Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Day 44 10th Jan
We left this morning after a surprisingly noisy nights sleep considering we were on the 9th floor... Road noise travels a long way up it would appear..
We have a quick look at the beach from the hotel car park and it looks lovely in full light... Nice soft sand... Palm trees and rolling waves... It also pretty hot so we jump onto the bike and hit the road..... South again, for 220 km to Nha Trang. Within 30 seconds of heading south I notice that our " spare " fuel bottle is missing... Something it wasn't before we left as I'd put some fuel in the bike from it.... We look back up the road but can't see anything so head back to the hotel to retrace our steps... Nothing...
We write it off, wondering where the hell it could of gone.. and get on our way again... I then notice something familiar in the road.... It's the strap I used for attaching the fuel bottle ... But the funnel and bottle are long gone, along with the half letter of petrol... Oh well, the straps more important than the fuel bottle....
We climb steeply out of Quy Nhon and the bike warms up quickly... As do we. It's surprising how much hear comes out of a lorry exhaust when it's struggling to get up a hill.... We pass the lorry slowly on the inside and feel the heat build from the exhaust fumes until we pass... And hot is pretty much the order of the day.... We have traveled a great many miles now in Vietnam and the scenery has changed little really, but now it had.... It's become very sandy both sides of Highway 1... Large tree infested sand dunes boarder either side of the road for mile after mile..
Its a nice change from rocky jungle perfection....
Highway 1 has become an almost pleasant road.... The trucks are less and the road has some very scenic views of the beack which we pretty much follow all day today.... We do climb a steep winding mountainous section again which puts the little Honda through its paces but we make it so the top, and enjoy another easy roll down the other side... We pass a bridge made from bamboo that links our road to an island on out left.... The bridge has a toll which we decide to pay and ride onto the most ramshackle bamboo bridge you've ever seen.... It's only for walkers and bikes and spans about half a mile.... Its brilliant... The whole thing wobbles and shakes as you ride across it and there are many broken bits of wood..... We get to the far side and pretty much turn round and come straight back.... It was taking us off coarse and we just wanted to go over it..... After a mid-way fuel stop and lunch we start on the second leg of today's journey..... It's turned out to be a HOT day today so we've put plenty of sun cream on as you don't feel the heat from the sun so much on the bike due to the passing wind.... We stop off at a beach in the middle of know here... It's deserted and looks idillic.... So leaving Shiree wearing her north face coat in 30degrees to guard the bike I wonder off for a short stroll along the beach.. The waters warm and the sand is soft... Very nice !!
I return with a few shells if found and five mins after stopping we are off again...
We ride for miles through large open expanses of lush green rice paddies, they stretch from the curb to the distant mountain bases and are dotted with randomly placed seemingly abandoned Honda clubs from a long ago era that have been used by the people who are knee deep in rice paddy, tending there crops with archaic tooling under traditional Chinese style triangular hats..
We pass a blue Yamaha motorbike with two Vietnams on... It's not uncommon at all for bikes to pull along side us as we travel and just smiles ( at the westerners ) and as a general rule, if a bike does come along side and there two Vietnamese guys on it then one of them can speak a little English.... But not always....
We pass this Yamaha..... No acknowledgment from its riders.... then it overtakes us and almost immediately pulls over to the road side and we pass it again....... This overtaking and stopping in front of you.... Usually forcing you to brake, loosing half your speed is a common manoeuvre by the Vietnamese, but this time we are not slowed.....We happily bumble along admiring our surroundings when right at the last minute I notice this blue Yamaha again in the mirror.... Its close... Very very close and before I know it its in front of us... The rider changes down a gear and pulls away from us.... As they passed by they made a grab for the phone Shiree had in her hand.... We use it as our Sat-Nav so its often just being held as we ride, and if it was not for Shiree's steely grip we would of been victims of a modern highway robbery..... We did give chase, but two adolescent Vietnamese on a modern bike don't need to try hard to leave our heavy weight old bike behind...
We plod on... iPhone now in pocket and after another hour or so we arrive in Nha Trang....and soon find our hotel.... It's lovely, and close to the golden sands of the beach.... Its out for some much needed food before back for a early night....
The old bikes worked hard over the passed few days and doesn't sound quite as well it as used too I'd noticed today.....
- comments