Jono Cane's Blog

Day 25 17/11/2009

Distance Cycled: 130km

I left the truck stop after having a good nights rest and not having to pay for anything in Vietnamese Dong... well I would have given them something but Le asked if he could have the $10 Australian I had in my wallet last night.

Todays weather was so terrible, it rained all morning! All the stuff even inside my pack were at best wet.

I Finally saw the coast, it wasn’t particularly pleasant as it was pissing it down, the waves were choppy and the sky was a dark grey.

I stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the side of the highway where after ordering some noodle soup some locals offered me their leftovers, I couldne have been more greatful, they also kept on offering me some rice wine shooters.. they certainly warmed me up a little.

I pushed on through the rain and the wind sometimes with quite a struggle and up a bit of a hill, the first one on Hwy 1 and my bike handled it quite fine it was coming down the otherside that was a bit of a worry as neither of my breaks were working. It was a little frightening going at the speed I was going unable to stop but I was able to after some distance.

I pulled over to some shelter at another restaurant where I asked for some tea to warm up and to fix my breaks. Some locals then asked me to join them for what seemed to be a seafood hotpot, but I refused gesturing that I had already ate and was full, so they offered me some rice wine, that I could not refuse. As I sat down warming from the alcohol the guy sitting next to me lights one of my back dreads on fire. I only realize this when I get the smell of burnt hair. As you could imagine I was pissed off. I shouted at the guy and stood up, as did he. I shoved him and went to put all my gear back on my bike as I had removed it all to fix the breaks. This guy kept on coming over to me, not to apologize but to attempt to take my headphones. I shoved him again and again telling him to piss off. He kept on coming over to take something of mine so I kept on shouting at him.

Finally I had all my stuff back on my bike and set off.

Frustrated I pushed myself to cycle a little faster till I got to Dong Hai.

I searched for a cheap hotel and found one for 120,000 Dong about $6 got some more noodle soup, hung up my clothes and had an amazing hot shower. The places I stayed at over the past 2 nights only had cold showers.