Day 62 - Stillwater Cove to Samuel P. Taylor (November 24)

It was another cold morning, though not as cold as Santa Rosa. Temperatures were a good ten degrees Fahrenheit warmer along the coast.

Clouds Over the Pacific

The ride was very curvy. Every descent was followed by a long climb. At least it was a great day to be out and about. I stopped in Jenner for a snack and to watch the surfers.

Surf at the mouth of the Russian River

I also saw the surfers at Salmon Creek just north of Bodega Bay.

The Beach at Salmon Creek

The road did not have a wide big shoulder. I actually felt unsafe riding along the coastal rode - less safe than riding in Vietnam. It may have had something to do with the speeds. People were zooming by me at 100 kilometers per hour (60 mph) or faster. Can't they just slow and give me some space when they pass?

I stopped for lunch in Marshall and then continued onto Point Reyes Station where it was an active early evening - many tourists were ending their day with a stop at the bakery and coffee shop. People stopped me and asked me about my bike trip. It was nice to talk to so many people that were genuinely interested in bike touring. It was nice to be a momentary celebrity, but I had to keep going because I had five more miles to ride and once again it was getting dark.

Bridge Across the Russian River Upstream of Jenner

It was dark as I rode up to the campground at Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Some bike messengers offered me some 'smores as they would be riding back to San Francisco (in the dark, on Sir Francis Drake Blvd.).

Camping here in the woods, it was much cooler at the coast, but the bike messengers had left me another gift - a warm fire.

Day 62 - Stillwater to Samuel P. - 61 Miles

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

Day 56 - Quang Ngai to Qui Nhon (October 23)

A random statue to the Revolution.

Terry and I had gone separate ways in Hoi An, but we ended up sleeping in the same city, Quang Ngai. I decided to get up early to ride and just 30 meters down the road, I saw Terry. So I did my best to keep up with him for this ride. With the wind at our back, we were able to complete this 180 kilometer ride before dark.

Terry Truckin' Down the Road.

The scenery began to change during today's ride. I think that riding from Hue to Ho Chi Minh City is a better idea than riding from Hanoi to Hue. There is really not much to see between Hanoi and Hue except for one not so remarkable Vietnamese city after another, but futher south the scenery gets more interesting. For example, on today's ride, there were rolling hills near Bon So'n and between Phu My and Binh Dinh.

The Beach at Sa Huyen

Drying Grain on the Shoulder of the Road.

Taking the Piggies to Market at Bon So'n.

The Vietnamese carry everything on their motorbikes. I saw pigs in cages, ducks (still alive) tied to a 2 by 4 by their feet, and even puppies. When the puppies passed, a dog sitting on the side of the road took up the chase, until it discovered its tail and started chasing its tail instead.

The Bull Speaks: I Own This Paddy, Buster!

This was a good day of riding because we had the wind at our backs. This really helped us to get into Quy Nhon. Before too long, we were within 10 kilometers of town. Before we entered town, though, we made a detour to look at some of the nearby Cham Towers. An effort has recently begun to rehabilitate these towers. Many towers are covered in scaffolding.

We turned off of Highway 1A at a sign that said "Cham Architectural Treasures, 300 m." At 300 meters, we found a Buddhist Pagoda, but no tower. Retracing our steps, we saw a tower off in the distance, we saw a tower. If we just stayed on a road on the edge of a rice paddy, eventually we would come right to the tower. One problem though, the road ended at someone's house. In our confusion, Terry tried to cross a very narrow path through a paddy. I decided to try to find a better route. Fortunately, a person who lived nearby the tower, led us to the tower on his motorbike.

Terry Blazing a Trail to the Cham Towers

The tower and our guide.

Finally, we entered Quy Nhon. What a great city. It has a nice beach, with no one bugging you like in Nha Trang. We tried to stay at Barbara's Backpackers, but Barbara, a Kiwi, has only a bunk room. We stayed instead at the adjacent hotel, the Lan Anh at 19 Duong Xuan Dieu right on the water. We were able a nice room rate. Although Barbara is out of the hotel business, she still makes good muffins and Western food. Yum!

View from the Wrap-Around Balcony at our Quy Nhon Hotel.

Day 56 - Quang Ngai to Qui Nhon - 180 Kilometers

Day 54 - Hue to Da Nang to Hoi An (October 21)

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.

Day 54 - Hue to Da Nang to Hoi An - 130 Kilometers

Day 51 - Thieh Cam Beach to Dong Hoi (October 17)

Today as with many of the remaining days of the trip, I rode mostly by myself.

Communist Monument

Surf at a Beach North of a Small Mountain Pass Along the Coast (near Minh Duc).

The View North Along the Beach.

The Tunnel Under Ngang Pass.

Fishing Boats.

UNESCO-Funded Water Towers.

Entering a Town Along Highway 1A.

New Highway Overpass.

I stopped at the beach in Dong Hoi (of course!) and sat on the sand dunes. The affects of the typhoon were still apparent. Because they didn't have many hotels on the beach where I took these photos, the damage didn't seem so bad.

