Tour d'Indochine starts in Hanoi.  We head North to the border with China and then West.   We cross the border into Laos just outside Dien Bien Phu.  

Mike celebrated a birthday when we were in Vangvieng (a real party town) last time Laos and the group decided to decorate his bike for the occasion:

I am not sure what that blue thing is. Isn't Spider Man red? Help!.

Oh, yeah, I am showing my age.  Isn't that thing a Power Ranger??

He’s done Indochine a few times and the Laos part even more.

In fact, Graeme will likely be able to answer questions better than I can. Post your inquiries and let him have at it.

However, you may have to wait a bit for a response. Right now, Graeme is tooling around Portugal in a rented Audi with his lovely wife Izzy. I’m not sure that is good prep for biking tours, but at least it involves “wheels”. For those of you that don’t know, Graeme is a car buff. His Marque of choice….Jensens. He has a few Jenson Interceptors in various states of reassembly…or maybe disassembly…I’m not sure which at his home outside Melbourne.

Anyway, there are just a few days left to take advantage of our Columbus Day Deal ($400 off) and join Graeme and Erika on Indochine or use it on another 2011 tour.

Graeme in Laos (Indochine last year)

Here is Graeme climbing out of Grazalema about a week and a half ago on the Spain tour. Yes, that little furry animal on Graeme's handle bars is a stuffed kangaroo. It's very popular...especially on the Indochine Tour where the kids are ALWAYS checking it out.

On top of that, they were from Italy.  We love it when Far and Away Cycling not only means cycling in places Far and Away, but also being with people who live Far and Away.   In our view, it doesn’t get any better.

Anyway, on Indochine it soon became apparent  Mr. Paolo could probably give Lance a run for his money.  Paolo is a fitness instructor and could ride like the wind.   He spoke less English than Fede, but he kept mentioning “Mongolian Challenge,  “Mongolian Challenge”.  We soon learned that he was using Indochine to further his training for the big test, The Mongolian Bike Challenge.

Well the Mongolian Challenge is on right now!   And Mr. Paolo is in the thick of the action.  And I mean really thick.   It seems today’s stage was canceled due to a sandstorm.

Mr Paolo is Number 35.  There is a tour tracker so people can follow along.  I haven’t seen pics of Paolo yet, but I’m looking and I am sure I will find some before this thing is over.

The Mongolian Challenge looks ridiculously hard.  120- 140 k per day with 200o or more meters of climbing in a race environment with time eliminations while camping.   Mr Paolo is probably missing the wonderful amenities of Kiu Kacham, Laos about now!!

At this moment, Mr. Paolo is in 23rd place out of 94 entrants and about 80 minutes behind the leader.

Here are some pics of Paolo (and Fede).

I am 100% sure that Paolo would love to hear from people.  Write a comment,  a Bravissimo!, a “go Paolo”, anything.  He is all the way on the other side of the world, but you can bet damn sure that I will make sure that he hears it.

Some pics from The Mongolian Challenge Website:

The start of the MBC. Mr. Paolo is here somewhere!

Wow, this looks pretty barren!

From Indochine:

Fede and Paolo at Tram Ton Pass

R to L: Paolo, Fede and Gwyn

Compared to MBC, Indochine probably is "child's play" for Paolo!

WHOO- HOOO, go Mr. Paolo!  You Rock!

If Erika rides a bike like she writes, I may need to recruit all the bad boys from Rock Racing just so someone can keep up with her.

Here is Erika:

It's red alright.

Erika’s bio:

Whoa, I just noticed these last two entries. It's a good thing these tours always go well.

Erika’s line of work now is writing, social media and brand integrity.  Redheadwriting.com is her website.

In exchange for teaching Erika important phrases like “Nam Dim”, “Kup chai lai lai”, “kahm ern” and “Ninde te di pope chau”,  I am hoping she will share some writing and social media tips.   I have no doubt I could use some.

I’m very glad Erika is coming to Indochine.

Tour d’Indochine is 700 miles through Vietnam and Laos and it is an adventure.  If you have the balls to join Erika on Indochine (Erika has had an influence on me already!), we have this deal going for a few more days:

Group Buy

On sale thru the end of July

Cañon City Daily Record – High Adventure.

