After a painless border exit and entry from the respective camps on either side of the small bridge, we enter Vietnam.
In an instant we can tell things are run a little differently here. People are much more friendly from the off and are shouting “hello” from the shop doorways and their houses. However, the road is a pain – it would seem that H18 is being reconstructed – the quality of what's currently available is abysmal. For many long stretches, there are potholes more than a foot deep, loose gravel and dust everywhere. Cycling is precarious at best. The vehicles are friendly enough but a few get too close for comfort and by the time we reach Tien Yen, we're filthy and tired. We also stupidly failed to get money out from an ATM in Mong Cai where we'd crossed and it turns out that nobody accepts US Dollars without a little bit of a struggle, although the hotel owner seems alright with it. Language is going to be fun – Kate is still shouting out her Ni Hao's and Xie Xie's, but they can still probably hear her over the border anyway. Food seems a little tasteless compared to Chinese fodder, although no sign of the EFR yet. Noodles are everywhere and pork seems to be the preferred meat. We manage to log on to Facebook for the first time in 3 months – we forgot how addictive it was!
Kilometers: 90
Total Kilometers: 4837
Day 175: Tien Yen to Ha Long
A very hard ride today, for some reason we never got into the groove of the hundred km ride. Thankfully the roads were not as dismal as yesterdays, although we were warned it was going to be bad. Thinking back, we reckon the person who told us the road was bad probably wanted us to book a bus ride with him instead. Two things we have noticed as majorly different from China is firstly the lack of tall trees offering shade (it's incredibly hot here and we feel the return of those dreaded hot patches we encountered in Malaysia and Thailand), and secondly the juggernauts that menacingly peruse the roads. Seriously, these are big, big buggers. They're quite scary up close and the drivers, although friendly enough, don't seem to be able to compute that their vehicles are 40ft long ergo when they think they're pulling back in at a safe distance from us, their back ends are actually closing in fast. When we finally reach Ha Long we are both tired and dusty and ready to get off the bikes and under a long, hot shower.
Kilometers: 100
Total Kilometers: 4937
Day 176: Ha Long to Hai Phong
With views over the stunning Halong Bay area which we visited in 2006, Lee Lee and I cycle inland towards Hai Phong.
Again the Vietnamese are extremely vivacious, shouting from shops and houses – it's such a refreshing change from China, where hardly anyone spoke out to us.
However, their means of transporting live animals upsets me and sometimes we can hear the screams of animals during slaughter as we cycle by which is absolutely horrendous. I can't put my hands over my ears as I'll lose control of the bike so I have to make do with singing loudly. The terrain remains a little hilly, but this should be the last of that; we're rejoining the coast road tomorrow. As we cycle over the bridge that leads into Hai Phong city, we reached our 5000km mark!
Digs found for $17, but on reflection, it's a poor deal – the room is quite dingy and it's very noisy. On the plus side, it has wifi so we spend four hours updating the blog onto the world wide web for the first time in three months!
Kilometers: 68
Total Kilometers: 5005
Day 177: Hai Phong to Nam Dinh
The first 70km were a breeze, literally, with a strong tailwind pushing us along. It only took us three hours to cycle 70km but when the road led us in a different direction, we spent the last 21km with the wind blowing straight in our faces which was demoralising and extremely difficult. Lunch was lovely - fried potato with chicken, spring rolls, fried green beans and steamed rice for $4 and bargain digs found in Nam Dinh after three tries; the first receptionist quoted 240,000VND for a double room but she was quickly told off by the proprieter who upped the price to 300,000VND and refused to budge. The second was way out of our budget (480,000VND) from the off, but according to Lee Lee it was lush. Our bargain basement beauty of a room at 150,000VND ($8) came from Thanh Son Hotel, with a ridiculously happy hotel owner who screamed with laughter at every word we spoke and even better, we find that we can access a wifi signal in the room. Dinner was hard to get through again although this time it would appear that it was my fault for misreading the price quoted, but 240,000VND ($13) for a chicken is well out of order. We have now been cycling for eight days straight and our bottoms need rest – we decide to head for the beach resort of Sam Son tomorrow to do a bit of sunbathing and swimming – we'll stay there two nights.
