Day 16 - Buon Ma Thuot to Dam Rong

The day's rest in Buon Ma Thuot was very good and the hotel we stayed in was also very comfortable compared to the last few places we have stayed in which were really basic.  In Buon Ma Thuot we even managed to have look around the "Coffee Tour Village" in the City and learned about coffee production and heritage in the Central Highland regions. The tour wasn't brilliant but it passed a few hours away and we also managed to have a small ride around the city having a look around.

Today we woke early and did an hour in the gym lifting weights followed by breakfast in the hotel which was superb. We checked out of the hotel and started cycling at 10am and today's ride was actually supposed to be to Lien Son which is located on "Lak" Lake and is around 50ks south of Buon Ma Thuot, Lak lake is the largest freshwater lake in the Central Highlands and the region is home to the Mnog tribe who live in the Long Houses on stilts scattered all around this area.

For the first 20ks of the ride it was pretty much towns and small villages but after this there was a little climbing to do before we crossed over the Krong Ana river. Just before the river on the left hand side was the remains of a French Colonial era Catholic Church. The road flattened off with paddy fields all around and Mountains in the distance covered by low cloud. The paddy fields were an unbelievable luminous green colour that seamed to be brighter than the paddy fields we had seen in the North of Vietnam. We soon arrived into Lien Son after two and half hours of riding and and we decided to have a coffee. The "Caphe" we pulled into also had some small homemade yogurts with berries in the fridge so we ate three of these each and had coffee and some tea also. No matter what you order in the Caphes they will always serve you tea also.

After the rest day I was itching to go further today as it would cancel out additional kilometres & climbing we would have to do tomorrow. We set off from Lien Son at 1pm and we had our sights set on a very remote town called Dam Rong which was located a further 67 kilometres south. On leaving the small town of Lien Son we hit some climbs, nothing too challenging but around 4% and by this time it was raining pretty hard and we had stopped earlier to put our overshoes on. We were on a fresh pair of legs and with the rain and low temperatures of 21C the low gradient climbs were a doddle today. The road south was extremely remote and broken with major potholes and at times a mountain bike may of been more appropriate but we managed ok and just slowed down. The road cut through very small villages with lots of the long houses on stilts and you could tell the Mnog tribe people from the regular Vietnamese people as they were all wearing multicolour woollen tribe clothing and generally were different in looks and appearance, either way they were still friendly and just smiled, I don't think they could speak any English. Pigs roamed around the side of road and we also had a  couple of issues with dogs chasing us today again, one time quite serious as I had my phone in my hand checking something and was fully clipped in when two dogs bolted out of an house after us. I thought Alex would save the day with his new 120 decibel horn or fend it off with his water bottle but he had other ideas and saved his own skin while I yelled at them and luckily clipped out in time to boot it in the face. I didn't make contact but it got the message anyway. The last thing we need on the last week of the tour is having to rush to an hospital for anti rabies injections amongst other injections and medical treatments.

After the climb the decent down wasn't brilliant as the road wasn't the best but the stunning scenery of rolling hillsides made up for it. We crossed a large bridge over the end of a lake and underneath and at the sides of the bridge were many house boats with family's living on. Further down the road we stopped for a coffee at a small place at the side of the deserted road. When we walked in we couldn't believe it as we met up with a Vietnamese guy called "Chilly" who we met on Day 11 when we stayed over in Kham Duc when he was on his way up to Hoi An with a guy from the UK. Chilly and myself and Alex recognised each other immediately and all of us had a massive grin and shook hands again and couldn't believe it. Chilly had made his way back to his home town of Dalat and picked up two ladies from Holland for his "motorbike tour" up the HCM again, unbelievable how this could happen in such a remote place.  The coffee gave us more energy than we needed and further down the road we actually stopped for a game of badminton with two young guys. It was great fun and those who know me know I play when I get the opportunity. We rolled in to Dam Rong under faded sunlight and it was so remote, the roads were nothing but potholes and puddles and we stopped at the side of the road at some ladies stall and ate rice papers filled with eggs and herbs and bananas deep fried in batter. That's all we could find but after 113ks in a very remote town that was going dark we made best of the situation. We checked into best of two guest houses and its really basic with the hardest bed which resembles a slab of stone. Tomorrow we have a hard day as we hit some new mountain ranges so I have a feeling we will be leaving early anyway.