So we have arrived at our final cycling destination, the modern city of Nha Trang.  It was 50km, mostly along our “friend” the QL1 – or the “one and only” as we have christened it.  We have now covered about 3,140km since we left Bangkok on 8 January, some 10 weeks ago. Our longest day was 112km and the shortest cycling day was 23km (on Cat Ba island), but we have had plenty of days off the trikes.

Coming down the one and only we had the usual range of lorries coming a bit closer than we would have liked (but never too close) and motorbikes going the wrong way along the hard shoulder for no apparent reason (irritating but that is how things work here so bury the irritation).  We also had our fair share of motorbike gawpers – people who ride along side us looking at the trikes (or possibly us) in wonderment, saying nothing but getting so close to be a complete pain to both us and anyone trying to overtake.   None have caused an accident as the traffic here mysteriously weaves around anything in its way, and we have nearly got used to these inspections. But when I reacted to a particularly irritating gawper, Bernie accused me (justifiably) of being “Mr Grumpy”.  She was right – it is their country and they are entitled to gawp if they want, andI resolved to do better – even if I don’t quite make it to being Mr Cheerful.

At one point we stopped at a place titled “Motel and Coffee Land” and asked for coffee – but were told no, we don’t do coffee!  The fact that the title is “Coffee Land” is sort of irrelevant because everyone knows that we don’t do coffee!  Andfor all manner of reasons, that sums up part of Vietnam.

So what are my reflections on the past few months?  We are both significantly stronger and slimmer than we were on 6 January.  The trikes have been tricky to maintain at times but overall a real success; we cannot imagine touring now on conventional bikes.  They can be a bit slower when climbing, do attract a bit more attention and the gawpers can be irritating (there is me being Mr Grumpy again) but this is far outweighed by the comfort, the smiles, the thumbs up and general expressions of approval.  They are great on the flat, fast downhill, stable and the scenic view is far better for most of the time than on a bike.  However, perhaps the biggest benefit for those of us who reluctantly admit that we are nearer the finish line of life’s race than the starting blocks, is that they are kinder on the body.  Fewer muscle aches, no neck aches and a more comfortable seat.  

We have not camped a great deal on this trip and done no wild camping.  This is not surprising given how many hotel rooms we have secured for less than £10 per night, but perhaps we are getting a little soft or maybe a tad less hardy in our 60s.  I still love waking up in our little tent with the dawn streaming in, but real wild camping only works where there are long light evenings.  When it gets dark by 6pm, it can be a very long time without light before dawn and a tent is a small place to spend those hours!  

The best book I have read on this journey is, without doubt, “A history of loneliness” by John Boyne, which is a study into the mindset of those who closed their eyes and minds to clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church Ireland in the period from the 1960s.  It is not so much about the mindset of the abusers or even those who directly covered up known abuse (evil as both groups are), but focuses on those who sort of knew but put their heads in the sand to ignore the obvious signs amongst their colleagues and said nothing.  The book is about those in the priesthood in Ireland, but as a lawyer I have seen the same behaviour in teachers, those working in other contexts with children and in relation to other forms of sexual abuse in other contexts.  It is not an easy read but wonderfully written.  Perhaps, trips give us the time to read books which are not an easy read and the cycling gives us time to dwell on the insights of others, be it in literature, in politics or in art.

There are so many fantastic places we have been that it would be invidious to single out any one place and say that this was the highlight of the trip. The Gibbon Experience will live long in the memory, as will the fantastic rock shapes of Halong Bay.  But one of my strongest memories of this trip will be the loud laughter of the nurses on that terrible evening when they were putting stitches into Bernie’s head wound after the stove exploded.  That memory sticks out because, applying our British (or even European) approach, it was so inappropriate.  Laughing at pain is inimical to our way of thinking but equally it was so typical of the approach in Laos.  Our experience is that the Lao people laugh at virtually everything, are masters of the practical joke and see the funny side of any tradegy.  They are a poor people who objectively one would have thought do not have a great deal to laugh about.  But happiness, jokes and fun are hard wired into the national psyche and come out all the time – even when stitching up a head wound in hospital.  It is a great way to tackle adversity and reminds us of the importance of laughter – and we have done a great deal of that in the last 10 weeks. We have laughed a lot – between ourselves and in company. It is a habit we must not loose when we get back to the UK.

Some of the temples –  largely in Thailand – were also trip highlights, mainly because they were places of calm contemplation and beautiful artwork in the middle of frenetic cities.  They were soulful in places where we struggled to find souls! We were also suprised by the extent to which Vietnam is a catholic country – there are churches everywhere but we have not seen a single mosque. That seems astonishing given that it is so close to other countries that are deeply Islamic.

We also noted that there are virtually no Vietnamese men with beards. We wondered why and the internet provided two answers. First, the genetic makeup of most men here means they do not grow extensive facial hair but just in the chin area and upper lip – hence a more modest confusian type of beard. However a better answer is the Vietnamese saying “ram rau sau mat” which roughly translated means women see men with beards and deep eyes as “barbaric, cruel, uneducated and likely criminals”.

This has been a different trip to previous cycle tours because my work as a working barrister (like a trial lawyer) has come to an end, and so I have not been worrying about cases and answering emails as I have gone along as been the case with all previous trips.  This has given me an intellectual  freedom to read, think and write which I have not had before.  I come back to the UK with the yoke of practice removed from me – like having the albatross taken off my neck.  Day to day life will certainly be different when I get back.  I will just be a part time Judge now – not a full time barrister and part time judicial office holder – so not quite a pensioner but on the way there.  

One of the things which always astonishes me is the fact that, almost however uninteresting the landscape is, we rarely if ever get bored during the long hours in the saddle.  It is partly the need for physical effort the whole time, partly that there is always something to see and partly because we both, to an extent, live in our heads when we are cycling.  By that I mean that our minds freewheel whilst our bodies are doing the work.  This produces an effect that Bernie and I have observed on far too many occasions for it to be a coincidence – one of us will say “I was just thinking X” only for the other to confess to having a near identical train of thought.  It can often be about something pretty obscure, but it happens at some point most days.  So I think what is happening is that we are thinking pretty solidly for much of the time when we are cycling, but not just about the passing scenery but about our children, family, friends and wider issues in our lives.  And yes, we are going to explore getting a treehouse when we get home!

The trip has had ups and downs of course – physical, emotional and psychological.  The exploding stove was a low point but we were just (if not more) as affected by seeing Bien and his wife grappling with the terrible consequences for their son of developing a serious and difficult to treat autoimmune disease which developed quickly and came from nowhere – but for the luck of the draw (or the grace of God), their anguish could be any parent in any part of the world.  We continue to hope for the best for them.  If we were people of faith, they would be in our prayers but we are not so we can just have hope for them.  

So we come to an end of another fantastic journey, and hope you have enjoyed following us on this blog.  We write it for multiple reasons.  In one sense, it is selfishly for us – capturing memories so we can re-read it at home and it will bring great times back to life when the bikes are packed away and the flabbiness has returned.  But it is also for our family and friends – to persuade them we are still going, share thoughts and persuade them that, whatever the hardships, we are enjoying ourselves. 

