January 25, 2007
To Nha Trang: Po Bien Hotel 80km by bus
"The wind blew all night", Patrick says as we pack. "The bus station is just here," True, it is easier to arrange a ride "just here"...however, do we not even give it a go to ride into the wind? So, we ride past the bus station and push on out of the city. Real quick Patrick spots 2 cyclists up ahead. We catch up with them. "Mind if we draft for awhile?" It is the cyclists from yesterday from Colorado.
We ride together, they decided with the wind yesterday to not go onto Nha Trang. We cycle on ahead, stop, they catch up. "Time for coffee" Mary Lou says. We stop for coffee; we find out they are from Buena Vista Colorado. Patrick gets information about Laos from Bruce. We exchange addresses and continue on.
The wind increases.
We stop and wait for them. They were having the same discussion we were; wondering if they would be interested in catching a ride together. We draft for a while and stop at a gas station to ask about a ride, then continue on taking turns drafting. A bus with a conductor slows and stops. We negotiate a price, load the gear in the back and the bikes on top. We've cycled 20km with the wind and are happy to be at the back of the bus making Nha Trang today.
One and a half hours later, there we are at the bus station, reloading our bikes riding into the city to the beach. Our first hotel stop is full, the gals check a few hotels next door, a guy on a motorcycle shows us another hotel down an alley lined with hotels. We finally find a room for $12 with a window and balcony, hot shower, satellite TV , fridge free internet in the lobby. Our room isn't clean yet, they give us another one to shower. Bruce & Mary Lou move into a clean room, they have business to take care of, they need another visa for Vietnam. We arrange to meet later for dinner.
We have lunch at "Good Morning Vietnam" restaurant, pizza and beer. By then our room is ready to move into. At 5pm we meet up with Bruce and Mary Lou to take a taxi to a German restaurant. We find that it no longer exists, we take a taxi back to a brew pub they had found earlier. Patrick has a German sausage and mustard! Rachel a Shepard's pie. We exchange travel stories and then back at the hotel we say goodbye. They're off tomorrow to another beach 30-40kms north of here. We are on a tour of the islands.
Today's ride: 26 km (16 miles)
Total: 4,656 km (2,891 miles)
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