Well guys, it's been a while. I missed writing, do you miss me? Well then, on with Vietnam.
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Determined to catch the sunrise, I woke up at 430am. Not a soul was awake, but I read that watching the Sunrise here was something not to be missed. Besides, who does not like a morning hill climb?
I remembered thinking "Here we go, Mt Faber again. I'm ready." The hill was pretty much the only one in the whole city. So finding it was truely easy, but it was a climb never the less. The locals are really into this keeping fit business. They didn't seem at all to be bother by my presence.
Wondering how long more must I feed the mozzies, then the sun came. Sunglasses recommended.
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| A sight that is hard to forget. |
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| I now miss this bike, it is a rare steed. |
With the light gaining flight, it made for another wonderful view. Ruins from a lost time.
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| Not so peaceful were locals doing aerobics. |
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| A quick prayer and down I went. |
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| To be immediately greeted by this building, ah, architecture. Reminded me of a building that someone from the designers of Final Fantasy would come up with. |
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| The view inland |
A brisk ride back to the hotel, load up the gear, and off we go! Of course, the obligatory Baquette, again 2, 1 now and 1 for the road!
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| While eating, I saw a pimped out bike! 9999 spokes! |
The ride out of town was faced with wind, headwind. Motors struggling to start, the pace was modest, never the less. Lots of awesome scenery to feast on.
Before long, I spoke a large rock on the top of a distant hill.
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| The huge rocks were being chiseled down into smaller cubes. Looked like premium stuff and hardwork. |
The road was winding, but slowly and surely the stone got clearer.
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| It wasn't clear before, but if you zoom in. It was a head. Stone head. |
This marked the start of the Deo Ca Pass, my legs so tired from facing wind. the roads narrowed as it got twisty and the drivers angsty. This huge trucks love their horns.
If you have been to Vietnam, you know it is the law to press your horn every 5 mins. And so did the truck drivers here. Except I am a wee tiny human on a bicycle and the horn is the size of my head. Which if you pictured right, causing the wee me to jump. Nerve wrecking.
I chased some container trucks to have a hold on for a free (but dangerous, don't try this a home) till one of the co-drivers spotted me and climbed half his body out the windows to signal me to let go. It spooked me for a bit, but all for the safer.
Thankfully, it was a shorter (relatively but still tough) climb and more good stuff awaits the other side.
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| Much relief from water fountains, some of which drivers use to cool down their smoking brakes for the descent. |
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| Fantasic view, onwards to the City! |
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| Pardon the crappy picture merge, something about the island that makes the view super. |
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| As a judge for scale, the rock in the water is a boat. |
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| Small bay ahead housing a small town. |
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| The city draws closer! Why is the city white? |
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| A quick pick-me-up as I enter the small town. |
Immediately after the long downhill, I decided having some ice cold, super sweet coffee would be a perk. Since it meant flat road all the way to city, boo hoo. And lucky that I did so, I think I had my first puncture after that, a routine check of the tire... Nailed it, like literally.
Ah well, caffine waned. And grinding began, no freaking shade all the way. Just imagine riding for 2 hours on the hot tarmac with the afternoon sun. I literally felt my thighs burning.
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| Random. Yeah. |
Finding a coconut tree was my only saviour after a long long long grind. And a quick pee, and my 2nd Baugette,
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| I had to turn into a dirt path as the main road had zero shade, no kidding. |
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| Horse cart! |
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| Lunch |
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| Rain in the distance, wind in my direction. Basically a good game. But finally a break from the sun. |
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| Goats! |
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| Grinding through it all, it's still nice to stop and admire things like this. A boat made of rattan by hand, it only has on paddle and requires a bit of skill to row. |
The final climb into the city was uneasy as i neared peak hour and traffic just went from zero to insane. Luckily I found the hostel by chance, I totally needed a nap. As I entered my room there 1 guy and 2 girls in bikinis. Well hello ladies, but I need to sleep.
When I woke up, the ladies were gone and it was time for dinner: At a restaurant called "Good Morning Vietnam" (A title of a movie starring the late Robbie Williams)
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| By chance? A cycling poster! |
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| Some beer for a good night's rest. And I swear, by till today, this is the best pizza I have had. |
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| A quick stop by the beach to check it out, nothing fantastic... I guess it's better in the day. |
While sleeping at night, I heard the ladies stumble and shout something about getting a medical kit, I was too tired, when I woke up I saw blood stains on the floor which was pretty disturbing... I guess they were drunk and cut themselves accidentally. I suppose their routine was to party and drink at night and sleep in the day. Man.. I do not like touristy Nha Trang. Till my next post.
Distance today: 122km
Distance to date: 761km
No. of punctures to date: 1
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