9/5/25
It was another sleepless night. We were really frustrated that both our nights of quality hotel stays had turned to shit. Basically, we had listed our house on Airbnb while we’d been away. Everything had been great until now. Firstly, because Francesca would wake up and review bookings in the middle of the night. Secondly, because Jonathan’s mother had been amazing at flipping the house for us between bookings. But our 32nd guest was a dickhead. There was no other way to put it. He’d fabricated a load of problems and held us to ransom for a 50% refund. Even after Airbnb told him to leave, he refused. All of this had happened in the middle of the last two nights.
At 3am we had decided not to go anywhere in the morning. The fact it was forecast to be almost 40C was persuasive enough to be fair. We slept in and didn’t get up till 8:30am. We hurried to breakfast not knowing when it ended. The buffet looked empty. Our hearts sank. We stuck our heads in the kitchen and found the waitress. Fortunately for us it was just that there weren’t any other guests. We had a serving of fruit, pho with tofu and some salad. Along with hot coffee.
We sat there for ages after we’d finished. Our pesky guest had caused us so much anxiety that we couldn’t think or talk about anything else. We wanted him out of our house. It wasn’t an investment property, it was our home. He was in our bed and we couldn’t do anything.
It soon ticked round to being time to pack up. We’d squabbled about how to deal with David the squatter for far too long. We packed our bikes and made to leave to a nearby hotel back towards Phong Nha. We’d have happily stayed at Chay Lap but the huge tour group that had booked it all out was just arriving. Jonathan’s tyre needed a bit of air and it was then we noticed the large split in Frankie’s rear tyre. Running along the rim bead. Damn. We’d been sure the Marathon Plus Tour tyres would last a while yet.
We couldn’t do anything then and there. So we left. Back the way we’d come a good few days earlier. It was sweltering out on the road. It was 8km to the village where we bought some fruit for the next couple of days. Another 5km to Hillside View Bungalows. The resort was nice and the room spacious.
We’d heard from Schwalbe about the cause of the splitting tyre. It wasn’t seated properly. Anyone who’s tried to seat a Marathon Plus will know how hard it is. We set about trying to manipulate it further onto the rim. Lots of lubricating soap and extra high pressure inflation. It was nigh on impossible. According the Schwalbe the circumference tolerance of a rim is as high as 9.5mm. A larger rim makes it a struggle to get the tyre on. We did our best and think we improved both tyres. We’d have to replace the split one asap. We have one spare 26” with us but it’s a bit flimsy.
The hotel restaurant served dinner. We ordered vegetable spring rolls, tofu curry and mango salad. It was a little pricey but delicious. As we were eating the thunder and lightening picked up. It was definitely going to rain. We were glad they’d let us put the bikes deep inside their housing compound.
We finally felt more relaxed after our days of stress. We should have but we didn’t go to bed super early. We checked the weather and it looked like it was due to pour all day on Sunday. Maybe we would be here 3 nights. Thunder rolled around all evening and it was pouring with heavy rain. We watched Race Across the World, someone had told us they went to Vietnam. But they didn’t. Jonathan was happy to have bananas and nuts back in his life. And of course we watched the Shield.
Surly They Won't Make It 