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Entries made in December, 2010

Climbing to New Year's Eve

Friday, December 31st, 2010

Figuring out what the problem is, and making a plan to do something about it helps a lot, but at the moment, there's not much we can do to execute our solution. For the time being, we'll just muscle on, grinning and bearing it, even as we're passe...

What's Wrong

Friday, December 31st, 2010

If we were toddlers, we would be dragging our feet, whining "I don't WANNA!" this morning. Since we're all grown up, we seethe quietly instead, and force ourselves out for another ride. As the day progresses, our inner toddlers win out just a lit...

On Noise & Nature

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Being on the road today felt more like a chore than a grand adventure. Keeping my sour mood in check was a grim mental battle, and it was a fight which I found myself losing for the majority of our ride. I feel like a broken record complaining ab...

Armpits & Brothels

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

Visa extensions in hand, we're finally ready to leave Ho Chi Minh City. After nine days of waiting, we're feeling fresh and ready to explore once more. Unfortunately, very little about this day turns out to be enjoyable, as Vietnam boasts the mos...

Day One Without Coffee

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

Before this trip, neither of us liked coffee all that much. Actually, we had a mild disdain for the stuff, mostly centered around the fear of becoming dependent on a substance for something as basic as waking up in the morning. In spite of oursel...

Going to the Movies

Monday, December 27th, 2010

This evening, with the help of our friends who are both highly motivated to see the new Harry Potter film, we mobilize to go to the movies. Catching a taxi, we arrive at the nearby movie theater / shopping mall with plenty of time to spare. On th...

Vietnamese Funeral

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

It sounds like a brass band is playing inside our room. The horn section is so eye-poppingly loud that the musicians could very well be hiding in our mini fridge, or playing from the shower stall. A flick of the curtains reveals a band on the all...

Ho Chi Minh City's Taste of the World Festival

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Exhausted from our Củ Chi tunnel adventure (mostly tired out from the ride there and back), we're enjoying some peace and quiet in our hotel room. By the time night falls, the noise of a party outside is clearly audible in our room. We're not ...

Củ Chi Tunnels: Part Two

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Safely above ground, our guide takes us on a walk around the grounds, teaching us more about the tunnels. As he shows us tricks of the guerrilla's trade, we are in awe, totally and utterly impressed by the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Củ C...

Củ Chi Tunnels: Part One

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Our first introduction to the Củ Chi tunnels is a stroll through the lovely, innocuous woods above them. As we make our way to the first exhibit, leaves flutter on to the path, falling gently from the trees overhead. It's quiet and restful h...

Riding a Motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Our destination for today is the Củ Chi tunnels, an elaborate network of underground Vietcong hideouts, used heavily in the War of American Aggression. There are two sites open to visitors: the first is about 50km north of the city, easily accessi...

A Skype Christmas

Saturday, December 25th, 2010

Pleasantly full from dinner, and feeling joyful about our unexpected visitors, we come home to our hotel room with a renewed sense of peace. At last, it's late enough for our families to be awake (we're twelve hours apart). Now we can call them o...

A Christmas Dinner Surprise

Saturday, December 25th, 2010

Back in our quiet, sterile hotel room, we're feeling positively alone and bleak about the state of the world. As we're busy entertaining comforting fantasies of flying home to be with family, imagining ourselves knocking at our parents' doors, sho...

And So This is Christmas

Saturday, December 25th, 2010

Here in hot, sunny, loud, crowded Vietnam, Christmas is a day like any other. To pass the time until our families will be awake and on Skype, we decide to visit one of those educational-but-depressing sites we feel it is important to see. Heading...

On Family: The Cost of Adventure

Saturday, December 25th, 2010

There is a price to be paid for following our dreams. This morning, while our loved ones halfway around the world are tucked into their beds, sleeping on the night before Christmas, a quiet melancholy has swept over our little hotel room. Righ...

Our Process: Google Maps & GPS Tracks

Friday, December 24th, 2010

This entry is part of an ongoing series about how we've documented our adventure. Throughout our trip, I have saved our GPS tracks nightly. My plan to maintain one unbroken line, showing every road we've ridden for the entirety of our adve...

Our Process: Automation & the GSDB

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

This entry is part of an ongoing series about how we've documented our adventure. When we left on this trip, neither of us had an inkling that we'd be documenting our adventure in such exhaustive detail. The original idea was simple: a fli...

Hein and Luang

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

We've been loving the variety of Western food available in the city. Our favorite for the last few days has been a red-and-white decorated pizza and salad bar buffet, called Pepperonis. There is bad pop music pumping into the bright and cheery es...

Slowing Down

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

Early in our adventure, a break for more than a day or two gave us cabin fever. We traveled slowly but consistently, with a momentum to "get there" to keep us going. But these days, we're feeling like we "got there", we've arrived, and if we like...

Saigon's Alleys

Monday, December 20th, 2010

There is a second city hidden inside District 1 of Saigon; it is an extensive network of back alleys, twisting narrowly behind and between the borough's buildings. This sprawling microcosm is home to hundreds of people, businesses, and restaurants...

Into Ho Chi Minh City

Sunday, December 19th, 2010

Today, we'll be cycling into the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, and this morning, we'll have to face the grating music: it's highway time. The traffic-free rice paddy paths we've enjoyed for the last two days can't get us there. Procrastinating the i...

Riding in Rice Paddies

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

Tyler: Along the highways in the Mekong Delta, often less than a hundred meters from the road, there are peaceful dirt and gravel paths carving through the quiet villages of Southern Vietnam. Winding through tranquil palm forests, striking rice ...

Language Lessons & Boiled Chicken

Friday, December 17th, 2010

Finding food at the late hour of 9PM is proving to be difficult in this small, Mekong Delta town (of which we don't even know the name). After a thrilling day of engaging cycling, we are overtired and very hungry, trudging around town, searching f...

