California Coast in the Late Fall

I'm not quite done yet riding this year, or so I think. This summer, when it was very hot in the intermountain west, I met many bike tourists who would were escaping to the coast to continue riding. I want to see what they experienced. Not only that, I want to contrast my riding experience in Vietnam with a riding experience along the California Coast from Salt Point in Sonoma County all the way to Santa Barbara.

Here what my tentative schedule as of November 2007. Unfortunately, my knee conspired to prevent me from riding further.

November 23 (Friday): Santa Rosa to Salt Point
November 24 (Saturday): Salt Point to Samuel P. Taylor (outside Fairfax, Marin)
November 25 (Sunday): Samuel P. Taylor to Oakland
November 26 (Monday): Oakland to Pigeon Point
November 27 (Tuesday): Pigeon Point to Monterrey
November 28 (Wednesday): Monterrey to Limekiln State Park
November 29 (Thursday): Limekiln to Morro Bay
November 30 (Friday): Morro Bay to Gaviotta State Beach
December 1 (Saturday): Gaviotta State Beach to Santa Barbara
December 2 (Sunday): Train ride home

Ride Wrap Up

So how was the trip? It was an experience. Would I do it again? You bet.

From the Rockies to Connecticut and Maine to Vietnam, I had such a variety of experiences this summer and fall. What they had in common is that I was on my bike. But they were worlds apart. The dry Rockies are very different from the wooded East Coast. The mountains are not as high in the East Coast. The East Coast is much greener that the Rockies. But the Rockies, with the exception of the National Parks, are empty. I enjoyed the wide open spaces and the solitude.

The East Coast has many people and places. You can't go far before you enter another town. I enjoyed the woods and lakes of the East Coast. I especially enjoyed the coastline of Maine.

But of all the travelling, Vietnam was by far the most different. It was ten times more green than Maine, 20 times flatter than the Rockies, and 15 times more populated than the East Coast of the United States. However, Vietnam was 100% safer for riding as bikes are very common in Vietnam.

At the end of my trip, after I landed in San Francisco, I chose to ride BART home. I had to reassemble my bike in the BART station. The BART station agent proved helpful as he walked over and said, "Hey buddy, you can't lean that bike box there."

I replied, "Okay, but where can I throw away the bike box?"

The agent said, "You will have to throw it outside the BART station."

Really? I thought. You mean, I will have to drag my suitcase, bike, and a cardboard box all outside. Instead, I asked, "can I break down and cut up the box here and dispose of it in a BART garbage can?"

He answered by grunting. How interesting, in America, I have to tear apart a perfectly good bike box so I can dispose of it, while in Vietnam, I would save the bike box so someone could reuse it or so I could sell it to someone.

In Vietnam, I bought a suitcase so I could easily place my luggage on the plane. I had a 2-bag limit to the amount of luggage I could bring, so I bought a large suitcase. On my flight to Vietnam, I actually checked 4 bags - my bike box and three panniers; I brought 2 bags - my handlebar bag and another pannier with me as carryon luggage. In San Francisco, I was not charged for being over the bag limit or for a bike, but in Vietnam (for my return trip to S.F.), I did not exceed the number of bags, but they did charge me for the oversized bike box.

Bike and New Suitcase Back in Oakland.

I found this great mosquito repellant while in Vietnam. It's manufactured by Jumbo. It has a vial of mosquito repellant that is vaporized from the top of a porous tube. Capillary action brings the repellant to the top of the tube where it is vaporized. The continuous vaporizing of the repellant forms gradient which pushes the repellant from inside the vial to the top of the tube.

Although I still saw one or two mosquitos while using this, I think it was generally useful.

Jumbo Mosquito Repellant.

Flying Home...Seoul Korea (November 6)

Flying east across the international dateline really extends the day. I can catch a plane in Saigon at 1:00 a.m. I awake in Soeul at 8:00 a.m. In the afternoon, I hop on a plane and still arrive in the City at 10:00 a.m. How? The international dateline. I am flying towards the begining of a new day...

From 8:00 a.m. until the afternoon, my layover in Seoul lasted 10 hours. Because I had planned on seeing Seoul during my layover, I bought a Lonely Planet Seoul guidebook. As with other international airports, the Seoul airport was located about 45 miles from downtown. This created a problem. How could I get to downtown Seoul, see the sights, eat some food, and get back to my plane in time? I could take the subway, but as far as I could tell, I would have to catch a bus to get to the subway station. The bus plus the subway ride might take 2 hours one-way. This would take at least four of my ten hours.

