February 7, 2017

 A more relaxing day today. We got up later, had a nice relaxing breakfast and chatted to two Canadians from Alberta.

While I was waiting for Ralf, I watched the owner of the home-stay plant a row of vegetables. Ralf had already watched him hoe a few rows and took pictures.

After breakfast we headed out to the Terracotta Pottery Village. We spotted this temple, it had a lovely garden.

The Than Ha Pottery Village was about 2.5 kms, outside of the old Town. The Village consists of simple potters and a museum.

You have to pay an entrance fee into the village and the museum (total of $6.50 for two) and we got a souvenir terracotta whistle. I picked a pig for me and a cat for Ralf. I think we will keep the pig and add it to my collection.

We watched a lady smooth the bottom of the pots with a shell.

The museum was really nice and very informative. The terracotta mini village was really well done.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the village and the museum then headed back to the homestay.

As part of the experience of the village you could try your hand at making your own pot.  Both Ralf and I knew our attempts would end up being ashtrays, so opted not to try \”throwing\” a pot.

To encourage more visitors to the Village, some of the potters created a miniature world village.

Inside the museum there was a wall of terracotta friezes, depicting life in the area.

I liked this Do Not Walk on the Grass Sign.

As we were returning we spotted the two Canadians from Dong Hoi. They are staying at the same place as us, but couldn’t find it. They followed us back and we met them for dinner.  We went to the place we ate the first night.  The service tonight was dreadful.  The food came out in bits and pieces, everybody else had finished eating before I got my noodles. 

Later on the bar across the road were playing very loud music.  I am not sure Tabi and Mark will want us to recommend any other places to stay.  Sorry guys. 

Tabi and Mark have done a lot of cycle touring, in South-East Asia, we got a few tips. They prefer to ride the rural routes, Tabi has a suspension mountain bike and Mark has a more rugged Surly Troll bike.

We spent the afternoon, cleaning the bikes ready to be back on the road tomorrow. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain too much more.  Although the forecast for Thursday is supposed to bring more rain.

February 6, 2017

Another rest day, I can hear you all saying. Are they doing any cycling on this adventure? It just so happens that there are a few cities that are “must sees” in Vietnam. Hue is one of them and Hoi An is another.

We left our small home stay and headed the 2.5 kms to the downtown area. We got a little misplaced, but eventually found the Japanese covered bridge. Where we started our meander through the lanes of Hoi An.

Hoi Ann is a very touristy Town, but well worth the visit. The Ancient Town of Hoi Ann was a major international trading centre in the 16^th and 17^th century. Japanese, Chinese, Dutch and Indian traders set up shop here, as major trading countries. Their remains to this day the influences of these large warehouses/shops.

If you look past the tourist shops full of silk clothes, cheap skirts and buildings that have been converted into restaurants and bars and look at the architecture of the buildings they are quite amazing. Some of the shops are long and narrow and are accessed from the waterfront as well as the narrow street at the back.

The whole of the ancient downtown is a walking and bicycling zone – no scooters. There are also strict rules to stop side-walk vendors setting up shop illegally. These little vendors set up and sell fruit, or sometimes will set up a little BBQ and sell skewers of meat. We were coming up to three of these vendors when all of a sudden they grabbed their things and took-off down a tiny alley way.

The other thing we noticed to day was scooter removal from the walking/cycling zone. A small flatbed truck came up to three scooters, the driver hops out and blows his whistle near three different stores. He unfortunately could not take another scooter on his truck as it was full, so he moved one of the road and no doubt was going to return to pick-up the other scooters.

To enter any of the historic buildings you have to buy a ticket from an Information Office. It has been reported that you have to buy a ticket to enter the Ancient City but that is incorrect. You only need the ticket to enter some historic buildings. The silly thing with the ticket is that you can only enter 5 of the 22 buildings listed as historic buildings. We opted not to buy the ticket. There was only one building I wanted to go into, so we asked if we could pay just to see that one. Yes no problem.

