We've been riding through some of the best parts of Vietnam this week. The Karst mountains and lush, green countryside around Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park was a definite highlight of our trip so far. We rented a scooter for a day to explore the park, much of which can be seen on a 65 km loop road that is in varying degrees of disrepair. Phong Nha is famous for having the largest caves in the world but the biggest are only accessible through a guided tour. Not being the tour types, Ginny and I saw what we could on our own which included Paradise Cave and the botanical gardens. Paradise Cave was really impressive with incredible stalagmites and stalagtites. Ginny did have a small mishap by putting her leg through the decking and bruising her shin pretty bad. The area was under construction but they don't bother to close it off so that they can lure unsuspecting tourists to step on loose boards. Just kidding but they definitely have a cavalier attitude towards safety here...fortunately Ginny's okay! All in all, we really liked Phong Nha - while it has been discovered by tourists, it still has this wild and untouched feeling that makes it feel like you've gotten off the beaten track.
After Phong Nha, we spent the next two days cycling to Hue, an old Imperial city on the coast north of Da Nang. We were intending to ride only 100 km on our first day riding but Ginny was feeling good and insisted that we push on to the next city despite it being the hottest time of the day! 40 km later, we made it to Cam Lo where we saw a bunch of MAG vans - they're the group that decommissions many of the unexploded ordnance around the country. I was also invited to drink some type of spicy hard liquor with some guys hanging out on the street which was interesting! On our ride into Hue, we rode on SH1 for the first time, which we've been warned to avoid whenever possible. It's the main north-south road in Vietnam and has tons of truck and bus traffic, all of whom honk incessantly as they drive down the road. We will take b roads whenever possible to avoid the madness of SH1 but sometimes it's the only option.
We took another rest day yesterday in Hue so that we could explore the city. It was hot as Hades but we managed to get out to see the Imperial City, Khai Dinh's tomb and a couple very impressive pagodas! I really liked Hue as there's vegetarian restaurants all over the place on account of all the buddists in the city.
Today we rode 85 km down the coast to a small beach town called Lang Co. The first 60 km were great as we were on quiet roads with some shade with a village every 5 km or so. Then we hit the dreaded SH1 and we just had to put our heads down and jam out the final 25 km until we got to town. Tomorrow we will get up early and start the climb up to Hai Van pass before it gets too hot. We'll arrive at Hoi An tomorrow after our ride and are planning a luxurious 3 nights there as it's supposed to be one of Vietnam's best attractions.
After Phong Nha, we spent the next two days cycling to Hue, an old Imperial city on the coast north of Da Nang. We were intending to ride only 100 km on our first day riding but Ginny was feeling good and insisted that we push on to the next city despite it being the hottest time of the day! 40 km later, we made it to Cam Lo where we saw a bunch of MAG vans - they're the group that decommissions many of the unexploded ordnance around the country. I was also invited to drink some type of spicy hard liquor with some guys hanging out on the street which was interesting! On our ride into Hue, we rode on SH1 for the first time, which we've been warned to avoid whenever possible. It's the main north-south road in Vietnam and has tons of truck and bus traffic, all of whom honk incessantly as they drive down the road. We will take b roads whenever possible to avoid the madness of SH1 but sometimes it's the only option.
We took another rest day yesterday in Hue so that we could explore the city. It was hot as Hades but we managed to get out to see the Imperial City, Khai Dinh's tomb and a couple very impressive pagodas! I really liked Hue as there's vegetarian restaurants all over the place on account of all the buddists in the city.
Today we rode 85 km down the coast to a small beach town called Lang Co. The first 60 km were great as we were on quiet roads with some shade with a village every 5 km or so. Then we hit the dreaded SH1 and we just had to put our heads down and jam out the final 25 km until we got to town. Tomorrow we will get up early and start the climb up to Hai Van pass before it gets too hot. We'll arrive at Hoi An tomorrow after our ride and are planning a luxurious 3 nights there as it's supposed to be one of Vietnam's best attractions.
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