Burning miles

We arrived back in Hanoi at about 4pm. Tired and elated from the previous days efforts. Ba Be is truely a wonderfully peaceful place. One could chill there for quite some time. There are a lot more homestays than before but the effect does not intrude too much. I did not actually see much more foriegners than  were in my homestay but for glimpses of profiles on distant varandahs and balconies.

I had arranged to spend that night at my dear friends Ms Le and Mr Vuong place. I was picked up by Vuong on his motorbike and had a truely exciting ride through rush hour Hanoi to his home in the suburbs some 12km from town. They live in a beautiful new house in a lovely area surrounded by what we call market gardens and huge banana paddocks. The area has a very rural feel overlaid with a new town feel. I had a lovely meal (hotpot) with the family, Le, Vuong, his mother and Le's brother. The meal was lovely and I enjoyed chatting with Vuong and Le with the stirling help of my trusty translator on my Tablet.

This was the first night I have slept on a Vietnamese bed. No mattress but simply boards covered by a rush mat. Despite my reservations about hard surfaces I had a very goodnights sleep and woke in the morning feeling refreshed and not at all stiff. We fired up the bikes and rode into town for some breakfast and coffee (Bun bo Hue and sweet coffee Vietnamese style). Leaving Le and Vuong to go to work I sauntered over to the Highlands Coffee for some cold coffeeand cake and a good read while I waited for Mr Thanh to finish servicing his car.

I met Thanh at the 3B Hotel and we set off for Dong Hoi some 500km south. We used the Ho Chi Minh highway (trail) rather than Highway 1. It was fanulous to reacquaint myself with this road that carries so much history for me. We passed the spot where I was forced off the road into a resteraunt and we passed by the range of Kharst limestone mountains that remind you so much of dragons teeth. We actually made it to Tam Ky which took me 2 days to ride to llast year. It is a very quiet small town in the middle of nowhere notable.... I think. We had a meal that could not be beat and have now returned to our hotel where Thanh is already pressing zeds. Tomorrow we go to Dong Hoi via Phoung Nga Kebang national park.   

There are no photos yet as my tablet had a flat battery and photos came from my phone I will try to upload them later.