As our journey comes to an end…

Andrea, whom we met whilst aboard the Grande Francia continues his journey around the World (do look for two intrepid travellers in the video…)

It seems like a long time since we were aboard the ship, though we’re still talking about it – people we meet are always amazed when they hear about our leaving London aboard a cargo ship and our voyage to South America, following the coasts of France, Spain, Africa and Brazil – an awesome experience that still lives long in our memories. But alas, all good things come to an end and we’ve had a truly awesome time, met some wonderful people and experienced many highs and great times.

The whole adventure had been really special and we both feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to see the World – pretty much on our own terms, having no plan whatsoever, only to arrive in Buenos Aires and go with the flow. Argentina was superb, we wish we’d met our tango instructor sooner though know we’ll take it up when we eventually settle back in the UK. The friends we met whilst learning Spanish will remain good friends – some of whom are already planning to visit London later this year.

Machu Picchu was everything and more than we expected – at one stage we had no plans to see it, so very glad we decided to get to Lima and onto Cuzco – it was mind-blowing. Having no plan saw us leave South America to meet up with friends in SE Asia, Jamie and Lisa in Vietnam, our little holiday within our trip – Vietnam was such a beautiful country and travelling by train, north to south we pretty much saw all of it and so want to go back.

Whilst Phnom Phen wasn’t for us, the rest of Cambodia was – seeing the small river town of Kampot was a highlight with many drunken nights spent in the Rusty Keyhole, drinking cold beers and enjoying great food to meeting up with our friends Dave and Katie, en route to London having been to a wedding in Australia. Seeing Angkor Wat with them both – we couldn’t have hoped for two better intrepid explorers!

Thailand was everything we though it wasn’t – we were both expecting Bangkok to be a little bit like Old Delhi, ramshackle and broken, dirty and not really for us so imagine our surprise to see multiple high-rise office blocks on a par with New York – an incredible metropolis though it the places outside of Bangkok we truly enjoyed – visiting the Islands and being able to climb in Krabi, a longish term ambition of mine. To visiting the north, making friends in Chiang Mai and our nights inside Pinkys – a fine watering hole with some great characters though none more than Fon and Graeme – unfortunately the photo I have of Graeme is long deleted though the image has been burned into my memory!

Then there was India and our being spoilt rotten by Ram Mama and Madhu Mami, both of whom gave up their bed and fed us plenty of home cooked food, which after being on the road for so long was very welcome. Rather than visit the same places we opted to see more of the north and the foothills of the Himalayas. Having now been to Leh I can categorically say that this is my favourite place in India – riding our Enfield in the mountains, riding over the first and third highest motorable passes was a real highlight. Seeing Goa in a monsoon (and meeting our friend Tony from Chiang Mai, randomly paying for something in a supermarket) and for me bathing in Ganga Mata in Varanasi, for no other reason than, why not!

We’re now in Greece, have been for about two or so weeks – relaxing before we head back to London and finding somewhere to live, rebuilding our careers and planning the next stage of our lives with memories of this year shaping our future. It’s been a wonderful adventure and I couldn’t have had a better person to travel with, be with and to share all these wonderful times with than my wife and co-pilot Shelley, none of this would have been possible nor as much fun with out her – it’s been a blast babes x

The End!

Tomorrow, Cambodia!

Today is our last day here in Vietnam, we leave for Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We were thinking about visiting the Mekong Delta though having been told by several people that whilst it’s cool, the floating markets and villages in Cambodia are so much spectacular – given we’re travelling with few plans we opted to jump on the bus and skip that final part of Vietnam.

So that’s it really, we took the Minsk back to Saigon Minsk – unfortunately Danh the owner wasn’t there though we got to have a quick chat with his mechanic – well we got to grin at each other and shake hands as my Vietnamese and his English are at about the same level. The Minsk was a great experience though I’m not sure I’d want to ride one the length of the country, though if you’re inclined, Danh will sell you a bike and buy it off once you arrive in Hanoi!

We also went for a final lunch at our favourite food stall in Ben Thanh market, again ordering too much of their excellent seafood though whilst it’s so cheap (and so fresh) is silly not too. Shelley and I both agreed that this was our favourite place in Ho Chi Minh City so if you get the chance then check them out. Head along to the food ‘hall’ they’re at stall 1114 – the only one with fresh seafood on show!

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Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietnam

Waking up at 5am this morning, Shelley and I left the hotel aboard our Minsk – hoping for quiet roads out of the City. No chance! There were thousands and thousands of scooters on the road, at times there were bikes coming at you from all directions (I kid you not!) Locals pointing and laughing at the white guy trying to look ‘cool’ on his Soviet made relic, billowing grey smoke behind him! Cars/buses/trucks hooting their horns – fully observing that well-known rule of the road – we’re bigger than you, you move!

It was bedlam though thankfully we made it to the tunnels in one piece though a little shaken!

The tunnels of Cu Chi are located 70km north-west of Ho Chi Minh City and was the Viet Cong’s base for operations during the Tet Offensive in 1968, plus numerous other battles and resistance. A vast, sprawling network of tunnels, some 200kms in total, all at differing levels; including fighting areas, hospitals, accommodation, kitchens and factories – it’s pretty impressive. As ever, the tour started with the obligatory ‘heads-up’ or propaganda piece – I enjoy this part the most as invariably there’s an American or four who get quite wound up hearing about the poorly equipped ‘peasant’ army taking the fight to US, and winning. Surely, they must know that any victor in battle will tell their side of the story?

Over the course of an hour or so you’re shown various stances with the most interesting being the ‘booby-traps’ piece – mostly primitive in their construction (before the War they were primarily used to kill tigers) though lethal and psychologically terrifying if operating in such areas, it was sobering and impressive at the same time. Also of interest was the ingenuity of the VC in making use of all the unexploded ordnance that was dropped on country, not only did they utilise the unexploded material, they also used the scrap metal, which they heated up and forged into barbed spikes which they then used in the above mentioned booby-traps. Other little things appealed; they recycled car/truck tyres to make sandals – interestingly the tread was always the opposite direction to give the impression to anyone tracking that they were walking in the opposite direction.

We also got to fire some weapons; we opted for the AK47 – weapon of choice for the Viet Cong – there was also several other weapons, mainly American M16 and M60s. Of course, I hit the target 5 times out of 5 – which is more than I hit whilst in the Corps (and more than my good mate Sooty!)

The tunnels themselves if truth be told, were a bit of an anti-climax – for starters they’d been made larger to accommodate the fuller figure of westerners (I assume they meant everyone else, not me!) and were only 100 or so metres long. Disappointingly, no booby traps! Though having ‘stuggled’ through little more than 100m of very wide tunnel, I was suprised at the amount of whinging from some of the group – ‘it’s claustrophobic,’ ‘it’s too hot,’ ‘crikey, it’s tighter than a gnats chuff…’ The VC sepnt months down there, suffering all of it – no wonder they kicked ass.

At the end of the tour you have the opportunity to purchase various souvenirs, the majority of which are GI Zippo Lighters – where ever you go in Vietnam, theres thousands of them, probably more lighters than there were Americans/VC combined. My mate, Tony T sums it up nicely:

Re tunnels, I bet it’s like the Berlin Wall, which would stretch twice around the world if you gathered up all the bits that have been sold to tourists – tunnels are probably the same – you’ll have had every post-war farmer out digging one while his missus is engraving original ‘air cav’  zippos, as used to torch our villages…

It’s been a great day out and pleased to have made our own way there on the bike.

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