Always at some point on these cycling adventures, there is a breakover point for me when I make a conscious effort to stop taking photographs, to stop taking notes, and not worry about the daily blog post. Instead, I realize how quickly these trips come to an end and I focus more on smelling the smells, seeing the scenery, sharing a story with a cycling mate, and more fully appreciating the moment and realizing the health and great fortune I enjoy that allows me these adventure opportunities. Thus, the absence of several days posts.

I recall meeting a Chinese fellow many years ago and in our broken English conversation trying to exchange some pleasantries, he asked me “what is your pattern of manner?” That’s always stuck with me as an insightful way to summarize the who, what and where of your normal or usual life continuum. So now this adventure is coming to a close as I have begun the journey back home, I realize I’m returning to my usual “pattern of matter”, and that is a good feeling.

Just now, I’m sitting in a hotel room near the airport in Incheon; I have a 13 hour layover here. I thought I would be motivated to take the train into downtown Seoul, but as I arrived here at 6 AM after not sleeping on the 4 hr flight from Hanoi, I got horizontal and suddenly woke up about six hours later! So, guess it’ll be another time to see Seoul.

In retrospect, this was certainly the toughest trip I’ve taken so far in terms of the amount of climbing up hills. Yes, the last trip in China we were at a much higher elevation frequently and that took its toll in terms of effort and oxygen exchange. We were never at altitude extremes here; but this trip in total we climbed about 33,000 feet over eight cycling days. To give that some perspective, when I ride up Hatcher Pass, that’s a 2200 foot climb. So this trip is like doing 15 HP trips in eight days. Or cycling up Denali 1.5 times…

This was a pretty solid group of riders, and as usual I’ve made new friends that I hope to see somewhere again. Some of these folks have very interesting lives and occupations. It was a huge group, with 17 people from the United States, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. However, logistically it all worked out well and both Dermot and Mr. Phong did a really good job of organizing and ensuring that everybody got fed, hydrated, didn’t get lost (except Paul one day), and that basically everybody had a really fantastic time. That said, there were still incredibly difficult days and some logistical challenges that I will address with Dermot separately.

So at this point, I have a few bits and pieces of stuff that I will just include here so I don’t forget as this blog is primarily for my benefit as a travel journalperhaps. Yet, anybody reading this might find these tidbits amusing or interesting.

Regarding the group, most of the time on these trips there is at least one person that can be easily identified as the biggest whiner or requires a lot of maintenance. In fact, it’s rare on the trip that person isn’t obvious by consensus, not just my own criticism. So, I was having a conversation with a couple of the group a few days ago about this particular issue and who it might be. I had this sudden realization that it could be me! I shared that thought and I was reassured that I was not the high maintenance model; to the contrary, I tend to be a positive and steadying influence, so I was happy to hear that bit of self-conscious feedback.

You probably noticed I have very few photographs of the local people that we encounter. That’s because I consider it somewhat invasive to take photographs of the local folks we encounter, and it is true that frequently they will refuse a photograph if you ask.

Halong Bay is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is a truly stunning setting, but there is an incredible tourist pressure on the place, and on our last day when we went kayaking from the boat, it was amazing to see how much trash is floating around there. Disheartening…

We arrived on our large junk at about noon, and left about noon the following day. There are 14 cabins on board, do its a big boat. It was interesting to see that when I was here three+ years ago, all of the junks were painted in their natural color of wood brown. Now, all of the them appear to be hastily painted white. I discovered it in response to a junk that sunk during the night and a dozen tourists were killed two years ago. After that, I think somebody decided that painting all of the old boats white would make people somehow feel that they were not the same old boats. Strange thinking, they are in fact the same old boats that have been floating these waters for years.

The last couple days hanging around Hanoi, it was nice to finally have some food that was not all made from the same six or seven vegetable or meat items with steamed rice. Last night, four of us had a final meal at Gecko; I had a fantastic bowl of spaghetti Bolognese and we shared a bottle of Chilean red wine along with garlic bread. Yum Yum! And as if on cue, just an hour before I transferred to the airport to mark the true end of this adventure, the rain started down heavily unlike any you ever see in Alaska.

As we were leaving Hanoi, all of the shops on Christmas street were open. You may not know, but in an old Asian city like Hanoi, many of the similar shops tend to congregate on the same street. For example, you can walk down streets with dozens of shops selling hardware, or cookware, usually for several blocks. Another street might have 30 or 40 shops selling shoes. Or candies, or vegetables, or clothing. Similarly, there is what must be called Christmas Street, as 30 or 40 shops had thousands and thousands of Christmas decoration items; clothing, trees, lights, ornaments, etc. (JD would be in awe…)

I head out in a couple hours for the 10 hr flight to Seattle, then onward to chilly Alaska. First stop will be Mooses Tooth for a great beer and sumptuous pizza!! Now that sounds like a fantastic pattern of manner, doesn’t it??

Random photos from the last days…