I am back home in London and guess what? Big storm, it's following me!
This last post is all about what happened in the last 3 days and 248 km / 154 miles of my cycling journey in Vietnam. I know a few of you wonder if I made it. So here comes the answer...
Two days before last mile and just after Typhoon Dori, came one beautiful day of sunshine and I cycled 80 km from Danang to the imperial city of Hue via some hilly mountains overlooking the sea. Wonderful!
At this point of the trip I looked at weather forecast every time I had an Internet connection. It did not look good: Rain and storms for the rest of my journey.
The following day, it rained. I decided to get on with it and arrived after 90 km - swamped and freezing - at a friendly beach resort. I was the only customer and after the evening power cut, it was really dark out there. The staff offered to have dinner with them in their kitchen. One of them translated parts of the conversation: "... in some regions in the north of China there are tribes that eat humans. If you get off the main track alone, the tribe hunts you and has you for dinner..." brr...
Last mile day: I waited for the rain to slow down for two hours before I took off at 10 am. It was a great ride to Vinh Moc Tunnel* followed by 4 hours cycling under the rain and a score of 78 km.
One that last day, while the rain was bashing me, I laughed a few times at myself considering the ridiculous aspect of the situation. And on the more serious side, I went through my options again and again and finally I decided: "THAT'S THE LAST MILE".
I had continued cycling the past three days until I was sure about this. With "this" I mean CHANGE. Change is hard. We have expectations, visions, ambitions and we usually work hard to achieve them. But when change is meant to be, it shows up like a series of "time to change flags". We can either decide to ignore the flags and stick to the original course. Or we can see them for what they are and adapt and evolve.
In this case, continuing beyond that point was not a good option. It would have meant keeping going under the rain for another 5 days with more risks, no comfortable night accommodation, no place of interest to look forwards to and several nights in the dark.
It would not add any value to me and considering this was my holidays, I decided to adapt and evolve.
I took a 17 hours bus transfer to the sunnier north of Vietnam legendary Halong Bay. From there I did a two days cruise. It was really beautiful, one of those place you shall see before you die, And finally I transferred to Hanoi by bus.
So here is finally the achievement outcome:
The cycling
I cycled a total of 11 days and 913 kilometres / 567 miles up to the city of Dong Hoi
I'd guess something like 200.000 pedal strokes
There was also the blogging
I have around 600 contacts on linkedin and 30-40 on Facebook. I wondered if I could engage my network with my cycling stories and to what extend. The results were great, I had no particular expectation but hope a few people find it interesting.
But my network really liked this:
798 views on Linkedin
Introduction to Solo Female Cycling in Vietnam 315
The Value of a "Just Do It" attitude 85
Can you really prepare for everything? 64
The Ultimate response 218
The flap of a butterfly's wings 116
The Last Mile: TBC (I will update by mid November)
And 18 likes/encouraging comments/private messages were sent too. Thank you!
383 Blog views
Introduction to Solo Female Cycling in Vietnam 81
The Value of a "Just Do It" attitude 92
Can you really prepare for everything? 84
The Ultimate response 83
The flap of a butterfly's wings 43
The Last Mile: TBC (I will update by mid November)
CTA: Conversion Linkedin to Blog 48%
Audience Geography: USA, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Vietnam, Ukraine, Spain, UAE, French Polynesia
Am I satisfied with the outcome of my holidays?
Yes! Sure I cycled less than planned. But I also did twice my own 400 km record in Cambodia. I did not get the type of muscle pain you get when you have not trained. My bicycle was really the right one. And so without the nasty weather I could have done it, I know it.
I had a great experience with tough and rewarding moments.
Many amazing memories!
And that's a wrap, so goodbye for now and thanks for following me!
THE END
----------------------------------------------
Halong Bay villagers idea of marketing: kids rowing with their foot to attract tourists attention and sell things!
*Vinh Moc Tunnel: 2,000 m long and 30 metres deep tunnels dug into stone with simple tools during the Vietnam War. 60 Vietnamese civilian families moved their village underground and 17 babies were born in it between 1966 and 1972
Below picture: type of bombs landing in the Vinh Moc zone.
