I put the bike under a veranda last night as it looked like rain and sure enough pitter-patter. Laundry all done by hand by the courageous hotel house-maid as Miss Minty had commented on various odious foot, shoe and clothes odours. So, fully rested after 3 days in the vicinity of Ha Thinh (splendid double spire church nearby) I was ready to set off about 75 km south to a Nha Nghi nestled romantically on the main N-S highway.
Crossing the huge estuary where yesterday I’d met a cackle of hardy old fisher-women bearing long bamboo poles, split at the end to hold a small battered laundry basket and a bar of metal in it – shell fish catcher perhaps. They were all chewing areca / betel nuts with lime so they were salivating red spittle as they spoke through heavily stained teeth. One demanding money – for what I wondered – not today (or tomorrow) Josephine.
The stunning misty rainy views with houses dotting the sea-line were reminiscent of Scotland. I thought the micro-shrimps that I’d eaten in my spinach soup were kicking in. 26 27 kph with no effort, normally 20-21 or 9-14 in a headwind.
It’s a tail wind laddie. Yippee, I widened my hardly used yellow Raleigh cycling cape like a sail and hummed oops there goes another lollipop tree.
At about 11am I pulled off the almost deserted road and immediately entered a swarm of schoolkids heading home for lunch on ebikes, no helmets and 2 or 3 per bike; I stood my ground and, as anyone who has driven in Asia knows – size really does matter. Being twice their size and probably three times their weight I was like moses parting the Red Sea. Responding to the hundreds of hellos whats your name I cornered one vehicle and got the three lads to show me the way to a cafe for caphe and warm tea. The demure lady of the cafe I think said no but my charming smile and repeated questions Caphe? won her over. Good timing as it really peed down cats and dogs.
I arrived so quickly in the welcome afternoon sun that I went off the main road down to the coastal area little expecting the pristine empty beach.
My guest-house bedside guide gives the rates for nights and for by the hour – Oh do please hurry up Thony darling you never normally take this long & we’ve only 5 minutes left on the timer and I really must shower before meeting mummy ………….
Tuesday I’ll hopefully be in Hue – midway line in the Vietnam/USA war.