For those who follow my travels, some notes as I prepare to enter China

For those who follow my travels, some notes as I prepare to enter China

The Chinese government are easily offended. As a guest to the country, I will be supporting the One China Policy. For those that don't know what I'm talking about check this link: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38285354

 

In summary, it means that China considers Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao to be renegade breakaway states and it is their intention that one day they will all be back under Chinese control. I also ask you, dear followers, to be cautious about commenting on the OCP, to be honest, it's best if you don't comment on this. I have switched my Facebook settings to 'friends only' in preparation. I will repost an old post tomorrow. China is pretty determined about this policy and you may not be aware that Taiwan due to the Chinese veto does not have a seat at the UN and is not officially listed as a country. Anyone that does diplomatic business with Taiwan will have its Chinese diplomatic links severed. There are only a handful of countries that Taipei has relations with. And do you remember Trump's backtrack when he took a congrats phone call from the Taiwan leader in Dec 2016? Recently foreign airlines have been told that if they want to fly to China that the aforementioned renegade states must be ticketed as and also advertised as Chinese locations. 

Vietnam with a population of 95 million sizes up against China whose population is roughly 15 times that of their southern neighbour and thirty times larger. Chinas main area of population is in the eastern part of the country. Tomorrow I will start walking towards there. Macao and Hong Kong should be reached in less than a month. 

By the way. The last time I contacted Spot, my tracker device company I was told that there is no service in China. I have been having a lot of trouble with it lately and suspect it's days are numbered. I will turn it on to China and see what happens. Enough said, I have walking to do 

 

 

My world walk blog Vietnam #11/ Down and out.

Down and out

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Vietnamese equivalent of Thanksgiving. It's also celebrated in China and many other south-east Asian countries. It's mainly a time for family and friends to be together and to celebrate the end of the rice and wheat harvests. Moon worship is an important part of the festival celebration. The ancient Chinese believed in rejuvenation being associated with the moon and water, and connected this concept to the menstruation of women, calling it "monthly water"...  Ancient folklore says that the sun and the moon are a couple and the stars are their children, and when the moon is pregnant it becomes round and then becomes crescent after giving birth to a child. These beliefs made it popular among women to worship and give offerings to the moon on this evening. 

This morning after breakfast I couldn't resist playing the drums with my chopsticks! Ringo Starr your job is safe!

What was his song? Oh Yes, Down and Out! 

"Looked at the sky, what did I see?

I saw someone looking at me.

And I'm down and out, down and out,

Well, I'm down, so down, down and out."

Well, my most impressed spectators were a tiny dog who stood up on a seat for a better view and a young child. No, I won't make a career as a politician either, kissing babies and all as they do. This one laughed so much he had a nose discharge

Then it was time for my haircut and more laughs there.

Vietnam with a population of 95 million sizes up against China whose population is roughly 15 times that of their southern neighbour and thirty times larger. Chinas main area of population is in the eastern part of the country. Tomorrow I will start walking towards there. Macao and Hong Kong should be reached in less than a month. 

By the way. The last time I contacted Spot, my tracker device company I was told that there is no service in China. I have been having a lot of trouble with it lately and suspect it's days are numbered. I will turn it on to China and see what happens. 

The Chinese government are easily offended. As a guest to the country, I will be supporting the One China Policy. For those that don't know what I'm talking about check this link: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38285354

In summary, it means that China considers Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao to be renegade breakaway states and it is their intention that one day they will all be back under Chinese control. I also ask you, dear followers, to be cautious about commenting on the OCP, to be honest, it's best if you don't comment on this. I have switched my Facebook settings to 'friends only' in preparation. I will repost an old post tomorrow. China is pretty determined about this policy and you may not be aware that Taiwan due to the Chinese veto does not have a seat at the UN and is not officially listed as a country. Anyone that does diplomatic business with Taiwan will have its Chinese diplomatic links severed. There are only a handful of countries that Taipei has relations with. And do you remember Trump's backtrack when he took a congrats phone call from the Taiwan leader in Dec 2016? Recently foreign airlines have been told that if they want to fly to China that the aforementioned renegade states must be ticketed as and also advertised as Chinese locations. Enough said, I have walking to do

My world Walk Vietnam blog # 10 - Herculean Smack!