And the blog is also for people we have never met but who might get some benefit from reading about our travels.  We hope that Jack and Kiera – who of course we have met – will find it useful for their trip  – they are the lovely couple we met yesterday who are battling the winds to cycle north – doing much of our trip in reverse.  Maybe it is also of interest to people who have never packed a pannier or cycled off into the unknown, but who just fancy the idea of it or want to follow someone’s travels from an armchair. This blog is for you too. 

I am signing off now – hasta la vista until the next trip.

Today was a better day than yesterday which, we felt, was not that difficult.  The hotel was like lots of travellers hotels in this part of the world – clean but basic.  Judging by the cars in the ground floor area, a few people had arrived late but we saw no sign of other visitors.  We made porridge on the balcony, packed up and were ready to leave at 7, but were detained by a cloudburst that started just as we put the panniers on the trikes.  Rain here can be proper “stair rods” rain – loads of water falling for maybe 10 minutes and then just drizzle.  So we sat out the stair rods and took off in the drizzle.

Our route took us on the QL1 (main road from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh city) for about 10km.  We carefully stuck to the hard shoulder, only moving out (and then gingerly) when there was a parked lorry or someone was driving the wrong way – something that is far more frequent than one would expect.  The convention appears to be that the person going the right way along the road moves out and lets the person going the wrong way have the inside lane.  I cannot imagine that working on the M25!

We then had a delightful 12km across flat farmland – and it would have been even more delightful if the rain had not resumed with some gusto.   We stopped at a cafe and put on full raingear – with the inevitable watchers-on.  One of the things we have noticed here is that people with mild (and more) learning difficulties are not hidden away.  They are often part of the family running a cafe and, often having less inhibitions than others, come up to us and try to speak.  Today the man who watched us put on our weather gear could not speak full words of Vietnamese and equally could not understand how we could not fully understand what he was saying – or trying to say.  Language is not a complete barrier and we got some messages back and forth, mainly about how mad we were in trying to cycle in the rain!  On that we tended to agree with him.

The rain did not last long but this gentle section of the route came to an end after 10km when we rejoined the QL1.  We stopped for coffee in Thanh Duc, a fishing town with a good coffee shop.  10km more on the QL1 and we bare our farewell to this arterial road and went onto smaller roads for the rest of the day – some of dubious surfaces that slowed us up and others of which were fine.  The route took us south, along the coast but we found that we almost never saw the sea, as there was almost continuous development or wooded areas next to the shore.  At one stage we went through a fishing town, Thanh Xuan, where there were hundreds of small fishing boats in the harbour, as well as fish drying on the side of the road.  Fishing is a major industry here and fishing is done at night, with the boats having a range of lights to attract the fish.  To us, almost all the boats appear tiny (or at least we did not see any bigger boats).  

The road took us across another major river, this time the Song Loi Giang, and we hit a section where a line of East-West mountains comes right down to the seaside.  That means the road has to climb through the end of the mountains – and we needed to get out our climbing legs again. These were two tough, tough climbs. Only 150m and 120m, but the slopes were up to 17% in places and this was the heat of the middle of the day.  I abandoned my helmet and even my sunglasses as the salt from the sweat was hurting my eyes.  It was tough climbing but we got up them.  We saw no other cyclists – what a surprise!

The section of road between the two hills was right along the sandy beach, and was totally unspoilt.  We stopped and took in the sheer beauty of the surroundings.  It is captured on this video and pictures.

Following the last descent, we started to look for food and found a tiny market – but with everything we needed for supper.  We filled our panniers and then headed to the “homestay” we had identified as our destination for today, located on large inland lake.  This had great reviews but we noted they were all pre-pandemic.  We had called ahead and spoken to the owner (who spoke English) but he said he was “elsewhere” and his mother would sort us out, which she duly did – again googletranslate and the son on the phone making it all happen.  

The homestay is well set up, on the shores of the silver lake, but it had a slightly run down feeling.   There was some developed area for visitors, including walkways into the lake, boats which may have been for hire, places to swim and some fun structures – including an English red telephone box!

But we were the only visitors today and had the impression we may have been the only visitors for some time.  It was unclear whether the business has been mothballed (possibly as a result of the pandemic) or only operated in the summer months.  This is supposed to be peak tourist season at the moment but it is unseasonably cold.  The rain we have cycled through is not supposed to start until May, but the climate appears to be changing, and it does not give the appearance of a place for peak “winter sun” tourism.  Anyway, we arrived early enough to relax in the light, walk to the lake, take some silly pictures and then Bernie cooked a lovely meal.  

This time next week we are due to be in HCM airport, waiting to board our flight home.  It has been an amazing trip so far but, as we go into the last week, our thoughts are starting to head for home, the family we are looking forward to seeing and our friends who we miss.  However, we are determined not to wish away the last week but to make the most of everything.

Mindful that we had a long day today and we got very hot yesterday, we set our alarm clock early(i.e. 5.30!!). So we woke in the dark for the first time in a long time and were on the road by 6.30 in the cool of the morning (light by then). We were outside the Royal Palms Hotel and saw that they had put the name of the hotel on the benches outside – except that it said “Royal Pams” instead.  We should have got a photo but I thought – “good on you to every Royal Pam –  whoever you may be – that is your bench”.

Tuy Hoa was already busy but we were soon on a quiet, if slightly dull road, but enlivened by multitudes of helicopters taking off and doing circuits over the sea.  May Tuy Hoa is a helicopter training base, or it might be more sinister. Some dark clouds threatened but these cleared to a beautiful day. We were taking the ‘long way’ round a headland as the main QL1 now had the benefit of a tunnel through the mountain – from which cycles are barred.   Not that we wanted to follow the QL1 more than we had to or brave a long road tunnel. There was nothing in the guidebook about this area but the squiggly line on the map turned out to be one of our most scenic rides of the trip. 

The road had quite a few ups and downs but none were too steep. The views were spectacular out across the sea and across a large bay, Vung Ro Bay. There had been no coffee stops thus far so we were just thinking of stopping to brew up ourselves when we passed our first touring cyclists in Vietnam. As always it was great to meet fellow cyclists, who understand what we are doing and we can share stories. Soon we invited Keira and Jack – who are from Eastbourne – to join us for coffee and had a great time chatting to them while we brewed up and they played on the trikes.  They were 10 days into their trip doing pretty much the reverse of our trip. I hope they have as good a time as we have had, avoid any exploding stoves and we wish them well on their travels.

All good things come to an end and our beautiful road also came to an end as we had to join QL1 for a section. We managed to divert off onto a parallel road for a bit where we managed to have our first ice cream of the trip. 

I don’t know why we had waited so long! Then back for another 13km on QL1 as there were no alternatives, with the mountains coming right down to the coast. The road was actually quite quiet and we had a brisk tail wind pushing us along (we felt for Keira and Jack who were going South to North and so have been battling a headwind so much of the time). Once we turned off for the last few Kms to our destination, we hit the wind and realised how lucky we had been with the wind behind.

