Big day, less wind, yea! Then the rain….

Great market, aggressively patrolled.

Natural rubber.

Linda looking more elegant than Paul. Just.

Jolly wet. Not sure why Linda kept laughing.

Even the fishermen use the same kit as us.

1,000’s of them

Tombs and sand.

We left early, just after dawn. Even by then there were a group of people fishing on the coast. The really great news is that the wind has died down a bit, and, no rain. Sooo happy.

We started going on one of Paul’s ‘tracks’, which looked like a short cut, but might have been longer. However it took us through a very remote village with a great market. Linda started taking a few photos, and an old chap who looked ‘ex-military’ told us very firmly ‘No photo’. Maybe because we were close to My Son, and people were still raw? Maybe he was a grumpy chap? Who knows. The only words of English he seemed to know were ‘No photo’, which he was keen to practice. We respected his wish, which was a shame. Hey ho.

The coast road was great, lovely intermittent views of the rolling East China Sea, and small villages. Constant ‘Hellos’ from children, kept us smiling. Even the odd ‘Good morning, how are you?” from slightly older people. No more ‘no photo’ people. Sadly only 20km until we reached the main highway again.

Lunch was in a roadside cafe, having cycled 40km on the dreaded Highway 1. Nice, friendly, clean and £4 including 2 coke’s. We can afford that.

After lunch, life changed. Firstly the coast road again.Small tracks, friendly villages, sand and sea. So nice compared with Highway 1. We also came across 100’s, no, probably 1,000’s of tombs. They seem dotted randomly along the coast, some grand and some just sand with a small headstone. We guess in death as in life. Rich folk have grand graves, poorer ones a mound of sand.  These were interesting. The other thing that changed was …. rain. And lots of it. We became totally drenched. As often the case, in adversity comes great moments. We had stopped by the road side and a moped came past. This was unusual as the road was so quiet. What was also unusual was the driver stopped and asked us if we were OK? Good English! Had a chat and said we were fine. She was on her way to Hoi An for a job as an Hotel receptionist having done a degree in English. Said goodbye. 10 minutes later she was back with waterproof ponchos! How lovely! We both realise they don’t look great but they made us smile – in fact it made Linda laugh. A lot. She nearly fell off her bike.

Arrived in Hoi An, couldn’t find the homestay. Another random good moment. A local chap asked us where we wanted to go. We said ‘Am Bang Beach homestay”. He said ‘I own that, come with me. Are you Paul and Linda?”. Yippee!!

We tried to dry out, failed, and just went for food and beer. Even then there was an issue. The local Cham Islands were due a power test so Hoi An had had no power all day, but it was due to come on around 5.30 pm. It did. Then went off again. And on,and off, and on … you guessed. However, the restaurant coped well. Great food, cool beer.  It worked.

126Km successfully done. Worries over. We both agreed rain is (slightly) better than strong wind on the nose. Only slightly, mind you. Overall, a really good day’s cycle.  One to remember.

Now we hope for a few days of no wind, no rain, even sun would be probably too much to ask. But beer we can almost guarantee. Phew.

To My Son, of My Lai Massacre ‘fame’. Shortish day.

How lovely is this beach?

Buddhist use of a familiar emblem.

Our new best friends.

My Lai Massacre Memorial.

Left our Iffy resort hotel but superb location at the relaxed time of 9:30 am, after Paul had his photo shoot with the holidaying Vietnamese.  Oddly, they thought  he was rather cute.  A surprising breakfast with the addition of the most deliciously cooked chips with our everyday omlette and bread roll.

Same ol’ wind in the face as we battled up the coastline on Highway 1 together with the blaring horns of all the trucks and coaches.  Not much fun, but no other route.

Linda chose lunch, badly, in the town of Quang Ngai.  At the later time of 1:30, most stalls are pretty empty.  After a bleak trawl up and down the main street, elected for the corner shop with cold rice, cold stewed greens and cold slice of omlette.  The addition of a chilli or two didn’t improve the flavour much.  Fingers were crossed all evening, anticipating worse than mild indigestion.

Last 15km towards My Son, such a relief to lose the wind.  Stopped at the museum which tells of the history of the My Lai massacre.  Another horrid tragedy inflicted on the Vietnamese by the Americans. Interesting use of the swastika symbol. We didn’t realise that it has been used for centuries by Buddhists, before being stolen by German’s.

Room booked at an empty resort hotel along the coast.  Surprisingly large open air restaurants  hosted a large group of policemen for supper and, we think, a wedding party, karaokiying while we enjoyed a very tasty piece of seafood.  The beaches along this coastline are unimaginably vast, beautiful, and exceptionally clean.  They haven’t been destroyed, yet, with hotels. Or any buildings at all.

Tomorrow a bit of a worry, as we are planning a big day, 130km, and it may just not be possible into this ferocious wind. Plan B is stay in another rubbish cheap ‘Hotel’ on the way. Hey ho.

To Long Thanh. Wind strong and on our nose all day, groan.

Lovely rainbow, oops, its raining. 6.15am.

Sun rays. 6.45am.

Rice harvest. Hard work. No John Deere here.

Making salt pans.

My oh my, a jolly hard day.  Getting wiser and grab cheap buffet breakfast from the nearest smart hotel as our guest house doesn’t offer anything, not even a bottle of water in the room.  Surreptitiously sneak a couple of bread rolls and some ham for morning snacks into our pockets.