My world Walk Vietnam blog # 10 - Herculean Smack!

Herculean Smack!

Some of you may suffer from insomnia if so I encourage you to visit my website www.myworldwalk.com and click on the blog tab. This medication is free of charge The blog I'm told is appreciated by my supporters who don't do Facebook. And thanks a million to my great friend Scott Richards for building and maintaining it for me.
As you can see it's pretty much an edited version of my Facebook posts. I try to stitch up some of my brief reports with the longer ones and other stuff that I forgot after pressing the Facebook share button.
Here is an example of what I mean. Well, not typical as in some places this one is a little bit off the wall and I have used some old photos too.
I hope you can visit my website more often
And most important of all, please remember: Life is precious and early cancer screening saves lives.

Herculean Smack!

A 34-kilometre day followed by a 33 to Tien Yen. That left me with about 82 kilometres to Mong Cai, the China border town. An awkward distance as I have got into the tempo of lashing out days in the low thirties. So to save a day on the road, that is another rest day I figured on two big days to walk the 82 and I also planned to arrive on Saturday 22nd September.

I'm taking a lot of days off at the moment as I have some projects I'm working on and I have the time to spare on my 30--day visa. Also as its also still pretty hot it's my attempt to play the clock down towards hopefully a cooler October in China. I think I said that in August about September? Never-the-less, here's hoping.

Then a massive 48 km day on a long hot and hilly day with high humidity left me too tired to do a blog update. At around km 40 I walked up a 7% grade that left my legs a bit wibbly-wobbly but I plodded on regardless. However, that day started off slowly; a tortoise-like morning with only 13 kilometres walked in over four hours due to so many stops. At one of those stops, I even made a child cry. No Tony, some drastic action clearly was needed!  I reckoned I needed a boost, a slap to get me going so I texted a friend and her resulting virtual smack, bif, bam and smack resulted in a Herculean performance that 48-kilometre day. I guess I was saved by the bell.

That night I made it to Hai Ha an easy name to remember and fun name. Like many explorers, I have problems trying to remember exactly where I am, where I have been and where I'm going. The place name that gave me the biggest grief in all of my travels is in Mexico. I used to tell people I was going to the Pee place when I was running towards Pijijiapan

Back here I carved out a comfortable final day in Vietnam, I had just 35 km to Mong Cai and my next step would be in the Peoples Republic of China. I expect to cross over on Tuesday.

Mong Cai is Vietnams most important trading hub with China and Cantonese is widely understood. With a population of just over 100,000, it is one of the wealthiest cities in Vietnam with the average family income in excess of US$20,000 in many locations

To get there I walked through about 13 kilometres of congested suburbs where kamikaze buses and truck drivers played chicken with each other while the motorcycles were pushed into the hard-shoulder where I was walking.

Eventually, I made it to the Chinese border, the end of the country. From Laos, I walked 637 kilometres in 19 road days. Thanks a million to all of the lovely Vietnamese people who helped me and also for their kindness and friendship.

That day I heard that the Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang had just died. According to the BBC, he was 61 years old and had been suffering from a serious illness and had gotten treatment at home and overseas. The BBC went on to say: "He was seen as a loyal and committed communist party member and known for his hard-line approach to dissent. Scores of dissidents have been jailed under his leadership."

My condolences to the Vietnamese people.

Arriving at the China border I decided that as  I'm going to spend a couple of days in Mong Cai before crossing I went about searching for accommodation. Mistake: it would have been a better idea to have stopped a few kilometres before the border and walk that when I'm leaving as the price of accom near the border is outrageous as they are fancy glitzy places with porters et al.

I ended up having a bit of trouble but after two hours of aimlessly wandering around, I thought I scored a bed. Then after about fifteen minutes of scrutinising my visa, I was refused because of having Karma, my cart. I eventually found a reasonably priced place to lay my weary head but had to endure another passport scrutiny and then only after the owner phoned an English speaker to interview me! At that stage, I thought it wise just to say one night and to get off the street.

