January, 2011 Cold Start G Monday, January 31st, 2011 Tyler gently shakes me awake when the skies are light enough to ride by. He and Pete have been up tending to our fire—without which sleeping would have been impossible. It's bright and early,... Freezing in a Bamboo Shack G Sunday, January 30th, 2011 Tara: "Tyler," I whisper, trying not to wake our friends. "I can't feel my toes. Let me in!" I'm trying to squirm my way under his legs for warmth, but he's enviably asleep and his leaden body ref... Wild Camping With Friends G Sunday, January 30th, 2011 A golden sun is sinking fast behind the mountains, urging us onwards in our futile attempt to reach the highway before dark. At the crossroads we're looking for, where dirt meets pavement, there is ... Dirt Tracks to Nowhere G Sunday, January 30th, 2011 Tara: Brilliant blue skies stretch out above us, more heavenly than any magnificent cathedral's dome. The scent of woodsmoke (one of my favorite smells) drifts through the air, and I am filled with... Motorized, Again G Sunday, January 30th, 2011 I had trouble falling asleep last night. I must have lain in bed for three hours staring at the ceiling, thinking about riding motorcycles, feeling for all the world like a kid on Christmas Eve. I ... Resting in Luang Prabang, Sort Of G Saturday, January 29th, 2011 The last three days have been intense. They kicked off with a truly awful ride through Hanoi, which lead directly into a nauseating and exhausting twenty-eight hour bus trek through the mountains ... Welcome to Laos, Part Three: Music & Petang G Friday, January 28th, 2011 Tyler: After the goat feast, the festivities continue with music and games. Behind our table is a long strip of dirt where men gather for a petang match, one of Lao's favorite past-times. It's a ho... Welcome to Laos, Part Two: The Goat Feast G Friday, January 28th, 2011 When the soccer game is over, it's time for the feast! This party is special because our hosts are serving numerous traditional but rarely eaten dishes, all made from a single, freshly-slaughtered g... Welcome to Laos, Part One: A Soccer Game G Friday, January 28th, 2011 Tyler: Bleary eyed and delirious with fatigue, after a full day (and then some) of bus riding, with barely a night's sleep between us, we carve ourselves out of bed this morning to join our friends. ... A Very Long Bus Ride: Part Four G Thursday, January 27th, 2011 4:45 PM / Tara I feel like Frankenstein's monster, stumbling around groaning as I leave the bus during one of our many rest stops. My brain hurts and my stomach feels like death, but I find hope in... A Very Long Bus Ride: Part Three G Thursday, January 27th, 2011 10:00 AM Our trek through Laos begins with a stop at a roadside restaurant for a noodle soup breakfast. Back in the open kitchen where we place our order, a woman and a girl dish bowls of the de-fa... A Very Long Bus Ride: Part Two G Thursday, January 27th, 2011 7:00 AM A dull light hits my eyelids, rousing me from my restless sleep. One night down, one day to go. Outside, the world is all steely grey skies and foggy mountain villages. For a brief moment... A Very Long Bus Ride: Part One G Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 We've hardly been on the road an hour when our bus executes a wide left turn into a roadside restaurant parking lot. Lit up like a beacon in the night, the place has drawn a herd of giant coaches ju... Race to the Station: Part Three R Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 Tyler: Headlights fly by, momentarily blinding us, adding a hefty dose of disorientation to this impossibly hectic ride. At last long, we pull into the bus station, a crowded, chaotic parking lot, f... Race to the Station: Part Two R Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 Tyler: Hanoi's traffic is worse than Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh combined. It is manageable only because it moves slowly, a seemingly inevitable consequence of the complete anarchy which compose... Race to the Station: Part One R Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 A cold draft blows through the open door of the travel agency, causing a slightly kooky receptionist behind the counter to shiver in her fur coat. I sit on a chilly plastic chair, hands shoved benea... Surprise! G Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 I have a present for you! Aunt Rhonda & Tara I think you're going to like it. Tara Swinging Do you how I know? Tara is Lisa Because it's awesome and dorky, just like