January 28, 2007
To Dai Lanh: The wind is not our friend
Cornflakes in our room this morning for breakfast. Packed and gear on the lift and quickly to the lobby and on our way. A hotel with a lift is great for a cyclist...next best thing to a room on the ground floor when can directly roll in a loaded bike. We follow the road along the beach for a ways then cut inland toward Highway 1. We end up on the old road and a hill climb before reaching the highway.
The wind is not our friend today.
Part of the ride is over the road straight and flat, above green rice paddies on either side, but the wind makes us walk for a couple kilometers, Deja vu Patagonia. We meet first an older Dutch couple cycling, then a group of 3, from Nova Scotia, an American from San Francisco and an Australian girl that met up with the guys in Hanoi.
We stop for a drink and cookies and as we head out of the parking area, we see another cyclist from France. As he says "I think with the wind it is better going this way" North to South, while we are heading North. We think perhaps we didn't give enough of our traditional toasts "to the wind" with beer. Later with it raining we meet a Japanese couple cycling on their honeymoon for 6 months to Jakarta. We give them our last card of David's in Malaysia.
As we come into Dai Lanh, we want to find the LP guide recommendation of restaurant and basic beach accommodation. We see the guesthouse the Dutch couple stayed at on the left. It is across the railroad, we decide to cycle into town, reach the other end and return to the guesthouse. It's nice and clean. The lady opens the locked gate to the railroad for us, we cross over to the Restaurant and have a nice meal of sweet and sour pork, soured cabbage and prawns steamed in coconut milk.
We listen to the rain most of the night.
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Today's ride: 88 km (55 miles)
Total: 4,744 km (2,946 miles)
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