To complicate travel matters further, Seoul has a weird street numbering convention. They number the buildings sequentially based on when a given building was built. So number 17 on a street might be next to number 245. Additionally, the streets don't have their names posted on street signs. So if I were to explore Seoul myself, it seems as though I would likely get lost.

Exiting the plane, I was told that I had the option of getting a free hotel room or a free tour of Seoul. I opted for the free tour instead of trying to find my way around Seoul by myself.

As I went through customs, there were a group of 4 of us who wanted to go on the tour. Some other passengers had told me that to find the tour desk, I had to go the first floor and walk to door A. So, I tried to lead the group of us to door A. The problem was that we were all tired and not all of us were sure that we were going in the right direction. Door A happened to be at the other end of the airport, so it was a long walk. But eventually we made it and we were wisked away towards Seoul.

Ann (her anglicized name) told us about our itinerary - see the Presidential Palace (Blue House), visit a pagoda (Jogyesa), and see an ancient palace (Changdeokgung - The Palace of Illustrious Virtue). We also would be fed, but drinks were on us. Ann then ran us through some basic Korean - hello, thank you, good bye. I was too tired to pick up any words. One last thing - we also stopped to do some shopping. I didn't need to buy any more kitsch, but I did find a French bakery!

After the bakery, the group of us went to a "Korean" restaurant. Here I was, the only person not originally from Asia, eating kimchee and an assortment of other pickled items. The remainder of the group were Vietnamese. They were American, but at the restaurant, the group only spoke Vietnamese. I wished I had spent more time learning the language while in Vietnam.

The Blue House (Cheongwadae) - The Presidential Palace

The Colors of Fall in Seoul

Fall Colors on Bugaksan

The One Pillar Gate of the Jogyesa Pagoda

Daewongjun Hall of the Pogoda

400+ year old Pagoda Tree

The Blog Author in Front of Daewongjun Hall.

The Jongo Tower (Insadong District)

Changdeokgung - The Palace of Illustrious Virtue (Gwanghwamun District)

Palace Grounds and Wall

The Throne Inside the Palace

Saigon - War Remnants (November 5)

On this day, I visited both the War Remnants Museum and the Presidential Palace as well as the Museum of Vietnamese History. The War Remnants Museum was disturbing while the history museum was educational. What I didn't know is that my admissions fee to the history museum also covered the admissions to the zoo. I didn't take any pictures of the history museum as there were pictures everywhere warning not to take pictures.

Presidential Palace Entrance Ticket

In the history museum, I had a sense that sometimes there was a struggle to present enough Vietnamese-specific material to make the museum interesting. Sure the museum went from era to era going way back into the past (4,000 years ago?), through the Nguyen Dynasty, up to today's activities, but the physical evidence was lacking.

Entrance Ticket to History Museum

When I reached the Buddhist section of the history museum, I was surprised at the lack of Vietnamese examples.

Bombs at the War Remnants Museum

Presidential Palace - Stuck in the 1970s

President's Office

President's Reception Room

This Palace is Very User Friendly. Drop Bomb Here.

Saigon - Zoo and Botanical Gardens (November 4)

Entrance Ticket to the Zoo

Over the next few days, I visit the sites in Saigon - The Zoo, the botanical gardens, the museum of Vietnamese history, the War Remnants Museum, and the Presidential Palace. During the nights, we play pool at Allez Boo or spend time at the Jazz Club - Sax 'N Art. There is not much room at the Jazz Club, but I get Maya (Terry's friend) on the dance floor and we East Coasted to one song.

Map of the Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

This is the extent of the Botanical Garden.

Pagoda at Botanical Gardens.

A Gaur

Pink Flamingoes at the Zoo.

Yes, There Were Dinosaurs at the Zoo.

A Hedge-Animal Stampede. Was I Back in Calgary?

Saigon - Driving and Nightlife (November 2)

Noisy Driving

Watch the large green city bus as it crosses the frame from right to left. Walking beside the bus, going in the same direction, is a man who is using the bus as protection from the traffic. Although the traffic is traveling relatively slowly through the intersection, realize what a bold move this is for the man to walk out into this busy intersection. The man at one point wants to go further away from the video camera, so he starts to walk against the movement of the bus in order to get around it. He then decides that this is not a good idea, so he continues walking with the bus in the same direction as the bus is traveling. The controlled chaos at Vietnamese traffic intersections is a sight to see.