They got some plugs in for Far and Away Cycling!  They are right about the biking.  It’s not easy.  Lots of mountains and there was plenty of construction at the front end in Vietnam (it should be done by the end of the year).   If there was good news for us regarding the construction, it was that we were there during Tet and no construction was actually taking place while we were on the roads (and not much traffic either).

Chantal made all the arrangements for the climb up Mt. Fansipan.  The group included  Chantal, Robin Mason, Gwyn Kutz and the Mack’s.   They had some excitement that went beyond the climbing.  There was a forest fire raging on the mountain and they were the last ones allowed to make the trek.  While our group  was coming down firefighters (the military) were heading up.  The firefighters wanted the group to turn around and go with them to help fight the fire (“Ahh, sure, we definitely would…but we have to meet some bikers.”)

Fansipan is the tallest mountain in Vietnam at 3,150 meters (9th tallest in SE Asia).   According to Chantal, the biggest challenge of the climb was the steepness.  It gets to 60% so it is quite a scramble.  That didn’t slow Robin down.  She went to the summit twice…just for good measure.  The highest mountain in SE Asia is Mt. Hkakabo Razi (5,880 meters).  It is and located in Northern Burma.  We’ll keep that one in mind for a future adventure.

Fansipan may be our first trekking add-on for a bike tour, but it won’t be the last.  After the Sikkim (India) bike tour we have a 4 day hike to Dzongri planned….the better to gaze upon Mt Kangchendzonga, the 3rd highest mountain in the world.

Here are some picks of the gang scrambling up the mountain together with  a link to the article as it appears in The Daily Record.

Fanispan

L to R: Gwyn, guide, Doug, Chantal and Robin

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Maryvonne and Doug

Maryvonne and Doug

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Chantal and Gwyn

Chantal and Gwyn yukking it up in trek hut.

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A scramble.

The article had no pics so I’m taking the liberty to add a few from the trip.

Visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi

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The guy who owned this water buffalo could not believe that it would let Joan hop on its back (apparently they can smell people and don't like it). I couldn't believe that Joan even tried it.

Joan on her way to Tram Ton Pass outside Sapa

Joan with Hmong girl in Kiu Kacham

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Joan outside school getting ready to distribute books from Big Brother Mouse

L- Riding pal, Wayne R- Joan

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The whole group at Tay Tran border crossing from Vietnam to Laos. L to R: Clive, Jose, Shawn, Wilma, Me- Bob, Joan, Richie, Wayne, Mark, Graeme and Dan.

A big thanks to Joan for sharing the experience!

Best,

Bob

Now there are reports that the might Mekong, is at 20 year lows, and apparently no longer navigable.

Although tourist inconvenience is the the least of the problems  caused by low water conditions, anyone looking to travel between Chaing Khong, Pak Beng and Luang Prabang should be consulting the internet and reports of whether boats are making it.  At a minimum, be prepared to spend an overnight on a beach somewhere in case the boat gets grounded or can’t make it.

It was only a year ago that the Mekong was over its banks.   Currently there are massive works in Vientiane to build a containing breakwater.   Things can change fast on the river.

There are always reports that China’s mgmt of the river upstream is to blame, but it seems the current condition is simply lack of rain.  It rained only once (overnight in Muong Khua) on our recent two weeks in Laos.

Boat services suspended as level of Mekong plunges.

Barb M. from Wash DC

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L to R: Gwyn (from Ottawa Canada), Federica (from Italy) and Paolo (from Italy)

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Doug M from Canon City CO

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L- Maryvonne M (Canon City CO); R- Mr. Ken (Odomxai, Laos)

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Graeme (Austrailia)

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L - Chantal B (Arlngton,VA) R-Bob Bloomfield (MD)

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Jim W (VA) on his Bike Friday

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Elaine W (VA)

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L - Jeff T R- Jenny W (from Jersey City, NJ)

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Robin M (Arlington VA)

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Mr. Daolit

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Mr Thune (Odomxai, Laos

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L to R: Fede, Robin and the fabulous MS MAY!!!!

