Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Two Days To Go

Despite the fact that I am very fortunate to travel overseas at least once a year, I still get excited when the time to depart draws near.  While I still have quite a few things to do before we leave on Friday, I am slowly ticking jobs off the list. 
One of the things I enjoy most about our overseas tours is that you get to know people quite well when you are on the road with them for two or more weeks.  With a group of 18 joining us on the Laos and Angkor Wat Tour I know we are in for lots of laughs during our travels.
Mike and I are stopping over in Malaysia on the way with the hope of setting up a tour there in the future.  I will blog about our stay there prior to the Laos Tour.  I will try and update the Blog daily, but there may be days when I do not have internet access and so am unable to do so.  Mike also hope to get some clips on You Tube of the journey, we'll keep you posted here and on our web page www.adventurerides.co.nz

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Mongolia clip on You Tube

Buska - interpreter, adventure ride crew and all-round Mongolian good guy
We have loaded a short clip from the DVD Mike made of our Mongolia tour in July this year.   This is the link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oFou6QKqtU
While we are still finishing off things from the Mongolia tour, such as editing film and photos, we are also winding up towards leaving early next month for Laos, via a stopover in Malaysia.  With 18 clients on the tour, and jungle trails that include segments of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, this will be an action packed tour.
When we return late October we will be busy with many New Zealand rides looming.  As it is still so wet and boggy not a huge amount of riding has been done for these events, so when we get back Mike will have to get out on his bike.  Well new bikes actually, as lovely Mr Payne at Yamaha Motor New Zealand is sending Mike a new fleet of bikes.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Laos in October

In October we are taking a group of 18 adventurous souls to Laos for two weeks.  Most will be on motorbikes, with the non-riders travelling in 4x4 utilities.  We have at least 3 days of offroad and will be going down parts of the Ho Chi Minh trail on the Laos side.  We expect to see many remnants from the America/Vietnam conflict as Laos was bombed relentlessly by the Americans for 10 years.

Ian MacKinnon in The Guardian, described Laos as"..the most bombed nation on earth." And explains thus, "The scale of the contamination is mind-boggling. Laos was hit by an average of one B-52 bomb-load every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, between 1964 and 1973. US bombers dropped more ordnance on Laos in this period than was dropped during the whole of the second world war."

We will be covering a large chunk of Laos, starting in the capital, Ventiane.  Evidence of the bombing is present all over the country, but particularly so in Phonsovan, and Savannakhet, and their surrounds.  Need to remind everyone not to go wandering in the jungle at refreshment stops.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Time to keep-up with technology.

Have been talking about it for a while, starting a blog that is.  So here I am.
Michael and I were in Nelson last weekend and on Friday night we were booked to give a presentation about our motorcycle tours and rides at the Suburban Club.  We expected maybe a dozen or so people, and were alarmed to see about 50 odd seats had been put out in anticipation.  Coordinator of the event, Karel Pavich, told us she expected 20-30 at least.  When 70 turned up we were overwhelmed and scrambled to get more seats.
Michael had made a 10 minute DVD of our recent Mongolia Tour using footage captured from his new helmet camera.  Although new to movie editing Michael, with some help from an experienced friend, enjoyed the process, and made what we felt was a great little movie. 
We had previewed it on our friend, who we were staying with in Nelson, and her 18 year old son.  They both gave very positive feedback.  The real litmus test came when we got it rolling on the big screen in Nelson.  Michael and I watched in amazement as the room went quiet, no one talked, eyes were all firmly focused on the screen.  As the strange but captivating soundtrack of Mongolian throat singing echoed around the room, causing the only teenage girl in the audience to burst into quiet fits of giggles, the rest of the room was enthralled in the movie.  Score 1 to Mikey the moviemaker!