There is a long street full of tailors, you can order clothes one day, get a fitting the next day and have them delivered to your hotel by the end of the second day or the next day.!

We had lunch looking out over the water.

Then headed to the locals market. The market area generally separated into fish, meat and fruits and vegetables. This market had an area to eat and other areas for home housewares, another area for shoes and an area for tailors.

We asked a lady if she had anything that would protect our arms in the sun, or could make us something. She asked another person then told us to follow her and off she went, through the tailors stalls, up stairs to another area in the market. They had the “cool sleeves” UV rated and sunblock, they are also supposed to be cooling. I think they will come in very handy while we are here. We can buy these in Canada for about $35.00, cost for these $5.00 each.

There were a lot of tourists here from a cruise ship.  I am not sure where it is berthed, but there were large groups wandering around the streets – all on a mission to see as much as the time allowed for their \”on-land\” excursion.  The first part of their trip was a tour of the city on a cyclo.

Today was a people watching day. I will add a gallery of some of the great faces that Ralf managed to capture.  Even the dogs were people watching.

As the evening lanterns were lit we noticed more and more newly weds in the City.  We had seen a few during the afternoon. This seems to be a great place to get your wedding photos taken.

After a good vegetarian dinner that cost $9.65 including 2 beers, we headed back to the homestay. We had stayed in the Ancient City later than usual because of the lanterns. This is another thing that Hoi Ann is famous for – lit lanterns along the river and alleyways, it is really pretty.

Lots of photos today – but here is one lost in translation.

The only bad thing today is Ralf, he has a dreadful sore throat and at the moment is struggling to talk – may be that is not such a bad thing!!

February 4, 2017

 It was raining while we were having breakfast. We decided to delay our leaving and didn’t leave until 10:00. The rain had stopped and Ralf navigated us out of Hue.

I know it is a little unusual to take photos of a Hearse, but they are so decorative in Vietnam.

We often see these colourful buildings, but don\’t know what they are.

I am not sure what it is today, but I was getting really annoyed at the stupidity of the scooters and the car drivers and the non-existent infrastructure for roads.

We were heading out of town and no matter what intersection we came to there was no stop signs, or traffic lights. It was a free for all, one massive game of chicken. We came to a major intersection, near the train station, where we had to make the left turn. No traffic lights, one car went to the left of us the other to the right – no idea what happened behind us when they had to merge into one lane.

Then as we headed on the A1 we came into a small village and there was a set of traffic lights at an intersection. The road to the left was a dirt track! It makes no sense to me at all.

I was very frustrated with the scooter drivers today. I even swore at one guy. Shocked the hell out of him. He came out of a side street and came along side me to the right of me. If he had waited ten seconds he could have passed me safely on the left. No, he slowed down, expecting me to move over into the traffic behind me. I told him to piss off and ran him into the gutter. He managed to get out of the gutter and sped up away from me. I might have scared him.

At one point, we saw a car make a U-Turn in front of us, crossing on to the other side of the A1, in front of a transport that was going at speed. As Ralf said “It takes a special kind of stupid to do that”. No accident just a lot of honking of horns.

Then, of course, we follow the A1 and it goes through a tunnel, the sign on the outside of the tunnel says No Bikes. We are bad we put our rear lights on and headed into the short (500 m) tunnel.

When we came out of the tunnel, there were some \”stores\” selling yellow liquid in a bottle.  Then we saw the stills.  These little moon shiners were along the side of the road for about a kilometre.

The scenery is getting better as we go further south.

We saw this bright orange bike ahead of us, we passed the two boys and then we had to take a photo of them.  The bike was so bright.

We arrived in the village at about 2:00, we made really good time. The village had a little market and a few shops, along the waterfront there are some fish restaurants. Lots to choose from, however the guest house cooked dinner and breakfast is included.

We went for a nice walk around the village.

