Between 27 December and 17 January, Sarah and I completed a 2285km cycle tour between Hanoi, Vietnam, and Bangkok, Thailand. This is the third of a four post series. See also:
- Curiosities - as seen from the road - a captioned photo album of some of the stranger sights
- Lessons learned - logistical notes
- Leg 2 - Cambodia and Thailand (TBC)
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After the all-encompassing focus of riding the 2018 Tour de France route One Day Ahead, Sarah and I found ourselves very fit, but without a goal on the horizon. Our 50th birthdays were a wee way off yet, mine in October 2023, and Sarah's in December 2024. Reflecting on our financial situation, the fact that Khulan and Kaitlyn were transitioning into lives as independent adults, and the value of something to look forward to, we latched onto a throwaway comment I'd made - why don't we take nine months off, fly to Mongolia, and ride back to New Zealand?
Unlike Sarah, who emigrated to New Zealand over 20 years ago, and has also worked for UNICEF in Bangkok, barring my first five years, I've spent my entire life in Wellington. The thought was slightly intimidating - not from the cycle touring point of view, but more on the work front - but it did seem like a great way to pull me out of my comfort zone. The idea never got fully fleshed out, but the broad strokes were to arrive in Mongolia at the start of summer 2023 (NZ's winter), and finish the ride by the end of the southern hemisphere summer (Feb/March 2024).
And then along came the COVID-19 pandemic... Over the intervening years, we've lost fitness despite the semi-regular top-ups documented on this blog. But, more critically, work has been an all-hands-on-deck environment for the last five years, including rolling redundancy rounds. It doesn't seem like the sort of place to duck out from for an extended riding holiday.
It was nice to discover that the concept had never really left Sarah's mind. When I'd asked about how she'd like to celebrate her 50th, she'd suggested picking off a leg of the journey through South-East Asia. That was all the excuse I'd needed to book a one-way flight to Hanoi in the north of Viet Nam, with a return flight from Bangkok - as the crow flies, about 1000km apart. We'd surely clock up more on the road!
As departure date loomed, we had only a single night's accommodation booked on the southern outskirts of Hanoi, and an open invitation from our friends Margaret and Roland in Bangkok. We'd make the rest up on the fly.
Day 1 - Hanoi
We flew Air New Zealand to Taipei on Boxing Day, and following an overnight layover, had a short flight to Hanoi the next morning. We cleared customs, and just after noon, I began the task of bicycle assembly, delighted by the relatively mild conditions in which to do so.
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| Slowly does it, so as not to work up a lather! |
Once changed, we fired up GPS units and I loaded the route to our first hotel. I then promptly rode in the wrong direction, Sarah dutifully following behind!!! The road was a six lane dual carriage way, and rather than double back, I zoomed my map out sufficiently, then attempted to make a decent fist of navigating on the fly. After a bit of ducking and weaving, which included carrying our bikes up a flight of steps onto a main highway, we rode into Hanoi proper.
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| While we were often on large roads, there was plenty of cycling-friendly infrastructure, thanks to the motorcycle fleet being catered for |
We were keen to see part of the Old Quarter, and ended up riding past the presidential palace and Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. We made do with photos from the road, as even the boundary footpath was guarded, and said guards made it quite clear that we weren't welcome with our bikes (on or off them). As we'd discover, they were viewed as no different from the motorbikes.
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| Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum |
We quickly learnt to keep moving forward, as predictably as possible ("when in Rome, ..."). We'd done really well with the hectic but perfectly choreographed nature of the traffic, and our haphazard route took us past some nice sights. Eventually though, our travel fatigue started to catch up to us, and we resumed a direct route to our hotel.
After some top-grade cycling in trying conditions, I made a poor decision only a few minutes from our destination. Rather than wait patiently at a light, I tried to ride up a ramped curb onto a footpath. My angle of approach was poor, and speed low, so when my pedal hit the concrete, a fall was inevitable. For a few agonisingly long seconds suspended in mid-air, I felt pretty sure I was going to knock over a woman on her motorcycle, potentially starting a chain reaction through the (much more patient that I) motorcycle peloton. Fortunately, I managed only to bump her pannier, but ended up with a bunch of sore spots. pride included. Could've been a lot worse!
