Day 19 - Phu Lam to Ho Chi Minh City

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We set our alarm for 6am and as usual we didn't need it as we were already awake. After a quick shower and change into our cycling clothes we were out and on the road by 06.31 with our sights firmly on reaching Ho Chi Minh City today which was still over 120ks away. The road out of Phu Lam was extremely busy with many motor bikes and kids on electric bikes going to school as they start at 7am in Vietnam. The road was also very busy with many trucks, mini buses and the dreaded buses with madmen drivers who stop for no one.

We stopped for breakfast of the usual Bahn Mi ( baguette with pork, eggs, herbs & spicy sauce ) after just over one hour in and we both had two each which seam to do the trick and fuels us for quite a few hours. The scenery was, well pretty awful really as the road cut through towns and was extremely busy and polluted with fumes from the many veichles on it heading down to Gia Kiem and the main Highway 1. We just kept our head down and peddled on and tried not to think about all the markings on the road we kept going past which means there's been an accident. We have seen this all over Vietnam. When there is an accident the police mark and outline were all the veichles and mainly the motorbikes have crashed and ended up, even were the rider has ended up on the floor!, it's proper scary but the marks were at most junctions and gaps between any central reservation. It's not surprising there are accidents though as the standard of driving and road sense is totally unbelievable and I'm well travelled to many third world countries but Vietnam as to be the worst for road safety I have ever seen. On day one out of Hanoi and up until around a week ago it was just amusing and we sort of laughed and went with the flow, but for the last few days it's started to really irritate me & Alex the way they drive and ride, you can tell we are getting towards the end of tour now and want to get over the line. They don't look out for you, you have to look out for them or you simply will crash or get run over. Motor bikes, cars or trucks  will pull out from side streets or junctions and not even look. Motorbikes will ride against the flow of traffic and blast there horn at you to move. On coming veichles will make a turn in front of you and you have no choice but to stop. I could go on all day.

We stopped for a quick coffee in Gia Kiem and then continued until we reached the main highway 1. You could turn left to go back to Hanoi or right to HCMC. We traveled down highway 1 towards HCMC and this time the road didn't have any shoulder like the times we had previously rode on it. It was pretty scary as the trucks would go in the outside lane but the madmen bus drivers would undertake at speed which would really raise your heart rate a few beats. Today's route we were following was preprogrammed into my Garmin & eventually we turned off highway one to another large road which took us over a large bridge which spans the Dong Nai river. Traffic was backed up for miles and the pollution was absolutely shocking, our eyes were stinging and throats sore and at one stage I put an old rag which I have been wiping sunscreen off my hands with over my face to try to at least filter some fumes so I could breath. It didn't really work as it was approaching 40C so I had to keep removing it to take a drink every few kilometres. Traffic was still mental going into the city centre and we were just fully focused on reaching the hotel as we didn't want to end up as another outline marking on the road surface!

Eventually after 5.33 hrs of riding & 124.54 kilometres today we reached the Silverland Charner hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, what a relief!! We still cannot believe we made the whole trip in one piece & unscathed without even a puncture but our bikes look a total mess. We had cycled over 2037 kilometres in 19 days and spent 97 hours cycling and climbed  16,265 meters in elevation

At some point over the next 24hrs when we have had time to reflect myself & Alex will post separately a new post summary of the tour.














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