While Ralf was taking photos of water buffalo, a fella came up to me on his scooter, with his two children. His English was o.k. he worked at the port along the coast. It was a good job, he had worked there for 10 years. He had lived in Russia for 6 years, but it was very cold.He told me Vietnam was very poor – I am not so sure about that we saw a Lamborghini being transported today. Yes, there are some very poor people in Vietnam and there is a huge divide between the rich and the poor. It is very difficult for some people to get ahead and the average wage is only $160.00 per month. But as I said when we were in Cuba their general living expenses are a lot less than in North America. However, the Vietnamese are not as well looked after as the Cubans – the Cubans get free health care, free education and a pension when they finish work.

The beach area is very nice and the area is very popular in the summer.

As we walked along the beach we noticed patterns in the sand.  They are made from either a crab or some mollusc, really neat.

Tonight we are staying in a simple guest house, the Nguyet Anh Guest House, it is not very clean. The owner is cooking dinner for us and we get breakfast included. Reminds me a little of a casa particular.

The sun came out half-way through the ride and I knew we should put cream on, but it is hard when you already are sweaty from the humidity to then put sun screen on. My mistake, both Ralf and I have red arms tonight.

As I was getting ready for bed tonight, something moved on my bedside table! My dearly beloved instead of killing the thing immediately gets his camera out to take a photo. Then he had to smack it twice before he managed to kill it and throw it out on to the balcony.

I hope we stay somewhere nice tomorrow night in Hoi An as we are having another rest day.  Hoi An is another historic Town.

February 3, 2017

 Why do I sometimes feel more exhausted on a rest day than I do on a cycling day? I guess it is because we try to cram in as much as possible on our rest days.

We also have an unwritten rule not to ride on our rest days. I think this cyclo taxi driver didn\’t want to drive today in the rain.

We passed this Pagoda before entering the gate to the Ancient City.

Today we must have walked close to 10 kms.

Our first port of call was the citadel and the forbidden city. Hue is an ancient city that was the seat of Nguyen Dynasty emperors and the national capital from 1802 to 1945. The 19th-century Citadel, is surrounded by a moat and thick stone walls. It encompasses the Imperial City, with palaces and shrines; the Forbidden Purple City, once the emperor’s home; and a replica of the Royal Theater.

We had the opportunity to hire a guide for the tour of the citadel and she was well worth the $8.00.

She gave us a lot of information about the Kings (Emperors) and their lives. How long they reigned for and how many concubines each of them had. Most of the Kings only lived to their mid-50’s – probably because of all the concubines they had – one as many as 500! The guide felt very sorry for the concubines, they were taken from their family at a young age (10 years old) and when the king died they had to be faithful to him, never remarry or have relations with another man. They could not go back to their families, they had to look after the King’s grave – they became gardeners.

We spent about an hour with her as she showed us the site. It was a very interesting tour.

The nine Urns below are cast in bronze – nine is an auspicious number in Vietnam.  Each urn depicts different aspects of Vietnamese life.

As you enter the main gate without the guide you would follow the central area, but the guide took us to the left to show us where the army would have been and where the Queen and concubines would have lived. A lot of the site was destroyed by the French in the 1930’s trying to burn out communist sympathizers. One of the kings wanted to fight against the French, that didn’t work out for him, he was exiled to Algeria. After he was exiled the French imposed the youngest son on the throne, he was only 12 at the time.

We saw a display of the Queen Mother’s house and a rickshaw that she once used. The Vietnam government had to buy it back from the French in a French auction in 2013. Our guide told me that the French still hold other artifacts that they will not return, including the gold seal of one of the Kings. Tina (the guide) gave us plenty of time to take photos.

After she left us, we were able to wander around a little bit more and take more photos.

There is a lot of restoration work being completed.  We walked through one corridor which had only been restored last year.

It was about 2:00 when we left the citadel and headed back into the town to find some lunch and the grocery store.

