After a fairly lazy start to the day, we packed up the tent and all the gear as usual into the car, said goodbye to Don, (who kindly offered his phone number and details in-case we were back in the San Francisco area once he had returned from his very own road-trip, to stay at his ranch north of SF) and we were back onto the highway aiming for Healdsburg for wine tasting.

The Lonely Planet USA guide had some recommendations so we popped into the local information center for maps and a bit more info. We wanted to hire bikes to ride to the vineyards however upon closer inspection the bike hire was $10 per hour and it would be an all day ride; very expensive little town, but very nice. We decided to drive rather than cycle.

The first stop was Bella Vineyard which has wine tasting in a cave, not sure if this is natural or man made, but it made for some nice cool air and rather swanky surroundings, this would be a great place for a celebration. The wine tasting here was $10 per person for 6 samples but we actually ended up with 7 with the Chardonnay and Pino-noir our two favourites!

The next stop was Porter Creek vineyards. This was a small little hut next to the owners house and they had a massive dog in the doorway named Diego who was very friendly and welcoming. Here it was $5 per person, so we shared the samples to save some money and not get a DUI from the highway patrol! All in all Healdsburg is a lovely place to go wine tasting. There are loads of different places to go, with quite a few offering free samples. We would highly recommend the area, but it is on the pricey side.

We decided that it would be too expensive to stay in the Healdsburg area so we re-joined Highway 1 and made our way to the coast and camped at Stillwater cove. This was taking us north for a few miles but we didn’t mind. We only just got a pitch at the camp site as this seems to be where the locals from SF come for their weekend getaways! $28 for a camp spot, oh how we miss the days of Oregon and their subsidised camp grounds at $12.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

We booked a 3 day 2 night tour with Sinhbalo tours (tour – “SBL8 – Cycle from MyTho to Cai Be, Vinh Long and Can Tho (3D/2N)”) along with new best friends Justin and Jules. We had been recommended the company by other travellers we’d met in Halong Bay who’d actually made the statement that it was the best thing they’d done in Vietnam, so based on this we thought they would be a strong bet for a good cycling tour. Other companies tend to charge more for similar tours and we didn’t want to stretch our budget too much.

The first day involved a mixture of bus, boat and cycling. The bus took us from HCMC to the Mekong Delta and took around 3 hours, as soon as we arrived we took a boat journey along the Mekong to an Island where we were introduced to local life, food and animals! We had some lovely very fresh fruits and tea as well as some baked rice cakes (a little like sweet poppadoms), our guide Duat talked us through the family home and traditions, they were getting ready for festive family celebrations leading up to TET. This led onto a little boat trip through one of the Mekong canals, the whole route to ourselves led us back peacefully to the boat where we had got off. So it was a pretty leisurely start to the day that ended seeing us having lunch at a crocodile and coco-nut farm. Crocodile was not on the menu fortunately but they were there for us all to see and others to tease. The food served was fairly good, but we almost expected a little more, especially after the food of the Halong Bay tour.

We made another crossing of the Mekong river via boat and met the tour bus which had a fine selection of mountain bikes ready for us to explore the area. Our guide lead the way on a 20km ride along roads and trails which included plenty of “hellos” from children along the way, this is something you get used to very quickly when cycling around. Another boat journey landed us at the home-stay for our evenings stay. It was more like a simple eco guest house on stilts rather than a homestead but non the less it provided double beds with mosquito nets. A short walk around the local area gave a flavour of local life and then it was time for our evening meal. This was quite similar to lunch which was a little disappointing as its nice to try different menu items, however it was well received by everyone. Some card games, beer and a glimpse of fireflies in the trees finished the day off nicely and we were all looking forward to the next installment of cycling.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Up early at 6.30am and then breakfast was served, consisting of bread, jam, eggs and watermelon. We climbed aboard our stallions for the day (21 speed mountain bikes) and started off the 1.5hr bike ride through the delta area. We passed many little villages and homes with yet more screams of “hello” from the kids we passed, rice fields and cows. The heat of the day was quite oppressive however we had plenty of water supplied by our tour guide and eventually we arrived at a town and increased our energy with a good feed. We were informed that it was 35C by a local who was sheltering from the midday sun.

After a good rest and a rendezvous with the support (ford transit) van we stocked up on bottled water and then headed off along sealed roads towards the suspension bridge. This was a great climb to the top and certainly got the blood and sweat pumping, but we were rewarded with a lovely view of the area, and the best thing about going up, is the knowledge that you go down on the other side! Much speed and fun.

We arrived at the next town and settled into the provided accommodation which was very nice. Our guide met us after some rest time and took us to a nearby restaurant on the water front of the Mekong. The food was again great with lots of variation and options for the vegetarians. We had a walk around the town which was in preparation for TET and very busy, a few beers and then bed time.

