The hotel wasn’t great and the smell of the bathroom turned me right off. A 7:30am start was in order. We wouldn’t be seeing many towns today but I’d still expect plenty of food along the way.
I stopped for a coffee where the nice people had a young child and a baby kitten. They were so nice. And the Nescafe ? Not great …
So, the hunt was on for a decent coffee. Miles had gone up the road and turned off but hadn’t found a cafe. Meanwhile I’d ridden ahead searching too. It’s amazing how Vietnamese coffee culture gets you in.
About ten kilometres later I stopped at a coffee shop run by a lovely couple. The other patrons started up a conversation, with one of them speaking perfect English. The coffee was traditional vietnamese filter coffee so it was worth the search.
Unfortunately, they had no food, so the lady gave me a packet of brioche and biscuits. Do I look undernourished ? Miles arrived and partook and as we left the lady slipped a small packet of biscuits into my bag. They refused to charge me for all but the coffee, so I refused to accept any change when paying. Absolutely lovely people.
Today was a ride of two halves. The first half was really nice but on a fairly busy road with plenty of trucks. They gradually thinned out after our stop though. The second half was on quiet roads through increasingly beautiful countryside.
We made our way to a homestay run by an amazing young lady. She directed me to the local waterfall which was nice, but it seems to me the water source for many, so there were lots of plastic pipes which really spoilt the beauty of the area. The locals were concreting and improving the path, so I’d expect some sort of tourist facilities here soon. But those pipes …
Dinner was a pizza at the homestay.
