Planalto Cycles

It was the earliest start so far, at 5:45, I sat on my bike.
Today it was sometimes raining, sometimes it was heavily raining, sometimes it was drizzling. The wind was sometimes only wind, sometimes storm, sometimes a breeze. Between the different kinds of rain, sometimes were some minutes break and the wind could help drying my clothes, sometimes it was just a change in intensity.
Maybe tomorrow, I will again go without rain-cover, because I didn’t freeze, only sometimes feeling a little bit cold, when the rain was heavy, and the wind was, too. With rain-cover, you  either always put it on and off or you also wear it when it is not raining. I saw so many motorcyclists stopping when the rain re-started, and this is annoying, but if you decide to wear a rain-cover, you should wear it, before you get wet.
Today in one city, two boys (maybe 10-13) on a motorcycle first said hello and smiled and the, with the same smile, showed an obscene gesture and said “f… you!”. Then they drove away. A few hundred meters later, two older boys, 14-16 or so, made the same from the other side of the street. I used the next u-turn to drive to them, but the ran away. And the first two boy came with a third one (who also smoked) and repeated their performance. I know that boys at that age often do silly things, just to prove themselves and they didn’t exactly mean me, but still, it was harder for me to greet back children today. And today I saw many, and many smiled and waved and greeted and I want to be friendly.
For today I had (halfway) decided to camp. Partly, I didn’t really want to, but it would justify carrying a tent with me all the time and it was a kind of challenge. On the map, I had chosen a place at the sea. It should have been 125km. After 111km, I thought I would see the place.

I wanted to make sure where I am, because I knew that today and tomorrow together, I would have 248km, so I didn’t want to finish this tour too early. I found a bridge that would bring me to the chosen beach, but there were 3 or 4 hotels besides that bridge. The hotel-owner of the hotel directly besides the bridge, came to me and suggested to stay. Now I was confused, because it was impossible to say, no, I just want to cross this bridge to do wild camping and to be honest, I was really tired

(and a bit lazy or so) because of that wind, so I agreed.

Later, I saw that each bridge belongs to a hotel. So, I would have had to find another place anyway. By that, at least, I would have come closer to my next destination, that is now 135km from here.

(no photos and videos available for this day

The day was very rainy and my last chance (?) to swim was done, but I am no big swimmer anyway. I did a lot of PC work, trying to sort the +200 Angkor Wat photos and to prepare the first part of China. Both is now 50% done, because the photos still are too many for the blog and I don’t know, which to skip and China seems to be complicated, because the maps I use (google, komoot, maps-me) all have some problems with China, even before I am there. (There, many sites are blocked, most important in this case, google.) I also read in an online guide about money, SIM-cards, translating etc and downloaded some apps.
With Dimitri, I had lunch, we went with his motorcycle to one of his favourite places. And the we went to a big supermarket where I bought some of those small cakes in different variants and a chocolate that was not the highlight of the day.
In the later afternoon, I made a “results”-workout on the roof-porch of the hotel. I try to make a workout or at least some exercises for the back whenever I have a rest-day.
In the evening I had a walk in the rain trying to find another place Dimitri had recommended. He knows a lot about the city and had been to many different places in Vietnam and he knows much about the people, his language skills are for sure a great advantage for that.

My host in Tuy Hoa and aplant installation: the young leaves are fixed to the dead wood and start growing there.

Today, the alarm could wake me up. Apparently, I was a bit more relaxed than usual ?
And it was ok to leave later (6:30), because it was only 93km to Quy Nhon.
It was rainy most of the day, but still I didn’t feel cold. It is a matter of few days until this will change, and I will have to protect myself from the rain. But I took only few photos, because I didn’t want to expose my camera to the rain.
The road was partly bad and so there was a lot of roadwork and I found beautiful “men at work”-signs for Michael.