I will have to walk this couple of kilometres again back to the border. I guess if one has to make a mistake this kind of mistake of not stopping earlier is the best kind to make as there could be worse mistakes to make than wandering around and wasting a couple of hours. No harm losing a bit of time, I have a lot of that! On the way into the city, I was shocked to see a huge slab missing from a footpath and running water below. I don't know how deep the water is but its a bit a drop down. I can't imagine how visually impaired people manage here.

Total km walked for 723 road days = 25,240.

My world walk blog - Vietnam #9 - 148 kilometres from China!

My world walk blog - Vietnam #9 - 148 kilometres from China!

148 kilometres from China!

After I left Uong Bi I walked pretty smartly along route 18. The day was much milder than it has been in a long while, so my funny hats had a rest day while I let my feet off their chains and strode out for a 44-kilometre day. Ah! Yes how nice it was to be able to wear just a baseball cap

After 24 kilometres I decided to take a back road to a large busy village called Van Yen and I arrived during the rush-hour chaos. See the video I posted yesterday. The backroad was actually an unopened expressway which was under construction. I let that busy period ease down by feasting on a half roasted duck dinner. That certainly was a nice change. By that stage, it was almost dark so I lit up well and walked for another couple of hours on a smaller highway Those last couple of hours were refreshingly cool and I walked in the shoulder towards the traffic before I finished at 9 pm in a place called Thong Nhat.

I lucked out for I managed to get a luxury hotel for about US$7. The room is nice and clean with white marble tiles and has two double beds, swing doors that lead out onto a balcony where I enjoyed some leisure time the next day.

Upon getting up on Tuesday there was a thunderstorm with frequent bursts of torrential rain. As mentioned before that I have several days left on my Vietnam visa, so I decided to take the day off as there was little point in walking in that.
First I made a breakfast stop for a bowl of Bun Poh and as always I made lots of friends both there and stopping on the way back to my hotel.

I spent most of the day sorting and backing up my photos and then I wandered down to another restaurant and put in my order. When it arrived the owner a man called Luong Hong Lan grabbed me and pulled me over to the family table to share their food with me. And how delicious that was: fish, vegetables, noodles, various spices, tofu and deliciously steamed cabbage. It was a delightful dinner and thanks to this kind man who waved my payment away.

Btw I have been having some trouble with my Spot tracking device. Sometimes after I turn it on it takes a couple of hours to receive a track. Other times I get one within a few minutes. This is perhaps an opportune time to mention that there is no Spot coverage in China. I will be posting a blog pretty soon of what to expect, and what not to expect from me while in the Peoples Republic. I'm now just 148 kilometres away.

25,089 kilometres for 718 road days.

My Route through Thailand, Laos & Vietnam as of 16th Sept 2018

My Route through Thailand, Laos & Vietnam as of 16th Sept 2018

I have just crossed my old route in Vietnam when I was heading to Australia over a year ago!

My world walk blog - Vietnam #8 - "Will you marry me?" 😂

My world walk blog - Vietnam #8 - "Will you marry me?"

Will you marry me?"

Hi everyone! Thanks for all of your lovely messages on reaching my 25,000th kilometre That happened when I reached km marker 34 on route QL 10.
Each one of your messages is special and much appreciated. I am so lucky to have so many loyal and great friends which I cherish from the bottom of my heart
I also stopped at a dressmaker office to get some pockets sewn onto my walking shirt. The lovely woman there spoke some 'kinda English' Her vocab was from phrases she had learnt off or read from her notebook. "Are you married? And " Why not you are very handsome!" Lol "I have no husband" and " What about me? Will you marry me?"
"No thank you, It's not on my agenda!"
Needless to say, a stitch in time so I grabbed my shirt and hot-footed it down the road!
Then she comes down five kilometres down the road on her motorbike and thankfully she had forgotten her notebook but managed to say: "Do you remember me?"
"Will I ever forget you!' Hopefully, I didn't leave a broken heart on Friday!
That day I walked 38 kilometres and finished at a lovely hotel in Uong Bj. I took a rest day yesterday and today Sunday to catch up on some projects that I'm working on. It's always nice to have a quality place to stay for rest days. Believe me, I have woken up in places where ants were crawling all over the room and not relishing my rest day. So for the sake of a few euro, it's always a good idea to check into a quality place when I take a break. This is all possible due to the kind sponsorship of my great friend Richard Donovan the race director of the North Pole marathon and other extreme races like seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, The Volcano Marathon, The Antarctic Ice marathon and 100 km, etc. Richard is the worlds most renown organiser of extreme races. So if you are looking for a challenging race or a lifetime experience please check out his events. 
Sorry for the lack of updates here. Sometimes I need to turn off Facebook and have a little 'Tony Time'
On Friday I was walking through a large town and a park ranger called Kien offered me tea at his office which was just ten kilometres up the road. So, I stopped and we had a nice chat. The previous day I bought a new lightweight high-viz vest and gave my old one to Kien as a keepsake. It just that bit too warm for here. Thanks to Mike Hamiora for that kind gift at a roadhouse (?which one Mike) in Australias Northern Territory. It served me well, but alas, just too warm

