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| Making our way through the mountains |
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| Callum refuelling - the width of this banana is something else |
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| A typical paddy field |
On 5 June 2012, Ride4Education (Sam Wilson, Callum Ewing, Jamie Richards & George Blurton) will be flying to Vietnam to cycle 2400km from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. The Cause: Saigon Children’s Charity aim to ‘Eliminate Poverty Through Education’. By raising £15,000, we will have enough money to sponsor 15 students through their 4 years at university in Vietnam.
Monday, 2 July 2012
Photos - Day 24
Day 24 - 'Buon Ma Thuot' to 'Lien Son'
Day 24 began with us loosing our driver 5 minutes after setting out from the hotel.......blame was solely placed on Sam who caught the eye of another yellow van and blindly followed it, mistakingly thinking it was our van, for 20 minutes..... an hour later we were reunited with our driver. This mishap added 15 km onto the days ride making it 65 km to 'Lien Son' instead of the 50 km we had planned.
Highlights of the day included watching Callum eat an overly large sized banana and cycling through some stunning paddy fields in the valleys.
www.justgiving.com/ride4education
Highlights of the day included watching Callum eat an overly large sized banana and cycling through some stunning paddy fields in the valleys.
www.justgiving.com/ride4education
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Photos from Day 22 & 23
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| Bus swerves to avoid a pot hole causing Cal and Sam to crash into some bushes |
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| Vietnamese mopeds make an interesting sight! |
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| The 60 km round trip to visit the elephant village was well worth it - Sam very much enjoying his ride |
Day 22 & 23 'Ea Drang' to 'Buon Ma Thuot' - Elephant Village
The milder weather during the last 3 days has been greatly appreciated by the three of us. Today’s ride was to Buon Ma Thuot, where we faced the same undulating terrine, bumpy roads and dangerous driving that we have described in previous blogs.
Callum and Sam experienced a very close shave with a bus, when it swerved at speed onto their side of the road to avoid a pothole..... The aftermath involved the two of them becoming entangled in the roadside shrubbery.
Thankfully no one was badly hurt, but check out the picture Sam snapped before he realised what was coming right at him! Over the trip we’ve been bemused, amused and sometimes shocked by the kinds of things that the standard Vietnamese man feels appropriate to strap onto his moped.... the photo collage we’ve posted includes: Live pigs, chickens, trees, other motorbikes and today we saw a what looked like a mountain of banana’s zooming passed..... closer inspection of the photo reveals that there was a driver there too!
Ahead of schedule by one day, we cycled 60km to an elephant village outside 'Buon Ma Thuot' to ride some elephants and swim in the rapids. A thoroughly enjoyable experience.
www.justgiving.com/ride4education
Callum and Sam experienced a very close shave with a bus, when it swerved at speed onto their side of the road to avoid a pothole..... The aftermath involved the two of them becoming entangled in the roadside shrubbery.
Thankfully no one was badly hurt, but check out the picture Sam snapped before he realised what was coming right at him! Over the trip we’ve been bemused, amused and sometimes shocked by the kinds of things that the standard Vietnamese man feels appropriate to strap onto his moped.... the photo collage we’ve posted includes: Live pigs, chickens, trees, other motorbikes and today we saw a what looked like a mountain of banana’s zooming passed..... closer inspection of the photo reveals that there was a driver there too!
Ahead of schedule by one day, we cycled 60km to an elephant village outside 'Buon Ma Thuot' to ride some elephants and swim in the rapids. A thoroughly enjoyable experience.
www.justgiving.com/ride4education
Photos - Day 21
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| The fog made things really tricky... |
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| A very bumpy ride....... |
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| Strong headwinds through the valleys making cycling tough for us |
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| George surprisingly happy at the prospect of cycling over the mountains in the distance |
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| Sam's alternative approach to 'warm-down' - sharing vodka with our driver |
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| The view from our hotel balcony |
Day 21 - 'Pleiku' to 'Ea Drang'
After the previous day’s draining exertions (a monstrous 48k... in mild temperatures...on reasonable road surfaces... I jest; of course), the team awoke with a spring in our step - ready for our 100k+ ride to the small mountain village of 'Ea Drang'.
The first 2 hours were spent fighting for survival along the Ho Chi Minh Highway - with narrow, muddy, potholy roads not really suitable for our pristine bikes - not to mention the thick layer of fog limiting our visibility to less than 10 metres. However, we soon found ourselves on a beautiful 30k stretch of downhill road (potholes and aggressive drivers still very much a constant). Five long hours in the saddle took us through some extremely rural areas, and the vast expanse of surrounding flat land meant we were further exposed to the punishing relentless headwinds.
Nevertheless, we saw a road sign indicating 25k until 'Ea Drang', signifying roughly an hour left to go. Blissfully unaware of the huge mountains up ahead, we pushed on. The climb, though very beautiful, was a harsh 400 metre obstacle- not the ideal way to end a day, with our already tight muscles from the earlier 100k.
We finally arrived in 'Ea Drang', after consuming every protein bar, zero tablet, electrolyte gel and anything else reasonably edible at our disposal - at one point a passing motorcyclist even attempted to push Sam up the mountain from behind... but to no avail.
At present, George and Callum are stretching out and trying to prepare for tomorrow’s journey to ‘Buon Me Thuot’- while Sam was last seen splitting a bottle of vodka with Kran our van driver - we look forward to seeing who’s warm-down method is more effective.....
www.justgiving.com/ride4education
Photos from Day 19 - 20
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| Tweaking our bikes before setting out to 'Plieku' |
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| Trucks rule the road! |
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| Reminders of the war that affected so many of the villages we pass through |
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