Today, I again found a store with little cakes, in this case called bánh nướng nhân dừa, filled with some coconut mass and with an imprint on top.
The are not especially taste, just normal, but seem to contain a lot of energy (=fat, sugar).
I ate 3 of them, but it didn’t help today, half an hour later, I felt weak and dizzy. So, I decided to make an extra break to get a soup with vegetables. The soup was a big bowl containing only chard leaves. I took me a while to eat that but, in the end, I felt ok again.
Still, the tour today was exhausting for me. There were lots of hills, but all in all it was only 600m. The wind blew often, sometimes strong, sometimes only as a light breeze.
But, as I said, it was only 93km, so I could do it anyway. Slower than usual, but also without bigger navigation problems, so I again arrived at noon.
On the road, a truck had overtaken me. The most stinky truck so far, worse even than the refuse collection. I knew it must be animals but then was surprised to see dogs. At first, I was not sure if they are dead. Later I saw them again, because the driver had stopped to besprinkle them. No dog barked or growled, many whined.

I am quite sure those were caught street dogs and they are not on the way to a restaurant, because they didn’t too healthy. But I am also sure they will not live in the next days.
I don’t want to make a difference between chicken, pigs or cows who are usually killed for our food and dogs or horses who “should”  not killed. If you decide to eat animals, killing is part of that game. The point is, how does this happen, what kind of life or “life” had those animals had before and is this sustainable and fair (it is not). And differentiate between eatable and non-eatable animals is not very logic.
Back or better: forward to Quy Nhon!
My first view was not promising: again many touristc projects under constructions and hotel towers on the horizon…

It is interesting how that works, but when I was in the city, I immediately liked the atmosphere more then in Nha Trang.

It seems to be a city that is still here for the locals, you see many cafés, markets, street-food and restaurants crowded by them. And for the first time in a bigger city, children smiled and said hello. Ok, I didn’t see many (Western) tourists, but still the inhabitants could be used to or even disgusted by those strangers.
At the hostel, I met Dimitri, a guy from Siberia staying in Vietnam a couple of months and even speaking some Vietnamese. He makes his living with online work and thinks about relocating to Vietnam.

Now, my standard time for leaving turned out to be 6a.m. The morning traffic is not fully developed at that time, the temperature is pleasant and when I arrive, the day is not over. So, it was early and it additionally was rainy and so I was surprised to see that the beach was not empty. There were even people swimming, but more were at the beach or in the area of the bars and cafés. And most of those were doing some morning sports. Alone or in groups and some groups with an animateur.
Outside of Nha Trang, sometimes it was a normal main road and only in the distance some hills to see. But often the street was near the sea. Sometimes that meant to climb hills and look down to the shore. So, you had varied views and often nice scenery.

At one higher hill near the coast, there were many hosepipes that sprayed the water into the abyss. Some truckdrivers here and there took one of the tubes and clean their vehicle, but that doesn’t seem to be the main purpose of those hoses. (It could be diverting the water from the hillside away from the street).

After that bigger hill, I saw some small quarries where people apparently worked with simple tools and much man-labour

Today, I had several encounters or contacts with motorcyclists. A woman drove behind me for 30min. In some way that had an impact on me, because I tried to go in an even tempo, but that was exhausting when the wind got strong (we remember: I go in the direction of the wind) or when it was going uphill or even both. Finally, she overtook me, but without looking or saying hello.
A man came from the opposite direction and wanted to clap a “high five”. In a way, this was funny, because he didn’t show any emotions, just held his hand to meet mine.
On the higher hill, a man pushed me upwards three times, when it was steeper. Then, he gesticulated that it later would only go down and he drove away.
And near the city, a man stopped to show me a way to another bridge, because the other one was broken.
When I arrived at the GPS-location for the homestay, I didn’t find it. And when I called the owner and we tried to find a way how to give me the directions, a woman on a motorcycle stopped and asked if I would look for Nha Minh homestay. She was a neighbour and she showed me the way.
At the check in, I got a shock, I had forgotten to take my passport from the hotel in Nha Trang, 125km and 8h of cycling away. But my host quickly found a solution with a friend coming from there in the evening to Tuy Hoa. And this friend would pick it up and bring it. I was relieved!
Then my host offered lunch and for the evening dinner. ?

