d e v o n
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Janaina Medeiros
$LAYYYTER
wallacepolsom
we're not kids anymore.
tannertan36
🩵 avery cochrane 🩵
#extradirty
Xuebing Du
occasionally subtle
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Andulka
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
sheepfilms
Three Goblin Art
Game of Thrones Daily
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
untitled
JVL
seen from United Kingdom
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seen from United States
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@cperkinsrun
Coming Home!!
The 8 month tour has come to an end. After traveling through 5 countries and riding a motorcycle for over 9154 miles (14340 km) I am waiting for my 27 hour flight home. It has been a trip of a lifetime and I am very grateful to all the amazing people I have met and shared experiences with, THANK YOU! The next stop will be the best...seeing my Brother, Anita and Boone!!!
GPS tracks
Slide Show (super long)
Tour map
Boracay, Philippines
Last stop on the tour. Relaxing on the beach, boat trips and sampling margaritas.
Donsol, Philippines (snorkeling with Whale Sharks)
While waiting to go on the boat a rainbow came out, which I took as good luck for a Whale Shark sighting. Donsol Whale Shark Interaction Center takes groups of 6 people per boat/guide just offshore to where Whale Sharks frequent the waters this time of year. We were able to snorkel with at least 5 different Whale Sharks on 10 drops in the water. They were between 5 and 9 meters long and are a massive site to see under water. The water visibility was not great so you were unable to see them from tip to tail in one view, but as the shark swims by you realize that these guys are huge. I have wanted to have an experience like this for so long and today was a great day for snorkeling with the largest fish in the ocean!
(someones YouTube link of Whale Sharks in Donsol)
(someones Google image)
Malapascua, Philippines
Malapascua has many good local dives sites that surround the small island. It was nice to head out for a dive and be on the site in 10 minutes. The island is small and came be walked in an afternoon. There are no cars and only a few scooters that cruise the narrow paths around the island. The island is asleep by 10pm with the majority of the tourists getting up early for diving.
Monad Shoal dives
Malapascua attracts divers from around the world to dive the Monad Shoal, where you have the opportunity to see thresher sharks coming up from the deep to a cleaning station. At sunrise the threshers come up from depths of 1600ft to have parasites cleaned from their gills and skin. They are magnificent creatures that have a reflective silver skin and a massive tail fin the curves like a snake. This is an amazing experience to be in the water with a thresher. I did the sunrise dive 3 days in a row and was able to see them on 2 of the dives, as close as 15ft away. The day that we did not see them, we came across a 7-9 ft Whit Tip Shark that was perched on the edge of the shoal wall looking out into the deep. When we approached we discovered that just under her was a crack in the wall where she was protecting 4 juvenile sharks.
(someones YouTube link of a Monad Shoal dive)
Gato Island dives
Gato Island is a great dive site which has a small cave that passes underneath the small island. As we passed through the pitch black cave with torches and began to see the light on the other side, there were 4 White Tip Sharks in the entrance to the cave. We swam through them then stopped at the entrance to watch them circling in and out of the entrance.We saw: white tip sharks, large Sea Horse, 3 Frog fish, white eyed moray eel, banded sea snake, flat worm, blade shrimp, glass shrimp, Lion fish, feeding sea cucumber, feeding school of open mouth mackerel and many nudibranch species.
(someones YouTube link of a Gato Island dive)
North Wall dive
Coral garden and wall dive site. We saw: banded sea snake, pygmy sea horse, flat worm, feeding sea cucumber, Lion fish and many nudibranch species.
Lapus Lapus dive
Coral garden dive site with many nudibranch species, Egg/Oluvum Cowry, commencal shrimp, pipefish.
Bakhaw dive
Muck dive over grass and sand. We saw: banded sea snake, shame face crab, large crab, Zebra crab, juvenile Pipe Fish, smashing mantis shrimp, Lion fish and many nudibranch species.
The Circle has been completed back to Hanoi !!!!
After riding my Honda XR 125L for 7 months, 8509 miles (13695 km), in South East Asia I have made it back to Hanoi. The ride took me through jungles, rice fields, swamps, flat lands, karst mountains, random end off the roads, across valleys, along ridge line “highways”, over the massive Mekong River in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos multiple times and through it’s delta. (I failed grammar...and have a drink in my had)
I sold it to an English teacher for $1400. The shoe-string backpackers buy the Honda Win for $300 and usually can’t afford to make this type of investment. After the sale it averages out to around $5 a day for a sweet bike that took me anywhere I wanted to go and places I really didn’t plan. Actually riding a motorcycle through SE Asia wasn’t planned, so all in all it worked out pretty well (stellar).
To celebrate the loop I went to a legendary local spot, the Quan Ly Ruou Bar. This is a traditional bar specializing in ruou, a Vietnamese liquor made from rice, with a number of varieties infused with various items, which includes: fruits, bark, herbs and snakes. I sat with the grandson of Quan Ly, as we tasted the varieties, under a picture of his grandfather at the Bai Dinh Temple. Since the first town on my ride I had a Bai Dinh coin on my key chain that I rubbed for good luck as I started every ride. I became quite superstitious. It was a fitting picture for my last ride before the bike was sold later that night. Quan Ly himself, age 72, walked in at the end of our session. He had just finished his nightly teaching of Kung Fu to the neighborhood locals. Awesome!
SE Asia Trip Map
...off to the Philippines in search of Thresher Sharks and Whale Sharks!!!
