Day 84 - It's Flat Again
We ended up having a lovely evening drinking craft beer with Rob (who we met yesterday in the bike shop) covering topics from dating to concentration camps to professional networking! A lovely evening that got us to bed once again very late (especially after I'd treated myself to using the private washing machine again) and, needing to catch up on some sleep, we set a 9am alarm. We'd wanted our own kitchen all through India, but here why would we. Grab provided the most amazing breakfast. Like seriously, amazing!
When we did set off, having made a route and checked our next visas, it was midday, although that happily meant we'd missed the rain.
Just in case you need some aquarium fish on your drive (dogs and chickens also available)
Cycling out of Hanoi was like being in a river of two wheelers washing around the cars and lorries. It was very relaxed as you just went with the flow for overtakes and junctions, and generally everyone is very respectful. The bikes felt great and looked brilliant after their attention from a professional mechanic, although I have to say we do a better job mechanically ourselves and I had to re-index my gears. They were very clean though and we didn't have to spend two days at it - 60 euros happily spent.
There was a little bike photoshoot before we started while they were clean and with their new accessories
The dead straight road (with countdown traffic lights which are sooo useful for rolling lights) and tailwind saved us from arriving in the dark as we ignored much of the route and stuck to the main road which was occupied by mopeds and slow cars. We were very grateful for the speed, but happy to turn off to see the main focus of the day, the Karst cliffs. They look very odd, sticking out of the flat terrain, what we could see of them through the smog anyway!
We actually managed our tourism and distance in the light, despite our late start! Well, kind of. The first hotel mixed something up so we had to relocate to his mate's hotel where they upgraded us as an apology so we can't really complain. It feels more natural to arrive in the dark anyway 😉!
This town is tourist central and everything is either a hotel or a restaurant - we're very glad to see the region on bikes and not just via the hotspots!
A vegan restaurant for dinner tonight. We had awesome food today and feel so much better for it than all that heavy, spicy oil! The engines are ticking over nicely again 😃
Food spend today: 38.95 euros
Tea consumption: 5