Yesterday, it had been a longer evening, because I was chatting with friends and talking with my sons and my mother and I thought, no problem, I can sleep longer.
…and so, I woke up at 4:30.
But still I thought, no problem, I can cut a video, then go for a swim, cut another video and so on, and when I am tired, I even can sleep, because it is a public holiday (in Europe at least).
So, I cut a video and went for a swim. When I came to the beach, it was not cold, but I didn’t feel the desire to undress. Still, I did, went into the surf and felt comfortable with the temperature of the water. According to google maps, I swam 1,5km and the dark clouds that were hanging over the scenery had made space for the sun and a blue sky. I had to walk back fast, because the sun was burning on the pale skin normally hidden under my bike shirt and trousers. In the hotel, I noticed that the room had been cleaned what surprised me after staying in so many rooms that apparently had not cleaned before check-in. But my empty water-bottle from Cambodia (with the writing “Angkor” on it) was away.
I cut a video and then went down to get some lunch. At the counter I asked if there is any chance to find the bottle, and there was. On the roof of the hotel, they have a big box full of empty bottles and near the surface was mine.
At the restaurant surrounded by dozens of hotels, I was surprised that the prices were like in other places. They even written on big advertisements with photos of the dishes and the names in Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian and English. After lunch, I made another round to find a Vietnam-specific food-souvenir for my Chinese and Taiwanese friends. I found only nuts etc, that they for sure also have but maybe with different taste. And then I continued, to get a mango and bananas. Here, I had seen prices for mango from 20000-25000 dong (~1€) but in the “second row”, after the hotels, I got a mango for 10000, maybe because it didn’t look so pretty, and the seller even pealed and cut it for me.
Last stop:
I was looking for a café to get hot chocolate or cacao. Normally in every village are 5 or 10 close to each other, here I had to walk for a while. It was apparently also meant for tourists but at least at noon I was the only customer.
But why a café, why hot chocolate?

Yesterday in my chocolate craving, I had found a Vietnamese chocolate for a reasonable price and apparently had not read carefully: it was 100% cacao beans & butter = bitter. I couldn’t eat it without anything else and even with something else it was hard. So, I thought I can melt it in a hot chocolate, add some more sugar and have a good drink. The drink was not bad, but I should have added less chocolate in that small cup (but it was only 1/5 of the bar!)
On my way, I saw a man with a handcart selling some fried and baked things. He was happy that I was interested in his things and that made me happy although it was not what I was looking for (deep fried bananas or those deep-fried balls with filling). He wanted 10000dong and I just didn’t know for how many of his bakery. He then dropped just one in my container and I was honestly surprised. And that startled him in return and he quickly added a second ball. I am not interested in bargaining with a poor man about how much I should get for 40cents, so I didn’t try to get a third one.
I went home, looking at all those hotel towers and noticed that maybe half of them are only under construction. I am no business man, but I am quite sure that these ~4km beach + some islands and maybe a few bars and some good restaurants will not be enough to attract so many tourists.
Back in my room, I combined small (!) pieces of that chocolate with everything I had, with nuts, dried fruits (yes, still some from Shiraz, dear Arash!!) bananas, mango. Nothing was satisfying but the chocolate is eaten.

