4/6/25
A very noisy caged dog barked vigorously in the middle of the night. We put the fan on to drown them out. It had rained all night. The morning was grey and the air cooler. We made some coffee in their kitchen. When we went down to our bikes they’d lent them into some chairs to stop the rain dribbling down the wall on them. We appreciated the thought but disliked the precarious positioning.
We’d gone a little too far north in our quest to fix Frankie’s tyre. Now we were heading back southeast. We had a new quest: make it to Lao Cai. The border with China. It was around 4 days away at our usual pace. We felt hurried. Our visa had 6 days left. It expired on either the 10th or the 11th. On top of being trapped for a couple of weeks, our first two days back cycling had been hampered by the heat and the tyre problems.
Our chosen back roads were slow going. We were on a concrete embankment for around 10km. Bumpy and despite bollards, supposedly restricting access for lorries, they just drove round them. Their load was basically coal dust. It kicked up around us. We crossed the Lo river on a bridge that was supposedly only for scooters and curiously switched us to the left hand side of the road and back again. We were now entering the town of Việt Trì. We stopped for a coffee in a fancy place. The whole town looked fancy.
There were a few vegan buffets in town. Knowing we wouldn’t be finding another one later, we visited Thuận Nguyên. It was a mere 60k per person. The owners were very friendly. There was a wide selection of faux meats, salad and vegetables. We had watermelon for dessert. It had become slightly warmer but it was nowhere close to the last couple of days. A good 10C cooler.
We headed west, passing Hùng Temple. We didn’t stop to go inside. We weren’t feeling it. We headed alongside the Red River. It would be our guide for the foreseeable. It meandered and we cut across the flood plain on another embankment. The DT320 followed the bank of the river north. The road was a good balance of busy. We appreciated having the people around. Often raking their drying crops on the shoulder. Amused by our passing.
After another hour the sky looked dark. We started to see plastic ponchos. We knew what was coming. It started smattering and then started to get heavier. As we passed a bicycle shop a woman beckoned us in. It was opposite a motel and she called the owner for us. We weren’t going to bother cycling in the rain.
Jonathan had been feeling a light grinding through his pedals. He hoped it was the panniers pushing on the rear gear cable and causing inconsistent shifting. Rather than bearings of some kind. We moved the bags higher up on the rack. Immediately wishing we’d done so 6 months ago. It didn’t resolve the issue though. We noted that his cheap pedals were definitely not helping.
The rain stopped so we decided we would carry on. The first ‘nha nghi’ was a bit soon and we figured we could go a bit further. Some young boys came up on their electric scooters and engaged us in chat. They tried to get Jonathan to say ‘dep mai mai’. But he knew what it meant – motherf***er – from his time with Hữu. So we just laughed as they filmed us.
The second motel was more expensive. The man asked us for 400k. A little more than we’d been paying but we accepted nonetheless. Then he demanded to hold our passports overnight. We’d stayed in so many places that we knew taking a photo was adequate. He was adamant he would be fined otherwise. We took our passports and our money and off we went.
The third motel was just right. We paid 300k and there was a padlocked room just for our bikes. We ate a sweet potato, that we’d been carrying all day. Our room even had a tv. We watched the Better Sister while eating nuts and dried fruit.
Surly They Won't Make It 