Then we spotted this small museum of military artifacts.  There was no one at the ticket office and lots of people inside, so we wandered in.

Amazing but we saw the Dutch ladies again. They were cycling to the Citadel. I am not sure how we caught up with them again as they left a day ahead of us from Dong Hoi. They are stopping before the big climb tomorrow, we laughed and said we will see you tomorrow.

The grocery store was huge and were able to buy more muesli and milo for the breakfasts when we don’t find a hotel that serves breakfast. We also bought some noodles just in case we need to cook our own food. If we can get hot water, we can cook instant noodles – those flavor packets make all the difference!

Tomorrow night we are staying in a fishing village, no breakfast and very little food available.

We are staying at the village, because we have a big climb before Da Nang. We will have fresh legs to do the climb. We may stay in Da Nang or head straight for Hoi An.

This is how I felt at the end of the day.

February 2, 2017

We started our day with meusli and milo. We left the hotel at 8:30 under grey skies again. We thought this was the dry season! We had two choices of route today, 93/95 kms or 100kms. The 100 km route was on the A1 and we would cross the 17^th parallel and see the area that the Americans were trying to protect. The other route was along the coast.

We had decided to take the shorter route, but something went wrong in the execution. We made a wrong turn in the village and found ourselves heading for the A1.

The monument at the 17^th parallel was interesting. We saw more monuments to the war today than we had seen on other days.

I think because this area saw a lot of fighting. We passed a cemetery that was full of war graves.

The weather threatened rain all day and we had a couple of little showers, but we managed to stay dry for most of the ride. However, we did have a headwind for most of the day. At the 35 km mark, Ralf took the lead and dragged me all the way to Hue.

The usual sightings on the A1, a herd of cows being moved.

A nice truck, only needs a couple of new tires.

A row of rail cars, what is missing from the cars – if you have been to North America all of our rail cars have graffiti on them.

As we arrived on the outskirts of Hue, we spotted this vehicle, which we think is a funeral hearse.

We arrived in Hue at about 3:30, very tired and hungry. Ralf and garmin found the hotel very easily. After check-in we headed next door to a little restaurant that served pizza and risotto and sandwiches, it was quick and satisfying.

We came back and showered and relaxed for a couple of hours. At 6:30 we headed out for dinner and found a nice restaurant on the main street.

The hotel is called The Friendly Hotel in the room is a history of the family and the owner. He remembers growing up during the war and seeing the fragility of life. He knew he had to study hard to get himself out of poverty. He bought a piece of land and built at 10 room hotel on the site. After a few years he expanded it to 30 rooms, the size it is now. His philosophy is good customer service for the lowest price. He has also implemented a program called Tea and Talk. This is to assist Vietnamese students in Hue particular the poorer students to sit and talk to English speakers so that they can practice their English skills.

“If you determine your life’s objective, fan the flames of passion for work in whatever field it is, work wholeheartedly then you can achieve success; simultaneously, if you can make something beneficial to the society, you will experience a happier and more meaningful life.” Mr.Nguyen Xuan Thuy

February 1, 2017

We were up early and had a good breakfast at the Nam Long Plus Hotel. We loaded our bikes and headed out at 8:00 a.m. The forecast was for rain later in the day. As we cycled along the road I heard someone shout – I’ve done that ride. I was wearing my Tour De Norfolk jersey. We stopped, turned around and had a great chat with two Canadians from Waterloo. They are also cycling and heading south, but they were not sure what to do as the weather forecast calls for rain for the next three or four days. We swapped emails/websites and perhaps will see them again on the road south.

We stopped a few more times to take photos of the old gates and a couple of buildings.

As we came to an intersection we noticed the market was in full swing. Our route took us through the middle of the market!! We had a great laugh with some of the stall holders.

I think this area was the area that was flooded in December, either that or they are very late planting the rice fields.