Mekong Delta Bike Paths

Friday, December 17th, 2010

Bolstered by a colorful market experience, and a steady succession of friendly smiles from local cyclists, we're having a spectacular morning. But, after less than twenty kilometers on the road, the excruciating off-key symphony of Vietnam's horn-...

Vietnamese Market Morning

Friday, December 17th, 2010

Tyler: This morning, determined to keep a positive attitude, we take to the teeming roads of Vietnam once more. Now mentally prepared to let the chaos wash over us, the constant dance of dodging people and oncoming traffic is actually pretty fun...

Our Process: Shitty First Drafts

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

This entry is part of an ongoing series about how we've documented our adventure. When we sit down to inspect our notes and bloobs, ready to shape the mass of discombobulated sentences into a journal entry, the words sometimes flow from our...

Working in Sa Dec

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

We wake up this morning with zero desire to travel. A peek outside reveals a grey sky with 100% chance of heavy showers. On a more positive note, we really like our hotel room, and the great restraunt across the street. Since we're having such a...

Culture Shock

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

Tyler: It is 8AM. We are in the middle of packing our panniers and ferrying them to the lobby, when two women march through the door of our room. One of them, carrying a cleaning bucket and looking annoyed, waves a hand in Tara's face, fanning ...

Far From Home: Part Two

Monday, December 13th, 2010

Tara: I'm standing in the bathroom of our hotel room, trusty yellow scissors at the ready. With one hand, I grab handfuls of coarse, sun-bleached hair, and with the other, I snip. As brown fluff falls away from my head, looking like some furry ...

Far From Home: Part One

Monday, December 13th, 2010

Tyler: The day begins with an early morning departure from our beachside bungalow, and a speedy ride across the island to the port. The ferry back is mercifully smoother and faster than the one in, and we are grateful to avoid another bout of se...

The Food Game: Fruits of Southeast Asia

Sunday, December 12th, 2010

Yesterday evening, after our squid fishing excursion, we walked home by way of the night market. On display were the heaps and heaps of colorful fresh fruit that we've come to know and expect in Southeast Asia. I realized, as I bought a red ...

Squid Fishing

Saturday, December 11th, 2010

Fishing boats are a ubiquitous sight on the beaches of Phú Quốc. During the day, they're either anchored just off shore, or packed in the harbor. The rag-tag fleet of colorful, hand-built vessels take to the water almost every night. In the proc...

Dinner at Le Deauville

Friday, December 10th, 2010

Hours after our island ride comes to an end, after several journals are written, we're beginning to feel the pangs of hunger. So, in a totally cliché romantic move, we go for a long walk on the beach which ends at Le Deauville restaurant. We'...

Peaceful Ride on Phú Quốc

Friday, December 10th, 2010

Tyler: The sound of waves lapping against the shore rings in another sleepy morning at our beach side bungalow. As the sun rises, we slowly rouse ourselves from a deep slumber, gently awakened by the warm light filtering in through the bamboo sl...

Phú Quốc Fish Sauce

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

We've heard that Phú Quốc island produces the highest quality fish sauce in the world, so we've decided to pay a visit to the nearby Hung Thinh fermentation plant. Our maps of the surrounding area are very poor, and we're not sure exactly where it...

Postcards from Paradise

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

This is the first entry in a series of e-postcards for our friends and family. Hovering on the cards makes them flip over, showing the picture on the other side. It'll work, but it won't look cool in Internet Explorer (the worst browser ever), so...

Morning Light

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

As if the quiet, empty beaches, and crystal blue water of Phú Quốc aren't captivating enough, we awaken to find that our simple bungalow and the mosquito net around our bed have been transformed into this: Good morning, magical fairy land! ...

Ferry to Phú Quốc

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

"Your passports, your passports!" the man shouts, speeding over to us on his scooter. We're loading our bikes on the ferry to Phú Quốc, heaving them over a railing at the front of the boat, but I turn around to see him approach, lifting his helmet...

Our Process: How We Write, Notes & Bloobs

Monday, December 6th, 2010

This entry is part of an ongoing series about how we've documented our adventure. A couple months ago, we decided to start recording the ever-evolving process by which we've been wrestling a page or more of writing from every day of our liv...

Vietnamese Food

Sunday, December 5th, 2010

I had inkings that Vietnam might deliver some stellar eating, especially after we spent a few days with my friend Tony's Vietnamese grandmother in Berlin. Last night, Tara's barbecued pork was easily the most flavorful dish either of us could reca...

Hello Vietnam

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

According to my GPS, we've arrived at the road leading to Vietnam: it is a dusty red track with no signage whatsoever. Feeling dubious about this intersection leading to an international border, we ask a nearby food seller for directions. I'm exp...

Farewell Cambodia

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

This morning, as we leave to embark on our final ride in Cambodia, a fierce wind is gusting in from the east. Exchanging grimaces, we fight to build momentum on the colonial-house-lined coastal road leading to the border. Thanks to the strongest ...

Pepper & Crab

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Kep, a quiet fishing town on the southern coast of Cambodia, sprawls out lazily along the shore over a few kilometers, nestled in the low places between steep green hills. The town's seawater is a little murky, and the beach isn't terribly invitin...

Pete & Natasha's First Ride

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Natasha: Every time we take a long bus ride to get to a new tourist destination, we gaze longingly out of our tinted windows as we pass the things we really want to see – stuff like small villages bustling with activity, and roadsides full of Cam...

Kampot Cruising

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Yesterday, we cycled over one hundred kilometers on less than four hours of sleep. As a result, we were so exhausted by the time we made it to Kampot that we fell fast asleep at the early hour of 7PM, practically nodding off in our dinner of fried...