you! Tara, Wild Garlic Fairy C... Done Waffling G Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 With one week left on our visa, the question of what to do with the last of our time in Vietnam is looming. Normally, we stay in a country as long as we can, soaking up as much as possible. The tho... Bus-Lagged and Weary G Monday, January 24th, 2011 I feel like a zombie this morning, bus-lagged and altogether weary. I've been drained by Vietnam's non-stop barrage of stimuli, and now find myself overwhelmed by the prospect of exploring her spraw... On the Bus Again G Sunday, January 23rd, 2011 Tyler: After some long discussions and lots of hypothetical mapping, we've decided to catch another bus. This time, we're headed all the way to Hanoi. While we could likely ride there before our vi... A Walk in Huế G Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 It's another somber day in Huế, a perpetual dusk of sinister silver skies and drenching rain that comes in fits and starts. During a brief lull in the foggy drizzle, we leave our cozy hotel room a... Where to? G Friday, January 21st, 2011 It's another grey day; rain pelts at the windows, and outside on our little balcony, all of the gritty, dirty clothes we hung out to dry are no doubt soaked through. Neither of us can be bothered to... Mizzle-y Day G Thursday, January 20th, 2011 Mizzle is a term used in Devon and Cornwall for a combination of fine drenching drizzle… …it is known for being capable of soaking you in a matter of minutes, and the feeling is best... Hai Van Pass G Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 Tara: On this trip, we've observed more times than we can count that hungry cyclists are two year olds, who cannot be trusted to make good choices. In a prime example of this truth, Tyler rejects th... Scenes From a Day on the Road PG Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 In Which We Cycle a Bit Here we are, cycling along the coast of Vietnam, and we can hear ourselves think! We can hear each other talk, and we can ride side by side, all thanks to an unusually quiet... A Puppy On A Bed of Silk G Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 I met a puppy today, curled up in the arms of a little Vietnamese girl. They were stationed at the entrance of a grand Chinese meeting house, ready to welcome guests inside. Vietnamese Girl & Puppy... Art Tea G Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 With Tyler hard at work in our hotel room, I've bundled up for an afternoon of solo sightseeing. It's my favorite kind of weather for photographing old, aging places: grey and cloudy, not quite rain... Hội An Lantern Festival: Part Two G Monday, January 17th, 2011 In a small cobbled park, situated between a pair of buildings in Hoi An's old town, a crowd has gathered. People shout and laugh raucously, while a man announces something in Vietnamese through a ca... Hội An Lantern Festival: Part One G Monday, January 17th, 2011 Every fourteenth day of the lunar calendar, Hoi An puts the complications of modern life to rest in favor of a romantic, nostalgic celebration of a quieter era. Once a month, instead of playing host... Tailored G Sunday, January 16th, 2011 There is only one thing more ubiquitous than the colorful lanterns hanging everywhere in Hội An: tailors. Every second building in the old town is a shop overflowing with fabric, just waiting to b... Nightfall in Lantern City G Saturday, January 15th, 2011 From its famous Japanese covered bridge: Japanese Covered Bridge By Night, Hội An …to the smattering of lanterns everywhere: Hội An Lanterns by Night Floating Animal Lantern, Hội An Riv... Street Food in the Rain G Saturday, January 15th, 2011 Under heavy gray skies, a steady drizzle bounces off the conical rice hat of a roadside chef—she is sitting in front of a cauldronful of embers and ash, tending to an array of pork skewers. As... Sightseeing in Historic Hội An G Saturday, January 15th, 2011 It is grey, drizzly and downright cold outside this morning, but the weather suits me just fine; the somber mood it brings about lends even more character to the ambiance of this already atmospheric ... All Alone in Hội An G Friday, January 14th, 2011 For the last two years, every time we've made friends with anyone, we've had to part ways almost immediately afterwards. In fact, before Pete and Natasha, we'd only twice had the good fortune of bein... My Kind of Town G Thursday, January 13th, 2011 As we stroll around town, talking, laughing with our friends, and getting