We've been riding the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Highway 14 portion, for the past 6 days or so. It took us 1.5 days to escape the rain of the coast but after a 40 km climb with several 10% grade portions we broke out into sunshine and it's been pretty much that way ever since. A bit cloudy the past two days off and on but no rain which has been a great relief.
The only drawback has been the heavy traffic and constant honking of the horns. I'm pretty much convince that the horns are on all the time and they just press a button to shut them off. This road, compared to Highway 1 on the coast, is narrow with not much of a shoulder and the drivers are just plain crazy: passing on hills and the bigger the vehicle the greater your percentage of someone yielding. The Seward Highway back home is quite tame by comparison.
The country side has been spectacular: very heavy agriculture with lots of cassava, coffee, greens, fruits, potatoes etc and everything seems to be in harvest mode which may account for some of the traffic. We are now in Ban Mon Thout ( or similiar ) and getting a much needed shower after 6 days on the road. Tomorrow we head for Dalat, about a 3-4 day ride, where we will take another break before heading to the coast and bussing it to Hanoi. Apparently the train has been booked for some time for the whole month of January and TET (Vietnamese NY).
I'm sure Vietnam is a great place to bike ride IF you know the backroads and have a GPS, neither of which is in our arsenal at this time. The food has been good, not really interesting, but good. It's been good to cook our own food at supper and have some potatoes or pasta for a change from the rice and chicken.
Highway 8 into the country was spectacular. There are so many different sections of the HCM trail it's no wonder we couldn't shut it off!! The history and seeing many familar names has been interesting for me. We've seen many young people and many older folks but not many of the age that would have fought in the "American War". No wonder....
No comments:
Post a Comment