China to Vietnam

Kunming to Hanoi
23.03.12 

Ok so this post brings little of the small villages, tribal areas and hot weather cycling... although maybe a little of hot weather cycling... But instead includes some practical stories regarding getting bikes, transporting the bikes across China and into Vietnam, and also provides some incite into our early Vietnam experiences and those leaving China.

Our next post will be that of the cycle touring, so you will have to excuse us as we tell you impatiently of our (hopefully last) lot of city based stories for a while, as we prepare to leave by bike tomorrow morning through the incredibly hectic roads of Hanoi, the countries busy tourist filled capital.

Post Author Christina

Buying the bikes and getting ready to go

After an exciting tour of Kunming on the all important bike hunt, cycle accessory shop around, and general fun in the sun, we were feeling sufficiently revived and extremely eager to begin our cycle tour section of our Asia trip.

Our new steeds were built by hand at a small bike shop in the 'main bikeshop drag' of town. There were plenty of standard built mountain bikes or road bikes, but little between set up for touring; so after much searching - including visiting the infamous Xiong Brothers, which proved to be a very disappointing experience offering low spec expensive bikes with no customisations, or even variation in size.

They also had disk brakes, which we were not keen to get, due to rota complications that we would rather avoid, the frames were very heavy, very ugly, and the general attitude and service we received was so very begrudged.

But alas, we were fortunate enough to bump into a very kind English speaking French man named Anthony who spoke excellent Mandarin. He took us to a good bike shop that he knew of that could do everything we wanted.

It was an amazing relief, although slightly nerve racking; handing over such large amounts of money to a small trade shop, rather than one that was well blogged about or an international manufacturer. There were however many customers coming in and out, and many bikes on the build, so this could only be a sure sign we told ourselves.

The bikes were built before our eyes, from parts that we had researched prior and had the luxury of selecting and checking before added to the pile. I could not help but marvel as I saw them make up even the wheels from parts, assembling the spokes and truing the wheel with very impressive speed and a reassuring attention to detail. Anthony had proved a great help, and so we left the bike shop to their building and took him and his girlfriend who later joined us, out for a delicious Indian curry near by.

All our spare parts and accessories (mostly brought at Cyclist and Xiong Brothers) came in largely over budget, but our bikes thankfully under, totalling a mere eight hundred and ten pounds each, for what is really a very large amount of stuff to buy, including cycling jerseys, shorts, panniers and helmets etc.

Kunming

Everything seemed to take a while in Kunming getting sorted, due to cash withdrawal restriction amounts, (about two hundred per withdrawal). However this suited us fine, relaxing in the sun was certainly not a chore, and being able to cycle between locations was a joy after so long without bikes; even if the city of Kunming is incredibly congested, with horns a plenty and engine powered mopeds that were still slower than even your average CTC old timer cyclist.

We had actually spent a rather substantial amount of time in Kunming by the time we left. We had become regulars at the organic and fair trade Dali Cafe, and enjoyed the free pool and social feel of the hostel, making a few friends too; including Robbie an 'around the worlder' as Hattie calls them, who is touring the world by bike (making music with his portable laptop and acoustic guitar) putting our three country cycle tour to shame. You can read about his travels and hear his music at his website http://www.globalguitarcycle.com/

We had also grown accustomed to the smiley helpful staff, and were in many respects sad to leave our safe comfortable bubble of the clean, friendly and westernised hostel. This did not stop us however from being incredibly eager to try out the bikes out of the bustling city, and so our short adventure planned ahead to the rice terraces - part way to the Vietnam boarder - was just what we needed to really break-in the bikes.

Yuanyang

And that we did. We managed to negotiate - with much difficulty, pleading and shameful bribery - our bikes onto the long bus journey out to Yuanyang, after our early morning hour long cycle ride in the blistering heat to the out of town South Bus Station. It was touch and go for a bit, but we managed to arrive by the afternoon with only a small amount of reassembling to do to our bikes after being stored in the hold.

