Tag: da nang

22 December 2013

Slap the Belgian! Recovery Ride and Rest

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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21 December 2013

Slap the Belgian! Hai Van Victory

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…)