A White House Blog

admin — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 03:26:45 +0000

Spanish Night

In preparation for someones Tour de Europe

Vietnam Day 5

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 02:40:13 +0000

Final day of cycling from Muong Lai to Dien Bien Phu starting 8 k out of Muong Lai climbing out of the valley and across a couple of mountain ranges . 95 k , 1500m of climbing , 5 hours on the bike. The locals were burning the hills which was going to keep us from flying out of Dien Bien.

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Vietnam Day 4

admin — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:28:05 +0000

Took the van to the top of an alpine pass out of Lai Chau.Went to a pharmacy on the way for my sore back , bought meloxicam + tiger balm for $1.50. Win said we’ll roll down the hill then catch the van. Continued climbing for 12km , and lost count of the 10% gradient signs , before everyone else arrived in the van – by then it was very hot and steamy. Drove to Sin Ho for lunch. Then an undulating road with some steep climbs after lunch and then a very fast descent to Chanua. Win suggested we take the van to Muong Lai because of the roadworks – but we would have been quicker on our bikes as you’ll see from the pics .

The after lunch profile.

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from hotel in Lai Chau

hotel in Lai Chau

laoding

the pharmacy Penicillin/Ceftriaxone/Spectinomycin over the counter

time to climb

en route to Sin Ho

yet another 10% + grade

Vietnam Day 3

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:48:19 +0000

Drove to Tram Ton Pass ( good idea to drive to the top !) then descended to Ban Bo village , then across a very rough and hilly track and back to the main road to Binh Lu town for lunch . Finally climb out of Bin Lu and descend into Lai Chau – notably no vehicles or scooters came past on the descent! Being well ahead of the support vehicle the crew had to search for me in Lai Chau !The day’s approximate profile is below the gallery.

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Vietnam Day 2

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:38:59 +0000

Rode from Sapa descending into the village of Ta Phin , visited one of the local houses , steep climb back to Sapa for lunch , went for walk in the afternoon and got lost . Most of the people we asked had no idea where the Bamboo hotel was , or understood what we were saying , eventually we asked one of the Hmong girls who took us back despite having a 2 hour walk still back to her village!

Btw install Cooliris and you can view these with the “Piclens” effect – in fact you can use it to view your own pics.

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buffalo on descent from Sapa

descent to Ta Phin

cabbages !

road to Ta phin

rice fields in Ta Phin

road to Ta phin