March 11, 2016
Chapter 4
A good night sleep, an early morning walk in Van Long Nature Reserve, and around 11 a.m. we were on our bikes again. In North Vietnam, it is now the season of mưa xuân, the so called spring rain. Personally, I associate spring with sunny days, plenty of colours and light. I wonder if Vietnamese people have the same association since their spring is often grey weather, drizzle and mist. It has its charm, too. The landscape of karst mountains in Van Long covered in mysterious mist makes me think of Chinese traditional paintings. It is weather that inspires meditation and introspection.
On our day 3 we cycled mainly through some small roads. Finally I could take off my mask and breathe normally. Pleasant and calm ride along rice fields, small villages, forest patches, ascents and descends but nothing too challenging. Wherever we passed everyone was greeting us, waving and shouting ‘hello’! With all this attention and honours, I feel like a champion doing his victory lap. In the two and a half years I have lived in Vietnam, many times have I been perplexed by the Vietnamese hospitality and genuine positive interest towards foreigners. Considering the violent history of occupations and wars, which is still not so long ago, I find this remarkable and beneficial in many ways. I came to believe that one should not easily forget, but definitely forgive.
Problems on the road.
Lilyana’s bike had some issues with the gears. We started early our day and rode 30km to go to the city Thanh Hoa where we were told the address of a good bicycle shop. They fixed the gears and we were in a hurry to go further with our plan. Just as we went out of the city I had a flat tire. Ok, please don’t laugh, but yes, none of us actually knows well (I underline well!) how to take off the rare wheel. We asked google, read some advice and we managed to remove it. We changed the inner tube and as we started pumping it we realised that the pump we brought with us didn’t work. It’s an old pump from Holland, so I trusted it is in good state. But it was damaged and pumping was not possible at all. After a while of vain efforts a van with two guys stopped and offered us help. They took my wheel and tires, went to the village, put some air in and came back. And then for the big problem: we couldn’t fix the wheel back at the bicycle. We tried, the boys tried, more people stopped to help, they tried... and none of us succeeded. We watched youtube videos on the side of the road, followed step by step guides, and though we were doing exactly as shown, there was still a problem. At the end, I left Lilyana waiting there, on the road, while the guys took me back to the bicycle shop in town. There was something stuck and it took a while for the bike mechanics to take it out and put the wheel back.
All these problems took us more than 3 hours from our day. Desperately I was looking at the clock and thinking how little we had cycled. We had the rest of the afternoon and tried to catch up with the program.
It was a difficult noisy bad route, with heavy trucks riding both sides with great speed, houses all along the way. And like that we rode for 50km until the sun started setting down. At the end of the afternoon, we switched to a different road, less busy and noisy. And soon after we reached a beautiful big lake and area with just a few houses. We found a good place to sleep by the side of the lake and our day with problems finished well after all. As I got off the bike I felt like a cowboy getting off his horse after a long day riding in the Wild West. Thick cover of dust lied on my clothes, my face, inside my ears and eyes.
Day 7 & 8
Fatigue slowly settles into our bodies. When we started our 7th day we were already tired from the last 2 days in the mountain. I was thinking to take it easy that day and cycle some 70km and have more time for rest in the evening. We didn’t have that chance. That day we cycled over 100km in very difficult mountain road. The excitement from previous days of going up and down and challenging yourself was gradually declining. The road ahead for the day did offer us nothing but a continuous long ascent, sometimes a steep 10% inclination, sometimes a little less, but hardly any descents and flats. The sun, high humidity and scorching heat were draining our forces. In that beautiful area there are not many villages, little shops, or hotels. Finding some food and water on the way wasn’t easy. Our energy level was very low. We cycled until after it became dark and we started worrying that we can’t find a place to sleep that night. Finally we did find: a poor ugly motel, our room looking more like a disgusting small bunker than anything else. We didn’t have a choice. Night was falling and our legs couldn’t hold us any longer. We took it.
In a rush to get out of that place, we started the morning after extra early. The goal for our 8th day was to get to the Phong Nha Ke-Bang National Park. It was some 75km away and one way or another, cycling, walking, pushing, crawling, we were going to get there. We cycled.
In the night, the mind revisited the body and sent me some calls of distress. Getting on the bike again early morning after the exhaustion from the previous days was a bitter experience. I peddled the first 15 minutes thinking that it feels like starting the engine of a very old car. Everything works, but slowly and painfully, without a spark. Then your muscles warm up again and the machine gets into action.
We entered the Phong Nha Ke-Bang National Park from the North. As we were climbing up the mountain, the park welcomed us with magnificent primary forest and breathtaking views. Silence, sound of birds, a black eagle flew low just over me. We were distracted by the majestic landscape and the weariness seemed less present. Early afternoon, it started raining and the wind got stronger. When you have a steep ascent, you are on a bike with 15kg luggage, you don’t see much because of the rain, AND you have the wind blowing against you... you grin, pant and push through it.
We arrived in the village of the Phong Nha Ke-Bang late afternoon. We had booked a homestay there from the day before. After a week on the road, finally a simple but spotless clean room and the great luxury of hot water. What a pleasure to have a warm shower and treat yourself with western food! Rest.