On our last day of the tour we started early again with a 6am breakfast followed by a short bus ride to a taxi boat that ferried us to the famous floating markets. The boat journey took around 10 minutes and as we arrived at the markets there was a real buzz in the air, people shopping for their store supplies, pulling up alongside bigger boats in their small long boats, transporting vegetables, fruit and other wholesale items between each other. Some of the boats are huge and in between you’ll find a little lady selling street food from her tiny boat. We stopped at a pineapple sellers boat, got off ours and onto the top of theirs, we sat and they prepared freshly picked pineapples for us to eat there and then, they were so juicy!! After this we got back onto our boat and continued to drive past other sellers and vendors. It was a really impressive and insightful start to the day, just seeing how this type of community trade and all between boats is so different from what any of us expected. It’s good to get to the markets earlier in the morning or as early as you can manage as they finish at around midday having started at something like 4am, by 10am many tourists appear and it gets really busy. We were there at around 7am and there weren’t too many other tourists around.

We left the markets after an hour and continued up-river to a point where we met our trusty driver once more, he was there waiting with our bikes ready for us to ride on the last leg of our cycling trip. The last bike ride of the trip was quite tame and took around 2 hours, going through more villages, over more bridges and passing my many children shouting ‘Hello…what’s your name?’ and so on. At around 11am we found ourselves back at the hotel where we had time to shower and check out before starting the journey back to HCMC. The journey back took around 4 hours with an hours break for lunch at a posh service area called the Mekong Service Area where it seems most upper end tours take you too, it was a little like a 4 start resort made up of just restaurants. The food was good and Helen even had her own fish and vegetarian menu, they made some rice balls that came up into big balloons probably the most interesting thing about it. It was also our last supper with Justin and Jules so we toasted to good times in Vietnam.

Back in HCMC we said our goodbyes to our 3 week travel buddies and went our separate ways to our hotels. Later on we managed to get to the post office to send on our winter gear to Australia (we shouldn’t be needing it until then!?) We sent two 2kg parcels costing around $25 for airmail delivery. We ate at Zen once again for a tasty vegetarian feast, walked around the area and then went back to Luan Vu to get ready for our trip to Phnom Penh the next morning.

Happy Birthday to you….Happy birthday to you….Happy birthday dear Dave….Happy birthday to you!!! Today is my birthday! As you might have guessed. Who would have thought last year that I would be spending my 27th birthday in Japan! So, what to do to on my special day?

We decided to get out of Kanazawa and head to more remote parts of the country. Up early, porridge and toast for breakfast we head out to catch the train, using the Japan Rail Pass to the max. Our destination is north towards the coast, Nanao, Ishikawa to be precise. Tiredness was a slight issue on the train but we fought through and photographed other sleepy passengers. One women was even receiving some Reiki next to us from an elderly woman which also kept us entertained.

I felt the need to be “harbor bound” so we headed to the waters edge. It was a bit windy and there was handily no-one around, so we had a look out to sea and did a little jig of our own to celebrate my birthday. Helen was also in the mood for singing random songs and melodies which was a nice birthday present.

We wandered around at the sea front and then headed inland to the center of Nanao to see if there was some action taking place. There was plenty to photograph in the backstreets which was great fun and we captured some nice images. We were on the look out for some human ingenuity (a brief from a flickr group) and we found some plastic bottles that had been re-purposed into windmills. A few photos and we felt our submission is possibly complete.

Having to wait an hour for the next train up the coast, we headed for some food. Neither Helen or I eat donuts but we thought we would give Mister Donut a go as a special treat. It was an experience. Very light dough and subtle flavors, kind of baked rather than fried. Also it seemed that this was the local hangout for the OAP’s of the town. More exploration, some purchase of snacks for later and then off to the next town, Wakura Onsen.

This place felt a little strange to begin with. In the summer time / heyday this town must have been the equivalent to Skegness in the UK. It felt quite backwards and had an air of a horror film about it (the Wicker Man and a little of The Shining spring to mind). We carried on regardless, past the Karaoke drive through, and towards the sea front. We found a nice little park and also an amazing view out towards the sea from a foot onsen. This was bliss. Soak your feet and legs in some very warm water and look out to sea. Now this most definitely feels like a Birthday to remember.

After lots of photographs and some lunch at a picnic bench in the park we headed onwards to explore more of this tired town. We headed back on the fast train to Kanazawa and went out for some food at an Indonesian restaurant. Very nice. We cleared all the plates with ease. On for a few more drinks and some pudding, no less than grape (they love there grape flavors over in japan) ice-cream sundae. A lovely day was had by all. Thanks to the lovely Helen for singing to me with her dulcet tones and making my day special. Here’s to 28 next year!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)