A little later I went into a cafe and had lunch and the owner strongly resisted my payment. I was about 500 metres down the road and I realise that I had forgotten to give him my card. Even though he probably isn't on Facebook and doesn't speak English I felt his generosity deserved my card. '500 meters and then back again!' I frowned. What the heck, I have all the time in the world so why not? And that's what I did, I went back and he was delighted with it.
I have ten days left on my Vietnam visa and I'm 192 kilometres from China, so about six or seven standard days walking. I'm not really in a hurry, so expect another couple of lazin' in days next week
I have passed the line of latitude from where I stopped at the Sea of China in Vietnam in April 2017 to walk Australia and New Zealand. That was at the ocean near Haiphong. As you can see from the map this time I bypassed that large city. So, though not technically, I'm pretty much back on my old route. I will cross the exact spot of previous footsteps in a couple of days. 
Thanks to Benjamin in Berlin for providing his unusual fabulously-detailed map which depicts my route here pre-Australia and Nz and ultimately my return to Asia. That is, from the ocean south of Bangkok to here for the last two months.
Have a great, fun-filled and positive day wherever you are in the world

My World Walk Blog - Vietnam #7 - A day of laughs

My World Walk Blog - Vietnam #7 - A day of laughs

A day of laughs.

A 36-kilometre fun-filled day followed. That day I walked from near Nam Dinh to Cau Vat. The first twenty were on delightful backroads and I continued walking past people busy working in the fields, shops and on construction sites. I had my fair share of offers to stop for a cup of tea. I took up one of those offers at a house which was under construction. However, before I made my exit I did my 'Brucie Wobble' party piece. Anyone that doesn't know what that is please check it out on You Tube here

https://youtu.be/U6vaEngvA2M

 A former Liverpool goalkeeper called Bruce Grobbelaar put a penalty taker off his kick in the 1984 European cup final against Roma when he threw a wobbly legs routine! I sometimes do this to garner a smile when people are staring intently at me. It never fails for they crack up with laughter. I did it a lot in Myanmar on my world run. There I was under a police escort for two weeks and there were villages where over a hundred people lined up with emotionless stares. I just ran right up to them, did my wobble and we all laughed. As you can imagine I was soon surrounded but I always loved to stop and chat as best as I could with the language barrier. 

Back here I stopped at a grocery store for a snack. Inside the people were asking if I was travelling alone. No, I have my girlfriend waiting outside I joked as I pointed to Karma. I had left a small wireless speaker on top of her and when I went outside and was bidding my farewells. The Bluetooth connection with the GPS which I had been using that morning was still connected. Suddenly the GPS cranked into operation and a loud female command came from Karmas direction "Turn Left!" 

You should have seen the peoples faces. Their expressions were priceless, and then we had a good laugh before I walked on. 

For my meal break, I went into a cafe for a bowl of phoh. I took a huge swig of what I thought was my water bottle. It was, in fact, a similar bottle to mine which someone had filled with vodka and was placed on my table by accident! That nearly took the head off me and I slat it out!