my bottle in Angkor Wat pose

Yesterday, my hosts had invited me to dinner. They call it a hotel or maybe better would be homestay, because it is only one “hotel”-room surrounded by private rooms of the family and to be reached through their living room. But still it is exceptional that in the afternoon, he knocked on my door to bring me tea and, in the evening, his wife knocked to invite me for dinner and even asked me if I needed my clothes washed.
At dinner, Grandpa wanted me to drink some booze but it was too strong for me to do it just out of courtesy. Everyone had a bowl with rice, and with chopsticks grabbed something from the middle, except me, because whenever my rice seemed to be uncovered, someone put a piece meat or vegetables on it. They conversation was moderated by google translator and one of the last sentences translated to English was “We hope to meet you again!”….
Another supplement to yesterday:
Most of the time, there was little traffic, and only after a while I realized that it is Sunday.
Today, my ride nearly would have been a bit embarrassing, because I was about to leave the house in underpants. Ok, my bike-underpants don’t look too specific, but I was happy to notice it and quickly go back to my room, where my biking trousers were hanging in the wardrobe. Then I made a better start out in the light rain that later stopped. The first 30km were pleasant, the rain made it a bit cooler without making me totally wet and the wind had not started yet. I stopped for breakfast and to verify on “mapsme” what Mr.G showed: at km62 I should make a u-turn. While I was standing there, a woman on her motorcycle approached me. She said she saw me standing there and thought I could need help and additionally she had a bag with a cup of tea for me. This was as nice as it was surprising ?.
After that stop, the wind started blowing. But at that km62, I should leave the main road (said Mr.G) and on the small and hill lane, the wind was only sometimes a problem, mostly it was the quality of the street. This was one of those cases when I am not sure if I should be grateful for that proposal of Mr.G, because I came through small villages, had less traffic & noise and sometimes nice landscape around or be angry because I had a bad road and could go much slower (so, it took me longer than the main-road even if it was 2-3km shorter).

I came back to the main road, but only for a short while.
And here, I saw my third accident in Vietnam (the 1^st and 2^nd, I didn’t see, I came later, seeing the lying motorcycles and in one case the ambulance taking an injured man in their car.) Today, a bus made a u-turn and pushed down a man on his motorcycle. There was a crash, but the bus driver didn’t stop, and the motorcycle was under the bus and the man crawling tried to escape the wheels of the bus. I shouted “Stop!” but I was probably too far away to be heard and no one else shouted. But finally, the bus stopped, and the man could escape. I don’t know how they dealt with the situation, but a few minutes later, the bus drove away, and the man and his motorcycle were standing  in a crowd.
What should I say…
I still have this situation in front of my (inner) eyes and still can’t understand why this happened, why the bus hit the man and why he stopped so late.
I also went on.
And soon after that, Mr.G had another big surprise for me.
It started with a bad road and that became even worse. A look on the map showed that the road was much shorter, but I was not sure if it would end or really go to Nha Trang. Then I saw some motorcycles coming from the other side and a truck going in my direction and went on. And the road became worse. Sometimes it was only mud, sometimes the mud was interrupted by puddles, partly wide as the road with so I had to go through. The complete distance was 10km and most of the time I could not go faster then 8-10km.

Besides that, it was going up. But it cannot go up to infinity, so I reached a point with view to Nha Trang and was surprised seeing many skyscrapers and the sea while a stuck in the mud on my way there.
The bad road had started 17km before the city and only the last few kilometres were again a normal road. The city has a back part for the inhabitants with all I knew from other places (markets, shops, street-food) and near the beach those skyscrapers, which are hotels, many, many hotels. And shops for tourist. And tourists. Then a big crowded street nearly impossible to cross, then the restaurants, bars etc for the tourists and finally the beach. All in all, not very inviting.

Well, I want to go to the beach for a swim tomorrow and use the day for catching up with my “digital work” and maybe enjoy some food. And then go on north!

For summing up the day I would use two 4-letter-words:
sand and wind (and regarding the wind I would find other 4-letter-words, too!)

But the start was in the sleeping Xmas-village of Phan Thiet. I had been walking there in the evening and in that crowd was no “Western” foreigner, but now I came to another part nearer to the beach and there you could see tourist and facilities for tourists. Russian speaking people seem to be an important group of customers.

The street went to the hillside and after a while, I saw many busses, cars and, of course, tourists, I had arrived at the red dunes of Mui Ne. Only 100m farer, you could see the same dunes in a non-touristic outfit.

Today, I often reached hills between 50-150m and went down to the sea again. This was clearly more exhausting than going in flat areas, but so I alternatingly saw beautiful landscapes and beaches.

What else?
I saw cemeteries on hills with beautiful view and goats doing the maintenance.

And I saw graves from where the inhabitants apparently had relocated. Looking for a place to eat, I used an empty grave as seat and table, but I must admit that I did not only feel good. As if I would disturb the rest in peace of someone or would be disrespectful. But there was no one and the grave was rather destroyed.