We arrived at Doc Let beach, which had been given a good write up in the guide book as a pristine, unspoilt beach of white sands. I would say in general we have been slightly disappointed with the beaches in Vietnam (although we are not really beachy people it must be said). Doc let was probably one of the better ones and it did have 10km of whiteish sand lined with palm trees. At one end of the bay though there is now a big industrial complex which rather ruins the view but if you look to the other direction it is picturesque. The sea was shallower and calmer here – most of the beaches so far have have been windy with rough waves.  That, combined with reports of strong undertows meant we have not been tempted to swim. However with the more benign and warm sea here, we did go for a brief swim and spash in the waves as the sun went down.

Like so many places we have been, it seems out of season here – at least on a Tuesday afternoon/evening. We are not quite the only people in our quite large hotel but it’s not exatly buzzing. I guess we try to get to out of the way places and are then surprised that there are not many people here!  However, the level of building along the coast is enormous with what looks like 2 large hotels here under construction among several large resorts already here so they must expect a good number of tourists at least at some parts of the year.  We read somewhere that there were a lot of Russian tourists but none in evidence at the moment.

All the beach side restaurants looked closed or cavernously empty and we did not like the look of a number of small ‘sea food’ places (not wanting to get food poisoning at the 11th hour of our trip). We resorted to our old favorite Pizza feeling that it was very difficut to go too wrong with Pizza and unlikley to result in ill effects as it is blasted in a hot oven. David found a place on google maps with some photos but no reviews. We walked around feeling increasingly dubious that it existed when we saw a sign and walked into someone’s front yard.  Yes, they did Pizza and produced a handwritten menu. We had the best Pizzas of the trip so far! A good end to our last full day cycling for this trip.

Today was the second to last full day of cycling, and was about the hottest weather we have experienced, but nonetheless was a lovely day in the saddle (or on the comfy seats of our trikes which can hardle be called saddles).  We are significantly further south than Bangkok and into the “two seasons” part of Vietnam.  The north part of the country has four seasons and the south has two – a wet and dry season.  I am not quite sure where the divide is but we are south of it.

We breakfasted at the Haven Hotel – which meant a slightly later start.  The first 400m was winding through the narrow lanes of the village (just about enough space for a motorbike but no cars) and then up a 17% ramp to the main road.  The road was undulating across a series of headlands – none too steep but a sequence of 30/40m climbs and the descents.  On one descent I was travelling about 50kph and noticed a huge pothole ahead.  Fortunately the road was quiet so I could maneuver around it but it would have been more challenging if it had been busier.

There was lots going on in the villages we passed – shops, schools, police roadblocks (they never stop us) and general activity.   Vietnam does not appear to have a problem with under-employment – where people are not “unemployed” but do not have enough to do.  It seems a busy, motivated place where people are constantly economically active.  One of the things we have noticed is that practically all buildings here appear to have been built since the war (which ended in 1975).  Spotting older buildings is difficult but they are few in number.  This is a country where economic success has been relatively recent and has followed a population explosion.  It has a population today of about 100M people, but was 47M at the end of the war and so has more than doubled in less than 50 years.  In contrast, the UK had a population of 56M in 1975 and is 67M now.  

The population is still growing – this is a young country – but at a much lower rate.  There is considerable external investment, political stability (this is a one party, “communist” state with a capitalist economy) and GDP has doubled since about 2010.  All of which explains why many now regard Vietnam as a developed nation as opposed to being a developing nation – but it is a matter of semantics.  To us it is an economic success story where the benefits of increased wealth have, to some extent, been spread beyond a favoured few.  It seems clear that if you are a middle class, employed person in this country, life has the potential to be very good.  There is poverty, but on nothing like the scale we saw in Laos – but there is a huge job to tackle environmental pollution and to create sustainable waste systems – no doubt tasks that the government here is well aware of.

That digression arose because cycling through the country gives us an opportunity to see, take in and examine things in slow time in a way that is not possible from a car or even on the bus.  That is not to say that this level of economic development justifies a single party system – as South Korea and Japan – both functioning democracies are still by far and away the most successful economies in this region.

We had coffee in a delightful little fishing town, Son Cau, and then headed to “the bridge”.  Bernie had discovered a motorbike/footbridge which crossed a causeway and saved us about 15km cycling. But there was a catch – it was rickerty as hell, collapsed and was “rebuilt” last year and crossing it’s 1km length was a trial in itself.  I will leave the video to tell the story but we survived, though Bernie confessed that she was terrified all the way along.

After the bridge, the “road” disintegrated and was just a pitted, sandy track.  This is where the trikes are great because they are so stable – even with one front wheel about 12 inches higher than the other!  Eventually a concrete surface emerged under the sand and we went through more fishing villages.  There was delightful scenery but it was midday now and getting hot – in a “mad dogs and Englishmen” sense.

We rolled into Tuy Hoa at about 3pm – having covered 85km.  This was a modern, well developed town of 200,00 people – not in any of the guidebooks.  It has numerous hotels but we were not sure why.  There is a lovely beach but, when we walked on it, it was virtually empty apart from near the Sala Grand Hotel (rooms are 2M dong per night – about £75).  We walked from the beach to the commercial centre and had a lovely Vietnamese meal, then reverted to our hotel by about 7.30pm.  We are both pretty tired and know we have a long day tomorrow, so its a case of blog and bed!

Today was mainly an A to B day with not a great deal of interest on the way, although we ended up at a lovely hotel right on the beach with waves crashing outside our window. 

We packed up as the sun rose over the lake and were soon on our way back towards the coast. We turned south through a few villages then took a route down a peninsula which we thought would be pretty, although there was little on the map. We were wrong about the road being pretty and right about there being very little on the road, which was largely an empty sandy spit of land. We chugged along a minor road feeling pleased that the wind was still behind us. 

We then had one of those bizarre Vietnam experiences when, in the middle of nowhere, the road turned into a smart dual carriageway. It looked newly built with some care planting up the central reservation but there was no traffic apart from a few motorbikes and the road seemed to come from nowhere and go nowhere. We have had this before but usually after a short while the road reverts back to something minor or we turn onto a new road. This thought went through our minds but the road confounded us by going on for kilometer after kilometer. The road surface was good, the wind pushing us along and legs going like metronomes, so we ate up the kilometers at a good rate. 

We crossed a bridge at the end of a peninsula and thought things would change. The road got marginally more interesting but the dual carriageway persisted. Now were were between the sea and some high hills. The clouds over the hills were black and dumping down rain as the moist sea air hit them but luckily we stayed dry.

Finally after 40km we reached a larger town, at Cat Tien, and we stopped for coffee. Although advertised as ‘espresso’ we were brought the usual Vietnamese coffee with the blob of condensed milk in the bottom. It was OK, as long as you don’t think of it as “coffee” (as we understood the term). What we did not realise at first was  is that the town of Cat Tien is the place with the largest sitting Buddha is South East Asia. Building started in 2009 and was only completed in 2017. There are 600 steps up to the Buddha but we decided to sit at the bottom and drink coffee and gaze up to the Buddha instead. I suspect that earlier in the trip we would have been more enthusiastic and tackled the steps!

