Day 5: Tinh Gia to Do Luong

We started our day as usual with stretching, but this time led by Heff the gyrating owner of the hotel.

At 92 km today was going to be the longest distance yet, which was a bit intimidating but we set off down Highway 1 knowing just to keep riding straight until we stopped for lunch.  Highway 1 is nice and flat and in fairly good condition but the surrounding landscape is pretty dull and it's full of maniac drivers and trucks.  A couple of team members had some particularly rough experiences caused by idiot drivers, it's difficult not to get pissed off when some 4x4 decides to play a game of chicken with you.

We blitzed along and covered 59 km in about 2.5 hours and stopped for some very tasty lunch of banh mi sot vang (beef stew and fried bread).  It was good to know we didn't have too far to go after lunch as all body parts were tired and aching.  The ride after lunch was a bit more scenic and there were loads of people standing along the side of the road saying hello and cheering us on and lots of kids on bikes keen to race.

We've stayed in a couple of less than pleasant hotels on the trip so it was a relief to arrive at Tai Loc hotel, which is clean and has space to relax and play some games!  Looking forward to a decent night's sleep before a hilly day tomorrow.

        

Words: Amy
Pictures: Mike T and Sydney