The Welcome mat at our hotel wasn't directed towards our bicycles, and we were chased out of the lobby, before being shown to the motorcycle parking area, which was open to the street. We'd carried a small lock, but in many respects it decorative only, and wouldn't slow down a determined thief. We decided not to give up on this hotel, and I thought I'd ask for an alternative spot throughout the evening. My stress levels eased when Sarah (with the help of Google Translate) later confirmed that the area was guarded all night long.
By the time we were washed it was both dark outside and dinner time. We walked to a restaurant specialising in duck, and were kindly shown how to build our own rice paper rolls by the wait-staff. Despite one sore knee, I slept like a log.
Stats: 57km ridden
Day 2 - Hanoi to Ninh Binh
Sarah woke early (there's a six-hour time difference between NZ and Vietnam, and apart from the early start in Wellington, we had a pretty comfortable itinerary), and we were both ready to go in search of breakfast by 6am!
Nearby, we found a coffee shop, and then took the plunge at a roadside stall, ordering a Banh My and what seemed to be a deep fried sushi roll (from Korea, we were told), both of which were delicious. We walked and ate, initially poking our noses into a market, from which we hastily retreated once we'd seen a stall selling spit-roasted dogs...!!
On the way back to the hotel, we picked up some water from a Winmart convenience store, and a steamed kūmara from another street vendor, a bit dry, but no doubt packed with pedal strokes.
About an hour later, we'd loaded our bikes (unmolested, as promised), and were rolling out. The hotel was on the southern extreme of Hanoi, and we left on a dual carriageway. The locals were curious, and one fellow on a motorcycle pulled up alongside and offered me a cigarette. After refusing that a couple of times, he then offered me a mint, but I assured him I was OK!
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| No trade ensued between these two lovely cyclists |
After an hour or so, I was excited to see some spectacular landforms in the direction we were heading. We made a couple of stops for coffee, and a custard filled donut - both excellent.
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| Riding with a great sense of anticipation |
We arrived at what seemed to be the staging point for a boat ride into the hills. The area was under development, and didn't seem all that busy, and we decided to forgo a boat ride which no doubt would have been spectacular. Instead, we pushed on, and soon found ourselves riding a deserted four-lane road with dramatic peaks either side.
We passed through a big gate at a high point, and became increasingly perplexed why we were literally the only ones on the road. I half expected to be challenged by soldiers or some such, but after about 25 minutes of apocalyptic riding conditions, we came to an intersection, and were in company again.
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| Where. Is. Everyone?!?!?! |
We took another back road, and enjoyed being on a cute small road which had reassuring signs of life alongside. Always on the lookout for a parallel route, I subjected Sarah to a bit of mountain-biking when an impromptu short-cut deteriorated into a bush track.
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| Shaven Ridge? |
Next we came to a barrier manned by a security guard. After a bit of sign-language, we anticipated that we'd be able to bypass some roadworks. We did end up riding through someone's market garden and then carrying our bikes up a verge. It was unclear how a fellow in a car was going to be able to sort himself out.
The roadworks ensured we had the road largely to ourselves for a while, and this took us out of the hills, and back into a wetland area. After being amongst natural beauty for a few hours, a massive concrete factory signaled our return to "civilisation".
Our original booking in Ninh Binh was having some technical issues, and had organised an alternative host for us. This turned out great for us, and we found ourselves relocated to within easy walk of a stunning Old Quarter. After a wash up, we struck out on foot, and were blown away by what we found.
Our timing was fantastic, and despite being ready for dinner, we climbed up a small hill which further enhanced the views.
There were a number of dinner options available, and we were a bit indecisive, but eventually settled on an outdoor setting. Our indecision ensured we got the full Ninh Binh eyegasm.
Stats: 104km ridden. Running total, 161km
Day 3 - Ninh Binh to Ahn Phat Resort
The next day's ride started nicely, with stunning conditions as we rode out of Ninh Binh.
It noticed that the base map on my GPS seemed to have almost all the paths through the rice paddies mapped, and I kept my eyes peeled for to opportunity to get off the main road we were on.
