hello! Yipee very happy to see the sun - but still holed up in the Internet cafe so here comes the next installment:
So on Tuesday the 6th we set off to finally get on the Ho Chi Minh highway, recommended to us as a much better alternative to the madness that is State Highway One. Very sound advice for sure, ended up being a lovely quiet and beautiful 5 days or so along some stunning countryside.
Took the first half of the day to head west and find it, during which we went from big road to small track, dyke
path to small rice paddie lane - all sorts of zig zagging across rich farm land and asking locals for directions
and we made it! Had hoped to look for a camping spot but the area still very populated, lots of traditional wooden
and straw houses and farms - also tonnes of fellow cycling school kids, who were the main road users most of the time.
It all turned a bit twilight zone when we took a steep unmarked road to the right, and stumbled upon the outskirts of the town marked on our map as being another 5km in front of us, one of the many situations where our map wasn't completely accurate! Welcome news though and found a place to sleep just as it was getting dark. Went out to see the town, Yen Cat, and another bizarre experience involving the whole community gathering in the school grounds to watch some sort of local singing talent quest featuring varying scales of tunefulness and enthusiasm...
Next day was hot and the road still very quiet, you get the school rush around midday and in the evening apart from that there are a few motorbikes and the very occasional lorry or private car, perfect for cycling! Up and down rolling hills and lots of farm life still to look at. Also plenty of people to call out 'hello' to us as we pass, must average about 200 'hellos' a day! Again when we wanted to find a quiet spot to camp in the evening it was really populated again but luckily we were directed down an intersecting road where the one guest house in the area could be found, after a 110km day we totally crashed!
The road got quieter still the next day and forced to ride for ages till we even spotted a little shop for lunch. The family who ran the place were very friendly and the phrasebook helped with conversation, and we got to try new things - bean curd in palm leaf and yummy caramel peanuts squished in crispy rice pancakes. Oh yeah. That night we came next to a national park and just had to go a wee way up the road to find a nice spot in the trees to camp - finally free camping in Vietnam!! So close we could see and hear the town below but had a fire and nice sleep in the woods.
Even though we really love the HCMH, for varieties sake, and cos it had a few larger towns in case we needed accommodation we took a different route Friday afternoon. However all to soon came the all too familiar 'good road turning into bumpy track going up a hill' trick. Compiled with the fact that I got a puncture meant we didn't make it to the town and alas no camping spots. What to do it this predicament but head to the local church!? We were in a strong catholic area as had been seeing huge churches all day. The one we called at was still being built and not ideal as no grass or trees - just a whole village of very inquisitive locals!
Really surreal and intense evening where we were tucked up against the side of a building with a spotlight put up for us, making tea, preparing and eating dinner with about 20 people in a semi circle all watching our every move! They were very friendly and keen to practice their English, and helped us anyway they could with wood, water and light - but privacy and personal space wasn't a concern! At about 8pm we signaled sleepiness and got inside the tent so we could finally have a breather.
Up at the crack of dawn as everybody else was, packed up with a slightly smaller audience, said our thank yous and goodbyes and hit the road insanely early. Got to the town for noodle brekkie at the market. Then the hills began, some decent climbs and great downhills finally brought us back to the highway. In the afternoon rode through really spectacular karst topography again and had a whopping big mountain pass to go over. A mission to get up but the decent makes it all the worth while! Amazing jungle forest all around us.
We had scoped out another national park on our map with the famous Phong Nha cave as a potential camping spot, but all very confusing once we got there - no idea where this huge tourist attraction was as everyone was pointing in different directions, gave up and found a nice spot on the river dunes to have a fire and spend the night. Not altogether peaceful as there were fishing boats on the river all night long!
In the light of the following day we saw the harbour where boats leave to take you to the cave but we were over it by then and decided to just get going. The first drops of rain began to fall as we continued our journey south along the highway... and that's when the story takes an interesting turn...