So I walked on and through Dong Hung where I was befriended by a great character, an outgoing man who looked more like he was on a bicycle tour. I'm not sure exactly what he was doing but he was walking along the road and occasionally picking something up off the road. We met several times as I walked through the spread out city. Even though I had enough water he insisted on giving me a bottle and then kindly gave me a better hat than mine. Once when he was busy with his collecting and left his bicycle unattended I pretended I was swiping it! He responded by grabbing Karma!

Ah, what a laugh and what a day, all 36 kilometres, a barrel of laughs from start to finish. 

Tuesday 12th I took the day off to recover!

24,969 kilometres for 716 road days. I need just 31 for my 25,000th of this global walk. Web: www.myworldwalk.com

My World Walk Blog - Vietnam #6/ A different sort of half-day.

My World Walk Blog - Vietnam #6/ A different sort of half-day.

A different sort of half-day.

Just beyond a large city called Nam Dinh, I was stopped by a young man called Khoa Vũ. He was riding a small motorcycle When he departed I gave him one of my world walk cards.  A half hour later we were Facebook friends. Then when I stopped for a lunch break he came out to offer me a bed in the family home that night. I had only walked 20 kilometres and readily agreed as I have a lot of days to spare on my Vietnam visa. It's always nice to receive an invitation to a home, for me that's the ultimate travel experience. However, I had already passed his house so we hastily made an arrangement for a small garage owner to mind Karma and I made the five-kilometre commute back to his house on his motorcycle.

The city of Nam Dinh's population is about 2 million Vietnams 95 million. 

He knew people in a clinic and suggested I have a routine check-up. So I did and a doctor gave me a precautionary hydration drip, which was no harm and I agreed. We had much mirth there and I was cared for by a 39-year-old Doctor Gum! I was told that many of the people had converted from Buddhism to Christianity and she herself is a nun. Interestingly she speaks Chinese as it was necessary to learn the language to study medicine. All medicines are labelled in Chinese and when I asked for something she would recommend for my cough she couldn't as she didn't know the English name.

Then we rushed off to his English Club - as they prefer to call it - and not a school. I addressed three classes of English language students who are all tutored by volunteer Vietnamese teachers. Students pay about the equivalent of ten euro a month to cover the cost of the upkeep of the building. For that, they get two English language lessons a week.

While there I passed around my Vietnam translation of my cancer awareness message. Peter is one of the teachers and during a chat about cancer he mentioned that about 170,000 new cases of cancer were diagnosed last year. This is in a country with a population of 95 million. Ireland with a population of under five million has about 40,000 a year.

In the end, what I thought was going to be a half day ended up being a long one. I was shattered by the time it all ended at 9:15!

My world walk blog - Vietnam #5 - The heat is on.

My world walk blog - Vietnam #5 - The heat is on.

I walked for two more days and once again my battle against the intense Vietnamese heat continued. Humidity which was in the region of 90% also became an issue. To walk for a single hour and cover close to four-kilometres was tough going. Instead those two days I just made extra stops and indeed some of them were prolonged. I plastered myself with sunscreen but the sun rays continued to burn down on me through my clothing causing discomfort to my neck and chest. I even had to buy a new rugged shirt with long sleeves and a zip-up hood. This made a huge difference even if it was a warmer garment to wear. Another problem which I have been having is that I'm getting a lot of mosquito bites, especially at night. So I will definitely get another one and wear it more often, my new pyjamas lol. Dust from the road and even sweat underneath my cover up garments caused me irritation and an irresistible urge to scratch. I noticed that once I sprinkled on some cooling powder that I got instant relief. I bought that stuff in Thailand and haven't seen it since.

 I mentioned before that it seems to me that bizarrely the further north I walk away from the equator the hotter it seems to get. Five-years ago and almost at the same time of year, I was running fifty and sixty-kilometre days at a similar latitude in Thailand and I was comfortable for the most part.  I just don't understand this, but it's my experience, climate change I guess. 

It would be a good idea if I started walking early in the day, but I'm hopeless in the mornings and it's already hot at 7 am. Both of these days I walked through spread out towns about ten-kilometres apart that ran into each other so there was the occasional bit of welcome shade. Once I came across a tub of ice cream and demolished it in a heartbeat. One thing I have noticed is that there is not much junk food in the shops. I rarely see any biscuits and chocolate doesn't exist, perhaps because of the heat. Having said that there is no shortage of chocolate in Australia. Interestingly since leaving Bangkok seven weeks ago, I have only seen two or three obese people. 

