It was time for some real exercise again: today I have to do
125 km in order to reach Phan Thiêt. I set of and felt really good on my
bicycle: the road was good (a little bit up and down) and the scenery was
beautiful. After 20 km the quality of the road deteriorated, there were a lot
of bridges; before and after every bridge are potholes and bumps so I have to
slow down to 5 km an hour every time. It hurt but the view was well worth it so
I kept going. 10 km further I stopped for something to eat; when Im cycling I
easily eat 6 mains a day just to keep up the energy that I use and still
sometimes that isnt enough Anyway I asked for directions since this
roundabout was not on my map and there were no signs. The guy told me to go left
so after my meal I turned left. After 6 km I ended up at a spa resort! I was at
some hot springs, definitely not the right road. I asked directions again and
they said to go back to the roundabout and go left (which means that I should
have went straight where I ate). Vietnamese and directions, it simply doesnt
work!!! Anyway I turned back and after this detour of 12 km I was back on
track. I wanted to make up for the lost time so I pushed a little harder and by
noon I was back on schedule! I treated myself for lunch: I just asked her to
recommend me something and turned out I got a fried fish that just melted on my
tongue, ooh yes this is the food I like! During lunch I considered my options
for the next part and noticed that I wasnt on schedule after all, it was 1 pm
and I still had 68 km to go! I decided to make that 69 and go past the main highway
because that should be in better condition. The road towards the highway was
very hilly and every time it turned towards a very high mountain which in my
thoughts became the mountain of doom. When I got to highway 1 I saw that the
highway went up this mountain for quite a bit Time for a break :P. After the
break I climbed the mountain and it was ok, it felt like riding up a bridge;
but then a very long bridge. The rest of the highway went through dragon fruit
plantations and for those who dont know it: its my favourite fruit out here.
Not only the colour is very nice, its also refreshing and easy to eat, ooh
lovely. By the time it got dark I reached Phan Thiêt, now I had to find the
supermarket because that is where I would meat my host for tonight. The uncle
of my cousins lived here and he said I could sleep there. I asked around but
nobody seemed to understand the word supermarket or even with my phrasebook
they didnt want to send me in the right direction. This is the problem when a
town gets touristy: the people become less friendly :(. I just followed the
main road and at the other side of the city I found the supermarket so after
some phonecalls my host came to pick me up. The family is very nice and I got
my own room with a bed. I first took a shower because I was really tired: 137
km! Then we went for dinner and afterwards for a drink in a very nice bar.
Afterwards he asked if I wanted to go and drink some rice wine with his friends
but I thankfully refused and went to bed.
The smell of the big city in the morning, hmm delicious! I
walked around the roads at 5.30 in search for breakfast; found a very nice
street restaurant selling Bun Bo Hue (with some accents on the vowels, but to
hard to pronounce) Then I walked further to the minibus office and at 6.15 my
bus left for Vung Tau, the ride takes 3 hours so I fell asleep; waking up and
remembering the streets we were on. We followed the same route as I did a few
days ago from Bien Hoa to Vung Tau. Falling asleep again and waking up in Vung
Tau; completely disoriented since we entered via a different road and Id never
been there. I tried to explain him that I wanted to go to Hodeco Place (the apartment
complex where Mai lives) but he didnt understand me or didnt know it. After
pronouncing it 9 times with all the different tones I could imagine I gave up
and just said: Co.op supermarket. He knows the supermarket down the building!
When we arrived I showed him the huge sign: HODECO PLACE and he just laught at
me, pointing towards the small sign: Co.op Vietnamese are so strange :(.
Anyway I went to pick up my luggage and we were off to
grandmothers place where I had to have lunch. Quyen already picked up my
trousers, they had a lot of food and water for my trip and there was a meal
fitted for a feast! After the lunch I loaded the trailer and with the entire
neighbourhood watching I left Vung Tau, flanked by two motorbikes. Some people
were going with me however I had no clue until where With one motorbike
leading and one following me, I reached my top speed and even the bridges didnt
slow me down! I reached an average speed of 25 km/h for the first hour, so I
asked for a break. There were drinks and laughter so I guess we were fine!
After 3 km back on the bike we stopped again: there was a restaurant with a
local specialty and Quyen didnt have lunch (dont know the reason, there was
plenty). If I had known, I wouldnt have asked for the first stop The food was
incredibly tasty: some kind of rice wrapper that you could make with spring
rolls, pork, salad, cucumber, tomato, soy shoots, After the meal one motorbike
went back to Vung Tau, the other one was still following. Even the rain didnt
make Mai, Quyen and Tin turn around their motorbike, but when it was 4 pm the
sun began to lower and I was 3 km from the city where I would spend the night
she said that they would go back. I still think its strange, but it was nice
to have them around.