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| David vs Goliath? |
We ended the day at a huge resort complex, where we seemed to be among a very small number of guests. The highlight was a late-afternoon avocado smoothie. Sadly, our romantic solo dinner overlapped with the beginning of what looked likely to be an epic karaoke session...!
Stats: 125km ridden, running total 286km
Day 4 - Ahn Phat to Vinh
We'd hit breakfast at 6am, and rolled out an hour or so later. I put suncream on for the first time, only to find we were setting off in what seemed like light fog (it didn't smell or taste like an alternative, heavy pollution). It was cool as well - at about the lower comfortable limit of my lycra jersey (13 degrees, according to Garmin).
I'd been a bit more descerning prepping our route - the strava heatmap indicated the main drag was most popular, and sadly Sarah and I had contributed to perpetuating that. There were plenty of side roads to choose from, and I picked those that had faint traces of cycling activity, and the ride was much better for it. Despite a little bit of messing around on the final approach to Vinh, we had the roads mostly to ourselves. A lot of the place seems over-engineered, or at least built for a summer peak.
By virtue of our early start, we jumped off the bikes at 2pm, despite 110km ridden. After a wash and a bit of a recharge, we hailed a Grabcar (the local equivalent of Uber) and went into the city centre. We walked around for about an hour, somewhat aimlessly.
Stats: 110km ridden, running total 396km
Day 5
We'd stayed on the southern edge of the city, which made for a relatively simple roll out in the morning. Not before having breakfast - on our own in the hotel restaurant which probably could have seated 200 and then some. We knew there were others staying at the hotel, though perhaps they were sleeping off the after effects of a terrible karaoke evening.
The lowlight of the day, aside from getting covered in grit from some wet roads, was picking up 10000 Dong which blew across my path. Minutes later I realised it was probably worth much more to the locals out plowing their adjacent fields than it was to me.
That night we stayed in another massive - yet empty - hotel. At 6pm, I wished Kaitlyn and Khulan Happy New Year - the first time I've been awake for the NZ milestone in years! Our hotel was out of town, so we tried the restaurant there. We didn't feel like Vietnamese food, so we ordered two pizzas - Seafood and Margherita. according to the menu. When they were delivered, we realised they both might as well have been called Onion Pizza. I swear between them there was probably a whole onion!
Stats: 130km ridden, running total 526km
Day 6 - to Phong Nha
Our first ride of 2025 was a relatively short one, to the tourist hotspot of Phong Nha. I'd booked an Airbnb - our first time not using booking.com, who didn't seem to have a presence there.
We intended to play regular tourists for the afternoon, and so rode along QL1 for the first couple of hours. The air quality was pretty appalling, and we wore masks for the first time. At least the relatively cool air meant no overheating.
Soon after our signed turn off, the route I'd mapped deviated from the main driving route. I second guessed my mapping, but was able to see that we'd converge at the village. Despite our route travelling alongside a railway line, we were treated to a decent ramp with a 15% gradient!
We dodged another bullet when we arrived to find a motorway being built, but thanks to a culvert, and again, some good luck with respect to the moisture content of the mud, we stayed both upright and clean!
Riding into Phong Nha village was fun, and it was definitely unlike any place we'd seen to date - a massive collection of guesthouses, and there were plenty of back-packer types about.
A quick chat with our host helped us identify a plan for the afternoon, and after some great yet eclectic lunch (pate banh my, egg tart, salt coffee and avocado smoothie), we found ourselves at the Phong Nha Cave ticket office. It was being staked out by two young tourists (Manu and Mia, from France and England respectively), who after sizing us up, asked whether we'd be interested in sharing a boat with them. The tour pricing involved entry fees per person for two caves, but also a boat fee, which could be shared by up to a dozen people. Manu and Mia had been waiting 10 minutes or so, and figured waiting longer for a further fraction of 550000 Dong wasn't necessary.
It was incredible how many identical boats were on the river, though luckily for us, the vast majority were moored. At peak season, the river must be heaving with people!
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| Somewhere deep in Hien Son Cave |
The horribly noisy motor was cut before the cave itself, and part of the awning was removed to see could see better. The crew rowed us to the far end of the cave, a good 15 minutes of very strenuous paddling from the entrance. I assumed we were going upstream, but there was no discernable source of the flow at the far end of the cave.
