Scary.

Lost in the garden

Big urn

Impressive.

Great trees.

Lovely

Our train. Luxury.

The day started with some sadness, or rather anxiety. We are planning on a train journey back to Hanoi, some 550km. The bikes have to go on a separate train, or at least in the guards carriage. We have to trust the Vietnam Railway. Hmmm. Not sure this is a wise / good idea, but most people say it should be no problem. Admittedly, these are usually Vietnam Railway employees, and they don’t actually speak english other than to say ‘No problem’. We will see.

Back to the hotel for breakfast and pack up. We left the trip around the Imperial Citadel for today, although neither of us have much energy for another old building, especially as it’s not that old. 1820’s at the earliest.

Having arrived there it was interesting. The Emperor was treated as god. The whole building complex, which is huge, was devoted to his pleasure. Housing for 104 wives, more concubines, eunuchs and officials. A grand place, but we kept comparing with Angkor Wat, even though we really tried not to. Angkor was over 1,000 years older and seemed to have more magic about it. Glad we saw it, as it represented the most powerful dynasty in Vietnam from around 1820 to 1945. Doesn’t surprise us that there was a revolution.

Nice lunch, and Paul decided it was too hot and had a haircut. Always interesting having haircuts in different countries. This one was 40mins, of which 25 mins was a head massage. Great fun, although the results are, um, a bit Vietnamese. They will grow out.

Supper was lovely but the food took for ever to arrive. A bit stressful as we needed to buy important food for the train journey. A bottle of wine.

Boarded the train, found our sleeper carriage, and better than expected. Clean, comfortable, a bit slow, but all good. We hope our bikes are being treated as well.

Met Arthuro, Mexican travelling around on his bike for a year. Jealous, although $20/ day might be a bit little for us. Finished the wine, sleep and hope tomorrow is kind to our bikes.

Happy Birthday Linda!! xx

Tomb cycling.

A lovely roof

Different types of ginger.

Huge market

Great carrot decoration. And yummy food.

A Garlic bird.

Cycling, with no effort from us.

A birthday in Vietnam.  Pretty special.  Took the bikes out for a little tour around the temples dotted around out of town alongside the Perfume River. Nice name for a river, but not accurate. Sun shining and a glorious day, if a little humid.

Discovered the large market selling anything and everything and after some firm bartering from Paul, managed to spend many thousands of dong on a crap lacoste copy shirt for him and a flimsy half a dress for Linda.  Our posh togs for a birthday night out on the town.

Back in time for massages at the hotel.  First massage on our trip and jolly nice too.  Paul’s neck, back and shoulders sent him to sleep.  An hour massage is never long enough, especially when it only costs around £15.

Dinner at Le Jardin de la Carambole, next door to the Imperial Palace, in a French colonial building.  For a french restaurant, unusual that the menu listed pizza and pasta as well as vietnamese and western food.  Opted for the vietnamese beef steak in peppercorn sauce with fries. Great detail with the use of garlic on top of the veggies. Very yummy. Wine an unusual treat.

We managed to be outrageously overcharged for a cyclo ride back to our hotel. We even knew at the time, but it was such fun, and as cyclists, we felt a bit of empathy towards the cyclo rider.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to our trusted bikes. They have been great. Hope we don’t  loose them.

To Hue, over Hai Van pass.

Hai Van Pass. Great road.

Great views, except for cloud. At least it’s cool.

Salangane’s home. All for bird’s nest soup. Yuk.

Top marks to Orange Hotel.  Only a 3 star but really nice little touches, like, astonishingly, complimentary beers.  Wow.  Really comfy bed, always appreciated and the most attentive, friendly and helpful staff ever.    We were recommended a great local Thai restaurant and to hang out downtown to see the dragon bridge breathe fire.  Danang is an interesting town, definitely on the up with its smart riverfront and lots of coffee shops.