Today I woke up early without any reason so I
already packed all my luggage and waited until Mai would wake up to go and get
breakfast and then bring me to the boat. Once in HCMC I first looked for
transport to Vung Tau for the next morning but the boat was already fully
booked until 10 am (seems a little late to me). I found a minibus service which
runs 24/7 so I just had to turn up there the next morning and will have to wait
for maximum 30 minutes before it leaves. So be it The next thing was a place
to sleep, the first hotels I tried were a bit above my budget so I kept
looking. Finally I found a very decent place (with a hot shower) in a touristy
area. I found myself a map and booked a water-puppet show for the evening (I
wanted some traditional music performance and this was the only performance
with traditional music) well its been 9 years since I saw one, so I guess it
would have changed. Anyway I walked around town with one goal: see as much of
Saigon before 5.30 as possible. This really worked: I saw tons of buildings, a
dozen statues, 4 parks, a museum, a traditional arts exhibition and a
eco-architecture exhibition! Then I went to relax in the park to see the people
exercise. After 15 minutes an old guy walks up to me showing one of the
shuttles and doing the gesture that he wants to play with me. I had been hoping
to join in such a game for quite a while, but all the people I saw using it are
pretty good so I never dared While we were playing more and more people were
joining, some of which were pretty good at it and loved to show off. I tried to
do their tricks as well, but mostly failed which made them laugh Then I
learned how to climb a tree in style: the guy that did it was doing some Kung
Fu like stuff before he joined and now that the shuttle was stuck in a tree, it
was time for him to show off. He just jumped, grasped a branch with one arm and
with a swing he threw himself onto another branch (standing up a meter above
the branch he had been hanging on before). I was amazed and before I knew it I
was applauding for him which encouraged him to show off more! He did some
things that youd see on television with the line dont try this at home
under it. I dont have to tell you that he got the shuttle out within a few
minutes It was soon time for me to go to the water puppets performance where I
enjoyed the spectacle and the music; there indeed was a live 6 headed band who
were also doubling as the voices of the puppets Completely satisfied I went for
dinner and afterwards for a beer in a local bar.
These 3 days I spent in Vung Tau: the first day it was still
raining (it never stopped since last night). All the streets were flooded so I
stayed inside and bought a detailed road atlas of Vietnam. Its not the newest
edition, but it has every town and quite a lot of roads on it so thats what I
need. This day I would just call a day of eating: a long breakfast prepared by
Mai, a lunch of 1.5 hours at grandmothers, a snack at 3, dinner, dessert and
of course fruit during the entire day!
The next day it was better: the weather was good, I was
allowed to make breakfast (French toast), we went for a drink with a friend of
Mai, went for a motorbike ride along the beach, played with the smallest cousin
Tin (and the rest of the cousins while dinner was being prepared or after
dinner) and of course ate a lot. In the evening we had a skype appointment with
my mom about the progress of Trams ear and just an update of my travel and the
family. My mom couldnt get the webcam, nor the microphone working so it became
an MSN session with my webcam on
The next morning we would have breakfast with
the friend of Mai, but I overslept and apparently she doesnt dare to wake me
up. At 8 I finally woke up and we went to have breakfast just the two of us
Afterwards we went to pick up grandmother, Tin and one of the twins (cant
remember the names but I think it was Thui or how it is spelled) and went to
church. It was a holy day and thus a special ceremony: we arrived half an hour
before it started and couldnt even stand inside. There were so many people! I
made a rough estimation afterwards and I think it was close to 600 or 700
people! Imagine that in Belgium And imagine what a devotion that gives when
they all start to sing or speak together In Belgium this is never synchronised
as some people say the words fast and others say it slow but here it stays
understandable; the experience was incredible however I didnt understand a
word besides Chuà and Amen. After that it was time to have lunch but we still
stopped over at Lois place for a drink and to say hi. Lunch existed out of
soup, everyone got a normal sized bowl except for me. They put a bowl out of
which the soup is normally served in front of me with a spoon and chopsticks in
it. I thought it was a joke but when they all started and signed that I had to
start too, well I ate as well Luckily I was very hungry so I could finish it
all, you should have seen their faces when I did. However this wasnt such a
good idea as now they expected me to eat even more! For dinner I got 5 servings
of rice and a lot of spring rolls, fish balls, fried fish, steamed fish,
vegetables, fried shrimps (yes there was a lot of food) Between lunch and
dinner I went to get some pants made and to buy my boat ticket to HCMC for the
next morning. There was still some time before we would go to church again and
we took Tin to the playground (Ive never seen a kid that is afraid of a swing,
it made me laugh) After the playground we took a walk along the beach to eat
an ice-cream and then we went for a snack; yes time to eat again. Then we went
to church which was an open-air ceremony and Xuan had to play the keyboard
while May (their mother) was singing. There was a lot of music and we even got
a paper with the lyrics so after rehearsing the songs a few times I could sing
along. This really impressed Mai and I had to sing before dinner :(. Time for