Vietnamese drivers use their horns. A lot! They use their horns to signal their presence, to warn other drivers, and sometimes to indicate to traffic ahead of them to get out of the way.

I learned a little trick while cycling in Vietnam. Often trucks would signal their presence right as they pulled up along side me. It wasn't necessary for them to signal their presence as I was already aware that they were there because I could hear them coming. They would blow the horn anyway. The problem with this is that the horn would cause my ears to ring. Many of the trucks had their horn placed on the right hand side on the undercarriage which placed the horn at ear level with the bicyclists on the side of the road. When a truck would blow its horn as it was beside me, my left ear would ring.

Traffic Circle - Cho Ben Thanh

Observing Vietnamese riders, I was able to stop the truck drivers (and most other drivers) from blowing their horns in my ear. I noticed that when I placed a finger over my left ear, the passing truck would rarely blow its horn. This method worked more than 99% of the time. I think that placing the finger over the ear indicated to the truck drivers that I knew that they were there. The truck drivers try to indicate their presence by blowing their horns. When a cyclist places a finger over his ear, he is indicating to the truck driver that he knows that the truck is there. Thus, the truck driver no longer needs to blow his horn.

Nightlife.

I sit at a bar called Allez Boo at the corner of Pham Ngu Lau and De Tham. Initially, there is not much going on. A voice next to me says, "you look bored." I might be or maybe I'm just tired from all the travelling. I turn and end up talking with a young Vietnamese from San Jose. He was living in Rome, Italy for the last few months. He has just graduated from Business School and is travelling. We talk about many things, Vietnam, Vietnamese living overseas, and politics. He is worried that he is wasting his time (and thus his money) by travelling. I tell him it is worth the missed oportunity costs to be travelling right now.

Another night in Saigon, I went out to dinner with Terry's friends and his friend's international school colleagues. We went to a fancy creperie, Ty Coz Saigon at 178/4 Pasteur. Because we are a large party, we are seated at a large table on the roof. Although they don't have many vegetarian options, couldn't make crepes that night, and the prices were much higher than any others I had seen in Vietnam, I had a very nice and tasty meal. My recommendation: go to Ty Coz and try to get a table on the roof.

To Saigon (November 1)

To Saigon

Instead of riding into Saigon, I took a bus as suggested by friends of Terry. The traffic is too hectic coming into Saigon, so the bus was a safer way to arrive.

In Da Lat, a little bus picks me up in front of my hotel. But wait, where does my bike go? I'm told that I am to follow the little bus to a bigger bus. Following the little bus goes well. I am able to keep up with it as we ride downhill. And then we turn uphill. I'm worried. I stand on the pedals to keep with the little bus. And suddenly the journey is over. We turn left into a hotel parking lot where the big bus to Saigon is parked.

I now wait to board the big bus. More people show up. Some foreigners and some Vietnamese. I place my bike in the compartment under the seats. We board. An argument ensues between some Dutch and the ticket agent. The Dutch have misplaced their tickets. "No ticket. No bus," says the ticket agent. The Dutch get mad, get panicked and eventually find their tickets. The entire time this is happening, a book seller is trying to hawk books. She seems oblivious to the plight of the Dutch, offering to sell them books no less than three times. She comes onto the bus at least four times to sell us some books. She is very persistant.

Do You Want to Buy a Book?

Along the way to Saigon, we stop three times. Twice for pit stops and another time for lunch. For lunch, I've brought my own PB&J sandwiches. A Vietnamese comes up to me and talks with me in English. I offer him a sandwich, but he has brought his own.

He was a student in Washington, D.C. years ago. We have a nice talk. We talk about the corruption of the country, the road building standards, environmental issues, politics, etc. It was nice to have an honest conversation about the country with someone from Vietnam.

Now travelling with other foreigners as most foreigners travel, I notice interesting habits. For example, many of the foreigners are keeping a journal of their travels, as I am. One is even using a moleskine notebook. Also, I notice how exhausting traveling by bus is. It is true that I was exhausted while traveling by bicycle in Vietnam, but at least I caused the exhaustion. In the bus, I was exhausted just by doing nothing - just sitting.

Entering Saigon, I noticed the road had nice wide shoulders, but there was a ton of traffic. It would have been possible to ride into Saigon, but it wouldn't have been very safe.

Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral.

Main Bu'u Dien - The Post Office.