We jumped out of the boat about two-thirds of the way back, and walked the remainder. The process seemed pretty obvious (get off the boat, walk along the path, get back on the boat once outside), but the crew did seem at great pains to explain it to us. Maybe from time to time people attempt to swim out?!
Once back at the village, we gave the crew a great big tip, in part to recognise the physicality of their task inside the cave, but also because I was still feeling a bit shit about picking up the banknote off the road the previous day.
We'd left our bikes locked to a bamboo stalk, and it was both expected and a relief to find them safe and sound. We did a quick pass of the village, and settled on a bit of afternoon tea from a bakery, urged on by a Polish tourist who said she'd sampled everything! A low key dinner back at our accommodation rounded off a lovely day.
Stats: 74km ridden, running total 601km
Day 7 - Phong Nha to Dong Hoi
The next morning, we ordered a double breakfast a la carte at our Airbnb, but when we sensed our hostess was heading out on an errand, didn't order second coffees. Suited up and ready to roll, I made the ill-fated decision not to pop down to the village centre for a bakery raid and more coffee, assuming, per the previous days, that we'd have ample opportunity to stop en route.
We left the residential area almost immediately, and found ourselves on our first real climb of the trip. We were in a national park, so other than the occasional ranger station, it was pretty much jungle as far as the eye could see.
We were back on the flat traversing beneath some impressive slips when I saw not one but two animals making their way slowly off the road. I got to within 50 metres of them before they were out of sight, so didn't make out their features well, but over the next few hours (and after consultation with a local wildlife billboard), managed to convince myself that they were small sun bears!!! Unfortunately all Sarah saw was me stopped in the middle of the road, and I wasn't fast enough with my camera.
We reached the famous Ho Chi Minh Highway soon after, and turned south. In the weeks leading up to the trip, and indeed, while it had been in progress, I'd pondered the merits of spending much of the trip on this road. The long, narrow country did invite picking and choosing, but it had taken us almost a week to get here!
Had we asked. we may have been able to score a coffee at one of the ranger stations we passed, but otherwise the road was devoid of services, which on reflection befits the national park status.
Not only were there no shops, but there were also very few vehicles on the road. We did see one tour van parked up, presumably at a trail head to access another of the region's caves, and a handful of motorcycles, but other than that, there weren't many people about.
Sarah was right behind me when we startled a spectacular beast - a long-haired monkey-like thing. which to the best of our estimation was a bear-cat. Its departure was pretty comical as it bounded across the road - most of its energy seemed to be propelling it upwards, rather than forward. The plus side for us is that we got to watch it for longer!
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| One of few buildings we saw, this one long since abandoned |
We spent about 60km on Duong Ho Chi Minh, before turning off, back towards the coast. The wildlife sightings had been awesome, as had the jungle, but I admit to missing seeing people. In addition, we'd probably ridden over about 6000 cracks between successive concrete pads, from which the road was constructed. Some of them didn't send a small jolt up through the bike, but most did!
After a long slog. and literally 100km since the last shop, we came to a village and enjoyed a pate banh my from a bakery, then a coffee from a vendor a few hundred metres later. Up to that point, we'd made do with a few things we'd brought from NZ, and I'd put up with a few too many reminders that we'd not gone for coffee before leaving Phong Nha!
Not long after emerging for the mountains, we passed through Dong Hoi, crossed the Nhat Le river, and arrived at our seaside resort. Once again, it was a huge, grand, and empty facility, surrounded by similar establishments, which judging by the quiet (huge, grand) roads, were similarly endowed with guests.
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| Like the identical river boats at Phong Nha, this was a ubiquitous colourway for fishing vessels |
We were the only ones in the restaurant for dinner, and ate well, both to recover from our biggest climbing day of the trip (more vert than the rest of the riding combined). and to ready ourselves for a long ride along the coast the next day.
Stats: 117km ridden, running total 718km
Day 8
A day's ride between Dong Hoi and Hue would have been a stretch, but I'd managed to trim some 15km off the ride by booking slightly south of Dong Hoi, and about 10km north of Hue. Nonetheless, we were looking at a 160km day, and to ensure good progress, when we found ourselves riding on Quoc Lo 1, we stuck with it. We had a solid breakfast on board - while the buffet wasn't open, in lieu of it, we'd been invited to order as much off the menu as we wanted.