And I saw that it is 1453km to Hanoi.

I had calculated  the route before and I should be able to reach Hanoi until 10^th of January, but still it is much lying ahead of me.
And then came the wind! It was strong and sometimes stormy. And of course, it came from the north. Later, my host explained to me that this is the windy season and it will stay like that until Hanoi and that I go in the wrong direction. Thank you, I knew that before!
3 groups of racing cyclists overtook me and I only could go with them a few hundred meters, then they were too fast and my air drag because of the bags to big to stay in their slipstream.
From my notes, I can bring only one word:
Plastic bags.
If people would reduce at least the absolutely unnecessary ones, it would be maybe 30-50% less!
examples:
the Vietnamese man who had invited me for a drink (Day 154) wanted to give me water, too. (I didn’t even see when he ordered it.) And the waiter brought two bottles, each in an own bag. I don’t need a bag to store a water bottles in my bags.
I bought some small cakes/donats at a booth and managed to get them directly into my container. Then, I wanted to buy something else to taste it at the spot. I said it, I showed it, but the owner put that thing in the bag for the distance between his and my hands. I took it out and ate it. (At least, he used it to prepare something for other customers)
I wanted to buy a sugar cane drink. Normally, I prepare my container and then go to the seller with it. In this case, to seller prepared it in a plastic cup although I shouted and gestured “wait!” and “stop!”. Even when you sit down to eat/drink something there and therefor there is nothing to carry, you can get your things in a plastic bag.

What was written in „notes“ on my phone today?
>>Bus undertaker horn purse belly<<
That’s what I memorized during my ride and in a break wrote down. If the road has two lanes, cars, trucks and busses go on the left one and motorcycles on the right one or on the hard shoulder but there are also cyclists and slower motorcycles and those who go in the opposite direction. If someone from the left lane wants to overtake, and these are mostly the busses that drive in highest speed, he goes to the right lane to overtake – or “undertake”. That’s why I call him undertaker in the slight double meaning that he is dangerous. Not only the busses, also the trucks have horns that are good enough for ocean liners and they make a drama for every bike as if only their din could scare them off the way – if they are. I think the effect of this exaggeration is that the others become hardened and thus the horns get louder and so on.
Purse: something I want to note since day 150… So far, I never saw so many purses to sell at the street like in Vietnam. Everyone should have ten at home, I guess.
Belly: when in 2015 I was in China, I saw many men, rolling up their t-shirts to cool down (or tp present a warning example of the harms a wrong diet can have on you?). And after a while, I noticed that this habit exists here, too. As I said before, you can get used to something so fast that it is no longer special. I don’t think that this practise is more useful in China and Vietnam than in Cambodia or Thailand or that the belly fat is more beautiful here or needs more sun exposure, it is like culture, tradition or religion arbitrary and random which and what influences you. This is all interesting, fascinating or funny if nobody thinks his is the only right way and fights for it. From belly fat to fanatism – for me a small step!
On the ride, I saw more crips and churches (and churches with vast crips) and often hesitated if this or that one is worth another photo-stop.

Regarding bonsais, I made another try to get a better picture, it is better but again only second best, because I was reluctant at the first opportunity. There, you could also see giant bonsais which for me so far was a contradiction.

My fascination for cemetery-culture still exists, I only was too lazy to stop for a photo for a while. Here, it seems that they put the coffin on the grave instead of in it. Maybe a misunderstanding because of bad translation?

Today, I disobeyed Mr.G another time. Why should I cross a busy road two times to get one a bad road and without saving any meter of distance?

Sometimes, if I don’t have to cross the street and the proposed alternative is no dirt road I do it, just to have no stress with Mr.G. (He makes beeb all the time and tries to send me back on the right path) and less stress of the noise of the big road.
I saw my first dragon fruit farms on this trip and gave them another try, directly from a farmer and even with red flesh. It was better than the last one but still no must-have. Or do I glamorise those fruits from Marc’s farm in Taiwan I tasted 2015? In March, I know!

