Mui Ne to HCMC

                              Fishing Village on our way south from Mui Ne

  So we have all arrived in HCMC, the five from Dalat and us coastal travelers taking ferry from Vung Tau into the heart of the city.  We have been a full day + in Saigon and it has been a positive experience just wandering around the streets and visiting the central market and various museums.
There’s a great food place a block from our hotel that we can’t get enough of with all varieties of food and beer in an open air atmosphere. Sort of a Portland food truck center without the trucks.
Besides wandering and eating we have all had to get our bikes boxed up for the flight and organize for our trip home.
It is a very satisfying feeling completing this 1000 mile adventure down the length of this amazing country, and though we have all eaten and drank well we feel fit and alive.  I couldn’t ask to travel with a more congenial group and I look forward to more adventures ahead.
It has been a privilege!
To Phil, Lee, Robert, Lisa, Enrique, Karman Mel, Sam, and Dick.......it has been a pleasure!
May we ride again!

Don

                                          lighthouse at Ke Ca

                

                                             Miles and miles of Dragon Fruit

                                       Dinner at Dat Lanh Resort

                               break for some squeezed sugarcane

                              Long Hai Resort

                         Lee, Dick, and Mel digging into one of our last  buffet breakfasts

                       Enrique and Sam getting fresh coconut juice on the street

         In front of Cathedral Notre Dame       

                      Saigon Central Post office

Market Scenes

Phan Rang to Co Thach Beach to Mui Ne

The guys heading out for Dalat from Phan Rang

                                     Views from the road

                                                        miles and miles of krill
                                                    and harvesting salt across the roa

                                lots of seafood at Co Thach Beach


We had wonderful views most of the way with some interesting things along the way. The first day took us along a steep rocky hillside with views to the water below.  The road was very quiet and windy with nice up and downs.  When we got down to the next valley we came into a major fishing area with miles of krill being dried on the roadway and any wide spots along the road. We eventually rolled into Co Thach Beach and it was a very pleasant surprise!  We were the only foreigners but being the last days of Tet the town was a wonderful form of bedlam with seafood and other food venders alongside other wares all the 5 or 6 blocks down to this interesting beach of strange rock formations and mobs of vacationing Vietnamese.  On the way back up we walked over to an amazing temple complex I had read about that was built into more of these rock outcroppings that rose up the hillside.

                                    Lisa with cute boy at temple


From Co Thach the next morning we road 66 Km to Mui Ne and arrived at our destination for two days, the Blue Shell Resort.  It has been a well deserved splurge and has been a fantastic day and a half.  The resort is also a Kiteboarding center so it has been fun to watch between dips in the pool and the ocean!

Ahhhhhh.....nothing like a rest day.  We are enjoying a nice reprieve from n
                                  riding in 90 degree heat to just lying in it!

                       individual bungalows  - best digs of the trip

                                          Just before Maui Ne


Thanks for joining us. We are week out from being home!

Don

Quy Nhon to Tuy Hoa to Nha Trang to Phan Rang

                                
                                       Bahn Mi for breakfast!  Oh Yea!


   Okay! I’m back!  A few days and many miles off from the blog and also back from a case of the crud for a couple of days.  Whether from cold like symptoms or too much exhaust it has caught a few of us and it makes the journey that much tougher.  But I’m back!
  Another 200 + Miles along the coast and lots of warm weather, the last two days in the upper 80’s.
Tuy Hoa is a so so town - Carol and I had been there three years ago and the surrounding area is beautiful but not a lot happening for gringos.  Then comes Nha Trang, Vietnam’s most famous beach town.  Wow! It is tourist central and is being built up at a frantic pace.  The unexpected reality is that it is overwhelmingly Russian tourists.  In terms of caucasians it has to be 90to 95% .  Signs and menues are in Russian and tours and hotels are all geared for them.  Of course there are Chinese tourists and a few others but it felt like little Moscow.
http://m.english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/travel/187067/russian-tourists-to-vietnam-skyrockets.html#

  The beach scene is amazing with easy wave action and long stretches of sand and beautiful views and the seafood choices are something else along with exotic foods to boot.
I think most of us prefer the more low keyed Vietnamese beach scenes like where we are now, and after Nha Trang it’s back to us being the only non-Vietnamese people in town!

    Tomorrow is going to be different as 4 of our group have decided to ride inland to Dalmatia which is a beautiful city about 300 km north of Saigon.  It’s a tough 4900’ climb but Enrique, Sam Robert, and Dick will enjoy it.  The rest of us are going to continue down the coast and we will all meet up again in Saigon on the 25th.

So here are a few pics from the last days.  We are three weeks in and a week to go so there’s that mix of feelings one gets when you are at this point in a journey.
See you all soon!    Don

                    The  people are the best part!

Food scene in Nah Trang 

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Hoi An to Quang Ngai to Hoai Nhon to Quy Nhon

Happy New Year!

Xin Cháu! Hello!

We are in Quy Nhon which is up and coming coastal beach town on the southern coast.
We’ve had three days of riding since Hoi An and we’ve made some tracks logging another 200 Miles or so and we have gotten into the hot part of the country. We have gone from lows in low 40’s in Hanoi to the high her in the mid 80’s.
    We spent the evening of Tet (last night) in Hoai Nhon which was alive with the excitement of their New Years Eve.  We had a low-keyed celebration ourselves with a fresh seafood dinner, beer, local vodka, and a long walk around town and through the market.  Today is New Years Day and the ride felt different because there were very few trucks and buses only to be replaced by large groups of scooters and motorcycles carrying families and friends to parties and other functions.
     We are all looking forward to our next rest day possibly tomorrow or the next day.

Cheers,  Don

                                         Typical breakfast buffet at our hotel in Quang Ngai

                                            Beautiful children with a reaction between fascination & fear

                                         In Hoai Nhon after a long days ride

          
                     Our personal chef whipping up an omelette snack to go with our beer

                                    Our New Years Eve Seafood Dinner

                 
                                 View from our Veranda in Wut Nhon