good time. It felt nice to hit a steady pace for an hour without slowing down. This was the only day I wished that I had been on a road bike.

Hello! Hello! Allez-Vous?

I think I am stuck behind the Vietnamese firewall. Or perhaps just a
slow connection? As over the last couple of days as we have moved
further into the country side, I have been able to access fewer and
fewer U.S. based web sites. Of course accessing the Internet from a
government run post office might have something to do with it. I am
glad I can still get to Gmail to send this blog entry by email,
although even Gmail only works in basic HTML form today.

Today was our third day of riding. We cycled for about four hours
today along scenic country roads through farming villages and along
the ocean. We were greeted with cries of "Hello! Hello!" the entire
way. We waved and shouted "Hello!" back and received big smiles and
laughter in response. The previous day we covered about 90 km in
around seven hours and the day before that we just from our hotel for
a few hours to a river where we enjoyed a row boat tour. Over the
last three days I saw endless country scenes from boys riding on cows,
to live pigs tied to the back of a motor cart being taken to
slaughter, to old women working in rice fields and more. The roads
have varied from nice smooth asphalt to broken up chunks of what used
to be a road. We covered much fewer kilometers than one would guess
due to poor road conditions combined with strong winds. Highway 1 is
in much better shape, but we all protested when our guide Cuong tried
to take us on it for part of the day. We much prefer the scenery and
safety of the country roads despite their poor condition over the
fumes, blasting horns, and chaotic traffic of highway 1.

Cycling through the country side has been a great experience so far
and given me a glimpse of one way of life in Vietnam. The food and
accommodations are significantly worse out here than in Hanoi. I felt
a little queasy after lunch the last couple of days. I am consciously
avoiding looking at the kitchen were our food is prepared. The
bathrooms are typically squat toilets and the urinal in the men's room
today at lunch wasn't connected to a waste line and just drained onto
the floor. Our hotel rooms are a step above the places we stopped at
for lunch and have toilets and stall-less showers in the bathrooms.
The food in the hotels is also significantly better than the country
side restaurants. It has been well worth roughing it a bit for the
experience so far.

I am being very careful in what I eat so as to avoid getting seriously
ill. So far avoiding shellfish and uncooked leafy vegetables has
worked. Our meals have included many meat dishes. I am not sure if
this is because these are the safest foods for us to eat or if our
guide thinks we prefer meat or if it is just what is on the menu.
Overall the beef, pork, and chicken have been good fried and
stir-fried, although I didn't care for the boiled skin-on chicken the
few times it was served. I also didn't enjoy the boiled skin-on goat
either. We had Pho for breakfast today and that was very good.

Hoa Phuong Orphan-Bringing-Up and Educating Village

I still haven't been able to come to terms with our trip to the Hoa Phuong Orphanage two nights ago, so I will just try to describe what I saw. We pulled into the orphanage around 7 p.m. The building is a two story concrete complex with many rooms. We met with the directors of the orphanage and had a chance to ask a few questions.

Key Facts:

• 55 children live in the orphanage
• Orphanage was started 15 years ago
• Children are organized into mixed-age, mixed-gender families of eight to ten with an employee acting as the mother for each family
• Children come to the orphanage from communities and hospitals
• Between five to ten children are adopted each year and leave the orphanage
• When a child turns 18, they leave the orphanage to live on their own

Our visit was arranged as a party for the children and they seemed very excited to see us. We gathered in a large room with buffet tables covered in food arranged around the room. We were surrounded by children ages 7 to 17 as soon as we entered the room. They were all very friendly, laughing, tugging at us, bringing us bits of food to try. Roger explained to us earlier that these children are more fortunate than many disadvantaged children, even if they don't have their parents, because they have food, education, and people giving them loving care.

We have been cycling for two days now and it has gotten harder to find time and places to access to the Internet. I still hope to post something everyday, but expect missed day every once in a while. More about biking tomorrow.