Bike Tracks

Departing from “the group” Hanoi to Hue Day 304 – 305 After spending the first night in Vietnam in the safety of the TK&A chosen hotel, I set out with my backpack to find a place in the “old quarter” of Hanoi. I shared a cab with friends and was dropped off at Handspan Adventure […]

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China to Vietnam Day 302 I loaded a bus for a 4 hour ride to the Friendship Gate, the land border crossing between China and Vietnam. It was one of those memorable crossings that made me think, “I can’t believe this is happening!” Our group occupied 5 buses and several trucks. When we got to […]

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Avoiding Pain on the Train Day 303 TK&A scheduled the group to ride on the train, it was an all night ride leaving at 10 p.m. After sitting on a bus for 12 hours the day before, I decided more torture was not in my future. In retrospect, reading and hearing about the horrors of […]

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Luizhous to Binyang Day 300 I never got to Binyang, but I am compelled to relate the following story. The riders arrived to find a shortage of rooms. The town was small and not accustomed to having westerners visit. The TK&A group was negotiating to find more hotel rooms. (It was a good thing 19 […]

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Rong’an to Liuzhou Day 299 The DRG warned us today the first 53 kilometers were through construction. TK&A would be busing the cyclists through this area, because it was that bad. We loaded up the Kristal buses and set out. We hit construction shortly before getting out of the city. It was a mess. The […]

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Longsheng to Rong’an Day 298 It was the first day of the Kristal buses riding the road. Since the weather was lovely, most of the “Kristal Customers” were cycling, so the buses to Marco’s dismay were barely half full. I reminded him had already been paid and he need not worry about it! Good grief, […]

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We arrived at the hotel just prior to noon, local time. We lost an hour on the clock and had been traveling via bus and/or plane for the past 26 hours. I am wound up, our hotel is located across the street from a Japanese Castle, it looks wonderful, with pagoda like guard houses on […]

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Guilin to Longsheng Day 296 After a rainy day off and a miserable rainy riding day the day before, I was not thrilled at the aspect of riding yet another day in the rain. I took a poll of a few folks and determined I could fill a bus with people who agreed with me. […]

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Yangshou to Guilin Day 294 If you ever have to be stuck in China during the rain Yangshou is the place to be. I enjoyed a wonderful American breakfast while sitting in front of a “high speed” modem computer, watching the rain pour off the umbrellas outside. It was about as close to heaven as […]

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Zhongshan to Yangshuo Day 292 While writing postcards tonight, I tried to pinpoint what it was about China that is so unusual. I both love and hate it, the countryside is different and beautiful while at the same time primitive and dirty. I made a deal with myself, that if China conditions were so bad, […]

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