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| Lousy air quality, and a small posse of mobile billboards |
We had a fair bit of good luck during the day, though it did eventually run out. First, we benefitted from a parallel section of highway that was probably compulsory for trucks, and thus good for us, back on the main route.
Next, we found ourselves beneficiaries of a stonking tail wind. It was obvious enough, but to amplify the point, we spent a long while riding alongside massive wind turbines, whose blades had an impressive (and unusual) curved profile.
We started to feel peckish, and pulled in at a place clearly popular with locals. We paid for a plate each, and it was loaded up with whatever we wanted from a large selection of dishes. It was notable that as fascinating as it all was for us, we were in turn a fascinating pair of visitors!
More good luck after lunch, when I decided to deviate from the route I'd mapped in order to avoid a short headwind leg. This not only took us off the main road, but also took us past a significant war monument (though we didn't take the time to identify it when we were there).
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| The (rebuilt) Hien Luong bridge |
Soon, we found ourselves riding through an area which had a very different feel to it than the Vietnamese countryside we'd grown used to. The vast majority of the country did seem to be in use, particularly for agriculture, yet this area had only occasional dwellings, and no farming to speak of. It really did have the feel of a recovering waste-land, and sure enough, when we uploaded our ride data to Strava later in the evening, segment titles confirmed we'd traversed the historic de-militarized zone.
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| Fucking eerie, for good reason as it turned out |
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Thanks to wet roads, and an unsealed approach to our accommodation, we were pretty filthy by the time we arrived at our Riverside Villa! Our host didn't bat an eyelid, and after explaining the facilities to us, said he'd see us in the morning for breakfast.
After a slow wash up, went out for dinner and an ATM-raid on foot. All in all, a successful day, and we'd set ourselves up well for passage through some of Vietnam's tourist towns of Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An.
Stats: 158km ridden, running total 876km
Day 9 - to Hue and Da Nang
The next morning, our host not only arrived to make us breakfast, but also hosed down our bikes while we packed! What a legend!
Thanks to our rest, it was a short ride into Hue, which we reached after about half an hour on the road. We made our way towards the Imperial Citadel, passing through one impressive fortification, and crossing multiple moats. We had a brief stop to deal with our first puncture of the trip, but within 10 minutes it seemed likely that the sealant in Sarah's rear wheel was doing the business.
Nearing the entrance to the citadel, we were ushered to a motorcycle parking area, and stashed our bikes against a tree. The attendant took 4000 Dong from us, and issued us with a couple of tickets. The entry fee to the citadel was 400000, and in many ways, I'd have wanted to pay one-hundred-fold to keep our bikes safe, not the other way around!
We did a walking loop of the citadel, during which we bought our first fridge magnet of the trip, and saw one of the most spectacular buildings we've each ever seen. We'd walked contra flow. and this had the benefit that we didn't see the building until we were almost upon it.
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| Roadside coconut stop! |
As we approach the final (and biggest) climb, we passed through a very cute seaside village that lay between the ocean and an inlet. The inlet had many raised platforms with shacks atop, presumably as bases for fishing, and there were a number of restaurants built adjacent to the road.
We crossed the inlet, before passing under the bridge taking motorists across and towards a pair of tunnels through the ridge we would soon pass over. And with that, our final climb of the day was underway.
This, at 9km long, was much significant, but with a beautiful gradient. We passed a huge truck at the bottom - presumably it was too big to use the tunnel - and paced ourselves up the hill. I stopped a few times to regroup with Sarah, but never for long. Because of the tunnel, traffic was light, and mostly vehicles that were prohibited (motorcycles and petrol tankers).
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| Switchback of the trip! |
What goes up, must come down, and although the air quality wasn't great for clear views over Da Nang, the descent was otherwise an absolute blast.
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| On a clear day, the view over Da Nang Bay would be stunning |
I'd stopped a few times on the way down to take photos, and was glad to find Sarah waiting for me at the bottom of the hill! 20km on the flat thereafter took us to our digs. Upon reaching it, I admitted to Sarah that I found city riding amongst the swarm of motorcycles to be quite exhilarating!!!