We had a great tail wind and we were motoring average speed of about 25 kph. The traffic has picked up a little on the A1, but still very manageable. The buses are the worst, they undertake everything and sound their horns to let you know they are being idiots.  At the 30 km mark it started to rain, a little, then a little more, then full on rain. Although it is raining the temperature is not too cold, it is just that you get very wet, the bikes get disgustingly dirty and eventually we both get a little miserable.

We made the turn to Vin Moc Tunnels and cycled the 14 kms to the tunnels. At the gate is a little restaurant that you can park your bike or scooter for 3,000 VND each. The young lass looks after it for you. We were cold and Ralf had a coffee and I had a ginger tea.A couple of French motor-bikers came and were complaining about the fact that he had to pay for parking even though they were having some Pho.  Really, 3,000 VND is about 0.17 cents.

We paid the entrance fee of 40,000 VND (each) about $2.35 and headed down the stone path to entrance # 3.

The tunnels are amazing, they were built initially for the Vietnamese soldiers, but as the Americans discovered that they were supplying the Con Co Island they started to bomb the heck out of the villages. The villagers went underground with the soldiers. There are over a kilometre of underground tunnels ranging to 30 metres deep.

The lighting was very poor, that gave the whole thing more authenticity. Some of the tunnels came out above the beach area. It was a little unnerving when you could hear the roar of the surf inside the tunnel.

The temperature was warmer in the tunnel than outside, the tunnels were designed that all the water would empty out towards the ocean, so that the tunnels didn’t flood.

Within the tunnels they have depictions of how people lived underground.

After our trip through the tunnels we watched the video of how the tunnels were built and how many people lived there. It was very informative.

We headed back out to our bikes. We decided to have some Pho before heading out, to find a hotel for the night. The rain was still persisting and we were getting cold.

We came into the small seaside village of Cua Truan, it is rather tired and not many places are open at this time of the year.  As soon as we spotted a hotel that looked half-way decent we went in. The owner speaks German and we quickly got the bikes dried off and headed up to our small but clean room. The hotel was next to the lighthouse and was called Khach San Cua Tung. No food is available in the hotel, but there is a place across the road the owner recommended.

We wandered down to the area the owner recommended. We found a very small place that a group of young Vietnamese eating, we figured it can’t be too bad. Unfortunately there was no English menu, we ordered our meal by committee and google translate. At one point we had about four people with their phones trying to get us something to eat. Eventually the young cook came out with her phone, typed in what she had available and we ordered that. We had a sweet and sour soup, followed by a lovely steamed fish with greens and rice. We weren’t sure what we had ordered, but when it arrived it tasted fabulous and we went back to the hotel comfortably full.  The whole meal for two with four beers was less than $22.00.

The owner of the hotel invited us to sit and chat and have a glass of wine with him. The hotels in this area are very quiet at this time of the year, but from April to September they are busy.

Our wet cycling gear is hanging in the hotel room, I have limited hopes for it drying overnight.

Another 95 km day tomorrow heading to Hue. Again the forecast is for showers, hope we don’t get too wet.

 January 31, 2017

Our first rest day – seven days of cycling and a rest day. We usually cycle for six and take the seventh off, but it was not worth staying in Ky Anh. A lovely relaxing day today. The sun was shining, it was hot about 28 degrees with a slight sea breeze.

We had a nice breakfast in the hotel and after doing a little bit of work for Chris, we went out for a walk along the Prom – (the promenade for the non-Brits). Dong hoi is a very pretty sea-side resort area.

The beaches are long white and sandy, although the sea is a bit rough. I don’t think I will be doing any swimming. We saw one person sunbathing, she was very white. The small group of Vietnamese kids we saw were huddled under a parasol wearing their winter jackets.

We walked across the bridge to the peninsula where there were some resort hotels. Then we walked the back streets to see how the other half lived. Actually not too bad, there were some very nice houses tucked away.

There are hundreds of fishing boats moored in the river. To get from their boats to shore they use these odd little craft that look like Irish coracles. Apparently, you can get five people in one of these little bath-tubs.