We had a lovely evening and eate some traditional and very cheap food, then rested up for our 'breaking in' of the bikes on a trip to the famous rice terraces in the mountains the following morning.

After powering up a 3 mile climb of just under 800ft accent, Hattie was left way behind... it took me a little while to notice, but as the distance between us grew considerably and time drew on as I waited for her to appear at the top of the hill, I began to consider that Hattie was not struggling on the hill climb as I had thought, but that something may actually be wrong.

So I circled back down the hill/mountain that I had been so determined to conqueror to eventually be greeted by an angry Hattie walking her bike on the road side, cursing and shouting the odds explaining how her gears seemed to be constantly shifting and slipping without command as the hill climb got steeper.

It became obvious with a short demonstration that we were not going to be able to get much further up the mountain with the gears as they were. With this sad realisation and admission of defeat we decided that if we carried on just a little further we may be able to sneak a peak at the view before rolling back down the way we came.

After a surprisingly short cycle (when even my gears worryingly slipped the once or twice) we were greeted by the most amazing view that in all the drama had been lost behind what was probably a few bushes and a short mountain corner.

We could see for miles out to the many surrounding rice fields. The sun was high and reflecting off of the hundreds of still pools covering the steps down the mountainous green landscapes below. We stared out and marveled at the natural beauty around us, whilst the farmers marveled our shiny - but seemingly useless - bikes, before joining us in admiring the view once again. It seemed even the farmers who no doubt worked here day in day out were still not immune to the breathtaking view.

First bicycle service/bike tune up

After further research it does seem common for bikes to need services after stretches in cables early on, we probably should have 'broken them in' somewhere a bit more local to Kunming, however at least we were able to get back safety to our guesthouse and were not officially 'on the road' when the gears started slipping.

China/Vietnam border crossing

We got a local bus out from Yuanyang, where the bus driver with no qualms happily loaded both bikes to the roof top - something we had expected upon seeing the tiny bus to which we were to board, but still seemed a little daunting remembering the sharp twists and turns in the bumpy mountain edge road ahead.

Whilst the driving at times seemed reckless and petrifying given the sheer drop beneath the road side; we all made it safely, if not a little queasily, to the boarder town of Hekou in China, five bumpy hours later. We then loaded up our bikes and cycled the 6 short sunny miles remaining north of the border; we felt entirely fraudulent and slightly embarrassed when arriving all hot and sweaty from the heat, as it admittedly had probably looked as though we had cycled a far more impressive distance, greeted by many intrigued travellers and holiday makers wanting to hear of our cycling.

Our bikes were a big attraction at the border, and despite all the commotion - with lots of curious male vendors and taxi drivers wanting to poke and prod our bikes and helmets - we managed to get through just before they closed the crossing off for the day. We made it just in time and so were thrilled to arrive at our hotel with enough time to spare to make a quick call to our mothers for mothers day/birthday tidings, and eat a delicious Vietnamese noodle dish as we prepared for our 8 hour couch trip ahead to take us to Hanoi, the start of our cycle tour.

Lao Cai

We had been warned by many a traveller of the nature of Vietnamese culture and attitudes towards tourists, which I think had set us off to a bad start - anticipating being ripped off at every turn, and being extremely cautious of pushy tradesmen, vendors and restaurant staff keen to drag you into their establishments.

We did still however managed to eat a good few inexpensive and nice dishes at the border town whilst waiting the entire next day for our connecting bus. Our hotel was also very reasonably priced at a mere D220,000 for a twin; Dong being a ridiculous currency we are still getting to grips with at an astounding conversion rate of 1GDP to 32,000VND.

We had however realised upon entering Hanoi that we had been very ripped off with our water supplier in Lao Cai who charged us (no doubt after seeing how hot and thirsty we were on our bikes) over double what we consequently later paid in Hanoi the countries capital at a marked price. It seems that - as we had been warned - haggling is an essential part of buying and trading in Vietnam, even when it comes to a simple bottle of water, and having expensive looking bikes makes you a walking target waiting to be exploited.