Surf at Dong Hoi. Brown, but not Bad.

As I was sitting on the beach eating some cookies, an older man came up to me. You can't sit in one place in Vietnam for long before someone comes and joins you. I told him that I was riding my bicycle through Vietnam. I had a really hard time understanding what he was telling me. I think he may have had a better time understanding what I was saying. He eventually left me and walked towards the surf where a person was working.

After he left, I realized what he was telling me: the typhoon had also been through Dong Hoi and he was collecting drift wood on the beach with his wife (or female companion). The old man walked to the woman, pointed at me and started to tell her something. He may have told her that I was travelling throughout Vietnam by bike. He may have told her that I was from Mars. In either case, she just shook her head and told the old man to get back to work. As I left the beach, I saw him drag a tremendous bundle of wood over the sand dunes to his bike.

A couple stopped me as I left the beach. They indicated that I should follow the muddy path towards some buildings if I wanted to return to the center of town. Although this path was not the most direct, it did give me a brief glimpse into life in Vietnam (without everyone yelling "hello, hello, hello"). As I turned towards my destination I passed houses where the TV was on, dinner was being cooked, and the family was going about their evening routine. I passed a bunch of kids with their slingshots at ready while they harrased the village idiot or a drunkard.

Terry and I arrived in Dong Hoi at about the same time, but since we had ridden separately throughout the day and we hadn't made plans to meet somewhere, we couldn't find each other. Fortunately, I had his cell phone number. I found a hotel that would let me use their phone, I called Terry, and we arranged a meeting and found a hotel for the night just south of an ancient fortress wall.

Quang Binh Quan. Part of an Ancient Fortress Wall.

10 Times a Day...

...I fell in love. Riding on the main highway through Vietnam, I saw all types of people. And they saw me too. When I would come riding into a town, everyone would turn stare and most would say hello (and "hello" and "hello" and "hello" and then one more time for good measure, "hello") and some other things that I can't translate (or even understand).

Because I passed so many people during a typical day, I passed at least ten slim attractive women smiling and saying hello. Many were wearing nice outfits (a.k.a, hip hugging jeans and 4-inch heels, even on a motorbike or buying vegetables from the Market. Sometimes while working in the field.) Being a stranger in a strange land; being tired, muddy, slightly irritated by the culture shock, and weather, I wished for friendly people. Seeing these women, my heart skipped a beat.

Marry My Daughter?

In addition to falling in "love," there was another "love"-related problem: marriage! I was offered a woman's hand in marriage many days in Vietnam. This typically happened at the hotels at which we stayed, the shops at which we stopped for food and water, or at the restaurants.

On today's ride, I stopped at a restaurant when I was thoroughly tired and hungry. There were three couples eating at this small restaurant/house. Two of the couples were sitting at the same table. They were a group of friends. At the other table was a attractive sexily-dressed woman with an unattractive man. Maybe the woman was a something else. I wouldn't know, I'm not familiar with the cultural conventions when it comes to Vietnamese dress. The table with the two couples seemed to be saying bad things about the beautiful woman and ugly man.

In the meantime, I had orderd food and tried to explain that I was vegetarian ("an chay"). The table with two-couples came over to help and look at the stranger with a bike. We clowned around for a while. I tried to speak Vietnamese. They tried to speak English. I ate. We took some pictures.

The following photo shows some of my eating companions for lunch. The woman just out of the frame is the restaurant owner's daughter. Of course, someone, as usual offered her hand in marriage (that would be the woman in the center of the frame). But, my Vietnamese is not very good.

No, I Don't Need Desert.

Random offers of marriage are one thing, but meeting a hotel receptionist this day was quite another thing. I thought I was really in love this time, but alas, nothing came of it.

The receptionist was wearing a white áo dài (a traditional tunic slit down the sides and worn over pants). Because I always look at the hotel rooms before selecting a room, I followed her up the stairs as we went to look at the first room. Where the slit came together above her pants, I could see some skin. Gulp! She showed me the first room. It was acceptable. My heart was aflutter. I was having a hard time focusing.

I came back downstairs, told Terry that the room would work, and Terry and I took our stuff upstairs. I went slowly, trying to get an opportunity to spend more time with the receptionist. At one point, we were standing together talking (as best as we could). She was making this shy coy circle with her foot. I blushed. It must have been my imagination. I sprinted up the stairs to my room and later I heard her walk by our room singing a viet pop tune.

Our Hotel - The Song Son.

Our Hotel Was Behind The Building with the Nokia Sign.

Surf at Kilometer 637.

Hong Nhung 2 - Good Food. Nice Service. Everything you would want from a Vietnamese restaurant: rice (co'm), dumplings (bun), and noodle soup (pho). The owner's youngest son thoroughly enjoyed himself as he ran around taking orders, hamming it up, and serving guests.

Day 51 - Thieh Cam to Dong Hoi - 150 Kilometers