Those two days I walked 36 and 35-kilometres and finished walking at 8 pm and 9 pm respectively. They were long twelve and thirteen hour days. Once the evening rush hour is finished the chaotic traffic becomes less intense as is the heat. I walked in a two-metre shoulder and I was well lit up with a powerful flashlight and a flashing red light and my hi-viz vest. 

Upon reaching town I took a rest day not because I needed it. More because why not? I have about a week to spare on my visa and its also no harm giving my skin a rest away from the highway. Despite being well covered up I've had to plaster on the moisturiser lately. These last couple of weeks I probably used more than Kim Kardashian!

Latest: 24,880 myworldwalk.com kilometres walked in 713 road days.

My world walk blog - Vietnam 4 - No Mien-Ngan for Mangan!

My world walk blog - Vietnam 4 - No Mien-Ngan for Mangan!

No Mien-Ngan for Mangan!

I was really tired tonight and planned to give just a brief update of today and yesterdays walks and then do a full report tomorrow. In the end, I churned out this one. Sorry for any typos.

Monday after my two-day break I was feeling as lifeless as a mushy pea being picked up by a boxing glove.  I even walked into a herd of cows walking down the middle of the busy highway. It was almost as though the cows took a wrong turn in India.  

I ended up walking twenty-kilometres and stopped at a hotel just north of Quynh Thien. Thankfully it had a welcome chicken and chips stand outside. That was dinner sorted but unfortunately, it wasn't open for breakfast. 

Next morning, and an hour up the road I stopped for a sandwich and a few young lads came into the shop and wanted to chat via Google Translate. 

For those of you that don't know this is such a wonderful app. It does as it says. You just type in a message or question in your language and select the other person language and press the translate button and hey presto! It's not perfect but as you can see from the question that this non-English speaking lad pulled up. He typed in Vietnamese: "Do you know much about football." Please see photo. So, in theory, you could have a person from say Brazil sitting in a Mongolian yurt and having a decent conversation with a shepherd. Other Translate possibilities are speaking apps, that way you don't have to type. Each person just speaks in and the selected language translates the audio. I have had only limited success with this one. To my mind, this is something which still needs a bit of work. 

It was a hot mushy 33C day and I was having a tough time. Even with sunblock on and covered up well I had problems with sweat that tormented any cuts or scratches I had. Several times I had to stop to apply some wonderful Protex cooling powder and Vaseline. I walked through a couple of small towns and by this stage I was near the ocean where I hot brief respite with a cool crosswind. But it was short lived. I was hungry and all the cafes were closed. Then I saw a restaurant sign with a dish that sounds like Mangan, my name, called 'Mien-Ngan'

Unfortunately, this restaurant was another tease for the place was closed. Not sure what this man-eating dish tastes like, I must try and get some. 

 Indeed I was saved from starvation when I stumbled upon a bakery with hot fresh bread. So I took a break there and it was just as well I bought extra as there was nowhere else. So it was bread and water at the hotel I found that night. Seven Euro a night seems to be the cost of these half decent places.

 On the way, children and their parents continued to cheer and wave over to me. At one stage a group of about ten were cheering from across the road and I could even see them over the concrete lane separation bollards. Sometimes I think they know I'm on my way and watch out and wait for me. 

36-kilometres were walked that brutally hot day. I finished just west of Nam Cham. Surely it makes more sense to start early? I will see what I can do. I stopped for sugar cane juice and also at a grocery store for a soft drink. Towards the end of the day, I crossed over and walked on the opposite side. I walked the last hour in the coolness of the evening. That enabled me to pick up my pace. I'm enjoying this world walk so much. So much to look forward in the coming months. I'm just 425 kilometres from China and so much looking forward to it, feeling groovy. I walked in the hard-shoulder and towards the traffic. After such a brutally hot day a cool period like this is almost orgasmic.

Song for the day Paul Simon, 'Crazy Love'

A good song you may ask? As Paul would say.. "I have no opinion."

