Panama Jan 26

We weren't anxious to log more miles on the Inter American so we headed to the bus stop.  No dice for putting our bikes on the first onward couple of buses so we decided to ride the backroads that parallel the Inter American.  Plan B went bust when we couldn't find the backroad and the people we asked pointed us in opposite directions a couple times. 

Plan C was back to the bus station to try for yet another bus.  We did find a guy that would take us....that was the good news.  The bad news was he was full so we sat on little stools in the aisle.....for the 3 and half hour ride to the town of David.  It was too late to ride the bikes to our destination of Boquete so we grabbed yet another bus from there. 

I tried to sneak a photo of Chantal as we sat on our little stools:

Boquette is popular spot.  We are staying in a very nice place called the Pantomonte.  John Wayne, Ingrid Bergman and Richard Nixon have all stayed here.  It was built in 1915. 

The Pantamonte is pretty darn nice:

We are going to stay in Boquete a couple nights.

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Panama Jan 25

We had a nice ride down from El Valle.  The road was good and not much traffic.  If it were all like this it would be great.  In the end though, we were back on the Inter American.

We rode on to Penomone. 

We were looking for the Tamarindo Restaurant when a couple cops on bikes pulled us over.  I think they could tell that we were looking for something...and we were were...the Tamarindo Restaurant.   They did better than tell us where it was, they gave us an escort..on their bikes.  You have to love that.  Those two cops are the only other cyclists we have seen.

 
After the Tamarindo, we caught a 12k ride to La Pintada where there is a cigar factory.   They rolled a couple for me and I smoked one as we walked about town and then caught a bus back to Penomone. 

We went back to the Tamarindo for dinner (we know a good thing when we find it) and then back to the hotel for an early evening.

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Panama - Jan 24

We had a heck of a time riding our bikes out of Panama City.  It's a little like Washington DC or Boston.  Barely any roads go through and nothing is clear.  On top of that it's congested.  We are always game to give things a shot, but we met our match in PC.  I hailed down a taxi that was more a pick up truck than a taxi and we put our bikes in the back and told him to take us over the Bridge of the Americas.  We liked that so much that we told him to take us another 20k's up the road to escape the PNC traffic....and he did.

We rode the Inter American Highway to San Carlos and then headed inland to El Valle.  El Valle is at 2000 feet and it is about 10 degrees cooler than on the coast.  It is extremely comfortable at this moment. 

El Valle is very laid back.  It doesn't feel very foreign to us.  We stopped by the Yellow Frog B&B and found that a couple Americans were running it.  Then we stopped by the local sports bar and found a couple Canadians running that. 

There aren't that many tourists around.  We are the only ones at the place we are staying. 

I can't say that the Inter-American Highway is the best place to ride a bike.  It's 4 lanes with shoulder that is not very consistent....sometimes the shoulder is ok asphalt to ride on, but other times it is gravel.  I find myself darting on and off the shoulder depending on what is coming up from behind.  I think it is safe to say that we will look for EVERY opportunity to get off the Inter American and on to lesser roads.  There are some...they just don't necessarily take you anywhere.  Most extend off the Inter American like fishbones and end at the coast or in the mountains.  

I have noticed that they love their junk welding artwork.  You know the kind.  Prehistoric birds or whatever made out of car parts welded together.  I have a certain admiration for it, but I don't think it is anything you would want to put in your own yard.

Our general plan at the moment is to get to the turn off for the Azueros Peninsula and exit  the main road and explore.  The peninsula is considered the heartland of Panama.  We are here, so why not check out the real deal?

We did have one icky surprise today.  I got a flat and immediately stopped on the shoulder.  It was a construction zone, but it seemed fine.  After I got my tire off, Chantal rode up and we both noticed our feet were kind of sticky.  Then we noticed that under the dust, there was tar.  Thick, gooey, black tar.  We spent the next 15 minutes picking tar out of cleats and shoes.  It's bad enough having a flat, but a flat in a tar zone is particularly trying.

Oh yeah, I did find the Bears - Packers game.  The commentary was in Spanish, but given the way the game went, I think perhaps that was a good thing.

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Laos - Start of a New Adventure

We just finished Sikkim, but it is time to get on with the next adventure...Laos.  Everyone turned up at Chian's Guesthouse, save one, so our group size is 14.  That is a good number. 

Chian's is a funky eclectic place...a good spot to start the tour.

Here is our group photo the morning of the first ride:

We had to work a little to fit all these bikes in.

Dominque and I were the only ones to stop by this temple.  There was a Black Buddha inside.  Unusual to say the least.

Buddhas ringed the entire temple.

The whole thing overlooks the Mekong in dramatic fashion.

This was our lunch stop on the way to Chaing Khong.

It's actually not hard to take.  They grow their own stuff here.  I noticed that as soon as we ordered a young girl ran out to collect some onions and lemon grass. 

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Indochine Feb 16

We had a great ride today.  The weather cooperated.  Although it started in usual Sapa fashion....fogged in, it broke up shortly and turned into a great weather day.  The timing was good because there are tremenous views from Tram Tom Pass.  Everybody met on top for some pictures.

It was a little unusual up there as the place was crawling with Vietnamese soldiers who had been mobilized to fight the forest fire on the mountain.  I tried to take some pictures of them, but I was waved off.  I might have snuck one in though.  I will have to look to see if it turned out.

After that, we had a 25k downhill.

We had lunch in Binh Lu.  To be honest that place doesn't look like it used to.  the main road is torn up and the only way to get through town is via a side road.  The place we stopped in was deceiving.  It really wasn't much in front, but it has a lovely little garden in bank and Mr Joe came up with some pork sandwiches and fried rice and tomatoes and cucumbers.  I'm not sure where he got the food, but it was very much appreciated.  It is Tet New Year's here and very little is open in the way of restaurants.

We made it in to our destination of Lai Chau about 4:00.  The place we are staying in can only be described as weird.  It's a big 10 story hotel with cement dinosaurs in front and a replica of what look's like the Eiffel tower in back.  I have been here several times and my reaction is always the same....this is really unusual.

Tomorrow we have a longer day...about 110k to Moung Lay.  Muong Lai's days are numbered.  A dam is going in and the whole town will be under a couple hundred feet of water shortly.  Last year the were working on relocating the road to a point high up the valley wall.  It will be interesting to see how much progress they have made.

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Indochine - Feb 14

Today is a free day in Sapa.  It's not as though anyone really needs a rest day because of the riding, but Sapa is the preeminent tourist destination in Northern Vietnam because of it's setting in the Hoan Lien mountains and because it is surrounded be very colorful hill tribe minority people.  

People did various things today.  Chantal, Robin and I spent the morning riding to Tai Phin, a Red Dao village about 13k out of town.  Nhu came with us.  Chantal had met Nhu earlier at the Victoria hotel.  She is from Ho Chi Minh City and has been in town for a couple months checking out all the minority villages for a tour company.  There are 17 villages in the area that she is visiting.

The Wilson's along with a lot of other people made a lot of purchases.  Jim modeled (and bought) a red Dao hat.  It has a lot of style.

View from our room in Sapa:

Chantal with Red Dao Ladies in Tai Phin village

Bacon drying in Tai Phin

Jim with Red Dao

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Paolo and Federica (aka "Freddy")

Straight from Italy!!  They are posing with the gold lion (it's the year of the lion!) laying on gold coins (good luck).  It's Tet New Year here.

Best,

Bob

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