Day 59 - Nha Trang to Phan Rang (October 29)

Wedding Day

For whatever reason, it was a good day for a wedding. Even though it was a Monday, I passed three weddings along the way. There was even a wedding at the hotel at which I stayed in Phan Rang, Thong Nhat Hotel (343 Thong Nhat). When I returned from dinner, the bride and the groom were greeting guests as I entered the lobby.

For the next few days, I traveled alone while Terry headed into Saigon by Train to get his bike repaired and prepare for the next part of the trip. I headed south to Phan Rang on my way to Da Lat.

As I leave Nha Trang and turn onto Highway 1, a motorbike driver pulls up beside me. Instead of "hello" he says, "How are you doing?" Only someone who spends his days speaking with English tourists would say hello this way. I find out that he actually works as a bar tender in one of the swank bars near the beach.

Pagoda on 23 Thang 10 in Nha Trang

Large Tree on 23 Thang 10

Today's ride was easy and enjoyable. The wind is at my back for large amounts of the ride and I am able to easily keep a 20 miles per hour pace for long stretches of time.

The day starts as a sunny day. It is nice to have clear skies today, but the cloudy skies and rain are actually a good thing because they keep the temperature cool.

Pagoda Gate

I rode past the location of Former U.S. Naval Base at Cam Ranh Bay South of Ba Ngoi. All I saw were empty airfields.

I think this is what remains of the abandoned Dong Ba Thin or Flander's Airfield.

Christian Cemetary

Mountains South of Cam Ranh

Just before I reached these mountains, I stopped for water in an calm village south of Cam Ranh. A grandma and her daughter come out to great me. After it is established that I want water and I have that water in my hands, the daughter rushes right back inside to watch her favorite soap opera on the television. Grandma stays outside and watches me fill my water bottles from the 1.5 liter bottle that I bought from her.

Grandma eventually tries to talk to me. I'm not sure what she is saying, but she seems to be indicating that I should return to Cam Ranh and grab a motobai or bus to help me in my journey south. I try to indicate that I don't need transportation. I have my bike, there is a strong wind, and that wind is at my back. Just then, to illustrate my point, a rain jacket flies through the air (from where I don't know) and wraps around grandma's face and upper body. We struggle to remove it, laughing. Feeling that my point has just been illustrated by the rain jacket, I wave my goodbyes and head on my way towards Phan Rang.

Not more than 10 miles from the Grandma-and-the-rain-jacket incident, I stop for food in a place where I think I will be alone. As with past lunch stops, a shepherd slowly approaches. Having eaten two PB&J sandwiches, I am now ready to leave. The shepherd has gotten with 5 yards of me. I laugh, wave, and I am on my way again.

Cham Towers North of Phan Rang

Day 59 - Nha Trang to Phan Rang - 110 Kilometers

Rest Day-Nha Trang/Train to Quang Ngai (October 27/28)

Nha Trang is know for being a party town for foreigners and Vietnamese alike. I didn't experience any of that, probably because I was too busy preparing to retrieve a jacket that I had left in Quang Ngai.

Small Garabage "Trucks" in Quang Ngai.

I made plans to leave Nha Trang to travel by train to Quang Ngai. My train left at 2:04 a.m. on Sunday. I awoke at 1:00 a.m. and caught a taxi to the train station. I was barely awake. Not knowing how to read any of the signs or without any way to communicate (I don't speak Vietnamese), I had to just guess when my train would come in. I knew that when the train came in the Vietnamese in the waiting room would probably walk towards the train.

Ticket to Quang Ngai

A train pulled into the station. Everyone started walking towards the train. I showed a station agent my ticket. He nodded. So I walked towards car 2.

I boarded car 2 and noticed that someone was sleeping in my seat - grandpa. I first sat in the seat next to him, but another man who just boarded the train had a ticket for my seat. So I tapped the sleeping man on the shoulder. He moved and I sat in that seat - across from his wife - grandma. I looked around and noticed that the car was only 30 percent full. So I moved to the chair behind my ticketed chair. I sat in this seat until grandpa lighted up a cigarette.

I noticed that the car had no smoking symbols along the wall. There were at least six "no smoking" signs in this car. But just as with many other laws in Vietnam, this one was ignored. So I moved to a seat far away from smoky grandpa.

Using the Toilet Wasn't a Nice Experience.

As the train travels through the countryside, I'm reminded of the odors that I experienced while cycling - the manure, garbage, smoke, smoldering wood, porta-potties, animals, deodorant, and diesel exhaust.

I took a short nap since it was late and not yet light outside. Eventually, the sun comes up and we pull into the train station at Dieu Tri. The vendors all have their stalls open and as the train pulls in a cachonophy of voices calls out to the people on the train and disembarking the train.

While I wouldn't eat off of the floors, the train is actually kept clean. Someone periodically sweeps the aisles and the train. But the toilets, a whole in the ground, are not exactly pleasant.

A while later, I speak with a student, Tuy. Earlier, they had offered a breakfast meal, pho (noodles and pork). I skipped the pho, because I don't eat pork. I had to tell Tuy that the reason I skipped the pho is that I am a vegetarian.

