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…)

This section from Hue to Lang Co is the thirteenth 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.

Our bikes were set to arrive at 8 am so we happily snooze until 9. After all, we don’t expect any Vietnamese trains to be on time. When we reach the station at 10, there’s still no sign of any trains and the hustlers are still napping in their rickshaws, hotel and tour brochurs in hand. We head to a nearby vegetarian restaurant and join a couple of robed monks for a late breakfast. You need someone like Tu to find out that there are different menus with different prices – but breakfast tastes good and prepares us for the coming ride.

Thuan An beach, left fairly untouched by typhoon Haiyan
Thuan An beach, left fairly untouched by typhoon Haiyan

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