Day 17: Rest day in Kham Duc

Thoughts from the ride continued:

We survived the killer days after Hue. All of those terrible “mountains.” I know I said they don't exist. I know I said the land was flat. I know I accused all previous riders of maintaining the lie. Well...I made it. I've been indoctrinated, become one of them, so must now continue the tradition.

The mountains were very big…*cough.

The roads were steep…*snicker.

Never again will I face such an extreme physical and mental challenge…*wink.

Did that sound convincing? Good. I'd hate to be kicked out of the club for saying something silly like: “It's all a scam! There are no mountains! We all had a lovely ride and never needed our granny gears.” That would just be awful.

Now that that has been addressed, on with the blog!

Before I tell you about our second rest day I must first recount an incident from two days before. Let me set the scene: Halfway between A Luoi and P’Rao, looming storm clouds, lightning, thunder, the threat of rain, a welcome descent in a day of climbing imaginary mountains. Andrea and I were waiting for the storm ahead to move a little further along its course. We still had 54 kilometers remaining of our 105 for the day. We decided to press on and re-evaluate if the lightning continued to worsen.

I took the lead and rode my way down with Andrea behind. The road turned left and I turned with it. It seemed the sensible thing to do. There was mud stretching across my path. There were four goats on the right side of the road. As I crossed over the mud all four goats chose this moment to leap in front of my bike. Instead of plowing directly into a family of goats, something a vegan could definitely lose points for, I swerved quickly around them. My bike skidded on the surface of the road, wet from the mud, and flew forward. I was thrown from my bike and landed on my butt. I would have gotten a good wallop on my head if not for my helmet. Safety first, kids!

Andrea rode around the turn and saw me in the road. I was up immediately, relatively uninjured, and we even took the opportunity to take a video of me accusing the goats of being little jerks. They were still mocking me from the roadside. “Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

It was then that I decided to pause the audiobook that was still playing in my ear. I took my phone out of my kit pocket and saw with dismay, a very cracked screen. The LCD screen behind the glass was flashing in ways it shouldn't flash and made the phone just a tad bit impossible to operate. Darn goats.

My very sad phone

Despite the setback, we got back on our bikes and finished that ride. It was long and difficult (Or short and easy. I'm really having a hard time remembering which is the lie now) but very rewarding.

Okay, that should catch you up to my situation at the beginning of our rest day. I was sore and in need of phone repair.

Rest day

We awoke well rested. Some more so than others. A late night of Cards Against Humanity, spoons (with chopsticks), and general merriment making left a few a little worse for the wear. But it was rest day and we had all the time in the world.

Interesting dishes

I breakfasted on fried noodles and veggies at the hotel. It was greasy and delicious, everything a breakfast should be. It was then time for the mission of the day: get Patrick’s phone fixed. Several of us set off to withdraw money from the only two ATMs in town (spoiler alert: neither worked) and I decided to check out some cell phone places on the way.

Our resident ninja, hero, all around lovely person and badass Loc walked with me to the first shop. I showed my phone and she asked if they could fix it. They looked at it, noted the brand (Motorola is not a common phone here) and shook their heads. We tried another store just across the street. They shook their heads. Another? They said no. A fourth? Sorry, they couldn't fix it either. Fifth? Sixth? How many cell phone stores could there be in this town? The answer is a lot. And none of them could offer a solution.

We ended up at one store that didn't immediately shut us down. The owner called phone shops in Da Nang and Thanh My. He scoured the surrounding countryside for possible solutions. We waited with a tinge of hope. It was to no avail. No one anywhere around us had the replacement screen for my model of phone. I was out of luck. I would be without a phone.

This would not do. I needed a phone for the remainder of the trip. I must be reachable in case of emergency. I need to be able to call for help. I need to be able to take pictures of water buffaloes. I need to be able to post said water buffalo pictures to Facebook and beg for donations to my Just Giving page. These are things that I need to be able to do. I resolved to buy a new phone.

I made note of several models and prices from the various stores around town and decided to do a little research before committing. So, part of my rest day afternoon was spent scouring reviews and checking out specs. I ultimately landed on what I believe to be a solid entry level smartphone that would set me back 1.8 million Vietnamese Dong, or about 77 USD. It launched in Uganda in March and has been very well received. I couldn't possibly make that up. I would buy the phone later that evening but had other important matters to attend to first.

As many readers will know, this month brings us the premiere of the final season of Game of Thrones. This month-long ride coincides with the first two episodes. So, several of us had another mission on our rest day in Kham Duc.

I have a VPN that lets me view content only available in the US. I also have access to a generous friend's HBO Now account. I possessed all the ingredients to a delightful viewing on my IPad Mini. This, of course, would not do for the premiere.

Naomi, Loc, Justene and I gathered in Naomi's single room. I logged into all of the pertinent accounts on Justene’s computer and we attempted to Chromecast (yes, Naomi travels with a Chromecast dongle for just such an occasion) the episode to the room’s television. After many technical difficulties and much effort, it worked!

Sort of.

The audio was still coming out of the laptop and the video on the television was delayed. This wouldn't do at all. We couldn't want him Jon Snow star in a poorly dubbed Kung Fu movie.

We ventured forth from the hotel and walked to the nearest electronics store. We acquired an hdmi cable. We even took a nice picture with it. Don't you always take pictures when buying cables and electronic accessories?

Happy bunch of GOT fans

Naomi was nice enough to lend her room for the screening

A theater like experience

We went back to the hotel. The cable wouldn't work in Justene’s older MacBook, so I went through all the pertinent logging in on Naomi’s newer MacBook. Lots of pertinent logging in. We connected the cables to the television. Huzzah! Success! We had the first episode of season 8 in all its glory.

The next hour consisted of Starks, Lannisters, Dragons, and general Westeros shenanigans. It was also full of butter cookies, banana chips, banana chips dipped in peanut butter and Oreos dipped in peanut butter. Amazing! It was a delightful way to spend the afternoon of a rest day.

Of course, it wasn't all Thrones and phones. Bikes were washed and chains relubed. Laundry was done. Food stores were replenished. James and I also managed to fit in a viewing of Kung Fu Panda 3. It was a good day.

I did buy my new phone that evening. It's not the best phone. But it works. And if the goats allow, it shall continue to do so.

Tomorrow we would be back on the road.

-Patrick