Headed for the Hai Van pass.  A 10 km, 500 m climb up and 10 km down.  We had anticipated it to be harder based on reviews we had read.  It does give the most glorious views of the coastline below as you wind your way up the beautifully noiseless road.  Cars and buses take the tunnel, thank goodness.  As we slowly pedalled up we sort of expected the smell of wild thyme or mint? Pine trees? Maybe exotic lemongrass? No. The all pervasive smell from the common pastime of peeing on the side of the road. Took the edge off it. Probably better after a good rainstorm.

A great route, down the hill and off the awful Highway 1 onto the coastal road, skirting around the lagoons and peninsular of land.  Quiet and lovely.  And, more and more tombs in the sand.  They go on forever.  There are more dead than alive here. And they take up so much space.

Finally, we understand about the loud bird calls from the concrete buildings.  There is fierce competition to attract the salanganes,  a local swift-like bird that builds its nest from saliva.  The nests command $1,000 per kilo.  Historically, the nests are collected from the steep sides of the islands off-shore, accessed from bamboo scaffolding towers.  Hazardous.  A young Vietnamese graduate having studied the birds, came up with the design of the concrete house.  It has been hugely successful and without any current legislation, it appears that residents in town are attaching towers to their homes then turning up the volume for the bird calls.  Very lucrative.

Have to say that the approach to Hue was disappointing.  Had anticipated another Hoi An, which is delightful.  maps.me and Paul’s dexterity manipulating his phone whilst cycling took us to the door of The Serene Shining Hotel after our last full day of cycling on this trip. Feel quite sad.

To Da Nang.

Dragon bridge, with fire.

A gentle day, only 25Km needed so we decided to have lunch at An Bang beach before our fairly brief bike ride. We needed one more fix of Hoi An’s coffee house so a brief wander around looking for nice coffee. Too many to choose, but settled on a great place. Same as yesterday, in fact. Met a nice Dutch chap, who promised us that his next trip would be on a bike. Great to inspire the next generation. Linda bought our only physical souvenir so far – 4 small paintings. Hope they survive the trip home.

Cycled the coast strip to Da Nang. We are getting used to great white beaches, partially developed massive resorts and topiary. This trip was a bit different as many of the resorts were actually finished. Some names we recognised, Sheraton, Vinpearl, Hilton. Didn’t stop. Our hotel, The Orange, particularly lovely. Small and perfect. Da Nang is much bigger than we expected. A brief thought about cycling up monkey mountain, but tomorrow will be a hard day, so a beer instead.

Nice Thai restaurant in the city, recommended by the staff at the hotel. Busy, a bit crazy but the food was great. We got back about 8.30 and a girl on the reception said ‘Are you not watching the dragon?’ Told us about the dragon  bridge which spits out fire and water on sat and sun eve. A great way to end the day.

Big day tomorrow and we have pre-ordered our breakfast for an early start. Usually the pre-orders get lost. We will see.

Tourist day to Hoi An.

Hoi An old town

The peddlers need to swap with their passengers?

Fishing, nets.

It really is this colourful

Bananas give you energy

Waterfront

It’s good, but is it art? No.

Some translations are just plain funny.

Great food at Lantern’s restaurant.

I can swim!!

Oops, no I can’t.

Am Bang beach. The tourist end. Still jolly nice.

We like An Bang, a lot.  We also like Hoi An, a lot.

The weather is perfect, high 20’s, a soft breeze and the most gorgeous, stretching forever beach.  What a difference the sun makes.  Today the little suburb of An Bang is glorious, with lots of interesting little cafes and restaurants.  Have had more variety of food in these 2 days that the last few weeks in Vietnam.  We are trusting the salads now as there are many tourists here. Might be a mistake. Time will tell. And the loo.  A delicious shrimp and mango salad one day for lunch and a very interesting chat to the 24 yr old “bead lady”.  She reaffirms all that we have noticed and already been told.  The men spend a lot of time “thinking and drinking” and the girls do all the work.  However, to get the girl the men have to “make the money, or no honey”. Only lasts until the girl is ‘hooked’, then they return to drinking and thinking. And chain smoking, and playing cards. Sounds a good life.