Map of Saigon in Main Post Office.

We pass a new water treatment or wastewater treatment plant on the outskirts of Saigon to the east of Saigon (between Saigon and Bien Hoa). It is a joint venture between Japan, Vietnam, another company, and CDM. I'm not sure if it is for water or wastewater because all I can see are rectangular sedimentation ponds. It might be water treatment plant as I did not see any sludge digestion tanks.

Saigon - Accomodations (November 3)

The sights in Saigon vary from tall skyscrapers to vendors carrying heavy loads of vegetables which may have come from Da Lat.

When I first arrived in Saigon, I went right to the hotel at which I had made a reservation. This hotel - highly touted by the guidebooks - was expecting me. I had called the day earlier, told them that I would arrive at 2:00 p.m., and I would call if I was running late. Well, I should have told them a later time (say 4:00 p.m.) and not promised to call.

I thought that it would be reasonable for our bus to cover the 140 miles from Da Lat to Saigon in six hours. Of course, we would wait for passengers to board and stop three times along the way, stopping once for lunch. But, six hours sounded reasonable to me. When we reached the six hour point, I was still on the bus. Even worse, at our next stop, I did not know how to find a phone. So when I arrived in Saigon, two hours later (total travel time being eight hours), they had already given away my room.

At the bus' stop, we were left on De Tham street right in front of all the cheap hotels. Hotel hawkers begged me to stay in their hotel. While I reassembled my bike, I confidently told them that I had a reservation elsewhere. So, you can imagine my embarrasment when I had to return to those very same hotels and asked for a room. Mind you, I didn't take the first room I saw (the room above the hair salon). Instead, I took the room in the second hotel, the "better" hotel, the hotel at the TM Brother's Cafe and Tourist office (228 De Tham). Although this was the better room and I was only paying $5 per night, there was no refrigerator, poor A.C., and were those begbugs crawling around?

This room was at the end of the Alleyway. Not available for Rent.

The next day, I set out on a journey to find a better hotel. Wandering down an alleyway, I discovered the Ngoc Minh Hotel located at 283/11-13 Pham Ngu Lau. I would now pay $12 per night, but I would get all the creature comforts as well as breakfast in the morning.

The Roof of Ngoc Minh Hotel had a Nice Porch and Free Breakfast.

The Alleyway as seen from the Roof of Ngoc Minh.

When an address is listed as two numbers separated by a forward slash, the first number is the number where the alleyway is located on the street, for example 283/11-13 Pham Ngu Lau means the alleyway is between number 281 and number 285 on Pham Ngu Lau street. The number after the slash is the location of the business in the alleyway. So 283/11-13 Pham Ngu Lau means that the business occupies the 11th to 13th properties from the entrance to the alleyway. Of course, there always exceptions to these rules and you have to make sure you enter the alleyway from the right direction because some alleyways have more than one entrance.

Rest Day - Da Lat (October 31)

Halloween

Scattered Clouds! No Rain!

Le Dai Hanh (Nguyen Thi Minh Khai in Background).

Today was spent planning for my trip to Saigon. I didn't do much today. I walked around the city and stopped at the V-cafe, where I talked politics with the owner and a pair from Australia. Eventually the Australians were so drunk that the conversation ended. I was told that the city had built a new water and wastewater treatment plant with the assistance of international aid organizations.

The "Eiffel Tower" of Da Lat.

My next trip was a walk around the main lake in Da Lat, Xuan Hu'o'ng. It was like walking around Lake Merrit in Oakland, except without the sulphur smell. It was very pleasant. Many people were walking around the lake and a few were jogging.

Cho Da Lat (Market)

Xuan Hu'o'ng

I stopped along the way at the Flower Gardens.

Entrance Ticket

Flower Garden Entrance Gate.

After the flower gardens, I continued around the lake and headed back to my hotel. Walking towards my hotel, a student at the language school joined me.

The Second Set of Blue Rooms that I saw in the Entire Country.

Swan Boats in the Back Pond.

Back at the hotel, I sat with a group of women in the Peace Cafe. All three were travelling through Vietnam, but they were travelling separately. Their ages were between 18 and 34. The youngest one had been to Vietnam three times, having come to Vietnam from Australian early in High School. She really loved Vietnam.

Another of the women was a journalist for the Associated Press who had scooped a story about the flammability of the underwear used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq during the cold winter months.

The last woman was an expat, originally from San Francisco, living in Barcellona.