Ba Be National Park
Two nights at a Home-stay on Ba Be Lake have been relaxing. Took a boat ride, then a ride to Hoa Ma Caves and on to the end of a road. The end of the road rides are usually eventful, as this one was. The man at the end of this road came out to greet me and inspect the bike. As I was turning around, in his yard, he motioned me to join him for a drink, I have a short video clip. I got off the bike and followed him to his front door. He looked confused and then put his hands in the air. Apparently his wife had padlocked the door and he had no key. He laughed and shook his head. When then walked to his neighbors house in search of the famous home brewed rice wine, the neighbor was dry. No booze so he walked me out to the rice fields that were being prepared for planting and showed me his fish pond. He laughed at the size of the huge fish that swam by us and was very proud. Had a smoke with the neighbor and met some others who came out see the stranger and then headed out with hands waving goodbye.
Meo Vac: Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark
The morning cold fog and mist delayed my ride out of town. I took a quick ride back into the geopark and can across a shoot for a Vietnamese soap opera. The children watching gave me some good photo opportunities. The mist never cleared so sadly I rode through the cloud cover and didn’t get any farewell views on my way to Bao Lac.
Ma Pi Leng Pass: Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark
Just outside of Dong Van is Ma Pi Leng Pass, which caused a change in my plans. I aborted my expected ride to Bao Lac and decided to spend the day riding across this spectacular valley and summit the other side. I reached the summit to find the road winding along the ridge line and rode as until I was waved down and told to turn around. I was approaching the Chinese border and the policeman in Chợ Xín Cái was doing his job.
So instead of riding 95km down the Hwy 4C I made it 25km, but had a great ride in some of the most scenic mountains of my SEA trip. I did try to ride down some small trails to the Ma Pi Leng canyon but didn’t make it past a wedding party on the dirt path that were enjoying themselves too much to let anyone through. I wouldn’t have made it far on the bike anyway and walked a few 100 meters for a shot of the canyon.
Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark (Day ride exploration)
I had been eyeballing the split between two peaks and decided to see if I could make a route through it. Nothing on the map, but after seeing a dirt path on the other side, map satellite view, I thought I had a shot at it. Turned out to be a success and a great ride on more or less foot paths. I made it through the split and then came across a “NO ADMITTANCET” sign...too late. The ride back up the other side took me across steep slopes and up to a keyhole pass along a rock cliff, which I had seen, and back to the main road.
Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark (Day ride around Dong Van)
Day ride on some alternate routes (TL 182, TL 176, Ta Lung > Yen Minh > Sinh Lung, and ???) inside the Hwy 4C.
Dong Van
Toured the Vuong Palace and then Lung Cu, the Northern most location of Vietnam. The flag pole of Lung Cu is an important landmark marking the border division between China and Vietnam.
I took a detour to the end of a dirt road and was greeted by 2 farmers. The path literally ended at their fence. They invited me into their house for a smoke of the famous tobacco bong. Nice folks!
My musical host playing his "kheng" during a home stay in Dong Van, Vietnam. Went through a lot of rice wine with this guy. I had to ride my motorcycle through the living room everyday to get to his courtyard.
Yen Minh: Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark
Day 2 and no words to explain this place, other than epic riding on a motorcycle!
Ha Giang: Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark
Leaving Ha Giang I entered the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark through “Heavens Gate” and that I did. The terrain is amazing! I will be in the Geopark Park for the next few days.
Xi Man
The ride north of Bac Ha was bumpy but the views opened up riding into Xi Man.
I went in for a trim and the barber had his way with me. My trim up request was definitely lost in translation. Short hair is nice and I got a “red neck” the first day!
Bac Ha
The Sunday Bac Ha market was a site to see and filled with the colorful Flower Hmong people. The market had everything for the locals and tourist items as well. Sadly there were puppies for sale at the market as well.
The Home-stay in Bac Ha had a great meal and rice wine. I mentioned that Bac Ha is the first town that I have seen horses. He looked at the dinner plate. The wife did most of the work. The son was the translator and guide. The grandmother never left her bed, but seemed comfortable. The father attended a nearby wedding, brought his rowdy friends home at 1:00am and the wedding continued to play karaoke music until 5:30am.
Sapa (day ride to Ta Phin)
I took a ride to a nearby village to try a hill tribe herbal medicinal bath at Red Dao Spa. The hot soak was great and I felt ready to be put in a soup.
After the soak I went up the valley and came across a shop girl who showed me how they make hemp string, weave, dye and then batik the fabric. A woman that I passed on the way up stepped into the shop and asked the shop girl to translate that she wanted a ride to the market. I said yes and had my first hitchhiker!
I took her ~10km to the market in Sapa. She tried to pay me, which I declined and then walked into the market with her to see the meats on display. When I returned...my bike was gone! Parking attendants often move your bike to make room for more, so I walked up and down the street looking for it. Why was my urgent questioning being returned with smiles? Finally a woman from a soup kitchen found a trekking guide to assist me and my panic. Turns out I was “parked illegally”, which is hilarious, and my bike was towed to the Police station. No parking in the street in Sapa. $5 dollars later I was back with my Dirty Sweet girl.
Sapa
The ride to Sapa took me through tea farms and over a scenic pass. It has been cold once again and after wearing all of my clothes for days I finally purchased a fleece and gloves. The market has just about everything, including many hill tribes from the region.
The new tram to the top of Fansipan, tallest peak in South East Asia, opened last month. It is a shame that the summit is being developed with restaurants and shops.
Fansipan cloud mist video