Whilst we were in the coffee shop we noticed that a group of about 10 men of all ages (some quite young) in the back of the cafe were sitting, listening intently to the noises made by about 10 or a dozen songbirds who were all in relatively small cages, which were hung up at head height.  At regular intervals, a man would get up from his chair and move a cage from one hanging place to another, beside a bird.  At the time we did not understand what we were seeing but a little research later showed that songbirds are kept by about one third of Vietnamese families, and there is a tradition that they bring good luck and prevent men from descending into vices such as alcoholism or gambling.  The men bring the birds together to show them to friends and, in particular, to allow them to learn songs from other birds.  So what we were seeing was cages being moved so that a bird who only had a limited repertoire was moved next to (and hopefully learned from) a bird that had a wider range of songs. This was not a display for Western tourists (who may well have views on wild birds being kept in small cages) but was a tradition being carried on which we happened to stumble across.  

Back on the dual carriageway again down another sand peninsular. One side had wind turbines (the only ones we have seen). On the other side we saw lots of cranes to start with, and then later on a grand entrance to ‘Nhon Hoi New City’ but little evidence of anything there. Another project that does not seem to have got off the ground although perhaps they are starting to build again now – there are some very swanky signboards and websites showing mock ups of what the city will look like and enticing investors. 

At the end of this peninsular we crossed a 3km bridge over to the city of Quy Nhon. I had scoffed at David at breakfast that we would be there by lunchtime, pointing out that it was 70km, but I had to eat my words as we had covered ground so quickly. Quy Nhon seemed pleasant with tree lined avenues and parks. We did some shopping and had a picnic lunch on the promenade overlooking the sea.

We only had 12 more km to go – but this included a very steep climb out of the city then ups and downs across headlands but we rolled into the tiny village of Bai Xep. Almost literally rolled as the small road dropped precipitously then turned into some narrow alleyways. We struggled to find our hotel, Haven Vietnam, as it looked as if the alleyway dropped into the sea but a sharp turn took us into the hotel which was perched on the rocks over a small sandy bay. We have a lovely room with waves crashing outside – I hope they lull us to sleep tonight!

Today was a better day than yesterday which, we felt, was not that difficult.  The hotel was like lots of travellers hotels in this part of the world – clean but basic.  Judging by the cars in the ground floor area, a few people had arrived late but we saw no sign of other visitors.  We made porridge on the balcony, packed up and were ready to leave at 7, but were detained by a cloudburst that started just as we put the panniers on the trikes.  Rain here can be proper “stair rods” rain – loads of water falling for maybe 10 minutes and then just drizzle.  So we sat out the stair rods and took off in the drizzle.

Our route took us on the QL1 (main road from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh city) for about 10km.  We carefully stuck to the hard shoulder, only moving out (and then gingerly) when there was a parked lorry or someone was driving the wrong way – something that is far more frequent than one would expect.  The convention appears to be that the person going the right way along the road moves out and lets the person going the wrong way have the inside lane.  I cannot imagine that working on the M25!

We then had a delightful 12km across flat farmland – and it would have been even more delightful if the rain had not resumed with some gusto.   We stopped at a cafe and put on full raingear – with the inevitable watchers-on.  One of the things we have noticed here is that people with mild (and more) learning difficulties are not hidden away.  They are often part of the family running a cafe and, often having less inhibitions than others, come up to us and try to speak.  Today the man who watched us put on our weather gear could not speak full words of Vietnamese and equally could not understand how we could not fully understand what he was saying – or trying to say.  Language is not a complete barrier and we got some messages back and forth, mainly about how mad we were in trying to cycle in the rain!  On that we tended to agree with him.

The rain did not last long but this gentle section of the route came to an end after 10km when we rejoined the QL1.  We stopped for coffee in Thanh Duc, a fishing town with a good coffee shop.  10km more on the QL1 and we bare our farewell to this arterial road and went onto smaller roads for the rest of the day – some of dubious surfaces that slowed us up and others of which were fine.  The route took us south, along the coast but we found that we almost never saw the sea, as there was almost continuous development or wooded areas next to the shore.  At one stage we went through a fishing town, Thanh Xuan, where there were hundreds of small fishing boats in the harbour, as well as fish drying on the side of the road.  Fishing is a major industry here and fishing is done at night, with the boats having a range of lights to attract the fish.  To us, almost all the boats appear tiny (or at least we did not see any bigger boats).  

The road took us across another major river, this time the Song Loi Giang, and we hit a section where a line of East-West mountains comes right down to the seaside.  That means the road has to climb through the end of the mountains – and we needed to get out our climbing legs again. These were two tough, tough climbs. Only 150m and 120m, but the slopes were up to 17% in places and this was the heat of the middle of the day.  I abandoned my helmet and even my sunglasses as the salt from the sweat was hurting my eyes.  It was tough climbing but we got up them.  We saw no other cyclists – what a surprise!

The section of road between the two hills was right along the sandy beach, and was totally unspoilt.  We stopped and took in the sheer beauty of the surroundings.  It is captured on this video and pictures.

Following the last descent, we started to look for food and found a tiny market – but with everything we needed for supper.  We filled our panniers and then headed to the “homestay” we had identified as our destination for today, located on large inland lake.  This had great reviews but we noted they were all pre-pandemic.  We had called ahead and spoken to the owner (who spoke English) but he said he was “elsewhere” and his mother would sort us out, which she duly did – again googletranslate and the son on the phone making it all happen.  

The homestay is well set up, on the shores of the silver lake, but it had a slightly run down feeling.   There was some developed area for visitors, including walkways into the lake, boats which may have been for hire, places to swim and some fun structures – including an English red telephone box!

But we were the only visitors today and had the impression we may have been the only visitors for some time.  It was unclear whether the business has been mothballed (possibly as a result of the pandemic) or only operated in the summer months.  This is supposed to be peak tourist season at the moment but it is unseasonably cold.  The rain we have cycled through is not supposed to start until May, but the climate appears to be changing, and it does not give the appearance of a place for peak “winter sun” tourism.  Anyway, we arrived early enough to relax in the light, walk to the lake, take some silly pictures and then Bernie cooked a lovely meal.  

This time next week we are due to be in HCM airport, waiting to board our flight home.  It has been an amazing trip so far but, as we go into the last week, our thoughts are starting to head for home, the family we are looking forward to seeing and our friends who we miss.  However, we are determined not to wish away the last week but to make the most of everything.

Not everyday works out as planned when traveling and today was an immensely frustrating day. But something good or interesting always happens. It may be a small thing but one that lodges in the memory.  Read on to find out what happened this evening.

