After eight days of continuous cycling, spirits were pretty
high in the morning as we knew what was awaiting us at the end of this day.
REST DAY NUMBER 2. Chris, Jacqui and I were awoken by Andrea with her daily
routine of playing music at around 6am. This definitely helped me arise and get
ready for the day despite the fact that ‘Party in the USA’ made it onto the
playlist at some point. (Yes I did just add that to shame Andrea for possessing
that song). After our regular routine of eating breakfast at 7am, stretching at
7.30am and doing things that we should’ve done already like buying water and
fixing punctures, at 8am, we were soon on the road.
With only around 80km to cycle today, it was pretty manageable
in comparison to some of the days we’d had before, but the mix of the blazing
morning sun, an uphill climb straight away, not having enough for breakfast and
the constant cycling of the previous eight days soon made me start to flag. The
conditions of the road were not ideal, with tons of construction and graveled
roads and manic truck drivers pushing us off the roads. However, the whole day
was also contrasted with a constant stream of migrating butterflies fluttering
across the road. This didn’t really make much difference to someone as grumpy
as me, but to the more positive thinking riders amongst such as Natasha
Fitzgerald I’m sure it would’ve made her day even more “amazing and delightful”.
About 20k into the ride my chain came off my bike. There was
only one thing to do. Call Super Chuong. This year we have been really lucky
with our bike mechanic Chuong who sits in the back van waiting for inevitable bicycle blunders
and mishaps to happen. Not only can he fix any problem on any bike at any time,
he has gone way beyond his job description on this ride acting as a translator
for us numerous times, entertaining the children at the orphanage, and helping
me work my gas stove to name a few. This is why the team have nicknamed him
Super Chuong. After fixing my bike in just a few minutes I continue to the
lunch stop halfway along the ride.
After lunch we have only 40k to ride until our long awaited
and well deserved rest day in BMT. And even better news, only 4k is uphill and
the rest of the ride is a gradual descent. The kilometres start going down
really quickly. With only 20k to go I catch up with Helen, Natasha and Annabel
who are stopped by the side of the road again waiting for Super Chuong to
change an inner tube, amazingly they have already taken off the damaged inner
tube which Chuong had shown them the day before. Whilst we are waiting for
Chuong, a local man comes across the road with a white and brown dotted lizard
on a fishing rod. Natasha uses her Vietnamese skills to find out that the
lizard is 5 years old (we later find out that he actually said he is going to
sell it for 50,000 dong). We did consider his offer as it was a bargain at that
price but the lizard seems a little aggressive and probably wouldn’t make a
positive contribution to the team.
The descent in BMT feels great and not only is 36 hours of
not riding a bike at the end of our day but something else that has equally
been anticipated, KFC!!! Well as the only vegetarian in the group, I couldn’t
quite share everyone’s excitement, but I did tuck into some French fries and a
hot apple pie. After days of eating rice, meat and eggs, the opportunity of KFC
was too good to miss for most. After a quick shop in Coopmart, I stocked up on
Snickers and pasta and we make it to our hotel at around 3pm.
We have showers and naps to rejuvenate for the night. Andrea
tells us about the restaurant she went to last year and we decide that’s where
we want to eat. We call a taxi to take us there, 2 left turns and 30 seconds
later we realize we’re at the restaurant. The meter hasn’t even moved from it’s
8,000 dong starting number. Rob and I feel so embarrassed by the fact that we
got in the cab for this we decide to pay the driver more than double the fare.
We continue the night with copious amounts of beer, rice wine and vodka,
responsibly of course. Paul ‘The Claw’ Cordier gets into his usual habit at the
dinner table of trying to propose a toast every 5 minutes. This is one of his
few vices along with “fine wining and dining”. Good times are had by all
knowing the fact that we can get up at whatever time we want tomorrow.
Words and photos by Luke Chesters
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