I did a spot of modelling.

After re-crossing the bridge we stopped for lunch. Most of the cafés and restaurants are still closed for the New Years holiday, so we had limited choices. We walked the length of this side of the river and up the stairs to the lighthouse. Unfortunately the view wasn’t that good from the top.

Banana chips drying in the sun.

We did spot the Dong Hoi Sailing Club – Melinda do you fancy sailing in these waters?

We then headed back to our hotel for a beer. It is a hard life we are leading.

I finished off the work for Chris – Official Plan for Thessalon, we cycled through Thessalon on our cross-Canada trip in 2015.

After dinner we headed out for a little walk to take in some of the lights. 

Ralf did some research for our next few days. We are heading towards the Vin Moc Caves and the 17th parallel tomorrow and should make Hue on Thursday. Two fairly long days (in the rain) and then another rest day. Hue is a very historic city and worth the extra day to explore it.

An early night tonight ready for another long day on the bikes tomorrow.

January 30, 2017

 An early start to day as we had some miles to cover and a big climb as well. We started of with overcast skies and the surrounding hills hidden in the mist. It wasn’t very cold and we cycled out of dirty Ky Anh into the countryside. My sister, Nikki, had mentioned that it looked like a very clean country. It isn’t, it is disgustingly dirty. Most people sweep there patch of land in front of their house and then throw the garbage into the streets, or the gutters. At the end of most of the lanes or side roads there are large piles of garbage, it is awful.

After about 20 minutes of riding it started to drizzle. We stopped and put the covers on the bags and carried on. We decided not to put rain jackets on as it was quite warm. For the next three hours (60 kms) the heavens opened and we got very wet and a little cool. When it is raining it is difficult to take photos but I have Ralf’s waterproof camera in my pocket and I was able to take a photo of this heard of cattle wandering down the road. This road is of similar status as an A road in England or Hwy 11 in Ontario. These cows did not care, we saw a lot of meandering cows today.

We are surprised to see that a lot of the stores have still not reopened after the New Years holiday. It is a four day holiday for most people.

The scenery was quite nice in areas today, but because of the rain we kept riding.

At about 40 km mark I was expecting a big climb, the road divided and the main A1 road went to the right. I had read about the climb from another persons blog. He mentioned there was a tunnel but didn’t think cyclists could use it. We took the main A1 road and within a kilometer there was the tunnel, no signs to say we couldn’t use it. Most cyclists hate tunnels, cars drive way too fast and in this country I thought we would be taking our lives into our hands. However, due to the New Years holiday there are less vehicles on the road. We headed into the tunnel, it was only short about 500 metres. There was a raised sidewalk, which we took two-thirds of the way. It abruptly came to an end with a short staircase – not sure why. We cycled on the road for the last little section.

We didn’t have to do the big climb and as it was still raining, we would not have seen anything from the top.

At about 70 kms the rain stopped and slow but sure the sun came out. By the time we cycled in to Dong Hoi the sun had come out and we were dry when we got to the hotel, dirty but dry.

It is always fun hearing kids shout hello to us as we pass.  Sometimes when Ralf gets his camera out they have fun, other times they play shy. 

We found our hotel relatively easily, it is a nice hotel with a lovely room. The bikes are in a secure room at the back of lobby area.

After we settled in, I rinsed the merino wool t.shirts and Ralf hung the washing line. The laundry services here are a bit harsh with the drying of clothes. We have given them all the dirty cycling gear to wash. We had a great lunch in the hotel and then had a nice walk along the promenade. Dong Hoi is a very pretty town that has a great beach area and fishing fleet.

It was a lovely walk in the sun.

We spotted this bombed out Church steeple.

As we were making our way back to the hotel, a Vietnamese fella on a scooter with a little guy in front of him asked if we spoke German. We said “a little”, the fella lived in Germany for five years and is now living in Austria. His great nephew was the little fella on the scooter. He only spoke German and was very shy. We had a nice chat about Germany, Canada and Vietnam. As Ralf said the world is a small place.