Back to first thing this morning. We got a good start from our little motel and the sun was actually shining. However any good feeling was short lived as we were soon on a busy chaotic road. The next section took us across a peninsular which was a huge commercial centre with huge belching factories. The road was crammed with lorries and was in poor condition and not very wide so passing pretty close.  It was one of the few times I have felt scared of the traffic. The pollution was terrible and soon my head was swimming – but had to keep peddling to get out of it. 

Luckily we turned off onto a quiet road after not too long. Vietnam is full of enormous roads with very little traffic on. So we were on a large dual carriageway but this time with no traffic. As often also happens the road building stops and the huge road turns into a small road. In this case a small road that then turned into a track and then into what was hardly more than a muddy path. This twisted and turned a but and then suddenly we were back on a tarmac road again – this time virtually empty and the overall effect was as if there was a no through road, at least for anything other than motorbikes or bikes/trikes. We were now off the peninsular and into nice countryside and my head bagan to clear. 

We were making our way to the Son My memorial. This is a memorial park commemorating the My Lai massacre in the Vietnam war  when 500 civilians were brutally massacred by US soldiers in Son My and Tu Cung hamlet (My Lai). It was a terrible event for which only one soldier was found guilty of murder. He served 3 days in prison before Nixon commuted the sentence to house arrest, and he was later pardoned.  We got to Son My and peddaled around unable to find the memorial park. There was some closed rusty gates where it was marked on google maps and we thought it must be closed. Later I found out that the googlemaps location was wrong – with the location marker but not where it should have been. There were no signs in the town and it was all very frustrating.

In the meantime my rear mudguard finally gave up the ghost. It had been held together by a variety of electrical tape, welding (which then failed on a tough set of bumpy roads), wire and cable ties.  It has lasted like this for hundreds of Kms but a final spoke sheared and so David had to remove it – not as simple as it sounds. The mudguard was duly dispatched in a rubbish bin.

Having solved that problem I had also developed a ‘squeak’ on my front wheel. We pressed on for a while but the squeak got worse and worse in spite of David’s best endeavors. Our route bypassed the city of Quang Ngai but we decided to turn towards the city as we were only about 10km away to find a bike shop. We found one ‘recommended’ on google and the guys there spent ages trying to fix it. The squeak had gone but I was left with a problem with one of the brakes.  They directed us on to another shop, which took one look and said they could not do anything. We failed to find anywhere else that purported to repair bikes so in the end we decided it was an issue that I could live with.

By now we had wasted hours and were off our planned route.  We hadn’t eaten so resorted to a KFC at a large shopping complex. We wanted to make up some distance before the end of the day so decided our only option was to tank down the QL1 (the main highway). It was 3.45 by the time we left and it starts to get dusky around 5.30 so we did our quickest 30km of the trip so far. The road wasn’t too bad in the end and has the advantage of a good shoulder and road surface when outside the towns. One section bypassed a town and could almost be said to be quiet. We rolled up to the small hotel we had been aiming for, about 1 Km off the main road, as the sun was going down. 

All in all the whole day had been frustrating and we were about 35km short of where we planned to be – and not at a beach resort but a nondescript little town somewhere along the QL1. Rather than mither all evening in the hotel room, we popped next door for a drink  and this turned into the memorable event of the day. 

The heavens had opened just as we were leaving so we ran through the door. It turned out to be little more than a shed/shack that was full of men who had clearly got through a significant part of a crate of beer already and the remnants of a meal. There was much hilarity at the two of us bursting through the doors. This was not the usual haunt for tourists or indeed for women – other than teh hard pressed woman who was serving! We were all sat on small red plastic chairs. The men were all very good natured and much use was made of googletranslate albeit the beer they had drunk may have made understanding the output less than clear!  There was a lot of ‘what is your name’ ‘where are you from’, in fact repeated probably 20 times! David managed to explain to one of the younger ones about our cycling trip on google translate. They brought over to us a plate of pineapple and some peanuts and tried to ply us with more beer (which we successfully declined, mindful of a day’s cycling the next day).

Suddenly they all got up, said copious goodbyes to us (and “see you again” which we doubted) and left having finished their meal and drinks. When we went to pay we were told that they had paid for our drinks! We found the whole event very funny and it rounded off a frustrating day with laughter.

There are times when the smallest things are most memorable.  Today we ended up at a family run motel where the ground floor had the family’s kitchen on full view.  We took a room upstairs and, after a shower and a rest, I went off to shop (vegetables and eggs) and then set up the camp stove in the entrance yard to cook our supper.  It was a delight to be cooking and eating our own food after a few days in restaurants.

The motel owner came over and, using googletranslate, he insisted I use the family’s kitchen to prepare our meal, despite the fact he was cooking at the same time, and once we had started using their facilities, he could not have been more friendly and helpful – all through a nearly insuperable language barrier.  I boiled the eggs – which were large and I think may have been duck eggs – and made noodle egg and tuna pho.  I have to say it was lovely, and we were invited to sit in the family area to eat whilst our host wandered around squatting mosquitos with an electronic device that looked like a badminton racquet.  We felt so welcome and wished we had more Vietnamese to do more than repeatedly say “thank you”.  That level of friendliness and generosity is typical of Vietnam and is part of what has made this trip so special.

Our day started slowly because breakfast was not due to start until 7.30 and it was in fact some time after before we got our omelettes – well worth the wait.  That meant we were not able to leave until about 8.15am, and by then traffic had built up. But this was not a long day and Bernie seemed well over her stomach issues from yesterday(10 hours sleep in a very comfy bed helped), so we could see today working out OK.

 We made our way out of Hoi An city, following the north bank of the river.  Then we cycled over the huge Cau Cua Dai bridge over the Thu Bon river.  As we got to the top we were passed by about 10 cyclists on top of the range road bikes – out for a day trip – with a local guide at the front and back of the group. We later met up with them again (they had stopped) and learned they were on an organised day ride to Tam Ky, so not very far at all!  We were slower but also perhaps felt a bit smug that we were going far further and with much more luggage – but then some of the riders looked super fit and could have out-paced us all day without luggage!

The road took us along a peninsular caused by the Turong Giang river which runs south for mile after mile, just a kilometer from the sea.  This created a quiet, unspoilt environment although it was fairly populated and had many more cemeteries – a real feature of these coastal strips.  

We plodded on – taking it gently as we knew we did not have a long day ahead of us, and stopped for “lunch” in a bakery, where we both tried iced coffee for the first time in many years.  By now the rain clouds had admitted defeat and the sun had come out, so it was quite hot for the first time in many days. I can report that Iced Coffee is very refreshing in the heat.

The final section was along a deserted road, squeezed between what appeared to be an abandoned airport and the beach, which had abandoned holiday resorts.  There is something tragic about seeing empty holiday homes, doors flapping in the wind, ceilings collapsing and vegetation gradually taking over.  A series of people must have put their hearts and souls into creating these tourism paradises only to find that the tourists did not come – because of the pandemic or maybe another cause.  So the infrastructure was abandoned.  Some sets of buildings were plainly abandoned before they were even completed, and others may have been used for a few years before being left to the mercy of storms, vegetation and the other causes of decay.  Millions of investment dollars will have been lost and now the rubbish piles up on the road.  It was all pretty sad.  But, in a brutal way, that is the operation of the market and, in the tourism business, it seems a pretty brutal market – all, of course, in a communist country.