Fifteen minutes before the arrival in Quang Ngai, we were offered another meal. These meals are part of cost of the train ticket. I told the server that I was vegetarian ("toi an chay"). He brought me rice, soy sauce and cucumbers just as the train pulled into the station. So I had to eat the meal in the waiting room of the Ga ("Train Station") Quang Ngai while Vietnamese looked on and the motorbike drivers urged me to take a ride with them.

I walked the two kilometers to the hotel in which I previously stayed in Quang Ngai. Along the way, some Vietnamese were shocked to a see a foreigner walking down the street (Quang Ngai does not get much tourist traffic - the site of the My Lai massacre being the main tourist site near town). Other Vietnamese offered me a motorbike ride or food.

Arriving at the hotel, I shook the hotel owner's hand. He had been expecting me because we had called him the previous day to tell him that I would be coming. He didn't speak any English, so I had the receptionist at my hotel translate. I had to demonstrate that I wanted to pick up my jacket. After some pantomine, they retrieved my jacket. Before I could leave the hotel, I was offered his daughter's hand in marriage, I think. Although she was beautiful, and I was flattered, I had to keep going. I only came for my jacket. So, having my jacket in hand, I headed back to the train station.

Return Ticket

I had a mostly uneventful return. After I boarded the train (TN1), I was quickly offered an upgrade to a sleeper car from the hard seats I was originally offered. This upgrade cost me 100.000 VND or a little more than $5. At the sleeper car, I met an english teacher in one of the high schools (comprehensive school) in Quang Ngai. He was on his way to Saigon to visit his brother and sister. He informed me that I should have paid 50.000 VND for the upgrade.

The train ride made me understand why so many Jazz and Blues songs are about trains. The rhythm of the train rolling over the tracks swings - no really, it swings! This is especially true for this Vietnamese train. I spend a few minutes doing a jig to the train's rhythm.

Narrow Hallway of the Sleeper Car.

Six Bunks per Room in the Sleeper Car.

Eventually I arrived back in Nha Trang. It was 8 p.m. After 18 hours of travelling, I had experienced train travel in Vietnam, met a few Vietnamese, and got my jacket back.

Leaving the station, I met some taxi drivers and some motobai drivers. I prefered a taxi. I walked right passed the motorbais and went to a taxi. The driver opened the door for me. Sitting inside the taxi, I told him how much I would pay. This was the amount I paid to my taxi driver earlier in the morning. He refused to drive me to my hotel for that amount. So I got out and started walking. Seeing their opportunity, the motorbai drivers offered any kind of deal. I wasn't interested. As I was just about to leave the station property, the taxi driver grabbed me. He would drive me to my hotel for the amount I offered.

This ended up saving me a bit of time. I wanted to get back to the hotel, eat, and go to sleep. I had been up all day and I was exhausted. The next day I would ride for at least 60 miles and I wanted to be well rested.

Day 58 - Tuy Hoa to Nha Trang (October 26)

Today was an early start - we began riding at 6:00 a.m. It was raining very hard. In fact today, it would rain all day long. We found highway 1A and turned south. Not five kilometers from our starting point, we came to a roundabout. I negotiated the roundabout ahead of Terry, but behind me I heard a quick woosh of air - Terry's tire had a flat again.

In fact, it was worse than that. Terry rode through what looked like a small puddle. It is almost impossible not to do this. Because it has been raining so hard for so long, there were puddles and flooded roads everywhere. However, this puddle was actually a deep pothole.

Hitting the pothole, Terry flipped over his handlebars. He had some small scrapes on his leg and some damage to his front tire. This was actually fortunate. He could have been hurt much worse. His bike was still salvageable and he could continue riding.

Terry brought his bike over to the island in the center of the roundabout. Inspecting his bike, he discoverd a tear in his front tire (the "replacement tire"), his forks had been bent back eliminating the normal "rake" of the forks, and his tube had slightly buckled and cracked in a few spots. With his bent forks, the handling of the bike would be much different.

It took quite a while to figure out how to fix the bike. Terry was limited to a torn tire and a damaged tube. He would need to position them carefully so he could continue to ride.

By 7:45 a.m., Terry was still not ready to ride. I was getting cold. Because it had been raining heavily, I was wet and the wind was making me cold. I couldn't put on a jacket because I had left my jacket in Quang Ngai a few days ago. Terry suggested that I continue riding to stay warm. So I got on my bike and headed south.

The ride went well and at a point, the wind was blowing nicely at my back. The views were very nice along this stretch of road. When the rain cleared and the clouds lifted, I could see for many miles. I was surrounded by green hills on my right and sandy flat lands surrounded by rice fields on my left.

The Climb to the Pass at Vung Ro

Vung Ro Port

Coastal Views South of Vung Ro

Beach at Dai Lanh

I neared Nha Trang. The rain came down heavily. The road became a small river in places. The road began to climb. There was one last steep hill to climb coming into Nha Trang. I crested the hill, and turned towards the city. The road was narrow and traffic went by quickly. I crossed many flooded sections of road until I came into the city proper.

In the city, I now rode in the center of the road. For a kilometer or so, the entire road was flooded, but there was less flooding in the center of the road.

Eventually, I found the tourist/backpacker quarter and booked a room at the hotel Sakura (1/32 Tran Quang Kai). An hour later, Terry limped into town on a tire that he had to continually reinflate along the way from Tuy Hoa. I had been there before (See my Wyoming posts).

Day 58 - Tuy Hoa to Nha Trang - 120 Kilometers