I left SGN on time but later than normal hoping that after 10am the traffic would reduce somewhat and it did although I was south of the city heading west. The night before I had been thoroughly led astray by Randy & Anita on the beer drinking front at a wonderful brewery resto called Heart of Darkness so the the first hour was not easy cycling!
It’s always sad when you have to say goodbye to people you meet on your tours – theyre heading back to Northumberland Canada after a few days with their son in SGN who is currently in Da Nang. Like my son, how weird is that?
Many fruit sellers on the route out of the city plus so many motorbikes on the wrong side of the road so it was not always easy to keep my line. But, after 8km it became more and more rural. I stopped early for the green oranges !! not long afterwards I stopped at a truckers roadside food place for lunch. As usual it was excellent with hubby doing the marinaded BBQ pork with cabbage soup, rice, heaps of fresh salad leaves and many contented lunchers.
An extended triangle appeared on the route so I decided to ignore it and go for what was hopefully a ferry. No matter how large you increase the scale the writing stays the same size.
Its was no time saver as the small ferry road did not have the smoothest complexion. Arriving in the strong heat to see the ferry setting sail and no ramp to get me airbourne & on board with a 2m leap I had a sugar cane drink at the quayside establishment. A few polite coughs got the sales lady out of her hammock to provide me with the heap of land fill plastic required for such a drink. Large thick plastic pint pot, lid, plastic straw, plastic bag to carry it in. I’d left my lovely red plastic travel and Banh My holder in Hoi An as I was rushing to pack and leaving well after the taxi was booked, so had to accept the plastic. The quayside was full of water plants that prevented the fisherman from rowing.
It’s rice harvest time. Those wet fields get drained to allow the rice to ripen; the full grain rice is left on the roadside to dry and get bagged. Here the round straw bails are machine made and stored in barns.
Suddenly there were hectares of Dragon fruit plantations, with the bases banked up and covered in mulching rice straw for retaining water. Unlike further east, there were no lights within the rows of bushes to aid overnight picking. Young DFruits are cactii trained so that 6 are tied around a pole and they grow upwards. The adults have pronounced afro cactii fronds which bear buds that turn into fruit.
I can say that I’ve neither seen nor heard any bees or other large fertiliser insects.
The many kilometres of road being dug up and resurfaced today actually wasnt as bad as I thought it looked from under my sweat soaked cycle hat BUT twas very dusty. The map did not have many alternatives unless you get on the two major highways = no thanks. Lots of sapling trees were being pushed into the canal banks to strengthen the edges as the road was being widened and improved.
The countryside in the afternoon is definately more watery than previously visited areas. Roads follow canals, over the canals are little bridges to the houses; some have large gates that overhang the sides of the bridges but would be easy tyo climb around.
Tonight’s hotel is on an intersection of two large highways. It’s noisey. It must be awful to live here in Lo An because you cannot even cross the roads due to the barriers that run between each side of the highway.
It is the least friendly town I have stayed in to date, ne’er a smile from them.