Riding into the clouds - Hai Van Pass.
The tire I repaired coming into town didn't sit well on my rim, so I tried to adjust the tire in the morning. After an hour of monkeying with it, I was ready to go.
Early in the ride, I saw an bicycle tourist going the other way. James had been riding in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. These were the areas we would be riding. I was told that the road from Sam Riep to the Thailand border was lousy, which was the same information that Terry had given me a few days earlier. In any case, it was nice to see another bicycle tourist.
Kids following me through Da Nang
Because I stopped to talk to James, I lost Terry. He rode ahead, while I chatted with James. So I didn't see Terry all day long. As I entered the Beach town of Lang Co, I was greeted by a local on a motorbike. Tanh was offered to find me a bus or truck to ride through the tunnel. Because Hai Van Pass is just south of Lang Co, there are a few options for travelling south. The first option is to ride over Hai Van Pass. This is what I wanted to do. The second option is to hire or pay someone to drive me through the tunnel under the mountain.
Pulp Plant.
Roadside Stands with Pickled Veggies
I inquired of Tanh if he had seen another bicyclist. Apparently there was another cyclist five to ten minutes ahead of me. However, I never saw him as I stopped along the way to take pictures of the surf and to photograph the destruction done by the Vietnamese logging.
The Train Crosses the Road at the Beginning of the Climb
Surf at Lang Co Beach - It has Longboarding Potential!
Surf at Lang Co Beach Cliffs
Retaining Walls along the Switchbacks.
Vietnam is a nice country. It is very green, at least during the rainy season. It seems like it is up and coming. Almost everyone is busy doing something. Activity is occuring everywhere The economy seems healthy. Houses and hotels are being left and right. But there is an underside - a bad environmental underside. From the trash left everywhere in the countryside to the excess sediment entering their streams to the bad logging practices, Vietnam might have to pay eventually for their environmental destruction. Take logging for instance.
On the way to the top of Hai Van Pass, I noticed many instances of logging. The loggers climb up the steep hills, cut down the trees, and slide them down the hill. Not only does thining the forest lead to topsoil erosion, the way that the logs are sent down the hill does even more damage. A wide flume is cleared through the forest to the road. When it rains, this flume will be a preferential path for rain water. This will lead to even more erosion. And what are they cutting the trees for? I hope they aren't cutting the trees only to feed the woodchip plant that I had seen earlier on my ride.
At the top of the pass there was an old French Fort and Gate. it was raining so hard, I couldn't see the Gate. I was expecting to see Terry waiting for me there, but throughout the remainder of the day I never did catch up with Terry.
Because I missed my turn in Da Nang, I went straight through the center of the city. I should have turned right as I entered the city. The street on which I was riding at first had three big lanes, it then got smaller and smaller until it was a two lane road through the center of the city. I later found out that Terry had also gone this same route, but had ridden south to Hoi An on a route that took him more inland. He didn't see the beach.
Da Nang is a big city and it took me a while to get down this road. Where the road ended, I hit the Han River. Fortunately, I could see the bridge that would take me over the river.
As I stopped on the wide sidewalk beside the river, a Vietnamese couple came up to me and we chatted. They work in the Vietnamese information technology sector. They gave me directions to the beach which was only 2 kilometers from the river over the bridge.
This couple also helped me to find a phone. Because Terry and I had become separated, I thought that I would call him to find out where he was. The couple pointed out that there was a post office near the bridge. Post offices in Vietnam have phones and some even have Internet access. Yes, they also send letters and packages.
The post office (Bu'u Dien) was open even on Sunday. I was very embarrased. Not only did I not know how to use a phone (who doesn't know how to dial a phone?), I was sopping wet and a muddy mess. Fortunately, the clerk was very helpful. After I communicated that I needed to use a Vietnamese phone (Terry had a Vietnamese SIM card and thus Vietnamese mobile number), she dialed the phone for me. There was a warning message playing on the phone - in Vietnamese. The clerk was nice enough to explain that the phone was not accepting calls right now. It seemed that his phone was turned off.
Although I wasn't able to reach Terry until much later on his phone, this experience at the post office really helped me. It gave me the confidence to know how to use a phone in Vietnam and post offices are very common in Vietnam, so I could almost use a phone anytime I wanted. Even on the weekends.
Marble Mountains South of China Beach.
I easily found my way to the beach. The road on which I cycled was wide and mostly empty. To my left, it was a cloudy day at the beach, but the wind was offshore and the waves looked good. Of course no one was out surfing, but there were cleanup crews removing debris from the beach.
This road continued south. I noticed a few mega-sized resorts. The type you find in Hawaii. It was clear that development was coming to this beach. After I had ridden past the Marble mountains, I noticed that the road was too wide and in too good of condition for the fishing village in which I was riding. In fact, the road had been widened, but the locals hadn't moved their houses. In many cases, the room nearest to the street had to be destroyed to make room for the new road.
More surf seen along the way - China Beach - 3-5 foot waves.
Surf at China Beach
Leaving the fishing village, I turned towards Hoi An. I found a hotel and tried to call Terry. He was nearby. After a few go arounds, we were finally able to locate each other. Because we had two very different riding styles, we decided to ride separately from this point on.
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