After dinner at a wee street vendor (attracted by their delicious smell, we ordered filled waffle-like things, plus a sausage), we retired to our room, and scoped out what seemed to be a good plan to get us to Bangkok in time for our flights.
Stats: 131km ridden, running total 1006km!
Day 10 - Da Nang to Hoi An
Our next destination, Hoi An, was a mere 30km down the coast, so we had an opportunity to take a long-cut or two, as well as to play tourists.
I mapped out a lap around a peninsula at the south end of the city, but our roll-out was disrupted when Sarah reported a soft rear tyre. I pumped it up, and we settled in at the hotel's ground floor cafe to make sure all was in order, and have an additional round of coffees to boot. Things seemed in order, so we got underway.
Perhaps the tyre had set the scene, and the initial half hour of the ride was notable for navigational indecision, as we rode in every direction before settling on a northern along the true-left of the Han River. En route, we did manage to find a bakery to raid, and Sarah's tyre held pressure.
As we neared our loop, it became apparent that it was through a military-controlled area, and we were shooed away a couple of times, before pulling the pin. As we beat a retreat, we did see a road which had a large group of European tourists walking up it, and decided to give it a crack ourselves.
The road took us up and up and up, and our efforts were rewarded not only by some nice views back over Da Nang, but we also each saw some rare monkeys which were enjoying life in a nature reserve. I watched a group in the tree tops (along with about a dozen others, most armed with more than a cell phone camera), while Sarah was simultaneously having a more intimate encounter back down the road.
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| Photo: Sarah Randal |
A long climb meant a decent descent, and eventually we found ourselves passing tourist central along an ocean-facing esplanade, though it became clear (past the point of no return) that we'd missed one of the more popular stops in the city.
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| Lady Buddha, Da Nang |
We didn't stop to check out the tourists sunning themselves on the beach, but after a lunch stop did pull in for a walking tour at Marble Mountain, a few kilometres down the road. After so much time having roads largely to ourselves (and thousands of trucks and tens of thousands of motorcycles), we both found the other tourists a bit overwhelming, and we moved through the cave complex fairly quickly.
The centre-piece of the complex was the Am Phu Cave. Rather than queue to pose in the sunrays, it was much nicer to enjoy from afar. (Oh nature!!!!)
I'd booked a hotel in the Hoi An old town, and as we arrived, our street was in the process of transforming into a night market. Resultingly, the whole bike security chestnut reared up, as the approved parking spot for the bikes was basically on the front doorstep. We were told there'd be a security guard along soon, so played along.
After a wash, we went for a walk. I toyed with buying a phin coffee filter, but was worried it would become an annoyance in our luggage, and also wasn't confident I'd actually use it. We enjoyed a bit of people watching, and stopped occasionally for a pick me up.
That was stressing us out, but wasn't the main cause of our lousy sleep. We discovered in the morning that seemingly incessant cheering was on account of the Vietnamese soccer team winning a key match.
Stats: 73km ridden, running total 1079km
Day 11 - Hoi An back to the Ho Chi Minh Highway
Despite a solid day's riding ahead of us, after I'd had breakfast (and Sarah had nibbled some), we swung by a fair dinkum Pottery Village. After paying an entry fee, we found there were many opportunities to try making something, and plenty of other things to investigate that weren't hands on.
Sarah struggled initially with the single speed wheels, that also spun in the opposite direction to her one at home. After blaming her tools at a couple of places, she was a bit more patient at a third, and while I supped a coffee, she whipped up a very nice wee beaker.
On the way out of the village, we passed a museum and art gallery, and did a quick lap of that, enjoying some spectacular garden ornaments on the way in.
That done, we hit the road soon after, and had some nice ducking and diving through some rice fields. The highlight for me was a big bridge (wide enough for 3 to 4 lanes, probably), linking up a couple of dirt tracks and with very steep ramps up to the deck level. Progress is coming...
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| The ramp off the bridge is evident mid frame |
We were heading back to the Ho Chi Minh highway, so inevitably the hills arrived. Getting there was pretty horrid, as we had what seemed like about 20km of roadworks to negotiate, along which the air was thick with dust. It was nice to be on the "fat tyred road bike" format, but that was about the only silver lining.
