Travelling is truly the gift that keeps on giving.  You think you’ve seen it all and your goosebumps hackle in awe at the football stadium sized caves of Phong Nha. Finally you’ve got a country sussed and the rug gets swept away in a cloud of WTF. The mental journey is just as endless.  Foibles, reactions, thresholds and expectations ebb and flow as the adventure rumbles on.

Football stadium sized caves of Phong Nha

Storms hit the coast after we left you North of Mui Ne.  Camping turned into a sandy washing machine as a North Easterly battered our seaside pitch.  Like the protagonist in Chocolat, as the wind changed it was time for us to move on.

Moving anywhere fast was in short supply over the next couple of days.  The headwind awaiting us came with gusts of 40km per hour.  On heavily loaded bikes these stop you in your tracks.  We also had to grace Vietnams A1 highway before meeting our coastal turn off at Lac Nghiep.  Battling against mother nature with trucks thundering by was a heady mix of magic and madness. It’s you against the elements (and whale sized trucks)!

From Lac Nghiep the road flowed into a new but unused two lane highway skirting the coast North to Phan Rang. An epic landscape starts to build with gigantic boulder strewn hills morphing to sheers cliffs that plunge in crystal clear blue waters. A pleasure to have such a beautiful road to ourselves.

Quiet coast roads post the A1 highway

Phan Rang is a Vietnamese holiday town.  As tour buses whizz through it’s these hidden treasures you discover through travelling by bike. Afternoons sipping a ca phe sua da, (iced coffee with condensed milk) sampling piping hot street food with the locals feel like the truest glimpses of the country.  Tourism is booming with the fires burning and engines stoked.  As this money spinning wheel gathers momentum the generic becomes more common place.  Hence these everyday encounters remind us how the simple things in life often hold the most charm.

From traditional seaside resorts we peddled on to the peninsula town of Binh Lap. The coast now dotted with small fishing villages and islands breaking the oceanic horizon. Just beyond this sleepy one horse town was our stopping point.  Passing through mango and cashew orchards as the sun richened at days end was a welcoming finish to a long hot day. Pitching our tent on a deserted beach we unwound the muscles in the warm sea before a well earned sleep.

Archipelagos run by the coast

Stumbling on sleepy fishing villages

Empty beaches of Binh Lap

Isolated beach side camping continues

A quick cycle up the coast delivered us to the tourist mecca of Nha Trang.  Direct flights from Russia ensure the streets are paved with Rubles.  Chinese neighbours share the affinity for clean shores and the town pumps out a high rise, mall encrusted, neon lighted spectacle.  No sooner than we were in, we were booked on the night bus out the same day.  Dropping us off in the far more sedate Hoi An.

Daintily lanterned streets, colonial French buildings and a well justified infamy for it’s cuisine hit home.  People watching and tummy filling passed the days.  With a tough stretch under our belt we settled into the welcoming arms of Hoi An.

Lantern lit streets of Hoi An

French charm care of Hoi An

The coastline was now back to resorts akin to what we’d met coming off the Mekong Delta.  A pit stop in Danang en route to Hue served us a particularly grotty guest house. Life on a budget has it’s challenges. Nodding off to the munching sound of wood lice as they chewed through the bed frame was a definite first. 

Our 140km day to Hue kicked off with a climb over the Hai Van pass.  A route made famous by the BBC Top Gear crew.  What they failed to capture was the unique smell of stale urine that engulfed us for the entire ascent.  The rising temperature wafting out the honky goodness! Once over the mist clad pungent summit it was a mind over matter day to get the legs in rhythm to Hue.

The city was another slice of bustling Vietnamese urban life,  Centred around a 200 year old citadel. We took in the sights as well as indulged in a slap up French dinner for my birthday. The budget put on hold, steak and wine flowed wonderfully to welcome in my 21st year 😉

During our time in Hue a heatwave hit the region. Knocking the mercury beyond 40 degrees. Getting out during the day was pretty gruesome. As we contemplated our cycle on over the Ho Chi Minh highway (HMCH), decisions had to be made.

The HCMH cuts through an isolated length of the country against the Laos border.  An area which witnessed one of the biggest impacts during the American war.  Paradoxically it serves up a captivating beauty in the jungles, mountainous karsts and the worlds biggest cave systems.  Being so isolated would mean days in the wilderness. With the forecast set to get hotter it didn’t feel sensible to take the bikes.  After much debating we rented a scooter. Throwing bikes and bags on a coach to meet us two days later in Phong Nha.

Pit stop with our new scooter stead

A speedier road on the HCMH

Eight hours with a scooter between your legs makes you realise how comfortable leather bike saddles can be.  Sore bums aside the scenery became ever more impressive as we neared our destination.  Abrupt mountains swathed in jungle. In turn covered by vines.  Interrupted by slices of white and black limestone cliffs.  This glorious mix of organic foliage and stark stone was merely the surface.

The stunning Ho Chi Minh Highway

Venturing into Phong Nha and Paradise caves a subcutaneous spectacle of unbelievable proportions awaits.  Paddling by boat or descending down wooden staircases you venture inside the mountains.  Dripping stalactites form breathtaking stalagmites the height of two story buildings.  Caverns wider than football pitches hold sculptures that wouldn’t seem out of place either on the moon or beneath the sea.  Rock set in fluid formation by the soft dripping of millennia.  An incredible and memorable side trip.

Stalagmites dwarf the visitors

Paradise Cave meets the mark

Some welcome wild swimming between cave stops and heatwaves

We were back on the delightful night bus then to Hanoi.  Visa red tape has ensued as we sit and wait for our Chinese applications to be processed. Our wheels will take us East next to the lesser known Bai Tu Long Bay. Avoiding it’s tourist packed big brother, Halong.

It’s been a hectic, hot and non-stop few weeks in Asia. We’re looking forward to meeting the sea again before we turn North to the Chinese border. Where we’ll grace the tail end of our old friend, the Himalayas.

Till next time, keep believing!