February 8, 2017

We were up early and ready for an early start, that didn’t quite materialize. We went down for breakfast at 7:15 but there was no-one there. We returned at just after 7:30 p.m. Tabi and Mark were already there and were having their breakfast cooked.  We said our farewells to Mark and Tabi, they are spending one more day in Hoi An and then heading towards the hills and Ho Chi Minh Trail.

We eventually set off at 9:15, it was already quite warm. We found our way out of Hoi An and over the river quite easily. We were planning on taking the back-roads today. We had decided not to pre-book a hotel today as we were not sure how Ralf was going to hold up, with his sore throat and his wrist. We knew there were lots of hotels in Tam Ky, which was about 58 kms.

Ralf is dropping to bits, his throat is no better and his left wrist is bothering him a lot. He is not sure what he did, it looks a little swollen – possibly tendon problem. I may have to trade him in for a newer model.

Before we left on this trip Ralf bought new maps for South-East Asis for his garmin.  They haven\’t been very good for Vietnam.  Some of the roads aren\’t on them and others appear to be in the wrong place.  After crossing the bridge, which didn\’t exist on the Garmin maps, we made our turn on to the rural back road which was a slab concrete road. 

As we stopped for a water break at 10 kms, Ralf realized he had left his water bottles in the room. Fortunately he had bought a spare, but it is so hot he really should have two bottles. He will have to use the store bought bottle as his other bottle – yuck warm water.

I will accept responsibility, I had said I would bring the bottles down and forgot to bring Ralf’s down as my arms were full with my helmet, and bottles.

The road wasn’t to bad for the first 10 ks or so, then it started to break up. We ended up on a dirt track again which ended up at a large sand dune. First turn around. Then we followed a young kid onto a better track which led to a rough road. Ralf checked the garmin, yep we were on the right road.

We negotiated around delivery trucks, delivering red bricks in several small communities.

We passed a new subdivision under construction with new roads, not sure who is going to live here.  Although with a population of 90 million people and growing, they have to build houses somewhere.

Then we came across a major construction area which we were not allowed to go through, even though we asked one of the foremen. No we had to go back it was too dangerous to negotiate through the construction cranes and vehicles.

Eventually we found ourselves on the DT614, it was a lane and a half paved road. The road was fairly good and we followed it all the way to Tam Ky. The scenery was rather depressing. There were a lot of small villages, recently established 2012 to 2015. After every village there was a large cemetery, Ralf referred to the road as Death Valley. Cemetery after cemetery after cemetery. We didn’t check the dates on the headstones, we are not sure if all of these cemeteries were a result of the Vietnam/U.S. war or not.

We entered Tam Ky towards the southern end of it, most of the hotels were to the north and we do not like to back-track. We decided to keep cycling for another 20 kms or so and hope to find a guesthouse or a hotel. However, we were both hungry, we kept our eyes open for a café or a bread stall. Ralf spotted a bread stall and we headed across the road. Omelete on a bread bun with some hot sauce and fresh coconut water. The lady had this large bunch of coconuts and hacked away at one of them with a massive machete. She emptied the “water” into a jug added some sugar and ice and the soft meat from the coconut and we were good to go. We squeezed some lime into the only thing that was missing was the rum!

As we left Tam Ky we put our new arm covers on – they worked really well. I don’t know how they work, but my arms felt very cool and comfortable.

We were back on the A1. I now have a love hate relationship with the A1. I hate it because it is noisy and busy, the trucks and buses are back on the road and they honk their horns all the time. I love it (may be love is too strong a word) the road is straight, the tarmac is flat and you cannot get lost, or turned around, you can always stop find somewhere to eat, drink and sleep.

At about the 70 km mark we cycled through a town that had a large steel works, there were a couple of hotels, but both of them were booked. The receptionist at one of the hotles told us there was a hotel about 14 kms down the road. We spotted the Than Lich 10 kms later and pulled in. After we checked in, I headed across the street to a convenience store for beer and water. That beer really tasted good.

Staying at the Than Lich hotel in Nui Thanh tonight. The first room I checked out was a little damp, the second one is at the front of the hotel, we get a bit of road noise, but we have ear plugs and we are both tired. It is clean and cheap ($14.00) – no breakfast, but we still have muesli and milo.

Dinner was down the road – Pho – which is broth with noodles and greens. Pho Bo is the same with beef in it, I am becoming more vegetarian as we go through Vietnam – no Bo for me.