6am comes and 6am goes. We wake up but are so tired that we just go back to sleep again. We do manage to get in to the sea for 8am so it wasn't a complete disaster. The water is fresh this morning, if fact to be honest it is pretty cold when I get in, hesitation on my part prolonging the shock. When I do get in it is great, just swimming out in the sea before a day on the bike, this is the life. We swim over to the shore and clamber out on to the beach for a look around. I am aware that my back and shoulders have been completely toasted from my previous days on the boat. I know I probably shouldn't be in the sea again as I should be keeping my leg dry, but I can't pass up an opportunity like this.
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After the swim we get some breakfast in the hotel, some fried eggs and bread, and the coffee and cake tea combo. Beautiful way to start the day. The guy who speaks English comes and sits with us, again I am the victim of the over friendly Vietnamese guy, hugging me, patting my leg and doing the infamous prolonged hand shake, you know the one. After my abuse we get our stuff loaded up, as usual I am waiting on Elias putting 400,000 ropes round his gear. We had to wait for Elias' laundry so we were not in a massive rush this morning anyway. We only have about 100km to Mui Ne so that will be no problem.
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We are on our way and while we are motoring through I am thinking about the bike journey so far. It was something that I didn't think I would have got the opportunity to do. Truth be told I didn't really make any effort to make it happen, more it happened to me. That is the real beauty of travelling. You have opportunities that come your way on a daily basis, some more significant than others, but all equally as important to the overall experience. An example, had I not gone over and talked to Elias in Hoi An, I wouldn't have bought a bike. You meet someone in the street or in a club, do you have a coffee with them? What potential experiences can you garnish from any one encounter? Maybe it is just because it is different from the western world. The experience is so much more a personal one than anything from back home. It is about interaction and from my experience people are as interested in my life as I am in theirs. I will be sad to give up my independence when I sell Jessie, I'll try not to think about that now, rather enjoy this drive.
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Right on cue at one of our stops for a photo, Elias notices that Sally 2 has been rattling the life out of his luggage rack and that it is starting to come loose. Brilliant. Next stop a garage. When we pull up, we actually have to wake the mechanic up, because of course he is just chillin' out and having a wee snooze. Sally 2 gets tightened up and we set off, not that we get far. Elias is at the side of the road again, what now? Sally 2 won't start, yes!! I scout out the nearest garage, there is one across the street. Using body language we act out the issue. The mechanic opens the fuel tank and takes a look inside. Dry. Good one Elias! Though to be fair it is an easy mistake as the old girls don't have a petrol gauge, so you just got to open her up and take a look. Ha ha. Along comes a 2L bottle filled with lovely petrol, ready to get Sally 2 back on the road. I decide that I will be pulling over in the next garage to top up Jessie so I don't encounter the same issue. While we are at the pumps we get the arrival of another traveller on a trusty Honda Win. He is heading in the same direction as us and so I invite him along for the ride. Ohhh dear. This guy was from Holland, and I can best describe him as a maniac. He was ripping along at 80-100km, now that is just not the speed that we travel at. He also was driving too close and I'm not even convinced that he was giving the road his full attention as I often saw a phone in his hands. It wasn't long before the crazy man disappeared off in to the horizon. I was not disappointed.
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Lunch time. There are all these wee places along the side of the road that just have some hammocks and places to eat and get a drink. I fancy one of these and so we pull up. Get off the girls and I get straight in to a hammock. Then I hear a loud crash, I open my eyes and look up to see Jessie has just taken herself to the ground. Why Jessie?!?! Why are you doing this to me?! I jump up to find her pouring out the power juice, all over the ground. JESSIE!!!!! At least this time I have the help of Elias and we get her back upright. The guys in the restaurant help me move Jessie to more stable ground. I look at her, one indicator smashed, front light hanging off. What a b****. I'll have to get that fixed before I sell her.
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We get back on the road and head to Mui Ne. We get off the main road and head down towards the coast. The road is epic, full Tarmac, winding through little villages. A very different side to Vietnam than I have seen on the journey. Lots of plantations and farms, I can see the soil changing as we get closer to the coast, more sandy in texture. The we see the ocean to our left, with lovely golden sand dunes to the right. As we continue down the road the sand dunes get even more impressive, with the golden sand turning to a mars red colour. We get in to Mui Ne, a small fishing village, and we are treated to the sunset over the ocean with fishing boats in the foreground. We decide to head on down the road as it is Saturday night and maybe there will be more going on closer towards the city. The road from Mui Ne to Phan Thiet is a straight one, hugging the coastline, full of shops and guest houses. We try a couple and end up getting a good room about halfway along.
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We get our stuff in the room and then we are back on the girls to find somewhere to eat. The joy of having the bikes, we can eat anywhere that takes our fancy. We head a few km out the road and end up in this restaurant where we get a meat and cheese filled baguette with some chips. So healthy. Back at the hotel we meet an Austrian girl and she comes out with us. She was boring and forgettable. Nothing of interest to say, about anything. We end up at some club that had just opened, right on the beach front, and busy. There is a massive Russian population here, and even a few dedicated shops. This club has a promotion where by girls can get free cocktails if they dance on the pole in the centre of the bar. You can imagine the state that some of them are in. The place is full of westerners, not a Vietnamese in sight. Luckily they have a pool table, and this is where we spend most of the evening. We even have pool gloves! That's right, two fingers and a thumb. You look like a right gimp, but it does ensure that you hand doesn't sweat and effect your game. Of course, with me being a professional, this matters. Ha ha ha. We end up staying quite late and get back home close to 3.