Hoi An, completely unexpected.  Really interesting architecture in a faded, colonial sort of way.  It’s clean with an overwhelming variety of great restaurants to choose from.  It reminds us, a little, of Luang Prabang in Laos.  An oasis in a fairly desolate desert of gastronomy.  Cycling up this coastline, we have travelled many kms through villages and struggled to find water, let alone any food.  Some villages have had 2 mobile phone shops but still nowhere to buy anything to eat.  It’s such a pleasure to drink Italian coffee and to eat chocolate cheesecake.

Tonight we will be eating BBQ fish, fresh from the ocean, pre-ordered yesterday, in a lovely little restaurant around the corner from our homestay.  Everyone knows everyone here.  The owner of our homestay is a young Vietnamese who used to work with the owner of the seafood restaurant and is great friends with her younger brother.  Even the lady on the beach selling trinkets knows Duc from the An Bang Homestay.  A great little community and a much easier lifestyle for those prepared to work rather than being a fisherman or working in the paddy fields.

Tourism is on the way up here with huge cranes on the horizon constructing an enormous resort complex. We probably couldn’t afford to stay here, when it opens. Come and see An Bang Beach soon! It’s lovely.

Now a fish with our name on it. Hope it isn’t fried in salt. (see photos).

Hard work day, Heavy wind, rain and over 115Km. Hey ho.

It’s wetter than it looks.

It’s still wetter than it looks.

1 Ox power.

The predicted storm is officially here.  Up early to a grey day, raining and blowing a gale.  Really don’t fancy hanging around the hotel for another day, so waterproofs on and pedal off.  Did almost forget the passports being held at the front desk.  Whoops.

A cyclist we had met in Saigon had recounted his story of flying down from Hanoi to Saigon on his road bike doing 200kms per day.  This is possible because the prevailing wind is north to south.  As we discovered.  Add a storm, lashing rain and some hills and the effort was huge to do a measly 115 kms north to our “Scandia resort” hotel.

The weather was relentless for the 9 hours of our trip.  We had a break for a pretty nice lunch en route.  The usual fried rice and a couple of beers.  Just good to get out of the wind for 40 mins.

If we had known we wouldn’t get to our hotel until 6:30pm in the dark, we may have been tempted to throw in the towel earlier, and book a proper hotel.  What we didn’t know was that the hotel was 4kms north of town up an unfinished road which was now muddy and puddled.  With no directions and no signage, not quite sure how we ever found it.  But, the reviews had been tempting.  It was deserted.  We stumbled upon the open-air reception desk which was dark save for a television turned on.  We were both exhausted and the thought of having to trace our steps back to town was a tough one.  As we were about to pedal off again, a local lady arrived, speaking very good English.  She thought we weren’t coming as it was so late – 6:30?  And, the killer, it’s too late for dinner!  But, she did have cold beers and yes, we could get breakfast there, not included in the price.  She relented regarding dinner and offered up the worst Pho bo (beef noodle soup) and fried rice that we have tasted.  The beef tasted of mothballs.  It must have been bad as, despite being ravenous, Linda didn’t eat it all.

The five beers softened us a bit so we made the best of the place and climbed into the sandy sheets.  Yuck. Not cheap enough,  A review definitely going on Trip Advisor.

Just blue here.

Busy motorway.

Tough life, someone has to be here.

Are we odd?  It still feels good to get back on the bikes and to leave town.  Followed the coast, all rather strange as, paved carriageway, topiary median, street lamps and pavement and, nothing else.  There must be big plans for the coastline here.  Would rather see more high rises contained within one area than a strip development all along this beautiful coastline.  Lovely cycle with great views over the ocean and the fishing villages and not too much traffic.  Maps, as often,  a little vague but found our destination hotel, past the cement factory.  Very surprised, based on the price, to discover a beautiful beach, large swimming pool with rather gorgeous gardens.  Two large Russian tour groups also in town, but plenty of room on the beach for us too.

