This section from Dinh Van to Di Linh is the twenty-second instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

 Tu’s been able to keep her meal down, but today Katya is feeling a little worse so we leave late. With breakfast and chat, it takes us until 11 am to be on the road. No biggie: we’re not looking at a very heavy or long day.

The Tutin's new hat - with air-con holes
The Tutin’s new hat – with air-con holes

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This section from Krong No to Dinh Van is the twenty-first instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

 I’d apparently been chuckling in my sleep all night so I’ve got a slightly moody bedpartner in the morning. We pack, pay and roll our caravan into the town market for a royal breakfast, consisting of mixed kinds of sticky rice topped with shredded pork and coconut, three baguettes and some fruity snacks. Tu feels hungry so she eats along with us.

Girl on the windowsill
Girl on the windowsill

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This section from Yang Reh to Krong No is the twentieth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

 When we wake up there’s a knock on our door. Whether we speak English. Our brains are still snoozing so we have to ponder that question for a while. We realise it must be those other foreigners that are staying at the hotel. I’m excited at the prospect of meeting some other travellers. When we open the door, our poor brains have a little more to ponder.

In front of me is a man with skin burned to a crisp, a hat made of his own hair and all kinds of jewellery scattered over his beard and colourful clothes. Another no less colourful figure appears behind him. They’re Katya and Mirek and they’re on bikes on their way to Dalat. Hooray.

Katya, Mirek and Tu at Yang Reh
Katya, Mirek and Tu at Yang Reh

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This section from Kon Tum to Yang Reh via Buon Ma Thuot is the nineteenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

We’d spent an entire rest-day in Kontum recovering and getting fat on coffees, wraps, snacks, buns, banhs and whatever other snacks caught our attention. Kontum’s a lovely small town with a few interesting sights.

Climate-wise it feels a bit like Kunming: due to its relatively high altitude, it gets chilly at night or when the sun disappears, but as long as that bright ball beams bravely from the blue sky, the climate is warm yet dry.

Coc fruit
A pile of cóc fruit, in Kontum seedless and very sour. Excellent with spicy salt.

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27 December 2013

But we’re a little internet-strapped at the moment, riding long days. Still, we’d like to wish everyone a happy New Year. As for the trip, there are some unfinished updates on Crazyguyonabike.com which will be finished and published here when I have a little more time.

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This section from Kham Duc to Kon Tum is the eighteenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

We’d agreed that Tu would take a bus to Kon Tum so she could skip a couple of rides and rest her muscles. I, on the other hand, was going to try to ride to Kon Tum in the shortest time possible – perhaps spending the night in Plei Kan. In return, Tu takes all my luggage and I just take the very necessary: toothbrush, some soap, fresh underwear, an extra jumper and the bottle of opium poppy liquor Tu’s dad had given me.

Kham Duc market
Eating bún and some bánh mì at the market in Kham Duc

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This section from Thanh My to Kham Duc is the seventeenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

The day begins brilliantly as both of us awake at 8.30am in an almost perfectly quiet hotel room on a perfectly hard bed (we both like hard mattresses). To make matters even better, the sun is shining outside and the smell of rainforest humidity creeps through our bathroom window. The latter pleases me more than Tu, who seems to be well used to hot tropical humidity. For me, it invariably conjures up memories of holidays and adventure.

We pay a visit to Hai Lua, our beloved country bumpkin, who seems to have at least a vague recollection of who we are after last night presumed drinking spree with his friends and newly-weds. A lot less talkative but no less smiling, he gets to work and serves some of the best bun we’ve had in a while. To our relief, the liquor he had promised to share does not appear on the table – I’m sure it’s the last thing he wants to sniff today.

Hai Lua makes us a great Bún to start the day!
Hai Lua makes us a great Bún to start the day!

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This section from Hoi An to Thanh My is the sixteenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

After sleeping a considerably better sleep in the Phuc An hotel, we find the streets of Hoi An shiny with rain. Though the actual rain has ceased, we put off our ride by wolfing down the complimentary hotel breakfast, followed by a second breakfast at a restaurant that made vegetarian versions of popular Vietnamese foods. We have fried won-tons and a rice flour dough creation called white rose. Both taste great!

Back at the hotel, we get Tu’s bike fixed to eliminate her wheel wobbling and to stop her pedal from moving clicking. When we can find no more reasons to procrastinate, we leave this pretty town and head west towards a much grimmer destination: the poorest regions on the Ho Chi Minh highway, near the Lao and Cambodian borders.

Ducks on a motorbike
Ducks on a motorbike

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This section from Da Nang to Hoi An is the fifteenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

Da Nang Panorama
Panorama from the bridge

We wake from our nasty Da Nang hotel beds moody and tired. The night had been noisy and the beds seriously the worst I’d slept in since I slept in a corn field on my very first bike trip. After a slow morning ritual including a mediocre bún (rice noodles, thin wiry kind), we say good-bye to Linh and head towards Hoi An.

Having done pretty much every Da Nang bridge during yesterday’s food binge, I decide I want to retrace my steps over the northernmost San Francisco-like bridge. I know it gives some spectacular views over the harbour and the sea on the other side, but it isn’t much to the liking of Tu, whose mental and physical energy levels still seem exhausted.

Boats at Da Nang harbour
Boats at Da Nang harbour

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This section from Lang Co to Da Nang is the fourteenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

We’d had a moderately good sleep – as good as you can sleep when you have a window facing Vietnam’s busiest highway. A peek behind the curtain reveals a world no less dull and grey than yesterday’s but it’s dry. Dry means we have to get out and seize our chance of besting what is probably the biggest challenge of the entire ride: the 10 km climb up the Hai Van pass.

The Hai Van pass looming ahead
The Hai Van pass looming ahead

I’ve climbed the Hai Van before. With its 500m ascent and 10 km slope at an average grade of 7%, it’s actually much overhyped. Northern Vietnam and Yunnan both boast climbs that are up to five times longer and with much steeper grades. Yet, if it’s your first big climb as it was for Tu, it is a bit daunting indeed. The amazing views of the bays and lagoons below offer little solace when your every muscle and tendon are strained to the limit.

We rode our first few kilometres to the actual town of Lang Co, smelled the omnipresent eucalyptus oil on sale everywhere along the road, and had a local speciality called Banh Loc. It’s made of something that looks most like a blend between animal jelly and sticky rice cake with some sauce and shrimp inside, wrapped together in bamboo leaves for easier packaging. It’s actually quite delicious. (more…)