Kilometers: 91
Total Kilometers: 5096
Day 178: Nam Dinh to Sam Son
Today we maintain a southeasterly direction and are pushed along by the wind down the A1 coast road. For Vietnam's longest major highway, the A1 does not live up to expectations; it 's very bumpy in places and not as wide as we thought it would be. As we cycle through Ninh Binh, a coach full of westerners pulls up beside us at a set of lights and we receive lots of waves and thumbs up from them! Most of our day is spent greeting and overtaking schoolchildren on bicycles who do their best to race us but fail miserably! At our last rest stop of the day we are warned that it is raining hard further south, and as the day goes on we find that the wind has started to swirl around us. By the time we reach Sam Son's beach we know there's gonna be no sun or surf for anyone. From the looks of weather reports, a typhoon which is currently 600km south of us in Hoi An is having an impact up here. Sam Son is deserted – we're the only tourists in the whole resort.
The deserted hotel smacks of The Shining which freaks Lee Lee out, the staff are hell bent on accepting nothing less than 300,000VND per night, with no breakfast tomorrow but yes for the day after (?!) - perhaps they weren't prepared for guests at 5.30pm - and they will serve it between 6am and 7am which is non negotiable. This place does not know the meaning of customer service, but it's the only place with wifi so we'll grudgingly put up with it.
Kilometers: 111
Total Kilometers: 5207
Day 179: Sam Son
We wake up at 11am to another miserable day, very windy with intermittent rain. The sea is extremely rough and the locals have battened down their hatches. Hardly any hotels look open for business. We spend the day in the lobby on the internet, and our trip out for lunch was interesting – we had looked up a few Vietnamese dishes prior to going out and at a restaurant we ordered Bo Kho, a beef and vegetable stew for 100,000VND ($5). What came was not a beef and vegetable stew but two vacuumed-packed packets of dried beef.
We were still waiting for the rest of the meal when the waitress indicated that this was it. Needless to say we were not amused and refused to pay the full amount, eventually settling for half price - still a rip off but we've learned our lesson. We're becoming more and more frustrated with Vietnam – most of the restaurants don't cook anything; they boil up packets of dried noodles and prices wildly fluctuate. We last visited this country in 2006 and loved it but we are finding it stressful this time – maybe this is our adjustment period into a new country, currency, food and custom...., or maybe greed is rearing it's ugly head here. In any case, bar a weather catastrophe, we plan to leave Sam Son tomorrow and continue south – the typhoon remains 600km away and looks to be dying out. Hopefully that wind will stick around though...
Kilometers: 0
Total Kilometers: 5207
Day 180: Sam Son to Dien Chau
Well the wind did stick around, as did the rain, who kindly brought his friend called torrential. We bought raincoats in Sam Son before we left and at five bucks they turned out to be the best buy of the whole trip (except for Snickers, which sadly I've been unable to locate in Vietnam so far). It absolutely poured it down all day; we've never experienced anything so heavy and persistent. The day did not start well after the hotel staff demanded 60,000VND for our breakfast this morning and at the end of this very long day we were absolutely dripping wet, even with our raincoats. However, it was a pretty funny day all in all getting soaked by the traffic and people whooping us as we passed by. Lee was in charge of entertainment today, quoting large chunks of Star Wars scripts. We also had a lovely lunch of Mi Xao Bo(fried noodles with beef) at a reasonable price, and an equally good dinner of again, Mi Xao Bo, again for a good price thanks to the English speaking bankers at the next table. Unfortunately when they left we were accosted by two fellas asking where we were staying and what room we were in. We told them a different hotel and had to walk the long way home through the road/river as they were close on our heels. Weirdos.
Kilometers: 111
Total Kilometers: 5318
Day 181: Dien Chau to Ha Tinh
On waking this morning we find that it is a warm, dry day – only the floods on the road remain - so we load up the bikes and just as we start riding it starts raining. The rain macs we brought yesterday are just too hot to ride in so we leave them on the bike and cycle in the spitting rain to the first cafe for breakfast. We ask for omelets and the lady, seeming to understand, went off to prepare our food. However, when she returned she brought four hard boiled eggs. Never-mind, I thought, but Lee Lee was unprepared to eat them as they had only been boiled for about a minute so I cracked one open to see if it was. What greeted me was not a boiled egg, but the tiny form of a baby duck. Feathers and all. Bleugh. From the looks on our faces and the noises coming from our mouths, the lady seemed to understand that we were not expecting that at all. We got proper omelets five minutes later.
