Post # 58 Ky Anh

Day 70 1010 days to go. Distance: today 98km total 4017km. It’s 7.20pm Wednesday the 8/2/2012 Ky Anh. Hey cracked the 4000km mark yay!!!! I was emailing with a friend of mine recently and she commented that I was ‘living the dream.’ Today was a reminder that there’s lots of reality bite marks in that dream. That said it is a dream with respect to the experience good and not so and every precious moment in between. Following on from yesterday’s cool stuff, today was quite a horror. In perspective I’m safe and dry and warm and healthy and that’s what counts to do it all again tomorrow. But in all truth it was a horror and happy now to be talking about it in past tense. Rube and I headed off positively this morning despite the drizzle and chill. But the conditions soon deteriorated and were pretty much the worst I’ve come across to date. Again I’m sure there will be worse to come but mother nature was cranky and took it out on her weather. It drizzled then rained all day and it was cold cold cold with a wicked head wind and gusty yuck. The road was also crappy and the heavy traffic all wanting to get to where they were headed full on. Not a nice mix. I kept myself covered to avoid exposure stuff creeping in so got through the kms eventually after 10 hours. Later morning it was time for calories and since I had run out of lunch stuff I decided to stop and a roadside cafe. I dined on rice and lots of greens mostly broccoli and it was really yum delish and hot. Unfortunately they charged a stupid amount which I hadn’t expected so I blew them a raspberry (on the inside) while I handed over the 50 000 dong and got under way again with a happy belly and a slightly pi$$ed off wallet. I got some good picks earlier on of some village homes and folk literally head down bottoms up in the rice fields. I must say I was pretty happy to finally arrive here late this arv. There’s only a handful of places to stay but found a decent hotel for $8 which is great because the only other option was $20 which I wasn’t keen for. The first place was a total total dive and he was asking $ 10. I don’t think so!!! And the other place was full so where I’ve ended up is prety good considering. No hot water but the right price and clean so we’ll deal. Emotionally I had a tough one. I was passed a handful of times by this truck overloaded with caged pooches squashed ontop of one another and soo distressed by their yelping. I have no idea where they were destined but it wasn’t a good place. The truck stopped twice only to pass me again on the road so three times was enough and I howled along with the puppies. I could only wish for them a better time of it next time around. It was crap and cruel. Then I saw these two men on a moped with a hog tied pig on the back. If that wasn’t tragic enough for the pig they then stopped for a smoke and rolled the pig off onto the ground while they fagged on. It was crying. Again so crap and cruel. I can’t fathom how people who are supposedly buddhist minded can treat any life with such disregard. It’s hopefully only a small % of people but it seems to be ok when it so isn’t. The experience has left me even keener about visiting Cuc Phuong National Park as a positive example of Vietnam’s commitment to wildlife protection and conservation. The NP is 45 km north of Ninh Binh. I plan to camp there in 6 or 7 days time. When the rain got heavy earlier on I stopped at a cafe to put on the full wet weathers and it was empty bar the woman running the shop. She was really friendly and happy for me to use her cafe to get my gear on out of the weather. Then this man arrived and soon after they were in an attached room having sex and by all accounts for his pleasure not hers. It made me feel sick. It was really helpful to have had such a great day yesterday that I could focus on while riding as this stuff’s not good to replay in the mind during the long hours. It’s good to put these events out there and I understand it’s not my grief but it’s definitely reality bite marks. On a positive Rube and I did really well today both working hard and happy with ourselves to get through the day’s conditions safe and sound with working bits intact. It was interesting watching the folk in the rice fields. They were knee high in water and rain and it must have been so cold. When I stopped to take some photos a few of the folk were laughing calling me over to lend a hand. I let out a huge ‘no’ and gave them the thumbs up for how amazing they were. They were all smiles and a great example of resilience 101.Two young girls left the fields and came over to say hi and check out both of us. They were really excited to meet us and friendly. I gestured they must have been cold but they said no and were just happy to meet and greet and happier still to get their photo taken. They would have been no older than 14 or 15 and working hard for the little money honey. I didn’t feel so bad off cycling off in the rain and them stepping back into the water. I’ve been looking into options for sponsorship through the blog with awesome help from my family (xxxxxxxxx in particular my brother-in-law thankyou Marcus). This program looks like a good option. It’s a world wide family based program that helps orphaned children by relocating them with new ‘mothers’ in a community where they have access to basic needs including education. 100% of donations go to the sponsored child with administration costs absorbed by the company through volunteer work. Have a look and see what you think? There are SOS communities all over the world including Asia and the countries I have travelled to date http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk -That’s me for tonight’s post. Time for a pot full of two minute noodles and bickies for desert. Thanks for listening. Talk soon x