This is just a recap photo of Vietnam, I stopped between villages to lube my chain. Within 5 minutes all these people just materialised from nowhere and stood around drinking from my water bottle and staring at the bewildering process of a westerner oiling his chain. I was going to start offering my autograph but noone seemed interested so I parted the crowd and headed on my way. It is not the best photo but it sums up how curious the Vietnamese were in a cycling Irishman.

Now I am safely installed in Kunming where everyone could not care less even if I was a flying Irishman. Annonimity is very much appreciated for a while, I was starting to get a bit of a rock star complex!

This is a fantastic city, where at 2000 metres the climate is continually spring like, hence the name "the spring city" and is surprisingly relaxed for a Chinese city of over 5,000,000. I have found a beautiful old park, where for an entrance fee of 10 cents you can drink all the green tea your bladder can handle. It is set around an ornate old pagoda, with lilly ponds with Koi carp swimming about, blossomed trees, flowers of all sorts and what I suppose to be bonsa trees, poplar trees and bamboo bushes but with my horticultural mind they could be anything. The best thing about this park are the people, practicing tai chi, martial arts and the many tables dotted about where the elderly enjoy their retirement by playing ma jong, cards and chinese chess. Having played a few games of chinese chess and not particularly liking (probably because I am rubbish) I stick to the western kind. Sitting under this pagoda on a wicker stool is how I have spent about 80% of my time here only leaving to feast on dumplings, dog or whatever else the roadside food stalls have to offer and at 40 cents for a meal I am considering taking early retirement here.

This retirement can not come in to practice untill the 10th of June, having to wait here until i meet a friend to carry on to Lhasa at that time with, I have found gainful employment by the Chinese Department of Commece, no honestly I have! There is a fair between the 5th and the 10th of June in Kunming to promote tourism in the area, and enthusiastic tourism graduates from Kunming universities are in great demand, oh and westerners, I at least tick one of these boxes so I am in. I have a meeting with some of the head honchos tonight at 8 which I have been reliably informed in true chinese style is a test of how much alchohol you can consume without passing out, finally a job interview a sink my teeth in to, maybe Chinese future domination of the world is not so bad after all! The best thing about this job is I will recieve a certificate at the end of it stating I have aided the Chinese government, now if that is not worth framing and sticking on the wall I dont know what is.

Vietnam

At last I have found a computer that will let me update my blog, unfortunately uploading a photo is still beyond it so no colourful pictures to attract the readers attention. I am updating this from the garage of a house in a village 60km from Son La in the North-Western corner of Vietnam. Internet cafes are everywhere in Vietnam but are so infuriatingly inept at accessing anything you want off the internet I usually leave them a very unsatisfied and slightly irrate customer. As a result of this I have alot of goings on to narrate to you my distinguished reader.
I was more then happy to leave Vientiene after 4 days of doing next to nothing, in fact that city has at most about half a days of activities to do in it, and applying for a Vietnam visa is included in that estimation. So I hit the road on that hazy Saturday morning with a determination to do some serious un-adulterated cycle touring(it sounds more rebellious in my head) and sitting here 12 days on and 1100km under my belt I can sleep easy knowing I have achieved what I set out to do.
The last 5 days in Laos continued the way they started, quite roads, smiling children, amazing scenery and lung busting climbs. I hate to be blazee about it as it was very enjoyable but there is really nothing much else to report.
After the inevitable border crossing beaurocracy and the officials unsuccessful attempts at getting a few dollars out of me Vietnam welcomed me with a most appreciated present........a windy 25km descent through rainforests all the way down to a gushing river lined by luminous green paddies. This scenery followed me till I found a bed to rest my weary legs, which after following 3 wrong directions I finally found. This first day in Vietnam was far from over, trying to find a place to eat in this small town a stumbled across a bar and decided to whet my whistle and sample some Vietnamese brew, which is very tasty. It was not long untill I was eating a feast with the owners family, while he continualy offered me one of his three daughters who were conservatively aged from 16 - 21, I politely declined. After stumbling back to my guest house, I tucked myself in to my bed only to be woken by a knock on my door, some army personelle wanted a quick word! Hastilly putting on some clothes and joining them for some green tea they inspected and copied every piece of writing on my passport, shook my hand and let me finally conclude my first day in Vietnam.
Deciding I wanted to see the sea one last time before Europe, a daunting year away I headed for the coast. Finding a nice isolated hotel somewhere north of Vinh in a small village on a particularly filthy stretch of the South China Sea I said my sad goodbyes to saline air. Heading down to the hotel restaurant for a bite to eat in the evening i found out the restaurant was closed and being 3km to the nearest one I reluctantly went for my bike. As luck would have it two very beautiful hotel employees were more then willing to take me out for a meal, so off I went sandwiched, a very delicious one I might add, between the two girls on the back of a motorbike, as we were departing a loud rumble was heard and the heavens opened. It will be a long lasting memory of flying along this country road, avoiding farmers frantically collecting their peanuts which they left drying on the side of the road, fork lightning lighting the sky around and getting thouroughly drenched, these are the reasons that one travels.
I am rambling on a little bit now and am getting more and more inarticulate as I go so to keep the high standards of this blog continuing i will try and finnish off. Though the above experiences were certainly memorable I think my favourite part of this country is the numerous times I have been invited by old men to drink green tea and smoke 2 foot long bamboo water pipes, they chatter away, smile at me every now and again, pour my tea fill my pipe as I sit there in a contented daze pondering how wonderful life is. The scenery in this country has been the best so far with the kasrt mountains thrown about amongst the contasting greens of rice paddies, tea plants, corn and sugar cane, but this does not compare to the hospitality of the people who in the majority take it upon themselves to welcome you warmly as a guest of their country.
Unfortunately I have to cut this Vietnamese leg of my journey short as lying on my bed this afternoon I luckily glanced at my Chinese visa and realised I have to enter the country in 3 days and being 400 mountainous kilometres away from the border I am praying that public transport services the back roads between here and there. So fingers crossed the next entry to this blog I will be safely in China.