Kilometers: 88
Total Kilometers: 5406
Day 182: Ha Tinh to somewhere 38km south of Ky Anh
At 7am, the ring of the phone wakes us - reception wants us to move the bikes as they need the room for a meeting. Kate stays in bed while I move the bikes. We venture downstairs for breakfast at 7:45am (noodle soup) and Kate's back in bed by 8:30am; we only have about 60 km to ride today so she takes advantage of a lie in till 10:30am. Once packed and ready, we pedal off to find road signs suggesting we only have a 52km ride. This turns out to be a blessing as Lee Lee has a sore groin muscle and struggles for the first 30km. We get to our third stop of the day at 62km and decide that we will ride a little further down the road so we don't have to ride 100km tomorrow. Things rarely go to plan though and there's no rest for Lee Lee today; we end up cycling 90km until we find a guesthouse. Usually guesthouses are everywhere we look but because we're actually trying to find one it took another 40km - typical. The cycle trip overlooking the sea was lovely though. We have noodles, beef and prawns for our dinner and head back to the room where I face the pleasure of trimming Lee Lee's beard.
Kilometers: 90
Total Kilometers: 5496
Day 183: Somewhere 38km south of Ky Anh to Dong Hoi
Thanks to cycling longer yesterday we only have a 60km ride today so we amble along slowly and take numerous little rests, the sun is out again today which makes it hot for riding. After our first pit stop we see another western cyclist, Paco from Spain.
Paco has rode up from Ho Chi Minh City and has given us lots of tips regarding safety. He said he had experienced really bad weather last week and was unsure why the rain and the wind was so persistent until he remembered seeing a "large swirly thingy" (verbatim!) on the weather reports – it then clicked it was a typhoon, so he got a bus out of there. Depressingly, he also warned us that although the majority of the locals were very friendly, he did have some bad experiences with motorcyclists who tried to veer him off the road; he once fell off and cut his knee quite badly. We ride the last 30km with little to report, though we did see the sea again. We checked into a nice looking hotel/restaurant which promised much but delivered little. Hope the restaurant is better!
Kilometers: 58
Total Kilometers: 5554
Day 184: Dong Hoi to Dong Ha
We were awoken this morning at 7:55am by giggling housekeeping asking if they could wash the floor, after politely turning them down I returned to bed, only to be woken again ten minutes later by a different giggling member of housekeeping again asking to wash the floor. This time Kate told them “NO” and I, now awake, went downstairs to complain (with no success). We get ready and leave. Kate and I were both in foul moods for the rest of the day, not helped by a cafe that tried (unsuccessfully) to charge us 100,000VND for two Mi Xao Bo's. On a brighter note we found a great hotel with a restaurant to match at the end of the day. We both agree on a fresh start in the morning.
Kilometers: 97
Total Kilometers: 5651
Day 185: Dong Ha to Hue
A very exciting day for Kate and Lee Lee today as we pedal frantically towards Hue, a major tourist city and one where I know we can find Snickers bars, a supermarket and lots of other delicious goodies. We are booked into La Caramboule tonight for a french cuisine experience. It has has mixed reviews on Travelfish but, to be honest, anything other than packet noodles will be a very welcome change. After scouring the city for the right address and being mesmerised by the numbers of western tourists (we have not spoken to any westerners for any length of time (bar Paco) since Pingyao in China). Digs found at Amigo Hotel, recommended on the tinterweb. and it's gorgeous for $12 per night. We basically run to the restaurant, and find that our email to book the table for our wedding anniversary has been successful; we're given a quiet table and, more importantly, the menu. Between us we order; beer, a La Caramboule salad. french onion and cheese soup, cream of chicken soup, duck with mushrooms, fillet steak, two plates of mashed potatoes, boiled vegetables, a cheese platter and an Irish whisky. We're completely full to the brim when they bring out a chocolate cake for our wedding anniversary but we still manage to get a few slices down us and not feel physically sick. We were very, very hungry. The whole meal technically cost us nothing as my parents had treated us (Cheers Mom and Dad!) but otherwise the whole meal cost a bargain £23.
Kilometers: 73
Total Kilometers: 5724
Day 186: Hue (rest day)
Today is actually our fourth wedding anniversary and we are trying to recover from the meal last night. Kate finally wakes up at 1pm. We have lunch and go for a walk around the Citadel and come across a field of tanks which were captured by the Viet-Cong from the American Army and their “puppet allies” (their words, not mine) during the Vietnam War.
On the way we find a supermarket with lots of goodies to buy – Kate was well behaved, resisting all the tempting chocolate on offer but sadly fails to do so on the return journey.
Later that evening we go to an Indian restaurant to spend the rest of the money Kate's parents allocated us for our anniversary meal. Considering their daughter (aka dustbin) felt ill earlier after her burger breakfast, she did quite well.