caught up on the last few days since we hung out in Da Lat, it is quickly becoming apparent to me that I am going to feel rig... Arriving in Hội An G Thursday, January 13th, 2011 Gritty and dim, under an overcast early morning sky, we've arrived at just the right time to witness this historical town coming to life. On narrow streets filled with dark wooden homes, we cycle in... A Night on the Space Bus G Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 A few days ago, we came to the realization that cycling the entire length of Vietnam was not only unappealing to us, thanks to the non-stop traffic, but also infeasible due to the duration of our vis... I Want to Go Italy G Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 When we were in Tunisia, barreling down the road towards Douz in a louage, we shared our van with a cute pair of Italian guys who had flown over for a week's vacation on a whim. Lorenzo and Giovanni... Down the Misty Mountain G Monday, January 10th, 2011 Tyler: As we round the bend of our last (uphill) switchback this morning, we're greeted by an ethereal vision in the distance: a swirl of fast-moving white fog drifting across the road. As we approa... Morning in a Mountain Village G Monday, January 10th, 2011 I'm not sure how early it is, but I'm ready to go. As I clumsily dislodge myself from the hammock, all knees and elbows, I leave Tara curled up like a burrito in the netting, dead to the world. Aft... A Long Cold Night G Sunday, January 9th, 2011 As the sun sinks into the horizon, coloring the sky a rusty shady of red, the temperature plummets with alarming speed. Crap. Why oh why did we send home our tent, and why oh why did I just send ho... Free Camping Again G Sunday, January 9th, 2011 Pedaling away from the tiny mountain shop, we round yet another bend, revealing a foreboding indication of more climbing: there is another wide, sweeping curve of a switchback before us. Well, I gue... It's All Downhill From Here G Sunday, January 9th, 2011 We're mentally prepared for an easy day of coasting, excited to reap the rewards of our labor. But as we cycle out of town, a freakishly steep hill looms before us, and I am caught off guard. I tho... Motorbike to the Falls G Saturday, January 8th, 2011 At the behest of Pete and Natasha, we've rented a motorbike this afternoon. They did a loop in the mountains around Da Lat a few days ago, and hearing their story convinced us we should head out for... Trying Betel G Friday, January 7th, 2011 In Vietnamese there is a saying that "the betel begins the conversation", referring to the practice of people chewing betel in formal occasions or "to break the ice" in awkward situations. Wikiped... Hằng Nga Hotel: Da Lat's Crazy House G Friday, January 7th, 2011 Hằng Nga guest-house, more affectionately known as Da Lat's "Crazy House" is a totally bizarro hotel designed by the Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga. She built it after receiving her PhD from t... Da Lat Market Fun G Thursday, January 6th, 2011 This morning, in a slumberous daze, my flickering eyelids open, and I find myself face to face with a stunning view. A raging sky of fiery orange and bruised purple obliterates the last remnants of ... Our Process: Automation: Journal Photos G Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 This entry is part of an ongoing series about how we've documented our adventure. As of this writing, our journal contains approximately eight thousand photos, distributed over eight hundred and... Working in Da Lat G Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 Yesterday, after a windy ride up our eight hundred meter climb into Da Lat, we were spared a long, drawn out hunt for accommodation. Just a few minutes after arriving in the city, we hit the lodging... Climbing to Da Lat G Monday, January 3rd, 2011 Stepping out of our guest-house, the chill bite of an early morning wind blows in our faces, sending up an army of goosebumps. Our exhaled breath is white like cigarette smoke, and this means one th... Coffee Country G Sunday, January 2nd, 2011 The ride out of Bao Loc this morning is a lovely one. Instead of starting the day with switchbacky mountain climbs, the early part of our route is full of easy rolling hills. As we pedal through th... Happy New Year G Saturday, January 1st, 2011 I love ringing in the New Year. Not so much for the booze and parties, but more as a set time to reflect on my life, and make sure I'm heading in a direction that is meaningful to me. Tyler, on the...