This last post is all about what happened in the last 3 days and 248 km / 154 miles of my cycling journey in Vietnam. I know a few of you wonder if I made it. So here comes the answer...
Two days before last mile and just after Typhoon Dori, came one beautiful day of sunshine and I cycled 80 km from Danang to the imperial city of Hue via some hilly mountains overlooking the sea. Wonderful!
At this point of the trip I looked at weather forecast every time I had an Internet connection. It did not look good: Rain and storms for the rest of my journey.
The following day, it rained. I decided to get on with it and arrived after 90 km - swamped and freezing - at a friendly beach resort. I was the only customer and after the evening power cut, it was really dark out there. The staff offered to have dinner with them in their kitchen. One of them translated parts of the conversation: "... in some regions in the north of China there are tribes that eat humans. If you get off the main track alone, the tribe hunts you and has you for dinner..." brr...
Last mile day: I waited for the rain to slow down for two hours before I took off at 10 am. It was a great ride to Vinh Moc Tunnel* followed by 4 hours cycling under the rain and a score of 78 km.
One that last day, while the rain was bashing me, I laughed a few times at myself considering the ridiculous aspect of the situation. And on the more serious side, I went through my options again and again and finally I decided: "THAT'S THE LAST MILE".
I had continued cycling the past three days until I was sure about this. With "this" I mean CHANGE. Change is hard. We have expectations, visions, ambitions and we usually work hard to achieve them. But when change is meant to be, it shows up like a series of "time to change flags". We can either decide to ignore the flags and stick to the original course. Or we can see them for what they are and adapt and evolve.
In this case, continuing beyond that point was not a good option. It would have meant keeping going under the rain for another 5 days with more risks, no comfortable night accommodation, no place of interest to look forwards to and several nights in the dark.
It would not add any value to me and considering this was my holidays, I decided to adapt and evolve.
I took a 17 hours bus transfer to the sunnier north of Vietnam legendary Halong Bay. From there I did a two days cruise. It was really beautiful, one of those place you shall see before you die, And finally I transferred to Hanoi by bus.
So here is finally the achievement outcome:
The cycling
I cycled a total of 11 days and 913 kilometres / 567 miles up to the city of Dong Hoi
I'd guess something like 200.000 pedal strokes
There was also the blogging
I have around 600 contacts on linkedin and 30-40 on Facebook. I wondered if I could engage my network with my cycling stories and to what extend. The results were great, I had no particular expectation but hope a few people find it interesting.
But my network really liked this:
798 views on Linkedin
Introduction to Solo Female Cycling in Vietnam 315
The Value of a "Just Do It" attitude 85
Can you really prepare for everything? 64
The Ultimate response 218
The flap of a butterfly's wings 116
The Last Mile: TBC (I will update by mid November)
And 18 likes/encouraging comments/private messages were sent too. Thank you!
383 Blog views
Introduction to Solo Female Cycling in Vietnam 81
The Value of a "Just Do It" attitude 92
Can you really prepare for everything? 84
The Ultimate response 83
The flap of a butterfly's wings 43
The Last Mile: TBC (I will update by mid November)
CTA: Conversion Linkedin to Blog 48%
Audience Geography: USA, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Vietnam, Ukraine, Spain, UAE, French Polynesia
Am I satisfied with the outcome of my holidays?
Yes! Sure I cycled less than planned. But I also did twice my own 400 km record in Cambodia. I did not get the type of muscle pain you get when you have not trained. My bicycle was really the right one. And so without the nasty weather I could have done it, I know it.
I had a great experience with tough and rewarding moments.
Many amazing memories!
And that's a wrap, so goodbye for now and thanks for following me!
THE END
----------------------------------------------
Halong Bay villagers idea of marketing: kids rowing with their foot to attract tourists attention and sell things!
*Vinh Moc Tunnel: 2,000 m long and 30 metres deep tunnels dug into stone with simple tools during the Vietnam War. 60 Vietnamese civilian families moved their village underground and 17 babies were born in it between 1966 and 1972
Below picture: type of bombs landing in the Vinh Moc zone.
Long transfer bus, almost like a first class flight...
Halong Bay
No comments:
Post a Comment