Kilometers: 0
Total Kilometers: 5724
Day 187: Hue to Da Nang – via the Hai Van Pass
Today we're aiming to get a hotel just before the Hai Van Pass and traverse the range tomorrow, but as we feel pretty energetic from our food and rest in Hue, at 70km we decided to go over it there and then. It's late afternoon and the sun is cooling down a little, we have just eaten our baguettes we ordered from La Caramboule (ham and cheese) and we're ready. We cycle past the road leading to the 6km tunnel and towards the range – it's quite imposing but we can see that it's nowhere near Wangmo's benchmark of horror – and we're looking forward to attempting our first pretty high climb in two months. It stands at 496 metres and 10km of ascent – it took one cyclist (Mr Pumpy) 59 minutes to cycle this from the railway track to the top but his record was overtaken by some European fella who did it in 28mins. However, we start our clock when we see the ascent (as it turns out, 1.5mins before we actually cross the railway track). The signs depict an 8% gradient and we make steady progress, stopping every 3km for water, and we reach the top within 59 mins. A few western couples on motorcycles passed us on the way up and Kate barely held her indignation in as one of them said “it looks like hard work and this way's much more fun”. However, we forget to subtract the 1.5mins and later figure out we did it in 57.5mins! God knows how that other fella got up there in 28mins. Maybe he had an electric bike. The summit boasts lovely views, although it's a bit hazy today and it's teeming with restaurants and cafe's whose staff are all shouting at us to come in. We ignore them, together with the lazy motorcyclists and head for the descent which is a thrilling 10km and takes us all of 10mins. We head for Danang, another 18km away and get there in the dark, find a cheap but comfortable room (all mod cons) at the East and West Hotel. Friendly staff point us in the direction of fodder and we have a meal of rice, stir fried pork and lemon-grass chicken. We documented our ascent up the Hai Van Pass on video and will put it on You Tube when we return home.......
Kilometers: 108
Total Kilometers: 5832
Day 188: Da Nang to Hoi An
Because we traversed the HV Pass yesterday we have a pathetically small distance to cycle today but as we hit the road we find that this is very very good as there is a very very strong headwind pushing us back. The 36km takes us nearly 3hrs but the views along the coast road are beautiful, white sand and blue seas. Sadly, it looks like Raffles and Hyatt are in mid-build of posh villa complexes here. We have Mi Xao Bo for lunch and this time it's made with fresh noodles and is far better than the packet crap that is regularly served to us – therefore we are more than happy to pay 30,000VND each for it. Hoi An is just as we remember it; I find the hotel we stayed in in 2006 sharpish but it would seem their rates have risen – they are asking for $60 per night. "Not likely" grumbles me as we ride away but then I have the awful feeling that I misheard them and they said $60 for three nights. Hmmmm. Alternative digs found at the Hai Au Hotel for $20 per night (inc buffet breakfast). The place is lovely and has happy and attentive staff who are stoked that we returned after a scout around other hotels. We're booked in for three nights so I can get some dresses made and have a few dips in the hotel pool. Bliss!
Kilometers: 36
Total Kilometers: 5868
Days 189 - 190: Hoi An
Kate returns to the tailors on three occasions for fittings. They are made in two days flat and she looks stunning in the grey pencil dress she's had made. We think that she's lost 2.5stone to date, is probably now a size 10 and hasn't got much more to lose so she's gone for the fitted look. The very fitted look. Hoi An is the perfect place to rest, shop and eat and we happily up our budget by $5 per day and live very well.
There's international cuisine and a patisserie/bakery (Cargo Club) which serves cakes and pies that are to die for. Not a lot of (read “no”) sightseeing done at all as we were here in 2006 and did it all then. As a UNESCO World Heritage site we figured nothing would have changed. Shame on us!
Kilometers: 0
Total Kilometers: 5868
Day 191: Hoi An to Chau O
We leave Hoi An early (ish), stopping at the patisserie for take away sandwiches for lunch then a stop at a jewelery store so Kate can buy a silver ring shes had her eye on, then stopping at the tailors to bid farewell to our tailor (Lang).
