Cycling Through Vietnam’s Violent Past
Part Three Of Six
Nha Trang was the ideal location to have a day off. So the first thing we did was hop back on the bus to visit the Cham Temple in Nha Trang.
It was built sometime between the 4th and 14th centuries by the Cham civilization and is similar in architecture to the Angkor Wat temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
After a short visit and our history lesson, we boarded a boat for a trip to the other side of Coral Island where we laid anchor and were able to take a swim in the South China Sea, lay around on the boat, and bask in the sunshine.
A few hours later, we took a boat ride along the coast to a floating fishing village, where there were nets full of fish along the decks that surrounded the homes.
There was a small island just a few meters away where we were greeted with a seafood feast. Some people opted for small round bamboo boats to get to the island. I opted to take the ‘ferry’, basically a small platform that our hosts pulled back and forth across the water with a rope.
Those who took the small boats got dinged with a bigger than expected bill. Seems when they were getting in the basket boats, our guides told them it would cost about 15,000dong (about 65 cents USD) but it turns out that the women navigating the boats had their own ideas. They started off telling their captive passengers their sad stories. They said their children had nothing, or some were now widows and struggling to make ends meet. Our team was still offshore so they were stuck. Then came the punch line. The ride would be 100,000dong (about $4.25 USD)PLUS they offered to sell each member of the group coconut juice, oh and “can you buy one for me too?” It ended up costing a lot more than the 15,000d everyone expected. A few members of the group stood their ground, while others paid the price. It made for another interesting travel story to tell their friends.
We had a delicious lunch on the island before heading back to the mainland where we had the rest of the day to relax, which I took as an opportunity to check out the beach, as we prepared for our next day back on the bike saddle for another 80km day.
Back In The Saddle
After a day of rest, we were ready to tackle the next leg of our journey… a total of 80km broken up into 3 sections so it would be a little easier to handle. The first leg out of Nha Trang was beautiful, as we rode our bikes along the coast, with some small hills to get over but some spectacular scenery. The first 18km went by fairly quickly.
But we had to get back on the bus so we didn’t have to ride along the busy Highway. After a short time we stopped in the fishing village of Vung Ro, where we got back up on our bikes to continue the journey.
As we passed through the towns and villages along the coast, we would attract a small crowd. Kids would ride up to us on their bikes and pretty soon some adults would join them. They would all be staring at us, sometimes giggling if we said ‘hello’.
Some members of the group say they felt like movie stars. I guess we were like celebrities to some of these people who don’t see a lot of tourists coming through their towns.
Along the way, as we rode through some open farm fields we suddenly got hit by a massive wind storm. The gusts were blowing right across the road almost knocking us off our bikes. We actually had to pull over and stop a few times because the wind was so strong, but we kept pounding the pedals as we pushed through. Then the rain started and combined with the powerful wind it felt like we were being hit with pins and needles.
We rode through a rice paddy to the main road and the pavement made the going a little better, but every time a big truck or a bus would pass us, while it would block the wind for a moment, as soon as it passed the wind gust would almost blow us over. We were weaving all over the shoulder trying to control our bikes. You could see everyone’s bike leaning 15 to 20 degrees as each of us tried to stay upright.
We made it another 22 km or so to our lunch spot at Dai Lanh beach, absolutely drenched. The beach is spectacular and I’m sure would have been a lot of fun in better weather.
The view from the men’s room has to be one of the best I have ever seen. Wide-open windows in front of the urinal look out onto a beautiful beach, the surf, and watch the fishers haul in their nets. We all voted after lunch to call it a day, boarding the bus for the rest of the 40km journey to our next hotel.
The next day, the rain didn’t let up so it made for a very interesting ride along the dirt roads from the small city of Tuy Hoa. The terrain is relatively flat (compared to some of the other rides we’ve had) but the roads are mainly unpaved, with lots of gravel and lots of dirt (now mud). We rode through numerous Hilltop villages and were the main attraction as people would come running out of their homes (especially the children) to wave and yell out a “Hello”.
In one village as people ran out to greet us, a little boy came stumbling outside, while trying to pull up his pants. He didn’t want to miss seeing the visitors.
I think I finally found my cycling legs and powered along near the front of the pack for most of the day, and then as we were about 5–6 km from the finish, everyone else stopped to take a photo but I kept cycling. As a result, I ended up finishing first (likely the first and last time that will happen).
We were a wild-looking group of cyclists we were when we arrived in the small village, wet and covered in mud. It’s no wonder the townspeople were so interested in us (we were drawing a pretty big crowd of locals).
Some of us were lucky and able to shed our top layer of clothes, leaving us damp but at least relatively clean. That’s how we would ride on the bus for the next four hours to our next destination, and all we could talk about was the showers and baths we would have when we arrived at the hotel, IF they let us in, looking the way we did.
Coming up in Part 4 we face our biggest hurdle yet, a near-tragic bus crash.
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