The Karsks

Beautiful karsks loom over Van Long Nature Reserve

Beautiful spires of limestone mark the landscape for awed visitors of northern Vietnam and Halong Bay, where they are famous. But the wealth of these mountains is not in gold and jewels, nor in iron. For here was found...CONCRETE.

 Yes, the Vietnamese government may be on a mission to coat the whole country in concrete, as seen by these garish scenes.

Cutting into the mountainside for gray gold.

Transforming mountains into roads.

 Will they someday delve too greedily and too deeply and awake Durin's Bane?

The Motorcycle Diaries

After I saw the Top Gear special where Jeremy, James and Richard journey nearly the length of Vietnam on scooters, I knew I someday would do this epic journey!

So there I was, the key to my Honda WIN 100 in my hand, ready to rock.

The scenery was epic.

Luckily for my sake, I was with my trusty step-brother Anthony  for a few days before we parted ways and he went to Laos. It was a good thing I was with him. I was surprised by Anthony's maturity out there traveling and especially admired his positive attitude, which inspired me to always have one no matter the predicament. Our mission was to get from Sapa to Tuuong Xuan, about a 3-day journey. The trip was delayed by 1 day since I crashed into myslef in the first 10 km.

In Vietnam there are mechanics everywhere, and people eager to help. I lost my key in the ditch I crashed into (luckily I combat-rolled over the handle bars and was o.k. - the bike not so much). So a passing "samaritan" pulls over and without saying a word hot-wires the bike for me to get me to the next shop. While Anthony and I entertained the local brats, he fished for me a new key out of a bowl of keys until one of them was compatible.

Anthony's girl getting a weld-job in a backstreet metal shop.

This guy actually drove us out of town to make sure we didn't get lost!

Nothing can get Anthony's spirits down!

A day later when we had actually gotten somewhere, we found ourselves stuck in a traffic jam on a mountain pass in the rain. There was construction, and they weren't letting anybody past anytime soon. Then as luck would have it, an ambulance with screaming sirens came through, so they had no choice but to open the gates. It was like the start of LeMans, everybody squeezing for an opening. I found myself in the middle of a frenzy of motorbikes, horns, and mud as I carefully made sure I didn't screw up the gears, and we made it without a stall! BRING IT ON!

Camping, Vietnamese Style

While many Vietnamese migrate from the countryside to cities to get a job and send money home to their families, I prefer to leave the city, not get a job, and have my family send me money. 

So I decided to come to Vietnam cause Keavney told me about this bird thing anyways here I am.

Our duty was to trek into the wilds of Pu Hu nature reserve in search of whatever birds we could record for a report on what birds live around here, while noting illegal activities in the interest of knowing what goes down here (turns out, a lot).

We began our 20 km round-trip up the mountain. There aren't any real trails out here, so Dong told us we would be following a stream and instructed us to wear sandals. Erik and I wondered at this, as we lugged our quite large packs up the creek, ready to purity water, cushion our backs, stab...whatever with our survival knives, basically everything a normal Canadian would bring to the wild to survive. We quickly realized why they were keen on sandals as we squished our hiking shoes through the stream.

On their part, our Vietnamese forest officer guides brought simply a sachel of food, a machete, lighter, and jug of rice wine (water? why would you need that?).

James, our commander

Turns out these are some real men of the bush, although we questioned their methods a little. They erected a bamboo and palm leaf shelter with only their machetes, but it was on a slope, lending us to believe these people heartily enjoyed discomfort. While we settled in our sleeping bags, we realized that Dong and the other officers were just sat around the fire and drank rice wine all night to keep warm. Alright.

The shelter where we spent one cold, miserable night

They also impressed us with their bamboo craftsmanship, carving up bamboo chopsticks, leaf plates, a long bamboo feeding trough, and bamboo jugs for cooking rice and brewing tea. 

Erik, bottom right. Dong above him. Enjoying the communal feeding trough!

I asked Dong why he married his wife. His reply: "The question is not why, but why not!"

I like that.