March 5, 2016
Chapter 1
Day 1
I started my 2016forVietnam journey early morning on the 3d of March. By my side, my travel friend Lilyana. The Vietnamese day with all its hustle and bustle starts early, too. It seems like one can never leave early enough and avoid the heavy traffic and air pollution. And so, we had our share bit. By the time we were out of the city, more than two hours have passed. In the struggle to find the way out, to balance our loaded bikes amongst the millions of motorbikes, cars, buses, to simply breathe, my wish to do a long cycling trip like this has almost vanished. Fortunately, this is only valid for the way out of the capital city.
Further on the traffic was not so dense, although riding a bicycle remained for the whole day somewhat stressful. House next to a house, little street cafes and restaurants everywhere, and like that for hours. As our overnight stop I thought of following the suggestion of a fellow cyclist and stay in Cho Ben village. We were there earlier than expected, we found that the nha nghi (guesthouse)/karaoke was a filthy noisy hole, so we went further on a few kilometers and found a simple clean place to stay. We ate a copious and most delicious dish of com rang, and the first day out of many more to come, was completed.
Day 2
On our second day we got up at sunrise and went for a coffee and banh mi sandwich in the village. As we were paying the bill, the owner of the cafe offered us a glass of his home made rice brandy. He insisted, we couldn’t refuse... We laughed, drank our brandy at 6 a.m. and off we went.
My plan for the day was to get to the Dragon Boat Rock homestay, nearby Ninh Binh Province. It was not a very long ride, so I spontaneously decided to add a small challenge and explore the area. I chose to go to Cuc Phuong National Park, the oldest national park in Vietnam, founded by Ho Chi MInh himself. I know the park well, I’ve been there many times. The beautiful nature, the sound of forest birds, the calm and the fresh air, it is a place it has a lot to offer, especially to two cyclists fed up with the road dust and constant piercing honking of the trucks. But everything comes with a price. :) It appeared that the road to get there was juuust a little hilly. In fact, a lot hilly. As I improvised a plan to go there, I failed to check the terrain map. A lesson I will remember for next days.
That second day was all the opposite of the first. We spent lots of time on small roads, passed by villages and rice fields, enjoyed a walk amongst the ancient trees of Cuc Phuong and finally arrived in our homestay. Although Lilyana will curse me for a while for this detour, I found it an interesting experience and a good test for my physical condition and bike.
Dragon Boat Rock homestay wasn’t exactly on our way to HCMC. I chose to go there for it is a lovely place, run by a friend of mine, Sabine. Moreover, it is located just a few kilometers from the Van Long Nature Reserve, a picturesque site famous as the ‘terrestrial Ha Long Bay’, or if you wish the ‘bird paradise’, as you can see special birds for North Vietnam. I take the opportunity to thank Sabine for sheltering us and supporting my project.