After a three day rest we find we are cycling quite fast again today and make good progress along the 1A highway, that is despite some motorcyclists. Pako, the Spanish cyclist we met, had warned us about these mad motorcyclists and today we met them, pulling in front of us so we have to stop or riding really slow for us to overtake then speeding up. We also have some school kids try chasing us on their bikes, they peddle like crazy and when they are nearly with us we change gear and leave them trailing. We arrive in Chau O at 99km and find a hotel and book in, we are disappointed to find that their WIFI does not work and therefore head out to use the local internet cafe and have our dinner which consisted of a plate of steamed rice with cabbage, pork and prawns for under a dollar each, all washed down with some Saigon beer.
Kilometers: 99
Total Kilometers: 5967
Day 192: Chao O to Quang Ngai via Son My (site of My Lai massacre), and reaching 6000kms!
We rise early as we plan to reach the village of Son My at midday and spend some time looking round the museum and site of the horrific My Lai massacre led by US Forces in the Vietnam War which resulted in the deaths of 504 Vietnamese villagers on 16th March 1968. The museum was very informative and the site has the original foundations of the houses that were razed to the ground by the soldiers together with the mass graves that the villagers were buried in. Tributes were paid to three US officers who eventually managed to stop their comrades and savea number of people from certain death. Just sitting at the site was very strange, knowing that this is where something terrible had happened, imagining what those people had gone through in the last moments of their lives, watching their loved ones being raped and murdered and helplessly awaiting their own fate. It would appear that US Army veterans are now able to visit the site and many have done so, leaving messages of condolence to the families of those killed and questioning the actions of their fellow officers.
Today we also reached our target of 6000km, unfortunately this came just a couple of km's from the My Lai site and wasn't quite the joyous occasion that it would have been elsewhere.
Kilometers: 44
Total Kilometers:6011
Day 193: Quang Ngai to Bong Son
At our penultimate pit stop for liquid refreshment, we stop at a remote family-run roadside cafe. There are four generations of family here and having visiting Son My yesterday I am sitting with them and wondering what they were doing on that fateful morning, now over 40 years ago. The grandparents will surely remember that terrible day and I consider getting the map out and pointing to Son My, but I don't. Firstly, I can't speak Vietnamese and any form of discussion regarding the atrocity would warrant this. Secondly, I really don't want to bring back bad memories or upset them in any way so I leave it alone. During our break, the grandmother asks (through mime and touching) whether Lee and I are married (in mime, it's the bringing of two bent thumbs together). I confirm that Lee Lee and I are indeed married and have been together for 10 years. The grandmother then turns to her granddaughter and they have a little discussion between themselves and it's clear from their body language and resigned looks that the granddaughter was hoping to bag herself a western fella! Too late sister, he's taken!
Kilometers: 95
Total Kilometers: 6106
Day 194: Bong Son to Quy Nhon
We decide to cycle for a few km's before stopping for brekkie and we come across a crowded pit stop by which stood a small family cafe. We were being waved in by the restaurant staff from the really busy place but decided instead to frequent the family run business, which was a great move. The family were genuinely excited to see us coming to them and they were extremely hospitable, giving us fruit and crackers on top of the Mi Xao Bo that we had ordered, stressing that there was no charge for the extras. We wanted to leave some more money for them but got the feeling that they would have been offended so we took a photo of the family and promised to send it to them on our return to England.
We reach Binh Dinh in good time and decide to carry on further to the coast city of Quy Nhon as we will take tomorrow as a rest day and a day by the beach would be nice. We arrive at Quy Nhon about 4:30pm and after cycling aimlessly around the city centre we manage to ask someone to show us where the hotels were. Following a lad on his motorbike he takes us to the beach area where we are greeted with a lovely beach and sea. We stop at a couple of hotels, both unfortunately outside of our budget so we carry on and find a Kiwi run restaurant with a hotel next door. We have a look at the rooms and all is well until we find out that the WIFI does not work so we are forced to move on – no doubt we will return for some grub. We settle at a hotel further down the road and have a simple com binh danh “peoples meal” for $1 each. We have an early night and look forward to hitting the beach tomorrow.
Kilometers: 97
Total Kilometers: 6203
Day 195: Quy Nhon (Rest Day)
Just our bloody luck – we wake up to miserable incessant rain, every time we get to have a rest at the beach it rains. Instead we take a walk up to the Kiwi cafe for some brunch and end up staying for several hours reading books and drinking tea. The weather fails to dry up and we take a taxi back to the hotel facing up to a day of riding in the rain tomorrow. When we get to the hotel Kate's knee is hurting as we go up the stairs, this is one of the reasons we stop of for a rest in the first place. A good nights sleep and it will be right as ….....
Kilometers: 0
Total Kilometers: 6203