Last pic from the road:

“BIO” as a trade mark? For a pharma-chemical company?? The slogan “niềm tin trọn vẹn” translated by google means complete trust of faith. I fail.

For Xmas-phobics it is no good idea to go to Phan Thiết, a town in Xmas-delirium

The today`s tour was only 83km (tomorrow will be 120, but I couldn’t find a place to stay in the middle), so I had more time in the morning and wanted to make a “I pack my bike” video. Later, I saw that  the light situation was too bad, but let’s take this as artistic. And after packing, I wanted to “leave”  but the hotel manager took that seriously and shouted and wanted to ran after me with the camera ?
Today, I came through an apparently in a way Christian area, many churches (some with symbols I don’t know, so maybe some advanced Christianity), many nativity ensembles from big to too big, also in front of normal shops and holy statues again from big to too big (I saw a Jesus 4 or 5 meters high, maybe not for private use or just advertisement for the smaller one (still 2-3m). To compensate, you also could see those animal statues that I know from Thailand but upgraded by dinosaurs. I wonder in which Genesis tale they found their place!

Since entering Vietnam, I wanted to write about (and take a picture of) Bonsais! The first shop was an eye catcher for me: the shop meets the interest in beauty and left and right from it, you could see ugly piles of stinky waste just put on the side of the street. Yes, you can say that maybe most of the bonsai-buyers don’t throw their waste on the street and many of those who do this have no Bonsais at home. But still…

Other notes I made:
In Vietnam you can see some electric bikes. But of that sort where you – theoretically – can support the motor by pedalling (and nobody does) and not of that sort where the motor supports your pedalling.
Then: it is one of those things you can get used too fast to notice, but there are so many men in “security-uniform” sitting in front of offices, hotels and also some shops. I saw some in the neighbouring countries, too, but here are for sure many more.
And especially today, I saw many, mainly old or very old people selling raffle tickets.
Also for a while, I wanted to write about this massive, richly decorated wooden furniture you can buy in some places. Most of them have the appearance of thrones for obese kings of an undiscovered aboriginal empire. (I hope I will find a good example soon and take a picture!)
And finally, I decided to take a note (on my phone to write later) about bricks. In Cambodia, I had seen bricks lovingly piled up to head height and some of them waiting there apparently for years to get in use. Here in Vietnam, the piles are  less beautiful in average than. When I wanted to take a photo, I only saw bricks in front of shops for building material. Those bricks are used always in pairs, because the are so small. But why pairs if small ones instead of double-sized ones that still would be smaller than those used in Austria or so.
Without those notes, I for sure would again forget to write that in a post and on the next day again I would remember on my way…
Two things were special on this day:
For the first time since long, I had to go up to 220m over sea level and all in all it was 600m elevation. This is still not much, compared to Armenia, but it was enough to show me that riding in the plains is a bit different from riding in the mountains ?

And a man started talking to me during the ride and invited me to a CàPhê. When he or I didn’t understand, he wanted to write it down in his old-style notebook and indeed that helped. The owner of the Café also came to the table sometimes and gave me a tissue with his logo.

A short diary entry and no photos (and no videos)

In the morning, I brought my bike to a shop to get a new chain. I had to wait for the mechanic who should be back “in 10min” and in the meantime bought food, came back after 20min but should wait for another 30min, went to a Viettel shop to top up the credit of my SIM card and to a “VietMart” to try to get those souvenir foods (see day 152) and then, finally he was in the shop and cared for the bike.
Near the apartment, I bought green bananas, because I remembered how delicious green ones in Cambodia had been. At home, I had to realize that they were totally unripe.
I prepared a lot for the coming days and the internet connection was always breaking down. So, I decided to tell that to the manager and then bring back the bananas. The manager tole me “in 10min” it will be fixed and I went to the fruit shop. The seller saw the bananas and started a Vietnamese monologue and I clearly got the meaning. But she took the green ones back and gave me yellow bananas with some black spots. Those always work well. I also went t another VietMart store and again they had other stuff but not what I was looking for.
And at home, I worked on. For 1-2 hours, I used my mobile phone for tethering, but then the “10min” seemed to be over.