The day well and truly marched on, and we started passing school kids on their way home. We heard dozens of times 'HELLO!!! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!' and figured this must be a staple of primary school English in Vietnam. A couple of young girls on a motorcycle simultaneously gave me the fingers, which was out of character, but strangely cool!
The main climb was nice, due to the lack of traffic and attention. It topped out at a small hydro lake, along which a road was being rebuilt.
I think we benefitted from a few wee bumps being flattened out, which was welcome at the tail end of a long day.
At the end of the lake, I was kind of surprised to see it draining inland, though I knew we'd descended to the lake from a low saddle. Beyond the dam was the Ho Chi Minh Highway, which we'd soon be joining, and the border with Laos.
Sarah was weary and a bit snappy by the time we got on to the main road, and so I left her for a bit of quiet time. While I waited, it was an opportune time to dig out my front light, which I mounted on my helmet.
Not long after, we found our booked homestay, and were kindly directed to a local laundry service, where we left our dust and sweat infused riding gear for an overnight service.
We struggled a bit to find somewhere for dinner, in part because of the language barrier (exacerbated by being well off the beaten track), but also because Sarah didn't want to eat anything! The place we settled on specialised in rice paper rolls for dinner, where the main filling was a small fried seafood pancake. Sarah managed a bit of rice, but little else. It was a bit of a worry, particularly given that the next day was likely to be the sternest of the trip.
Stats: 110km ridden, running total 1189km
Day 12 - to Plei Can
As we were prepping to leave the next morning, Sarah happened to comment that she would have to have her next dose of nurofen, and it dawned on me that those were almost surely the cause of her gut problems, and I ordered her not to take any more.
The road wasn't as quiet as it had been when we were last on it, but it was still sparsely populated. What's more, the action seemed to be away from the road, so we may have been passing supply points without realising it.
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| Signs of life |
I had a nervous wait for Sarah for the best part of half an hour near the top of the major climb. I'd stopped to watch some workmen - they weren't filling any of the tens of thousands of potholes, but rather pulling weeds from beneath a power line. Their vehicle had prompted me to stop there - a Russian van that is ubiquitous in Mongolia (this was our first and only sighting of one in Vietnam) - and I was keen to make sure my Mongolian cobber noticed it.
When Sarah did appear, I couldn't tell who was more relieved, me or the workmen, who by this stage had grown concerned themselves, bless!! We had a bit more climbing (and scenery) before we reached a large restaurant complex, which we stopped to investigate.
Sarah had no interest in anything on offer, and so we decided to keep moving. That was short-lived, and we settled in for a roadside coffee soon after - proper Vietnamese filter coffee to boot!
We had a few bumps to contend with, before settling into a 55km section down a river valley. It wasn't exactly flat, but the undulations were manageable, even with a distressed gut, helped along by a nice tail wind, or so I thought. Evidence to the contrary was of the form of a small windfarm, which was earning anyone even a cent...
We arrived at our destination town just before 6pm. We hadn't been able to book any accommodation, but Google Maps had indicated plenty of guesthouses and hotels. Sure enough, we had no problem finding a room, and en route to dinner, I couldn't help but stop at a barber's to be shorn. A 17 year old boy was brought out while his mum very capably cut my hair, and I enjoyed listening to him practice his incredibly good English on Sarah. The funniest part was he told Sarah about his girlfriend, who remained a secret from his mother!
Stats: 110km ridden, running total 1300km
Day 13 - unlucky for some
Ceasing the nurofen hadn't triggered the miraculous recovery I was hoping for, but I had my fingers crossed that Sarah would cope OK with a 110km ride to Pleiku, where I planned for us to jump on an overnight bus to Ho Chi Minh City.
The morning seemed to be going OK, thanks to relatively benign roads, the occasional coconut stop, and some commuter battling.
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| My ever-competitive wife leaving this fellow in her dust |
When we reached Kon Tum, a little after the half way mark, Sarah was over it. We stopped at a pharmacy, and she was given some gut repair medication. That done, we decided to explore bus options.
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| End of the road |
After a bit of messing around, we eventually found the bus depot. One ticket counter was open, and was able to book us on a coach leaving in four hours time, that would arrive in HCMC at sparrow's fart the next morning.