Hello to one and all from sunny Vientiene. Not much to report I am afraid I just really want to post this photo of some monks crossing the top of a waterfall up near Luang Prubang, I ended up talking to them about girls, money and what they are going to do when they finish their time in the temple. Not the most pious and deep conversation I have had with a monk on my trip but I suppose 16 year old boys are the same all around the world.

I have to hang around Vientiene untill my visa for Vietnam is processed then it is direct east for about 6 days untill I get to Vietnam and then direct north in to China, through the mountains of vietnam, I hear this is one of the best routes in South East Asia. From the boarder the route is up to Kunming by mid June and then start on the Yunnan Highway to Tibet. Yes as I am sure it is no surprise to people who know me, I have had another oh so common change of heart and am reverting to my proposd plan, so no turning soft with the idea of plane travel, it is me and my bike the whole way.........hurrah!

Just a quick ode to my bike. After over 1600km and only one puncture my bike showed its first sign of fatigue, at the beginning I waved it off as nothing but a mere superficial wound, nothing a little spin wouldnt fix, but given a closer inspection on the morning before the my last leg I believed it to be something far more serious, maybe serious enough to have to amputate the rear hub, a suspected broken bearing. But surely not I thought, not in such a sprightly young bike, such ailments only happen to old, tired bikes? After easing her gently over the last 100kms in to town, I quickly sought out a much esteemed French cycle doctor renowned amongst the asian cycle community , he quickly assured me it was not serious, removed the sprocket, tightened some nuts and after applying some ointment to help her move more easily she was mine to discharge and take her home, as good as new. Now compared to most of the bikes people are touring on my bike looks quite old style, skinny and weak and does not look like it could handle any particularly rough roads or adventures, granted the true test is yet to come in China and beyond, but I believe she can do it. So after much deliberation I hereby call my bike "Rocacante" after the greatly underestimated steed of Don Quixote, I believe this calls for the 2nd hurrah of the post.........Hurrah!

Spectacular is the only way to describe the road from Luang Prabang to Viang Vieng, I really dont think cycle touring can get much better then this. 230km of perfectly sealed roads, three 1600 metre passes, 2700 metre of vertical ascent and descent all of which are very gradual so as not to work the legs or the breaks overly. Thankfully rainy season is on the way so mainly overcased conditions certainly help on 20km climbs.

The scenery was breathtaking with the karst mountains and cliffs shooting jaggadly up all around with dense jungle and villages clinging to the side, I have much better photos to demonstrate this but this being the only photo with me in it vanity got the better of me. The difference in wealth between here and Thailand was evident in Luang Prabang but once you left that tourist mecha it really hits you, the villages are mostly made of bamboo and leaves perched on the side of mountains with smiley mostly naked, filthy children running up to you shouting greetings, waving like maniacs and offering high 5's. No matter how tired you are, passing these villages never fails to plaster a smile from ear to ear on your face, that smile turns to a rather serious expression when passing one of the many army/guerilla pesonelle(it is had to tell which is which) strolling about with a kalashnikov round his shoulder, there being some trouble of late with tourists on this road so I usually bade them a cordial greeting dropped a gear and off I went as fast as my noodle legs could take me.

So safe and sound in Viang Vieng it is time for a day off before facing the 2ookm to Vientienne. Long live cycle touring!