Day 19 - Ngoc Hoi(or Plei Can) to Kon Tum

"Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true"

This part of the song has been playing in my head for the whole ride this morning.

To sum up the ride today:
A short ride and very enjoyable
Endless blue skies
White clouds in different shapes and forms
And thousands of green butterflies everywhere

Kon Tum is a nice little city and it's easy to get around. We visited an old wooden church, which is around 3min of cycling from our hotel, and nice little coffee shops facing the river and the range of mountains.

There are several things that I have learned from this trip and I wish to share:

1. Vietnam is BEAU-TI-FUL!! Mind-blowingly beautiful!

2. The ride is not only about physical fitness, it is also about mental fitness. You might have spent months in the gyms preparing for this, but no amount of working out or cycling would prepare you for the mid-day heat without shade, the pouring rain, or the dogs chasing you when you're going uphill with sore legs. It is willpower that keeps the wheels rolling.

3. Sometimes it is better to stop, turn around and be amazed! Sometimes it is better to forget about you and your problems for a moment, to take a look at your surroundings, look at the sky, the river, the mountain, or just to say 'Hi' to people.

4. If you wait for something long enough, it might actually work out in your favour. Around 10 years ago, I was jealous of my friends who studying at ILA, my family could not afford to send me there. I could never have imagined that one day I would be hanging out with these many ILA teachers. And all of those 'fun time' activities that we had after the ride really warmed my heart. Special thanks to my teammates for making 10-year-old-me's dream come true!

5. Travelling with foreigners in your own country is quite an interesting experience. You start to notice a lot of things that you did not notice before. Seeing things that you haven't seen before. Hearing things that you haven't heard before. There are so many of those moments when I could not stop laughing. When I heard the phrase thegioididong "properly" for the first time. When Sabrina translated our street name and hotel name into English, Hai Duong=two sugar, Hai Ba Trung=two three egg. And many more!

6. I will miss this month, April 2018, a lot. I will miss my H2H family so much. I will spend hours and hours in the future looking at the photos, watching Isaac's videos, re-reading the blog posts and re-playing every moment in my head over and over again. There is nothing that I could do to make it not happen. However, I still have 9 more days to live every second of the ride with my H2H family and I will value that!

-Linh