Day 23 - Buon Me Thuot to Lien Son (49km)

With our last rest day complete, this was the first day of a 5-day long home run to HCMC. Everyone was in high spirits because of the large amount of western food we had consumed over the past 48 hours and because we all knew that the only thing between us and our next destination was a ‘easy’ 49 km cycle.

There really wasn't anything to complain about on this ride. Seen as though we are now ‘expert’ cyclists, 49 km was a piece of cake and it took us around 3 hours to get to Lien Son - including a compulsory coconut and hammock-time relaxation stop. When we reached Lien Son, the first thing on or mind was food. Which unfortunate little restaurant could we take over with our enormous presence, humongous appetites and our terrible Vietnamese?

After some delicious rice, pork, vegetables and egg, it was time for a bit of ‘culture’… Resparc style. Natalie Resparc is the fitness guru of the H2H, so it was obvious that her culture day was going to involve fitness. Exactly what we need to have more of on this ride! Resparc introduced us to the world of kickball, which is basically rounders (which WAS invented BEFORE baseball) with your feet for all of you non-American / Canadians. Even though we were melting in the sun, we had cows very close to a number of players, the rules caused many disagreements and we were playing with a Barbie beach ball, it was an awesome afternoon. It was also the biggest sporting event in Lien Son had ever seen and we had over 20 spectators. May be we should have charged them and put the money towards our fundraising?

After stuffing our faces with delightful 4,000 vnd banh xeos from a lovely little street lady, it was an early night for the H2H team because we know that we NEVER get 2 ‘easy’ days in a row.

Words - Claire Lormor
Pictures - Isaac Luchini