Come on over Missy, we'll put you up and you can enjoy it youself. I'll even let you pilot the Ural.

Cheers, SB

 

Ouh I would love to!

But this yrs trip plans are already made

One nice lovley trip to Visit Mattson and Family and another to Nordkapp, To the Ice Sea

I will take a raincheck

 

I've arrived a bit late to the party here Seb, glad you and Mrs Bear are enjoying the adventure, looks beautiful, but like Matteson, I'm not sure I could survive the heat!

Sorry to miss out on the naming competition, I'm really disappointed at all you guys who entered, not including childish names like Ur -in -al!

Take care guys and long may the fun continue

 

So, if only once in your life, you just HAVE to EXPERIENCE a Vietnamese Wedding.

Mrs SB and I were lucky to be invited to Hai and Map’s (pronounced Mup) wedding in Dong Hoi yesterday. And what a celebration it was!



The day started off well entomologically speaking with a Dynastinae or rhinoceros beetle found at the Farmstay. He enjoyed sitting on Rasputin the Urals’ handlebar grip while photos were taken. If you tried to pick the big fella up he hissed like crazy and would scare all the onlookers



Houng’s Jeep – (we do the Jeep/Ural tours together) was used as the wedding car – and there were 6 busses to get the guests the 50 km to Dong Hoi – 240 people in total.



Hai and Map, the happy couple in the Jeep.



The greeting line into the reception area.



Settling in for the 1.5 hour festivities. From L to R Yim and Multi and the petite Mai.



The Bears – out of the more relaxed clobber we usually wear



240 ravenous and thirsty guests



And we’re off and running…………course after course of food delivered with a clockwork regularity (every 5 minutes) and people going table to table offering ‘cheers’ “Mot, Hai, Ba, Yooooooooo” followed by yet more iced beer. This goes on for an hour straight and the trick as how NOT to get drunk is keep your beer glass full of ice so that it is only about 50ml of beer for each cheer. I tried a Coke at one stage and as the glass was offered for cheers was brusquely pushed away as an inadequate offering

There were……………



Wedding singers and dancers,



The wedding procession which culminated in………………



Fireworks!

]

Cake cutting and ………….



Precision Champagne pouring and then……….



More Mot Hai Ba yoooooooooooo’s and cold beer, here with Brother on the left!



Pictures with the cutest children – Houng’s Wife and beautiful daughter.



Photos with the Bride and Groom and then…………………



It’s over and the remnants swept to the floor for clean up.

And the toll of 1.5 hours of bacchanalian gluttony?



Sleepy heads on the bus trip home.



I promised Dean I wouldn’t put this one up! Too good to miss though.

What a day.

Cheers, The Travelling ‘Bears.

 

Still they come…………………………….




Park the bike and the locals want their picture taken on it!

Still very hot here, so with a day up our sleeves we rode to Dong Hoi for some ‘supermarket’ shopping and a nice lunch by the sea side. Dong Hoi is a city of about 100,000 people and we can get most of our requirements there. Phong Nha is a village of about 1000 people with a very rudimentary market for foodstuffs mainly.

After shopping as we were heading back to the beach, I spied this in a car dealership.





The dealership owner came out and tried to start it but couldn’t so I switched on the ‘kill’ switch and started it over with one kick. The one thing it made me realise is just how ‘loose’ my engine is and how many rattles it has that it shouldn’t.



This is the remnants of Tam Toa church after a 1965 bombing raid.



The historic stone.



A close up of the church façade.

Lunch on the beach front was superb, fresh seafood with a gorgeous sea breeze.

Cheers, The Travelling ‘Bears

 

Wonderful stuff Mr and Mrs 'Bear.

Just great for us avid followers of the Travelling 'Bears and their adventures!

Thank you so much for sharing!


Cheers,
Rob and Kez

 

That looks quite tidy, did you buy it for me?

 

Thanks Guys!

On tour again tomorrow now the scrofula is clearing....................................

Cheers, SB

 

Teek, he wouldn't even swap it for my Ural.

I think he liked it! It sounded tight as a drum.

Cheers, SB

 

Ok, I did something I swore black and blue that I would never do….

And no TK it did not involve being friendly with a farm animal!

I rode a Harley Davidson..



Getting the 2014 HD 883 Sportster ready for its maiden ride.

It was the Farmstay owner Ben’s new pride and joy and was delivered while he was off with his wife in Burma, so I had the honour of riding it back to the Farmstay. Was I worried about dropping it in the rain with a slippery road and new waxy tyres? F**k yeah! I could play the scenario out in my mind’s eye.




I took Ben’s wife Bic’s brother for a quick lap – check his smile!



Then it was Mrs SB’s turn.

I took the 50 km ride back to the Farmstay very easy and delivered the bike in one piece with a thin smattering of mud. I took it up to 120km/h on one section of dry road, but even that –to me- was frightening as you never know just who or what will pop out of an unseen side track.

Cheers, SB


PS: Please don’t tell ANYONE that I liked it!