Our motel, by contrast, is new, clean and seems a successful business as it started to fill up with guests after we arrived.   We hope so as we have developed a soft spot for this place.

Today was a rest day and we did lots of resting and reading, partly because Bernie had picked up a mild stomach bug and partly because we did not get that excited about Hoi An. we spent several hours wandering its old streets and did a little shopping, but did not do much else.  

Hoi An is a trading city where there has been Chinese and Japanese communities for hundreds of years, with old wooden merchant’s houses scattered through the old town. These are lovely to look at from the outside but that is about the best views of these buildings.

Others have raved about Hoi An and we can see why as the network of tiny streets of the old town is on the river frontage and is car free (but not motorbike free). But it felt a touch too perfect and too clean to be genuine to us.  It is set up for tourists with numerous gift shops, tailors and restaurants, and there are groups of visitors everywhere.  Hoi An is famous for clothes and it would be a great place to refresh one’s work wardrobe – but not if everything has to be carried on the back of a bike (as well as the fact that we are trying to give up work).  I can just say that we reacted with mild irritation at being in a place where tourists seemed to outnumber locals and overall it felt like a Disneyfication of old Vietnam.

There are sometimes disadvantages to cheap hotels. Last night was the loud arguing along the corrider until at least 2am. I slept through it but David had a disturbed night. We were not quite sure where the noise came from but a large pile of discarded beer cans outside an adjoining room might be a clue.

However, we were still up early as usual, cooked up our porridge in the courtyard outside and were off into another grey drizzly day.  We have learned our lesson about not cooking in the room!

Our plan to get a bus south for better weather seems to have backfired.   It is slightly warmer here but seems to be rainy everywhere at the moment. However, part of that plan was to see some more interesting things and, in that respect, the day excelled.

We cycled through fairly uninteresting terrain for 40km.  At least, it might have been more interesting if we could see more but it was misty and visibilty was poor. The weather alternated between light misty drizzle and patches of slightly heavier rain. Highlights were finding a good bakery and a good coffee shop.

Around 11.30 we reached the historical site of My Son – an ancient site of the Cham kingdom that dominateed the region for centuaries.  There is evidence that this valley was treatedas being a sacred place from from the 4th Centuary onwards, and that Cham kings were buried at the site. There is also evidence of widespread trading with India and China and significant influence of the Hindu religion, which was largely adopted by the Cham kings. Most of the site was built between 7th and 13th centuraries with mutiple temples set in a lush jungle setting, surrounded by mountains. The ruins were discovered by French archeologists in the late 19th centuary, and restoratino works began. Sadly many of the temples were badly damaged or destroyed by US  bombing during the Vietnam war (or American war as they call it here).  There are bomb craters scattered through the site.  Renovations continue.

The rain held off for most of our visit but cloud swirled around the surrounding mountains making the site feel very atmospheric. The site was impresive and those parts that had been renovated gave a real feel of how it must have been.  Flashes of amazing stone work and decoration were visible and several examples of stone tablets etched with Sanskrit script. It was fairly busy but not heaving with tour groups (as the guide book indicated it can be) and we met a nice Danish family who we chatted to. 

We enjoyed strolling round the ruins for a couple of hours then back on the bikes for the next section to Hoi An (the day being a triangle between North of Da Nang, My Son and Hoi An). The route was a ‘Kamoot special’ which routed us way off the main roads and through some pretty tiny ones. At one point we crossed a railway bridge across a river with a narrow track next to it for motor bikes, which was ionly just wide enough for the trikes.  The whole bridge seemed to bounce as we cycled across. 

Then down a precipitous path and a small track took us through a cemetary.  Here we noted that some of the tombs had continuous music playing – so a person can have their favourite playlist for eternity.  The track then turned into a muddy path that we had to negotiate to get back to the road!

We took a very back way into Hoi An along tiny roads across fields and beside the river, but we were suddenly in the heart of the busy old town which is only for pedestrians and cycles. However, there were so many people it was hard to battle through with the trikes without running over wayward tourists. In spite of our efforts, we did not hit anyone.

Our hotel was on an island in the Thu Bon river.  We had decided to splash out on somewhere a bit more upmarket this time and knowing that Hoi An can be very busy.  Our chosen one was described very quiet and with rave reviews. Mostly hotels don’t live up to their photos on reviews but this one did. The location is central but very quiet, the room huge and very comfortable. A splash of luxury on contrast to last night!

The day rounded off with a pleasant meal of Hoi An specialities sitting looking over the river as garishly lit up boats chugged past. 

Any cycling day where the main 500m climb starts after 85km is suggestive of bad planning – but that was how the cookie crumbled for us today.  The alternative would have been a 12km tunnel (where bikes were prohibited) and that was not a pleasant prospect.  And it was raining for most of the day – our first day of rain in the entire trip.  At least that meant that the raingear was used properly for the first time, and so Bernie did not feel she had carried it for nothing.

We breakfasted at the hotel (good omlettes but dodgy coffee) and so felt full when we left about 8am.  The rain was a misty drizzle rather than full on pelting down, but enough to make the roads wet and slippery.  The road was flat, took us out via suburbs and was mostly tarmac – even if it lost it in places. We then went along a long peninsular for about 40km, to the South East of Hue.  There is a substantial lagoon called Dam Cau Hai, which extends for 70km and is the largest lagoon system in South East Asia.    It is 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres in old money) but only has a depth of between 1m and 3m (and only a maximum depth of 11m at it mouth).  

The peninsular runs between the sea and the lagoon, so we had the sea on our left and the lagoon on our right for 40km – but the area is sufficiently built up that we could not see either for most of the time.  

From the outskirts of Hue and long the peninsula there were very large numbers of tombs by the roadside. Many were very elaborate in the style of the Imperial palace we saw yesterday (although on a much smaller scale). I could not find any explanation for these or why there were so many.

At the southern end of the lagoon the hills came down to meet the water with the road winding along by the water.   Although still misty and raining it was very picturesque.

Then we were back on our “friend” the QL1 and even had a 400m tunnel to navigate.  We ignored a sign which said no bikes because (a) we had good lights, (b) there was no alternative route and (c) there was no one around to enforce the “no bikes” rule.  In true Blue Peter style we should say that, for anyone doing this at home, that is not an example we encourage you to follow.  It was only a short tunnel but the noise from trucks was deafening.

After only a few km we turned off the QL1 and were back on very quiet roads. We passed a series of derelict and half completed buildings on our left – i.e between the road and the sea.  This area must have been designated for high quality tourism development and had wide roads, but it has not worked out.  We passed a deserted and derelict “Movenpick” Resort which had clearly been developed in the last few years and abandoned – possibly a victim of the pandemic.  I later googled this and came across a website that is still trying to sell the units as part of a thriving resort – it was described as one of the most beautiful bays in the world, and had photos giving the impression holiday makers were there now.  Someone (probably a group of investors) will have invested millions into the project and lost everything.  