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Me....Bob

Thanks again to each of you who made it a fun tour.  It’s never really been about the biking (of which there is alsays  plenty).,.  It’s all about the people.

Chantal and I head home from BKK tomorrow.  So does Graeme, who is in BKK also.

Best,

Bob

On the tours, we always do something to help a school along the way.  We all pitched in this time to buy some books from Big Brother Mouse.  Big Brother Mouse publishes books for children.  Books are hard to come by in Laos and many kids never have hardly any books to read.  We picked out school along the way to stop and drop them off.  We never really know what to expect in doing this.  We don’t plan it so the school never knows in advance.

I send our local guide out up front to make sure the school knows we are coming…maybe 15 minutes ahead of time.

That was apparently plenty of time, since the whole school of a 150 kids or so were in the schoolyard waiting for us.

I make a little speech and so does someone from the school.  The highlight though was that Jim W. offered to teach the kids a song. ….”Old McDonald had a Farm”.  This was a big hit.  Apparently, ‘oink, oink” works in any language.

We had the usual lunch on the floating boats at Tha Ngon. All 17 of us went…..bikers and the Lao support crew. We had Shrimp tempura, lao salad, chicken with ginger and mixed veggies. We also had Beerlao and Jim bought a couple bottles of wine.

It’s only 25 k after lunch. Some folks took the van in and others rode the final distance. The biking in the last 25k is really not much. It’s always crowded, hot and chaotic. We all made it though.

Doug Mack gave his bike to Mr. Daolit, our Lao guide.  Maryvonne Mack gave her bike to Mr. Thune, our driver.  Ms. May, Mr Daolit and Mr Thune all did a great job.

I’d like to thank everyone who came on the tour. It was a great group. I will get everyone’s pic up in the next day or two. We have two nights in Vientiane at the lovely Intercity on the banks of the Mekong. I”s a recovery of sorts. This is not an easy ride.

Best,

Bob

Some of the kids at the school where we donated books....

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The School where we stopped....

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Despite having only 15 minutes advanced notice, the entire school turns out. It was great that we had Italy, Canada, France and the US represented among us.

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Jim Wilson teaching the kids "Old McDonald". He had them going!!!! Us too!

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The assembled kids. They stood like this for about 1/2 hour.

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Chantal greeting the kids.

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A couple kids at the school.

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On the floating boat. For some, this was the end of the riding.....

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Shrimp tempura, Lao salad, mixed vegetables and ginger chicken.....and some Beerlaos.

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Doug and maryvonne Mack gave their bikes to Mr. Daolit and Mr, Thune. Nope, they are not hanging up their biking shoes (although they gave them away with the bikes). They simply have better bikes at home and thought they'd be better used with Daolit and Thune. That was very nice of them.

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The Old Burmese Stupa in Vientiane. The end of a tour is always bittersweet. Yeah, there is relief that the challenges are over, but sadness that the adventure ihas come to an end. This is not an easy tour, but that really is the attraction. You suffer through the hard spots, you take pleasure in the beauty, you meet a lot of great people and in the end perhaps understand the world a little bit better and yourself as well.

That night we had the usual blow out final dinner at the floating restaurant with the dancing waitresses.  No pics on that.  I was too busy shaking a leg…or hand or whatever you do for Lao dancing.  Sometimes….what happens on a tour should stay on a tour.  You will have to come to find out…..

Best,

Bob

No mistaking the town where you catch the boat to Nam Ngum. You can smell the fish drying from a mile away.

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Our boat for Nam Ngum. This thing was huge. We went in style. It took a couple hours and elimnated between 80 and 90k of riding.

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Graeme and Elaine on the boat. Evveryone took the boat except Paolo, Fede, Robin and Chantal.

Graeme and Elaine on the boat. Everyone took the boat except Robin, Chantal, Fede and Paulo.

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Plenty of room on this.

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Maryvonne relaxing on the boat ride to Nam Ngum.

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Nam Ngum - home to the floating restaurant with dancing waitresses!