To avoid honking, we have made every effort to cycle on back roads whenever possible. While they are a little less maintained than the highways, they’ve provided much more relaxed riding conditions and have allowed us to experience coastal Vietnam much closer. Fishing villages, directions lost in translation, seemingly endless fields of rice paddies, salt farms, and beautiful coastal scenery are just a few of the highlights.
It is difficult for either of us to decide which part of the coastal riding we have enjoyed the most. Whether it be the “movie set” looking fishing villages and riding to road ends where older ladies (who look like they’ve had back-breaking work for most of their lives) have tried to prompt us to take small boats across to the other side, or riding over the beautiful Hai Van Pass and along the coast, we continue to have days saying to each other “this is the best day so far.”
Along the way, we were able to take a few days to explore and enjoy Hoi An and Hue. We’ve also been able to eat amazing food along the way and we were able to take a terrific cooking class in Hoi An. We feel we’ve made the most of the central coast and feel ready to move further north. It seems the combination of strengthening legs, favourable winds and better road conditions have provided us with longer riding days and allowed us to get further on days we’ve decided to go for distance.
A special highlight to mention includes the enthusiastic help we received by some lovely Vietnamese girls in Dong Hoi. After deciding we needed to catch a train to Hanoi earlier than planned (to acquire our Chinese visas), we were searching for the train station when we met two sisters, Hem and Xiu. They gave us directions and then led us there on their motorbike. As if that weren’t enough, they stayed with us at the train station and helped us work out how to travel separated from our bikes (it was impossible for the bikes to come on the same train with us). They led us to the freight office where we were able to arrange to have them put on a freight train (that would arrive the day after us) and then they helped us get our own tickets. It sounds easier to have done now that we are writing this, but at the time we had no idea how to go about this process and on our own we may not have felt comfortable parting with our bikes. Hem and Xiu provided us with such a heartwarming, long lasting memory of their helpful character.
The train journey from Dong Hoi was not too long but another great memory as we traveled on seats designed for the build of a Vietnamese person. We also had the privilege of watching a Jean Claude Van Damme movie, complete with a Vietnamese teenage female voice doing most of the dubbing (of Jean Claude and other characters).
We are now in Hanoi exploring the local area and waiting for our Chinese visas, bicycle maintenance, the arrival of 2 packages (which we are so hopeful make it here) and taking advantage of supermarkets to restock supplies. We’re also looking forward to catching up with an old work friend of Heather’s. This was going to be the first encounter with a familiar face for either of us on the trip until today when we very randomly ran into another old friend of Heather’s who is in Hanoi for a week on business and happened to walk into a coffee shop that we were in because it was on the same street (far away from where we’re staying) where we heard we could buy oats. Go figure…it always amazes us what a small world it is!
On Friday, we’ll cycle south to Ninh Binh and then east to explore the Halong Bay area before returning to Hanoi to pick up our visas and then we’ll cycle up to the Chinese border. It’s hard to believe that country #4 is just over a week away. Some days we feel like we’ve been away forever and other days it seems like time is passing way too quickly.
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