Day 87 - Playing Catch Up

We had to actually find breakfast this morning in the hotel complex of restaurant, bar, cafe and pho bar, but when we did it was a nice, if not filling, pho (Vietnamese ramen). We'd woken up to all-night rain and black clouds, but by the time we were moving it had cleared up, our rain luck holding!

Since breakfast wasn't filling, we were soon in search of food and screeched to a halt outside of a bakery.

While I was trying to order a cake, Emma went ahead to "look for some fruit". Turns out, that was to be the last I saw of her until we reached our destination! I asked for a cake and it disappeared behind, presumably to be packed. In the meantime I got chatting to someone who turned out to be the doctor from the pharmacy next door, and went to see his bike (and car and moped). He asked me if I could drive, and then offered me his car "if I need it for anything". How cool is that! Turned out what I needed him for was interpretation. When I came back to the bakery to still no cake, the baker offered me another one. I politely declined - I didn't need two full cakes thank you. Then I waited. Then I asked to buy a cake. Then I gave him money then I waited. Then eventually the doctor translated that that cake was old and the other one he'd pointed out was baked fresh that day, would I like that one. Riiiight. Yes please I would like that cake. Turns out everyone was awkwardly waiting on everyone else in what should have been a simple transaction! From his perspective I was hanging around his shop talking about cakes! Cake ultimately acquired I set off again. Emma hadn't found fruit and had just kept cycling, so after the slow transaction I was quite a long way behind!

I was right on her tail at the start of the hill thanks to a rocket fast section on a ringroad with banging tailwind, until I joined back onto the route. "I've done plenty of main road, time for some quieter roads". 10mins later I was pushing my bike over freshly cut branches and vegetation, up a 25% slope, in full sun at 32 degrees and around 100% humidity. The "quiet roads" didn't seem so attractive then let me tell you! They seemed even less attractive when I got to the end of the cleared path, not 20m from the road, but blocked by a completely impassable mass of vegetation. Annnnndddd we'll call that a cake stop I reckon! Then it was back down the way I came, which was nearly as hard as up, until I could carry my bike up another "track" and finally reached the sweet, crisp tarmac...where I had a further 5 mins of pulling and untangling sticks from my wheels!

I was finally rolling again, but after that delay I realistically wasn't going to catch Emma, although I did get lots of info on the upcoming route. And what a route that turned out to be!

While I was surviving on exclusively rapid stops to spoon an increasingly pureed cake, Emma had a couple of bread rolls, some biscuits and 40p for fruit as her rations because, as we'd not planned to split up for so long, I had all of the cash from the bakery stop! While asking at a house for water, she noticed a lady making one of the traditional Vietnamese hats. The lady, big smile, stood up for this which prompted a man sitting nearby to shout loudly and come over to literally push her back to work and then gestured to Emma to "go away, no photos". An insight into the uglier side of the country, in which we've otherwise seen women and men working happily alongside each other in fields and on construction sites, doing the same jobs!

I also stopped for a couple of cow photoshoots!

Approaching the final town it was school kick out time, and hoards of kids of all ages on bikes to mopeds were all happily shouting hello as I passed and reaching out for high fives! It was really nice and very wholesome, although perhaps a little scary trying not to knock the 10 year old off of his massive electric moped with sibling(s) on the back while high fiving with quite some apparent speed!

The reason we were hurrying was to try and visit a massive cave before it shut, but, especially after a Garmin glitch meaning I was a lot further away than we thought, we didn't make it, and by the time I arrived in the town nearest the caves, Emma had already sorted us out a nice little place to stay (having ascertained that almost everything else was closed).

Food spend today: 20.63 euros

Tea consumption: 3 (0 black still)

P.S. Does anyone know what these plants are?! (I'm hoping coffee, although Im doubtful as they seem to grow quite tall, but were definitely being planted and cared for)

Or these fruit(?) trees for that matter!