Hear for yourself by pressing this link

https://youtu.be/eRrcfWCMdGk

24,809 kilometres in 711 myworldwalk.com days. 

Walking around the world for cancer awareness. Early cancer screening saves lives.

My world walk blog - Vietnam #3

My world walk blog - Vietnam #3

My world walk blog - Vietnam #3

I was walking north-east along Vietnam's route 1. It's a busy highway, bustling with impatient truck and car drivers and constant motorcycle riders popping along on the hard shoulder that I was walking on. The highway goes all the way to the Hanoi, the capital. I'm not going that far. I'm more or less going to hug the east coast all the way to China.
Here as in many other Asian countries, it's the law that pedestrians are obliged to walk with the traffic to their backs. It's astonishing how this is considered safer and how so many people are brainwashed into thinking it to be. I never tell people what to do in their own country but when I explain that while walking towards traffic that I can see a bad or inattentive driver who could be talking or texting on their mobile phone. Then I would have time to jump out of the way. Instead of them coming up behind me and on the same side of the road when I can't see the drivers face. I always get the same answer. "But the driver can see you and you have to trust them!"  (lol)

To be honest when the driver coming up behind he may see me. To my mind, the real danger is with overtaking drivers behind them.

A lot of these bikes travel on the hard shoulder and when its pretty busy people are surprised to see me walking towards them. As I don't want to cause any accidents I feel in that situation it's best for me to walk on the other side with the traffic at my back but just to keep checking over my shoulder every few seconds.

Being a pedestrian I sometimes attract unfair attention from the police too. Sometimes I get stopped and I suspect that had I been riding a bicycle they wouldn't have stopped me.

Actually only last week in Laos I was stopped. I was about 18km before Lak Sao and about fifty from the Vietnam border. I didn't want to write about what happened until I left the country.

A police car pulled up and one of the four officers asked me to walk on other side of the road with the traffic to my back. Fair enough and I obliged. What he attempted to do next was bizarre. Upon spotting my Irish tricolour flag he tried to rip it off my cart. So I stopped him and just pushed the flagpole down. Then he tried to rip it again so I decided to take it completely down and put it away. I walked for my two days without it in Laos and if you check the photos at the border you will see it missing from Karma, my cart.  How crazy is that and the name of the province is fittingly called Bolikhamxay, What a load of bolix! I'm not sure if it is because Laos is a communist country.. Normally I fly the host's countries flag too but I didn't have one. It's usually difficult to find one.
By the way for those that may be interested. By far the most police stops I have encountered in my lifetime of travels was in the USA. There it was constant and they usually run a background check too. Its the only part of America I don't look forward to. On my walk and in almost six months in Russia I had only two stops and not too many either on the road in China. In China, it was usually in hotels.

Anyway, back to nicer things.

Back here and on the road, I stopped to take some photos of some talented sculptures who were busy carving out some amazing Virgin Mary and other religious statues. I was in awe of their expert work. When I finished my 32-kilometre days walk I couldn't find a hotel as it was the holiday weekend. I walked further on down the highway and a worker who worked in a late night restaurant/petrol station said that I could lay my sleeping bag there for the night and have a shower. Thanks to these wonderful workers. 

Back out on the road and towards the town of Cau Giat, I stopped to chat to some workers who were hanging up some Ho Chi Minh pictures for the independence weekend.

Following the end of the war, on 2 September 1945 and then the 'August Revolution', Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) which eventually joined up with South Vietnam.

Eventually, after 29 kilometers I reached Cau Giat town. As I planned to chill out for a couple of days I got a really nice hotel at a great rate and went across the road for a pizza. I was excited by this luxury after so many meals of rice and noodles. Can you imagine my face when a tiny six-inch ham and cheese pizza arrived on a small side plate! Problem solved as it only cost two euro! "I'll have two more please!"
I had the whole restaurant to myself and then a huge group of parents and their children walked in and I was surrounded by curious children all pointing and waving. A great afternoon. Now to watch the All-Ireland football final which kicks off in a few minutes. My team Dublin and the defending champions take on Tyrone. Dublin has won it the last three years. Come on the Dubs
Update: Dublin won their fourth title in a row!
24,753 kilometers for 709 road days.

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