Phoe to Phong Nha – 55 km

We woke up this morning to the sound of a hard rain. We delayed our start by 30 minutes but knew we could not spend any more time in Phoe (for our peace of mind).

We rode the whole morning in the rain, arriving at Phong Nha at 10:30.

Pit was flat for the first 21 km and than a climb followed by a sweet downhill. With wet rims, and the positioning of our brakes, neither of us had much braking ability. Instead of stopping in the driving rain, we rode down the mountain at a much slower pace and will fix the brakes when we arrive.

What a contrast, Phoe and Phong Nha. We found a nice cafe at the bamboo resteraunt and had lates with 1.5 inches of foam. What a treat.

We actually stayed about 1.5 hours, ordering western food as if we hadn’t eaten in a week.

The other day we were cycling and Larry Sanders was cycling the our way. When he introduced himself, Janis said hi, and said that she expected to see him that day, as she was following his blog.

Larry was heading north and had just finished a week of cycling in rain.

Janis is our route planner and one of the key tools is a website www.crazyguyonabike.com. It has hundreds of cyclist blogging their routes so others can see their experience. It is a priceless tool. We didn’t know about it years ago or we probably would have blogged using it.

Click here to see an example of cycling from Peterborough to Ottawa

Click here to see a Crazy Guy page from somebody cycling from Peterborough

We we checked into the Phong Nha River Hotel, a lovely clean hotel with soft bed, clean sheets and even a space heater.  We sent two kg of wet and dirty cloths to get laundered and it costs about $5 per kg when you ask for a cloth dryer option.

Temple along the way.

Monument along the way.

We are starting to see B52 bomb craters from the American/Vietnam war

This  is apparently cave country, so we may check those out over the next few days.  We have cycled the last 7 days straight and 8 of the last 9 so it is time for a break.

Bye for now