A very nice seafood lunch in the restaurant on the beach, creamy oysters, grilled prawns and squid.  Could have done with twice the size and a big bowl of rice after the cycling but managed to fill up with the buffet supper.

Planing  a bigger day for tomorrow, so early start. Weather seems to be changing, clouds coming in, getting a bit windy. As are we.

Topiary Town

They are all blue! Or wood colour.

Floating fish farms

Hard day’s work

Just for tourists? Maybe but…good.

Life’s a beach, got our mojo back. Or Mojito anyway.

Last day with Bobby with an 8:00 am pick up from hotel.  Quick visit to a nearby 7th C temple, built by the Cham people, before Angkor Wat. We’re getting pretty good at recognising religious influences and symbols. Historically, the middle of Vietnam was heavily influenced by India and Hinduism via the ocean trading routes.

Off to the bustling port in Nha Trang to catch a boat over to one of the numerous islands off the coast and a bit of snorkelling.  Well, Paul snorkelled and Linda had a quick dip, but didn’t actually get her hair wet.  Bobby sat and read the newspaper.  Paul says the snorkelling was good and he has captured on his camera a number of coloured spots on a murky brown background.  On the floating pontoon was a raucous group of Vietnamese lunching on some freshly caught fish with copious amounts of rice wine and a lot of “mort, hai, ba” – 1, 2, 3 and knock it back.

We motored to check out a floating fish farm where we were offered “lobster”, actually crayfish, for $100 per kilo.  Needless to say we declined.  Did get some very nicely cooked squid for lunch washed down with a couple of Saigon beers.

We are so impressed with Nha Trung beach.  It is stunning.  White sand and clean.  The beach is immaculate and the gardens very smart with lots of creative topiary interspersed with some interesting sculptures.  The first area in Vietnam we have visited with no litter all over the place.  Massive infrastructure still going on with the creation of a new marina and lots more hotels to be built.  Biggest group of tourists are Russian, in numbers and size.  Had the best mojito yet sat on beanbags on the beach with a full moon.

Nha Trang could be described like one of the big Spanish resorts, but it sort of grows on you. Smart and casual, good European with Vietnamese street food. Great combinations and very enjoyable, if brash at times.

Start cycling again tomorrow, and a $30 ‘resort’. May well be different.

I see no ships.

Lots of greenhouses, strawberries and flowers galore.

Big funghi.

Exhilerating cycle, breathtaking scenery. This was an ‘up’ bit.

Pine forests for miles and miles. Smell lovely.

Minority long house. Like an axe.

Snake oil for the men’s mojo.

When it’s wet….we wouldn’t be able to cycle down the road.

We left Dalat at the civilised time of 8am. Yea, a lie in. Then we were treated to a superb ride. Starting high at around 1500m, we went on a few ‘undulations’ as Bobby described them for 60km. Undulations in Vietnamese means 5km steep up then 1 km gentle down. We climbed around 1,200m in the first 40kms.  But, the last 30km made it all worth while. Sweeping bends, descending as fast as you wish on basically great roads, no trucks, and views that made us stop every few kms. Lunch was a picnic at the top of the mountains. Great, although several people had had the same idea before us. The big difference was that they had chosen to throw everything out of their cars, rather than take it home. As a result a pristine view was rather destroyed by so much plastic rubbish. We, at least, didn’t add to it.

The final push over 100kms was a bit hard into a head wind, and the ‘flat’ road wasn’t that flat.

Hey ho, we are by the sea, and the promise of fish awaits.

Supper in a seafood restaurant. Sadly the ‘pot seafood’ didn’t quite hit the spot, but easily good enough. Beer was all we really needed.

A superb day’s cycling, what its all about. Any cyclist who didn’t enjoy the route should be on very strong medicine.