A lot of the restaurants in the area are closed, we will eat in the hotel again. Tomorrow we will go out and eat in the neighbourhood.

One of the things that the Vietnamese love is Karaoke.  They play it really loud, and there are lots of Karaoke bars wherever we have stayed.  Sometimes there is a whole street full of them.

We met the two Dutch ladies again tonight, they are staying at the same hotel. They did a homestay in the National Park and then took a taxi to visit the caves. We have opted not to do the National Park. We had a nice chat with them about cycling. They have cycled extensively.

January 29, 2017

We left Ha Tinh at 9:15 and had a nice tail wind for most of the day. The weather was hot again today about 28 degrees C. The traffic has started to pick up again, but it is very manageable. A lot of other bloggers have commented on how bad the A1 is, we haven’t found it too bad. We have a wide shoulder and there are two lanes, yes the drivers can be crazy with their horns and when they are passing but on the whole I have felt safer driving along the A1 than I did cycling in Northern Ontario.

However, today, we saw our first traffic accident. About 1 km before the accident the police had blocked of the road with a large tree branch and were waving the car drivers to the other side of the divided highway! They didn’t seem to slow down at all and the cars that were heading towards them were flashing their lights. I am sure they had no clue as to why the cars were on the wrong side of the median.

The reason the police had directed the traffic was because of the traffic accident. As we came up to the bus I thought that his engine had fallen out onto the road. Unfortunately, it was a motorbike under the bus. The police waved us by and were busy measuring the accident scene. It did not look good.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, the same scenery of rice paddies, except one church that was being renovated and a small road side shrine.

We came into Ky Anh and I was expecting a nice town. It was a grubby town, garbage everywhere. We found our hotel, and the price had gone up from Bookings.com. We got the receptionist to reduce the price again and then she said we could leave our bikes in the underground area. There was nowhere to secure the bikes, the underground area was completely open. We didn’t feel comfortable leaving the bikes in such an insecure area.

We headed back onto the main street and stopped at a large hotel and asked if they had rooms. Yes, 250,000 per night, I went to view the room. The stairway was filthy, the first room she was going to show me was not cleaned and I noticed a used sanitary napkin in the doorway of another room. We went up another flight of stairs, the room was gross, dirty bathroom, dirty sheets. I thanked her and we carried on to the next hotel we could see from the road. The hotel was down a side street, the owner welcomed us and showed me the room, clean sheets, bathroom and a reasonable shower. The cost was 350,000 ($20.00) per night. We were going to stay two nights as we are due for a rest day, but the town is nothing to write home about so we are going to do the big push to Dong Hoi tomorrow. It is about 95 kms and one big hill to go over. The weather should be a little cooler tomorrow and we are going to start out early to beat the heat.

As we were bringing our bags in the owner offered us what we thought was a green tea, until she poured it into tiny shot glasses! It was a very potent liquor, it was very similar to the liquor we had in Cat Ba Island.

We settled into the room and then headed out to find some lunch. A lot of the restaurants are still closed for New Years. We found a corner store and bought some dried noodles, a can of ham and a couple of beer – that is going to be dinner. There is a kettle in the room and we bought our dishes and kfs. For lunch we found a café that was advertising sandwiches, similar to Hanoi. Unfortunately, she had no bread! But suggested sushi or some kind of dumpling. We opted for the dumpling, no idea what was inside it. We think it was wild rice and an egg of some variety, but really had no clue what we were eating. It tasted good and we needed the carbs from the dumplings.  The mix next to the dumplings was the usual hot sauce, but she added some mayonnaise to cool the hot sauce down.

We spent hours trying to find a room in Dong Hoi, too many options, prices and locations. Often we find something on-line that is affordable, then when you go on to the website it looks rough or the price has gone up. We are spending two days in Dong Hoi, so we want to be comfortable.