2/5/25
We carried on mucking about on hotel booking sites in the morning. It was probably a waste of time. We ended up leaving a little late. About quarter to 8. But we felt relaxed about the distance we had to go and that we’d be resting for a couple of nights. The QL1 was extremely busy and the air was heavy again.
We passed a tollbooth. Nothing to pay for two wheels. It was for the single carriageway bridge into the city. Trucks powered past us allowing us very little room. Over the other side we peeled right and remained on the QL1. It was an easy road to make up the miles.
We briefly stopped by a historic gate. It marked the way between the north and south. There aren’t many old buildings that we’ve seen. It had been reconstructed many times. We headed for Genkan Vegan Cafe. For some reason all the coffee shops were in a cluster. Ours was completely dead and delicious. We had ‘coconut ribs’ as well as a ‘salted milk’ coffee and a banana coffee.
We were trying to find a long sleeve top for a big adventure we had coming up. The first shop came up short. Literally. The sleeves weren’t remotely long enough. The second shop had ample ‘adidas’ and ‘nike’ 2XL sized clothing for Jonathan. We needed more cash. Everything we’ve read said we could get 10 million Dong out at a time. But the foreign cards policy meant it ended up being only 3 million (£85) with a 50,000 fee.
We made one last stop to buy some DEET based mosquito repellent and then headed out of the city. We’d plotted a route we thought might be quieter but it was well signed posted to Phong Nha. It was a busy single carriageway. At least the sky got gloomy. We couldn’t complain even slightly. It was a far more enjoyable ride without the mighty Sun. The road was frequented by lorries. A new mega highway with no gradients was being built. Our road went up and down. High single digit gradients, it was just enough to be fun. Lots of tooting though. We couldn’t get the idea out of our head that tooting meant something important. It filled us with anxiety every time. The drivers all tried to differentiate themselves by having ever louder and ever more tuneful tones.
We saw some watermelon stalls and stopped by a young man. He used his phone to translate. “I will send it to you.” Confused, we laughed. He extended his hand to shake Jonathan’s. He wanted to give the mighty hydrating beast to us. We refused. We managed to make him take 5000. It’s only about 15p but we don’t want to take things for free.
The road continued to be nice and scenic. We were disappointed that more of the traffic wasn’t using the mega highway and leaving us with the nice road. We stopped for some water or rather ice. A woman tried to help us pronounce water in Vietnamese. We’d already been discussing the difficulty of learning the different tones and sounds of Vietnamese They’re very hard to perfect. Even hearing it and having it repeated back 20 times barely helped.
We had three more little bumps and then the road dropped. We turned off and went through a small village avoiding the main highway into the town. Anything to get away from the aggressive drivers. The locals not in vehicles didn’t seem particularly friendly either. Everyone seemed a little bit angry. We guessed they’d seen thousands of tourists before and they just weren’t interested.
The road followed the river. It was nice and cool under the trees. Hotels, bars and restaurants started popping up. It was a tourist hole for sure. In the distance we could see a forest of little bubble peaks. All beautifully covered in green but shrouded in a murky haze. As we arrived in the village, we saw a monstrous Hollywood-esque sign mounted on the side of the mountain.
The road turned into the typical tourist drag we’d become familiar with. A long line of hotels and bars. Each with its own sign trying to outdo the others. Western people were omnipresent once again. We hate to denigrate, but we don’t empathise with the kind of tourist culture where people descend on one tiny little area and terrorise it.
Fortunately, we’d managed to find a hotel far enough along that we could avoid the terror. Duong Riverside Homestay. They immediately recognised our booking and seemed to be panicked about the fact we couldn’t go to our room yet. We were happy just to enjoy the fact we weren’t moving. The gorgeous Son River and the peaks behind it were captivating our attention.
We sat down with another guest. He lived in Japan, designing cars for Nissan, and was back home for a holiday. It seemed the 50th anniversary of Reunification day had created the shortage of accommodation. We were able to tuck our bikes under the stairs. The owners were happy to accommodate our particularness.
We’d tried to devise a plan for the next couple of days before we went to dinner. Phong Nha Vegan Restaurant was expectedly overpriced but served some interesting foods. In particular the enoki mushroom, wrapped in soya and then seaweed. We took the long walk into the town to find a supermarket. We located chocolate soya milk, nuts and a 5L bottle of water. Which were cheap and had a set price. The jackfruit and mango, cost more than usual and weren’t as good.
We watched yet more of the Shield. Frankie had managed to get stuck into it by now. The owners of the hotel, hadn’t told us, but they were having a party. It was a little noisy but luckily it had finished by half past 9.
Surly They Won't Make It 