The town of Lang Co seemed to be doing better but by now the rain was coming down in stair-rods and even the large group of Chinese being decanted from their bus to the seafront hotel must have had second thoughts as to whether they were making the right holiday choices.

We plodded on and started the climb the 500m ascent over 10km to the Hai Van Pass at about 2.15pm,one of the most well known cycle climbs in Vietnam.  My sister, Kate, later sent me a photo of her doing this climb in the summer and saying how hot it was.  Our pictures are of swirling clouds and rain soaked jungle.  But it was a lovely climb – the surface was pretty good, the traffic low and the gradient of between 5% and 10% all the way meant we gained height quickly without it being too steep.  There were some magnificent views down to sea, but it was tough doing this so late in the day.

We reckon to climb about 250m per hour, and it was about 4.15pm when we got to the top.  There were a series of cafes and gift shops at the top and the women who ran them got all excited when we turned up because surely we needed a break, and so would given them some custom.  However, this part of Vietnam is very far East and, because there is a common time zone across South East Asia, the sun sets here very early.  It is dark by 6pm and so we put on extra layers and began the glorious descent.  My sister later messaged to encourage us to look out for the massive Buddha during the descent.  Neither of us saw that but we did enjoy swinging the trikes at speed around the corners (not too much speed) and learning into the curve to keep the 3 wheels stable.  2 hours up but 20 minutes was all it took to descend 500m down to the coast.  Probably our best descent ever on the trikes – good surface, not too steep and great views.

We noted that it was dry on this side of the mountain – indeed this part of the coast is supposed to be the dividing line between the part of Vietnam that has 4 seasons and the part that has just 2 – a wet and dry season.  Nothing is that fixed but we could feel a difference in the weather.

Then a last few km to a hotel arriviiiiing about 4.30 after what felt like a long day. It had a manager who spoke excellent English, and we got a room for 200,000 dong for the night – about £7.  We followed the locals to an outdoor (but covered) cafe for a lovely supper of egg fried rice and stir fried seafood with noodles, and then collapsed.  

This was the longest distance we have covered so far this trip, and it felt like it, but it was the mega climb up to the Hai Van Pass at the end of the day that will live long in the memory.

Sunday a day of rest and we had a day off in the old Imperial capital of Vietnam. As usual we woke around 6 but were able to get up leisurely and had breakfast at the hotel. We then ventured out to explore the citadel, which consists of 3 concentric enclosures – a square of huge outer walls enclose the old city.  Within this is the walled Imperial City and within that the royal Forbidden Purple city.

The site of the Imperial City is vast.  Most dated from around 1805 in the reign of Emperor Gia Long. However much of the site had been severely damaged during 20th century wars. Old photos showed the state of disrepair of most of the buildings. In 1993 Unesco listed the city as a World Heritage site and money started to come in to renovate the numerous pavilion and temple buildings. Some parts had been beautifully renovated but other areas had a long way to go.  Just maintaining the buildings that are there must be a mammoth task. However, there was enough there to show the beautiful architecture, the grand gateways and give a feel of the hierarchical court system and how the Emperors (and their mothers) lived. Emperors seemed to come and go pretty frequently, and often lived for decades after ceasing to be the Emperor. All were venerated as gods after death unless they had voluntarily stepped down.  Some visitors were still paying their respects to the alters of the emperors.  The final emperor abdicated in 1945 and Hue ceased to be the capital of Vietnam.

In the afternoon we changed tack and visited the Ho Chi Minh museum. Many cities have a HCM museum but we had not been to one yet and, as the man himself grew up and went to school in Hue, we thought we would try this one. I would say the museum was of marginal interest. There were some interesting old photographs and some interesting facts (I didn’t know that he had been to London and worked in the kitchens at the Carlton Hotel) but big chunks of time seemed to be missing and of course ‘Uncle Ho’ was venerated throughout, which lost any sense of objective history.

In the  evening we had a great meal out in a small back street restaurant that was extremely busy and did set menus of a variety of Vietnamese/Hue specialities. It will set is up well to get back on the trikes tomorrow and continue heading south.

We were probably the only people staying in our hotel and so, as we woke, the challenge was to find someone to open up at 7am so we could get our trikes out!  This may not be a common problem at the Dorchester but is something we confront from time to time.  Eventually someone appeared and, in very good grace (since we may have dragged him out of bed prematurely), opened up so we could get on the road.  We had decided to cycle the short distance to Vinh and then get a train or bus for the next 350km to Hue because the next section did not look too interesting and we did not have time before our flight home to cycle all the way to Ho Chi Minh city. 

It was overcast but not rainy and the day was getting going, with hundreds of motorbikes taking locals to school or work.  We wove around them and got onto the dual carriageway to Vinh.  This is already a dual lane road but there are roadworks to create a 6 lane highway in the middle between the two lanes, along with piles of sand and gravel that must have been 30m high.  The only explanation is that they are developing a deep water port here and anticipate a huge increase in truck traffic – or it is someone’s vanity project!

We arrived in Vinh at rush hour and negotiated our way to the station to see if we could experience Vietnam Railways for the trip to the former imperial capital, Hue.  The answer was that we could get the train but there was no freight car today so the trikes would have to follow tomorrow.  Being separated from the trikes was not really an option so we decided to explore bus options.  

The bus station had moved from the location in the guidebook, but a combination of googletranslate and googlemaps got us to the right place, and we found a “sleeper” bus was leaving for Hue at 11.30, arriving at 6.30.  So, at 7 hours, it was due to be faster than the train, more comfortable and cheaper – overall a bit of a result.  We packed up the trikes (getting good at this now) and paid the man – with the inevitable luggage surcharge!

That left us a couple of hours to get breakfast, food for the journey and top up our the caffeine levels.  We had cycled through a market on the way to the bus station, so we walked back that way to get supplies.  Markets in Vietnam are female dominated spaces – and tough women at that.  They have a vibrancy, continual banter, jokes and arguments, noise from motorbikes passing through the alleys and general hubbub which makes them special places.  There are no health and safety inspectors allowed or animal welfare or hygiene standards.  

We wandered around picking up supplies and taking photos – wondering at the range of things on offer.  Live chickens, live fish, non-refrigerated meat in huge blocks, wonderfully ranges of vegetables and numerous stalls selling plants and flowers, as well as every type of household good you could need for a Vietnam house.  The pictures tell the story.

Then it was time to return to the bus, survive the journey – which went quickly as we each had our own couchette and could sleep, read and watch the world go by and, as we got nearer Hue – the rain come down.  We were offloaded at a pull in near the centre of Hue, thanked the bus crew, rebuild the trikes and cycled the few km to our hotel.  It was all remarkably straightforward and uneventful – except for the car that drove into the back of a tour bus as we waited at a red traffic light.  More damage to the car than the bus – but the bus was stationary and the car driver was on the phone at the time.  We pulled around and peddaled off, anxious not to become part of the ensuing discussions!