Vietnam border to Hanoi

Getting the bus to Hanoi was an absolute nightmare. Not just the sickly and swervey 8 hour drive itself on sleeper reclining seats/beds that were somehow more uncomfortable than a normal seat, but also the loading and ticket buying process itself.

All the bus companies seemed to run buses at strange times - arriving at 4/5 or 6am in the morning, and charged a sizeable fee for bikes. Although at least they were willing to take them we though, as that would have made keeping to our visa dates quite tricky if we had to cycle.

We managed to find a quite competitive price with a company that was mostly sleezy and childish men that roamed around with - as it seemed - one finger permanently lodged up their nose or flicking a fag.

They also - like many other men we encountered in swarms at the border town - seemed intent on pressing any shifters or brakes they could get their hands on, and poke and prode the handlebars as if they were theirs to play about with, or even failing that try ride the bikes away.

There were quite a few stern words and physical restraints exchanged as they tried to mount our bikes several times. Their bullyish nature was not well received and suffice to say was probably over indulged on my part as I was determined to not be pushed around by these oafish men. We did however manage to get the bikes on the roof unharmed and unridden by them.

Hanoi at last!

We all arrived in Hanoi well and good after the overnight trip, exhausted but bikes unharmed. We were at first turned away at a good deal of hotels, refusing to let our bikes in our room, or just plain refusing us. But eventually were lead to a hostel/hotel chain in the old quarter that is much more traveller friendly, and with a little persuasion allowed our bikes in the room, and even took them up for us to our delight.

In our time here we have managed to fix our bikes after a little advice from a local bike shop - re-affirming the advice received from our Kindle bike maintenance book re' tweaking cables after wear and tear - eat some delicious local cuisine, look at lots of art in the commercial galleries, and talk to many a western pensioner that seem to fill the restaurants and bars of this South East Asian tourist city.

It seems travelling is the activity of the moment for any 60+ westerners, which we found incredibly refreshing from the usual swarming 18, 19 and 20's crowd of student travellers.

We have also visited the Temple of Literature which to our embarrassment we may have offended the practicing Buddhist's amongst the crowds (although it was mostly tourist filled to be fair) as we realised we were wearing shorts in a holy place... As a Vietnamese man nudged his friend in a rather obvious fashion motioning towards our bright white legs we made a quick escape get away from the temple; only to pass to our amusement a western man in the shortest pair of short shorts we have ever seen, who immediately took the attention of everyone he passed and got us off the hook. Many got out their cameras to take photos of him as he passed completely oblivious to the attention he was receiving in his almost ironic outfit resembling something from Flight of The Concords, or a 118 118 advert.

Despite all the tourists in their holiday get up there has in fact been a lot of rain showers, but the weather is warm and humid. The sky is over cast and apparently all much of the same on the coast. Never the less we are heading out tomorrow to Cat Ba Island and then along the coast until we head West for the Laos border, all by bike of course.

The kind hotel staff have warned us of the likelihood of people seeing us as westerners and wanting to steel our bikes - which is some of that lovely Vietnamese hospitality we have heard so much about - but at least nice of the kind man to warn us. Also along that vain; only today somebody tried to charge us 6 times the normal price for a breakfast street side snack, and was very reluctant in haggling until that same Vietnamese man managed to convince the woman to let us have it for only twice the price.

Hanoi has always been a stop-off as many big cities are on our travels, and so we are very keen to get on and out into the country. We will next update you at the end of our Vietnam cycle at our entrance to Laos, where Hattie will be taking over the blogging for a few posts and can hopefully bring you a more positive account of Vietnam as we leave the high price city life and tourist trap that is Hanoi behind us. Bye for now, or should I say, Tạm biệt!