Day 14 - Kon Tum to Ea Drang
We woke super early this morning at the "Hotel Window", probably because our room didn't have a window in so we had no sense of time unless we actually checked. We checked out of the hotel just after 7am and went on a small ride around the town and went to the Cathedral and took some pictures before setting off on our main ride south down the HCM trail. Our profile for today was a short ride of around 50ks down to Pleiku but after the shorter "recovery"ride yesterday after two gruelling rides the prior days we knew we wanted to go further and planned on a very small town around 80ks south ride away.
The ride out of Kon Tum took us through small towns and villages on rolling quite busy roads and the ride just seamed to be us transiting from A to B now as the scenery wasn't as spectacular nor interesting as the majority of the rides for the first two weeks, what was different was that the sun was hiding behind hazy cloud and there was a breeze so the temperatures seamed lower, although it was still over 25C. We went passed a very old lady balancing two large sacks on either end of a pole over her shoulders. We noticed her and went back to say hello. She stopped a came over to us and the sacks contained squashed plastic bottles, she must have been taking them to be recycled. We took her photo and she had a large grin on her face and we gave her some small change which she was very appreciative of.
Before we knew it we were in Pleiku within two hours of setting off and stopped for a coffee along with buying a bread roll with an egg, pork and some herbs on. We discussed the next part of the ride and both of us were feeling really good and wanted to push further. We continued south and the road opened up again and today we actually went through a toll booth. It was the first time we have seen one on the HCM but we did go through one on Highway 1 between Dong Ha & Hue. There wasn't any cost and cycles and motorbikes just go through. The agreed stopping point for tonight at around 80ks came and went and we continued to push as both of us felt really strong today. At 100ks we decided to stop to pick up some more water and also as we have been on the road two weeks now we're starting to look a bit shabby so I had a pedicure done at a salon next door, 30,000vnd ( £1). The lady in the salon did a great job despite putting up with my stinking feet and afterwards she wanted a picture with me and Alex.
While we were messing around at the 100k mark, we said we would push on to tomorrow nights supposedly stop off point which is Ea Drang which was virtually another 50ks away as we knew we could make it before dark, even though we knew this would then give us another rest day we didn't really need as today would now combine two days into one. While we were at the salon we looked at accomdation options for Ea Drang and there were only two options so of course we went for the one that "looked" the best. We jumped back on the bikes and set off again and both of us really put in a good performance and less than two hours later we pulled up outside the hotel Cuong Ny in Ea Drang. The hotel like the town was proper basic but after doing 148ks and it starting to go dark any other possibilities are out of the window. We checked in and had a quick shower and went out as both of us were absolutely starving. We checked Google and found a few places and after walking around for like thirty minutes they were either closed or just selling Pho which we were not interested in a bit of soup with a chicken foot in if you are lucky. We went up the road back past the hotel to another place, the guy nodded to say he was open. Using Google translate we asked a lady for fried rice and pork or chicken with vegetables while the guy connected Alex up to the wifi. After two or three minutes the guy said he was now closed!! By this time we had been wondering around for forty five minutes to try to get food.
We are now back at the hotel, after cycling nearly 150ks today eating ice cream, crisps and dinky little fairy cakes!! Roll on tomorrow when we reach Buon Ma Thout which is a decent size city were we will be able to eat some food!
The ride out of Kon Tum took us through small towns and villages on rolling quite busy roads and the ride just seamed to be us transiting from A to B now as the scenery wasn't as spectacular nor interesting as the majority of the rides for the first two weeks, what was different was that the sun was hiding behind hazy cloud and there was a breeze so the temperatures seamed lower, although it was still over 25C. We went passed a very old lady balancing two large sacks on either end of a pole over her shoulders. We noticed her and went back to say hello. She stopped a came over to us and the sacks contained squashed plastic bottles, she must have been taking them to be recycled. We took her photo and she had a large grin on her face and we gave her some small change which she was very appreciative of.
Before we knew it we were in Pleiku within two hours of setting off and stopped for a coffee along with buying a bread roll with an egg, pork and some herbs on. We discussed the next part of the ride and both of us were feeling really good and wanted to push further. We continued south and the road opened up again and today we actually went through a toll booth. It was the first time we have seen one on the HCM but we did go through one on Highway 1 between Dong Ha & Hue. There wasn't any cost and cycles and motorbikes just go through. The agreed stopping point for tonight at around 80ks came and went and we continued to push as both of us felt really strong today. At 100ks we decided to stop to pick up some more water and also as we have been on the road two weeks now we're starting to look a bit shabby so I had a pedicure done at a salon next door, 30,000vnd ( £1). The lady in the salon did a great job despite putting up with my stinking feet and afterwards she wanted a picture with me and Alex.
While we were messing around at the 100k mark, we said we would push on to tomorrow nights supposedly stop off point which is Ea Drang which was virtually another 50ks away as we knew we could make it before dark, even though we knew this would then give us another rest day we didn't really need as today would now combine two days into one. While we were at the salon we looked at accomdation options for Ea Drang and there were only two options so of course we went for the one that "looked" the best. We jumped back on the bikes and set off again and both of us really put in a good performance and less than two hours later we pulled up outside the hotel Cuong Ny in Ea Drang. The hotel like the town was proper basic but after doing 148ks and it starting to go dark any other possibilities are out of the window. We checked in and had a quick shower and went out as both of us were absolutely starving. We checked Google and found a few places and after walking around for like thirty minutes they were either closed or just selling Pho which we were not interested in a bit of soup with a chicken foot in if you are lucky. We went up the road back past the hotel to another place, the guy nodded to say he was open. Using Google translate we asked a lady for fried rice and pork or chicken with vegetables while the guy connected Alex up to the wifi. After two or three minutes the guy said he was now closed!! By this time we had been wondering around for forty five minutes to try to get food.
We are now back at the hotel, after cycling nearly 150ks today eating ice cream, crisps and dinky little fairy cakes!! Roll on tomorrow when we reach Buon Ma Thout which is a decent size city were we will be able to eat some food!
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