Our hotel is fine and Hue is packed with Western and Chinese visitors, as it is a tourist hot spot.  We are looking forward to the cultural sights for a day after a few days of rural Vietnam when we saw no tourists at all, and then will make our way down the coast with lots of interesting stuff – at least according to the guidebooks.

We woke and went through our usual routine of cooking porridge and filtering water as we readied ourselves for the road.  And a crazy road it was to start off.  The town was teeming with motorbikes, lorries, cars, school children, all wrapped in the thick fog of the morning. For 3 or 4 km we dodged and weaved through the traffic and around deep pot holes and disintigrating bits of road.  We were glad of our front lights and flashing back lights  in the fog –  although most of the traffic could not be bothered with such things, even if they had lights they did not turn them on.

As we left the last houses of the town the traffic abruptly halted.  What made this town particularly busy at 7.30 in the morning was not clear but it was all local and soon we were in beautiful country side.  Emerald green paddy fields and swirling mist on the mountains as the sun burnt off the clouds. 

We stopped to take photos and were passed by 2 touring cyclists, Joisen (from Holland) and Franklin (from Brazil), who previously lived in Switzerland and were on the way to a new life in New Zealand.  There is something about European people we have met which has struck us – how many have chosen to live and offer their talents to a different country from their birth.  We have met French people living in Germany, Italians living in France and Germans living in Holland. Maybe it is that free movement is a living thing – spreading talent across the continent or maybe people who have the courage and openness to live in another country also have a mindset to travel.  

Joisen and Franklin were the first cyclists we met in Laos and only the third in our whole trip so far. They only had 2 weeks so were traveling light on gravel bikes and going off road into far more adventurous territory than us. It was good to chat and exchange tales.  They were heading for the same town as us but would arrive much quicker.  

After about 15km we reached the town of Pak Mong where we turned off Highway 13.  Now we were leaving the territory we had covered in the bus (but had not seen) and were on Highway 1C. Given Highway 13 is the main artery from Vientiane and Luang Prabang up to the  Chinese border it could hardly be called busy (this morning excepted). The new road though was blissful. 

We had a fantastic 30km ride along a valley with beautiful tropical vegetation and increasingly spectacular mountains coming into the view. The road was gently undulating along the Nam Bak river. We knew we had a short day so we went at ambling speed, just absorbing the scenery and thoroughly enjoying the cycling.  Passing through pretty towns and villages it was easy to return the smiles and waves we were getting. This is what it’s all about! For the thousandth time we felt so lucky that we enjoy doing this together, storing memories to share for our dotage.

We gently rolled into Nong Khiaw as the Nam Bak joins the Nam Ou river.  We had left the Nam Ou yesterday afternoon as it took a course carving through roadless gorges until we  rejoined it at the most spectacular setting of mountains and cliff faces.

We booked into a simple guest house at the south end of the bridge over the Ou.  Simple but with a balcony overlooking the river and mountains, complete with hammocks. The other good thing about simple guest houses is there is no issue with using our little wisperlite stove to brew up so we sorted ourselves out with coffee and sandwiches (this part of Laos at least has decent baguette type rolls). We strolled into town to sort ourselves out with a trip to do tomorrow then spent a very lazy afternoon reading, rocking in our hammocks, listening to Dire Straights on our portable speaker, drinking tea and generally feeling very laid back.

In the evening we hooked up with Joisen and Franklin again.  They are real athletes and it was fascinating to hear about their endurance racing exploits. Tomorrow they have a big day of climbing so were loading up with carbs with burgers and pizza.  I just had to remember that we will be swanning about on the river tomorrow and didn’t need to be eating quite so much! One of the great things about this trip is the number of different people we have met from all round the world. 

Today is the first anniversary of the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia. A whole year of this terrible war.  It therefore seems frivolous to be talking about our travels today. I will record the day but our thoughts are with all Ukrainians and a hope for peace.

We woke to the sound of the waves and soon were in the rhythm of packing up our camp.  It was cool and cloudy and remained so for most of the day. Our first 6km were through the small rural lanes but then we had a 25km stretch on QL1. Unfortunately today there were no river ferries so it was back to having to cross some rivers on the main roads. It wasn’t quite as bad first thing in the morning compared to yesterday afternoon but was still pretty unpleasant.  However, needs must and ploughed on at a pace.  At one point it started raining and for the first time on the trip we put on our rain jackets – although it only lasted a few minutes.

At last we turned off the main road and were back on small roads passing through small villages.  However, the road surface was pretty bad for much of the time so it was hard work on the legs and slow going at times. The scenery was not very inspiring and we were finding the usual yelling by school children had become annoying rather than charming! All in all I was feeling tired and a little gloomy!

We had done about 70km by 1ish so we weren’t doing badly. I spotted a sign for tea/coffee and we decided we were in need of a proper stop and sit down. We laughed as we entered as it turned out to be the side entrance to the  lobby of the Diamond Palace hotel – which we had seen on the map earlier and laughed at the time that we could stay there. It was something of a monstrosity with lots of fake marble. Tea?  No tea.  Cappuccino?  No Cappuccino.  In spite of the extensive menu they only had plain coffee. We decided to risk it, even though the coffee we had had in the last couple of days was almost undrinkable.  Here though the Diamond Palace came good and the coffee was delicious.  Not only that it packed an incredible caffeine punch which had us whizzing along and in much better spirits when we set off again! Suddenly the scenery seemed more interesting and life on a trike seemed better again.

One of the amazing things about Vietnam – or at least what we have seen so far – is how populated it is and how every available space is cultivated. Even small patches of ground in front of houses is often planted with a few vegetables, lettuces and herbs. We passed a huge variety of vegetable fields, lots of rice as always, and a number of fish farms.  We were often running along side the sea but could rarely see it as there were banks holding it at bay.  The glimpses on this cloudy day were of slate grey seas, more reminiscent of the UK!  It felt like time for some sunshine again.

There was a small range of hills before the final bay of our destination. Our small road wound around the edge of the hills, by the sea, and we were spared climbing.  However, the road was in the process of being widened. Luckily it was reasonably far advanced so although there was no paving yet and some parts were very bumpy, most of it was smooth and hard packed.  In fact the rollers were out rolling the road and we could ride where they had just flattened.  In the developed world, the road would have been closed, but here the traffic was allowed to navigate the half completed road.  To be fair, it was only a handful of motorbikes and us!  We just weaved around the road works and the tractors and no one seemed too fussed.

One final short section of the QL1 to cross a bridge and we were turning to the seaside resort of Cua Lo. This was also somewhat of a dissapointment. It was a large concrete town that was very much out of season and mostly closed.  The hotel we had booked had done a good job on its photos (and probably fake reviews) as it was gloomy and rather grimy.  But after 108km we were too tired to try and find somewhere else.  At least it turned out to have a great hot shower. 

So not every day on a lengthy trip can be a fantastic day and I would say that this one was not one of our best – but not the worst and at least we found out that the Diamond Palace hotel does great coffee.  We need something like that regularly peppering our route and we will be happy!