Onto the highway at 7:00am and into the full face-on strong wind.  It doesn’t relent for the next 132 km heading north.  It saps our energy, completely.  The route is interesting, trying to stay off the noisy main road and taking the coastal route through the small fishing villages.  This area is all sand, beautiful fine, white sand.  We pass by colourful tombstones and shrines dotted in amongst the sand dunes and mile after mile of fish farms and shrimp hatcheries.  We feel buffeted and wind burnt.  Fortunately, as we are heading north it has become much cooler.

11:30 am is lunch stop.  All the kids are cycling out of school and a bunch of chaps appear on their mopeds and head for one of the street side eateries.  We follow them, reassured that the food must be ok.  Another pantomime of pointing and gesticulating and we are served some more pho bo (beef noodle soup), with the accompanying chillies and limes.  The table of chaps are served something far more interesting looking and drink lots and lots of cans of beer.  A tough day at the office.

Refuelled, we top up with water supplies and carry on.  Some of our route takes us on narrow sandy paths through the pine forest.  Eventually, we find an undulating tarmac road again, and head down we battle on against the wind.  We have a brief respite on some steep uphills before rounding a bend and getting a full blast that even going downhill almost blows us backwards.

The hours do slip by as we stop for frequent breaks for a piece of fruit and a chance to stretch our legs.  After 9 hours of replying to every yelled “hello”, we are becoming less cheerful and more irritated by all the loud horns and the loudspeakers in the towns broadcasting a cacophony of bird noises.  We still haven’t figured out quite why the Vietnamese do this.  It’s hardly as though there is a population of birds trying to roost on their buildings.

Linda is sickened by the continuous stream of trucks transporting live pigs that are hideously crammed in together with legs and snouts poking out through the sides.  See a couple of trucks pull over and the pigs hosed down or being given a drink  Couldn’t quite tell, only the lucky few on the sides were able to get any benefit.

Roll into the Sa Huynh Resort at 5:30pm, very thankful to be finding our bed for the night before dark, absolutely shattered.

To Quy Nhon. A small step. The next day will be hard.

Linda chatting with Capt J Sparrow, aka TJ.

Life’s a Beach. Happy here.

Quy Nhon, surrounded by lumpy bits.

What are they??

We kept on delaying our departure, late morning, until after lunch,  a beer… The procrastination had to stop.  Linda actually finished reading a book on kindle while Paul did some maintenance on the bikes.  Life’s a Beach is such a great place to chill and hang out.  But, we had to say our goodbyes and cycle back onto the highway heading for Quy Nhon.  We both felt quite sad to be leaving.

An easy cycle up the road, really doing it just to shorten tomorrow’s route which will be around 135km.  Not the prettiest city but sits on a beautiful part of the coastline with another gorgeous beach.  Very much a tourist town for the Vietnamese.  Not even the Russians come here, at the moment.  Cycled around the town and came across a guesthouse for the night.  We walked out to explore.  Stumbled across a local market, great for stocking up on oranges and bananas for snacks for tomorrow, but, hang on, which street is our hotel on?  Bugger, it all looks so different when the sun goes down.  Paul got lucky and remembered a temple, which probably saved another hour of wandering close, but not actually finding it. Luckily neither of us got grumpy, just understandably a tad tetchy, Linda.  Crummy pizza for supper but only around the corner, and we recognised it as a pizza, which is good. We couldn’t possibly get lost going back. Phew.  Need an early night as alarm call is for 5:30 tomorrow. Ouch.

Spray.

It’s behind you!

Stable, until its not.

Spray, again.

Beach BBQ, yum yum.

It’s really hard to leave this place.  It doesn’t matter that the sun has disappeared and it’s grey and windy.  It’s a beautiful spot.  Gavin and his partner, Steve, discovered Bai Xep in 2013 and just had to stay.  They built Life’s a Beach in one season and gradually it’s evolving with more accommodation, some private en-suite rooms and more dorm space, pebble paths and landscaping.  They have really integrated with the fishing village next door becoming involved with the community, sourcing local products and employing all local people as their staff and  offering English lessons.

Our room has been the best yet on our trip.  Simplicity is good when it’s clean and stylish.  It’ so easy when it’s done well.  Large towels and two each – wow, proper luxury.  Crisp white sheets and a really comfy bed looking straight out over the ocean.  We haven’t had better.

Almost a nasty incidence on the beach.  The sea is not to be messed with.  Some diehards, plunged into the water and one chap went out a little too far and was caught in the waves breaking and dragging him back out.  An uncomfortable few moments before he managed to make headway before the next big one pulled him back.  No speedboat here or lifeguard on duty.  You don’t see the locals in the water.

An interesting group of transient people passing through.  From Norway, Sweden, Canada, USA and Denmark.  Some long-term backpackers, some taking a career break, realising that the daily grind just doesn’t hack it and that there must be more.  A clever touch is the group early supper.  It gets everyone together and last night was BBQ using the Vietnamese method of cooking over their clay pots.

Sadly, the rich guys are moving in.  There are plans to build a super luxury resort on the beautiful little island facing our beach.  The local village have been told they have to move their boats and they will have restricted access to the beach.  How can this be fair, right or proper?  Big money always wins out. Just make sure you don’t get shot in the process.