12/5/25
We deliberately aimed for a late start. Why not? It was lovely and cool. After we’d got most of our packing done we had yet another round of banana pancakes. These were the best yet. The chef had mastered the art of vegan pancakes. They came with a little bowl of mixed fruit. Some gunky Hershey’s chocolate sauce on top.
As we finished our breakfast, Marco and Levi came out. They had a really interesting father-son relationship. Marco was intrigued about how we cycle together. We don’t always cycle next to one another and sometimes we might be a few hundred metres away from each other. We always try to stay in sight. We haven’t listened to music and don’t even have headphones. Before we left, the hotel owner told us that it was unusual for it to rain so much. The rice would be laying down now. It should be very hot.
It was hard to get going again. We hadn’t ridden our bikes for 9 days. Jonathan adjusted his saddle. He’d been riding with it tilted up to take the pressure off his hands, but it probably wasn’t wise. But now he felt like he was sliding down too much. It needed further alteration.
At first we were still riding a road we’d ridden twice before. The wind pushed back. The downhills didn’t feel like relief. In the town we tried to get some more cash. We’d spent 2 million Dong in the last three days and only had a million left. There was no ATM. We then crossed the threshold into new riding territory.
We had been driven up and down this road though on our way to the cave tour. But it was unrecognisable. The scenery became immensely beautiful very quickly. From the bus it had been comparatively unremarkable. The road turned to concrete as we started climbing. We couldn’t be more pleased though. It was clouded over and it was the coolest day we’ve had in South East Asia since we arrived. The maximum was set to be a mere 24C.
The first hill was 120m then we had a 1.4km interlude before we climbed 270m in 2.8km. It was more climbing than we’d done in a very long time. We’d initially planned to complete it 3 days ago. When the temperature would have been 40C. We had a little snack of peanuts and seaweed covered rice bar at the top. Then started our descent.
The descent was somewhat like a race track. It was a shame the road wasn’t tarmac. We might have been able to go a bit faster eventually. It did become the black stuff lower down. Then we were greeted by dramatic scenes as we rode through the valley. As we passed houses and schools we couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to grow up here. The motorbikes and cars started picking up again and children were shouting hello at us.
A young boy and his father saw us and strode out into the road. We instinctively swerved away. We felt nervous in that split second. But they just wanted to have a high-five as we passed! Luckily we made that happen. We couldn’t help feel that western society had made us think the worst of people.
We arrived in Pheo. A small town. Within minutes of finding the market we were relieved not to be in a tourist area anymore. There were many stalls, a good selection of different vegetables and fruits and when we came to pay it wasn’t extortionate. The stall holders were very friendly. We bought some fruit, green beans, tomatoes and bok choy, along with some fried tofu and peanuts.
We only rode another 3km and stopped at the first Nha Nghi. The television didn’t work, it was pretty dirty and there were ‘stalactites’ in the bathroom. Our own cave. 250k Dong. We tried to find some rice but both the local restaurant owners waved their hand at us to say “nope”. We asked the owners of the hotel and they agreed to provide us with some rice. An hour later and we gave up waiting. Then a knock at the door. They’d brought a banquet. Not only a huge pot of rice but also fried vegetables, several pork chops and an omelette. We felt awful having to tell them we don’t eat meat and eggs. We apologised profusely and thanked them for their kindness.
We ate our little spread of food and quickly realised we could never finish all the rice. Even though we ate some with mango afterwards. Before bed we took the leftovers back in. We examined our route for the coming days. We were further from Hanoi than we wished we were. It was at least another week of riding.
Surly They Won't Make It 