Day 13 - Plei Can to Kon Tum
Plei Can was just another stop off point on our way down to HCMC and was a relatively small town located around 18 kilometres from the Laos and Cambodian border. We stayed at Khach San Bmc hotel which was quite a large hotel but we are sure that we were the only guests as it was deserted.
Our routine the night before is to check the ride profile for the following day, and town we intend to stay in, then check Google maps for the accommodation options and go for the one with the best reviews. This doesn't always turn out well as everyone's opinion and expectation is different, not only this when we do show up in towns there is always better looking, and newer options that didn't appear on Google, but after doing over 100ks on a fully loaded bike most days your just glad of a shower and to crash out followed by food.
We woke at the usual time just after 6am and after dozing in bed for half an hour decided to get up and go down for breakfast. The large hotel was like a ghost town and then a lady appeared and showed us to the "European Dining Hall", we were the only ones there, no music or anything and we sat there sort of whispering to each other, not sure why this was but the hotel had an eerie feel to it. The lady disappeared not taking any order and after five minutes of us guessing what was going to happen we heard what seamed like arguing through a doorway. We started laughing and just decided to just check out and pick something up on the road. We returned to our room and changed into our cycling clothes and started to pack when there was a knock on the door. We started to laugh as we knew it was related to the breakfast incident 15 minutes earlier. Alex answered the door and two hotel staff were there with a serving trolley on wheels with both our breakfasts! Two fried eggs and two rolls each with a side of jam. We couldn't believe it but it turned out to be great and set us up for today's short ride down to Kon Tum.
We set off at exactly the same time as yesterday, 08.04 and the route would take us in a southeastern direction to Kon Tum. The traffic was a lot busier than yesterday but once we cleared the town it thinned out and the scenery was mountains covered in trees either side. The road was rolling with a few kilometres of climbing then a decent which usually crossed over bridges spanning rivers. The scenery wasn't as spectacular as yesterday but we passed kilometre after kilometre of coffee farmers drying coffee cherries at the front of there properties and drive ways. We stopped to talk to a few and through Google translate the coffee was grown locally and they were just one part of the production process, they peeled the cherrys open to show us the beans prior to roasting. Further down the HCM we went passed a military barracks and almost opposite was an abandoned airfield which had been taken over by the coffee farmers drying the coffee cherries out, it was absolutely huge and coffee cherrys were being dried on the full length of the runway and taxi ways with the odd tent like structure were we presume the workers rest.
We could of gone on further today but our schedule is back on track and it was pointless to try to push it as we would be in HCMC before our expected arrival date of Sat 1st Dec. We arrived in Kon Tum just after lunch time and checked in to the "Hotel Window", except our room doesn't have a window only in the bathroom. It's a small boutique type hotel and the room is well done out with comfortable beds. We spent the afternoon having a wonder around and some lunch and then went to have a look at the market were there was a guy selling pigs. The small size pigs looked cute and we negotiated a price of 1.2mil vnd ( £40 ) to buy a pig with a plan to take it to the edge of town and release it, saving it from the dinner table. Common sense prevailed and we realised that if we did free the pig it wouldn't of stood a chance and probably would of been dead quicker than if we left it with the market guy. We returned to our hotel pigless and kicked our feet up resting for the rest of the afternoon.
We went out in the evening and ate at a roadside Vietnamese restaurant, two plates each of rice with vegetables and pork ( hopefully not the pig from the market ) with egg, 110,000vnd ( £ 4.00 ) for both of us. Later we went and drank flavoured milk tea at a cafe and got talking to some Vietnamese students aged sixteen. There English was excellent and we discussed everything from why the Vietnamese love Karaoke so much, to their cuisine and why some Vietnamese eat dog meat which they said was only in very remote areas in the North and eaten by the older generation, and actually dog meat is far more expensive than pork or other meats.
Our routine the night before is to check the ride profile for the following day, and town we intend to stay in, then check Google maps for the accommodation options and go for the one with the best reviews. This doesn't always turn out well as everyone's opinion and expectation is different, not only this when we do show up in towns there is always better looking, and newer options that didn't appear on Google, but after doing over 100ks on a fully loaded bike most days your just glad of a shower and to crash out followed by food.
We woke at the usual time just after 6am and after dozing in bed for half an hour decided to get up and go down for breakfast. The large hotel was like a ghost town and then a lady appeared and showed us to the "European Dining Hall", we were the only ones there, no music or anything and we sat there sort of whispering to each other, not sure why this was but the hotel had an eerie feel to it. The lady disappeared not taking any order and after five minutes of us guessing what was going to happen we heard what seamed like arguing through a doorway. We started laughing and just decided to just check out and pick something up on the road. We returned to our room and changed into our cycling clothes and started to pack when there was a knock on the door. We started to laugh as we knew it was related to the breakfast incident 15 minutes earlier. Alex answered the door and two hotel staff were there with a serving trolley on wheels with both our breakfasts! Two fried eggs and two rolls each with a side of jam. We couldn't believe it but it turned out to be great and set us up for today's short ride down to Kon Tum.
We set off at exactly the same time as yesterday, 08.04 and the route would take us in a southeastern direction to Kon Tum. The traffic was a lot busier than yesterday but once we cleared the town it thinned out and the scenery was mountains covered in trees either side. The road was rolling with a few kilometres of climbing then a decent which usually crossed over bridges spanning rivers. The scenery wasn't as spectacular as yesterday but we passed kilometre after kilometre of coffee farmers drying coffee cherries at the front of there properties and drive ways. We stopped to talk to a few and through Google translate the coffee was grown locally and they were just one part of the production process, they peeled the cherrys open to show us the beans prior to roasting. Further down the HCM we went passed a military barracks and almost opposite was an abandoned airfield which had been taken over by the coffee farmers drying the coffee cherries out, it was absolutely huge and coffee cherrys were being dried on the full length of the runway and taxi ways with the odd tent like structure were we presume the workers rest.
We could of gone on further today but our schedule is back on track and it was pointless to try to push it as we would be in HCMC before our expected arrival date of Sat 1st Dec. We arrived in Kon Tum just after lunch time and checked in to the "Hotel Window", except our room doesn't have a window only in the bathroom. It's a small boutique type hotel and the room is well done out with comfortable beds. We spent the afternoon having a wonder around and some lunch and then went to have a look at the market were there was a guy selling pigs. The small size pigs looked cute and we negotiated a price of 1.2mil vnd ( £40 ) to buy a pig with a plan to take it to the edge of town and release it, saving it from the dinner table. Common sense prevailed and we realised that if we did free the pig it wouldn't of stood a chance and probably would of been dead quicker than if we left it with the market guy. We returned to our hotel pigless and kicked our feet up resting for the rest of the afternoon.
We went out in the evening and ate at a roadside Vietnamese restaurant, two plates each of rice with vegetables and pork ( hopefully not the pig from the market ) with egg, 110,000vnd ( £ 4.00 ) for both of us. Later we went and drank flavoured milk tea at a cafe and got talking to some Vietnamese students aged sixteen. There English was excellent and we discussed everything from why the Vietnamese love Karaoke so much, to their cuisine and why some Vietnamese eat dog meat which they said was only in very remote areas in the North and eaten by the older generation, and actually dog meat is far more expensive than pork or other meats.
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