I DID IT!!!! Bicycle trip from Hoi An to Quang Nhai
The 5 am Hoi An sky the day of the trip.
It took…
* 9-10 hours (in one day, starting at 5am)
* too many bottles of water to count
* a lot of AA batteries for my MP3 player
* many stops to ask for directions during the first hour
* many photo opportuity stops
* 4 coffee shop stops once it stopped raining
* 1 beef noodle stop (breakfast was baguettes while riding)
* and an entire container of Tiget Balm afterwards
But I DID IT. The books/maps say that it is a 100 kilometer journey, BUT according to the road signs I was 98 kilometers to Quang Nhai 1.5 hours into the trip. So, no way.
There is much to share about this trip, but for now (due to slow internet access and my inability to sit on my ass, for obvious reasons, haha, I will make this a visual experience.
I was treated to some beautiful nature scenes in no time at all:
Highway 1 sign
The highway was a 2 laner the whole way. It rotated between going through town centers to going through farmland. At no time was it anywhere near what a “highway” is like in the states. The buses and trucks were incredibly loud with their horns, and I think I lost what is left of my good hearing due to this, but never did I get run off the road by the vehicles. There were a lot of locals on bikes around me most of the time, although, admittedly, they were probably not going as far in one day. (Or were they?)
Coffee shop owner kicking it after we both had hammock naps.
See…
Some friendly locals cheering me on (me thinks)
And right around the last 30 k’s I wanted to see how badly my face was burnt, it was tingling, to say the least. But no mirrors anywhere in sight. So, I did the next best thing, I took my photo to see. Ut-oh, better get out of the sun soon!
Oh,and here is a catchy tune that helped me through the tough moments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_cB5UNGqVs
Tags: bicycle, Hoi An, Vietnam