We found a nearby hotel, and booked a room, which enabled us to have a shower, and a comfortable base to while away the few hours. It was a short ride back to the bus station, and our bikes were soon loaded.
The bus trip was a bit of a hoot, what with its incredibly narrow aisles, with a three abreast, double decker sleeper arrangement. I was a bit long for my bed, but discovered three semi-comfortable sleeping positions, which I alternated between all the way to HCMC.
Stats: 73km ridden, running total 1373km
Day 14 - rest day, Ho Chi Minh City
The roar of the engine, and the fact that my ears popped a couple of times both suggested the overnight route was hilly. Finally the engine was cut and after a few minutes tranquility, we were told we were at our destination!
I'm not at my best at 5.30am - even after a decent sleep - but did manage to navigate us to our hotel. It wasn't possible to check in, but they did help us organise a day tour to the Mekong Delta to soften the blow.
The tour itself was cool, with various boat rides and cultural experiences.
We spent most of the time sitting down, between the mini van, various boats, and even a tuk-tuk. We were taken for a canoe ride down a narrow waterway in amongst water coconut palms (who knew those were a thing?!). We were repeatedly told to keep our hands inside the boat, which made perfect sense when canoes coming in the opposite direction smashed into us. I'd be amazed if there'd never been amputations!
Aside from the rest, I particularly enjoyed reconciling what our young guide told us against what we'd intuited from the road, as we'd slowly observed the Vietnamese doing their thing.
Stats: a 6km cycle, after getting off an almost 600km overnight bus ride
Day 15, part 1 - Ho Chi Minh City to the Cambodian border
The next morning it was time to hit the road again, for a change heading north-west. We had a border crossing to contend with (EXCITING!) and as a matter of contingency, I'd not booked any accommodation, being content just to suss out where a few options were.
Sarah was keen to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, so I'd plotted a route that took us to where Google Maps suggested they were. After a long while contending with city traffic (again, exhilarating), we finally hit some quieter roads.
We were well short of our first destination when we passed a tourist complex that required investigation. It turned out to be a tunnel site, and given an original network of 250km in the area, I suspect they are near identical and designed to spread the tourist demand out across multiple facilities both to avoid over-crowding, and to disperse the economic benefits somewhat.
I'd had this experience before, on a work trip to Ho Chi Minh city before I'd met Sarah, and expected the sense of pride displayed by the guide as he described the various ways first the French, and then the Americans were foiled. The short 'documentary' included reference to various folk who were awarded the 'Heroic American Killer' medal - pretty much what it says on the can.
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| I didn't bother proving that I couldn't fit into this hole! |
I wore ear muffs while we had some morning tea and waited for some of our group to shoot guns at the adjacent firing range. On my earlier trip we'd been given the original walkman headphones with the wires trimmed off - not great for their original purpose, and even worse as a noise suppressor. Good to see progress!
Once the tour came to an end, we returned to our bikes. Unfortunately, Sarah had disposed of the receipt, and we had a little bit of work to do to convince the parking attendant to release them to us.
Despite the snack, we were well ready for more once underway, and we happened to stop next to a wee bike shop, which I only noticed because they had a suitably-bike-named WiFi connection available. We stopped by on the way out, and the fellow there didn't seem that interested in our bikes, but did insist we were heading the wrong way. I indulged him, went the way he directed, and spent the next hour or so ducking and diving down some pretty cool wee roads and even over a locked gate, until we were back on track.
Approaching the border was pretty exciting. I hadn't done a great job of budgeting, and we had too much local currency to blow it all on groceries. I tried to track down some snacks that I'd taken a shine to (kind of like snax crackers with peanut butter in between), but to no avail, and so we pressed on to the border.
We were stamped out of Vietnam at a roadside booth, and then rode across an invisible line which marked the end of fourteen incredible days' of mostly trouble-free riding through a fascinating and ever changing landscape.
We rode a further 40km to our first Cambodian hotel, which I'll describe more fully in the next post.
Stats: 95km ridden as far as the border, Vietnamese total 1477km of sweet, coffee-laden cycling
Wow, what an incredible journey...I can't wait for the next leg!
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