As I had only 75km left to Halong, I was in no hurry and could finish my diary from yesterday in the morning (I had fallen asleep while writing, making long lines of the letter my finger was pressing). It was wet with some rain for the first few hours and then dry enough to go on without rain-cover. After 40km, there was a ferry
and I decided to use the time on board for eating although I was not hungry. (Yesterday, I had made a new record, I had been going for 80km without eating, maybe because of the bigger breakfast and my stomach ache). Today, Mr.G and I agreed about the route al the time, but that was because of a trick:
In the evening, I had checked the route and when I saw a detour or the route diverging from the main road without good reason, I corrected it. In the end, “my” tour was only 100m longer. I think I will try this with the next route, too, although it costs some time, but I like to cycle without conflicts with Mr.G. and especially on rainy days, I prefer main roads. Nevertheless, I got very dirty today, because there were some construction works or other reasons to get mud on the road and in combination with the humidity, even my water bottle was to dirty to use it.
I arrived at the hostel and first gave my bags a shower before bringing them in the room, a 4-bed dormitory, that I shared with a French and a German guy. I had to wait with entering the room anyway, because 3x, there was a blackout and as in most cases, the room had no window and was too dark.
After checking in, I made a short walk to explore the near-by area. On the way, some cars and motorbikes stopped to offer a ride and one woman had an extended offer, including her hotel, a massage and a beautiful girl for something she called boom-boom. It took me a while to convince her that I just was walking and that I was ok with just walking.
I came to a “shopping mall”, or better a roofed traditional market with 3 floors. On the ground floor, you could get mainly vegetables, fruits and meat, including complete dogs or dog parts.
On the next level, you mainly could get dresses and shoes. There again was a blackout, but the traders all had small lights for such emergency cases.
I completed my round and began my usual bed-stay.
You should have tried Vietnamese coffee, maybe that would have helped with staying awake – it tastes nothing like what we know as coffee (I know this sounds like a family inside joke, but it’s really worth a try).
for a non coffee drinker, Vietnamese coffee is too similar to other coffees.
But they have energy drinks cheaper than most other drinks (except water) and some with bearable taste 😉