another skype appointment, this time my dad was home and for some strange reason
it worked this time
I woke up early this morning and went back to the student
restaurant across the street for breakfast; the menu is pretty strange: they
have a menu but everything I asked was unavailable so I just pointed to a pot
and when he said the name I found out that it was not on the menu. The people
are very friendly here and the meals are definitely good value! My day started
good and I went to the book store without the trailer, I found a map and took
of to Vung Tau. If everything goes well Ill be with the family tonight! I
loaded the trailer and by 8 am I was ready to leave I was very happy that they
drew me a map last night because the city was pretty tricky and there were some
hills (every hill I only went up once!!!) After an hour driving mostly uphill I
was out of the city and to celebrate I stopped at a bar for a fruit shake. The
girl who owned the place was very friendly and I got a delicious passion-fruit
juice (she understood me wrong ). With that I also got some water; it turned
out I drank more than a liter there but it just felt so good: almost frozen
bottled water and she kept refilling :P. When I wanted to leave she gave me a
remember me present: a passion fruit! I was happy and the next hill felt like
nothing. In the descent of that hill I passed a woman and child on a motorbike
who kept driving besides me for an hour! It was nice because the traffic was
busy and she made sure they didnt hit my trailer again She didnt speak a
word of English though so it was a strange silence with some gestures and names
of a city once in a while. Anyway I was quite happy that she left because that
meant that I could take another break ;-). This time there was a delicious cold
coconut waiting for me! So lovely!!! I checked the map and I noticed that I was
good on schedule, I would definitely reach Vung Tau tonight, this taught gave
me new energy and I went even faster. I couldnt really go full speed because
of all the traffic: busses, trucks, motorbikes and everything else that goes on
a road was racing past or I was racing past them! By 3 pm I reached Ba Ria,
which is the last city before Vung Tau; only 25 km left but then I ran out of
luck The rain was very heavy and the wind was in the wrong direction :(. I
first had a drink, but it was still raining; I went for a meal and after that
it was over so I continued. Now I was driving as fast as I could because the
clouds were looking bad, really bad. Only 5 km further it started to rain
again, I had the choice to stop again but it would probably keep going for the
rest of the evening. So I tightened the plastic cover over my trailer and just
got wet Totally soaked I arrived in Vung Tau and my mobile wasnt working
anymore; luckily I still remember the streets and I soon arrived at Mais apartment.
However I forgot the floor and number I decided to try and make my way to the
grandmothers place and after checking out 2 wrong streets I arrived. At first
they were angry at me for arriving wet and they were pretty worried (as always)
but then they were happy to see me and I could take a shower and change. They
called Mai and a nice meal was prepared, a very, very nice meal; I ate as if I
hadnt eaten for days. Then I went on the back of Mais motorbike and we
arrived at the apartment again. I would be staying here for the next few days
Today
I cycled from the village where I stayed to the border, which isnt very far
but it was my last day in Cambodia and I wanted to take it easy. I was lucky
because it was the highday of the holidays so everyone had time After barely 5
km of cycling I was invited for a drink and something to eat at some locals
home. They gave me sticky rice with meat and nuts inside And then we had a
nice conversation about the holiday and the local customs while having some
tea. It was very interesting but I had to get going again if I wanted to make
it to the border. 15 km further a tuk-tuk driver drove next to me to train his
English. He is a very nice guy and after 5 km of talking, he invited me in his
home. I could see how they prepared the meal for the monks for the holiday. It
was very interesting and like any cooking event I got to try all the food which
was really nice. I learned a new recipe for pumpkin and pork Meanwhile the
entire family was preparing themselves for the temple: they had a shower,
changed in their traditional clothes and then the tuk-tuk was loaded. I was
getting interested in the ceremony so I asked if I could join, he said there
was absolutely no space on the tuk-tuk but if I wanted I could cycle with him.
I left the trailer there and of I went, following the tuk-tuk through the rice
paddies and the dirtroads, some beautiful scenery and the usual kids that say
hi. This time I got even more weird looks like: what is he doing here? but
then in a very friendly way. At the temple I had to follow him and just do
everything after him Then he showed me around the temple and even introduced
me to the head-monk :o. I was honoured! After the first 3 songs of traditional
music and dancing I left (it was already past noon and I only did 25 km thus
far). But the experiences I had were totally worth all the delay! At around 4
oclock, I arrived at the border and checked in at a local guesthouse. Ready to
go to Vietnam the next morning!
9th of October 2010
I woke up without any reason at 5 am while
thinking that it was already 8. My mobile is broken due to the heat under the
plastic of the trailer. And that is my only personal source of time besides my
laptop. Luckily the border opens at 6 am so after having breakfast and checking
out the environment I loaded my trailer and set of for Vietnam!!! The border
passing went smoothly until one of the guys told me that he had to check my
luggage. He doesnt know how carefully balanced I loaded the trailer this
morning? Anyway I took my small bag and went back in for the security check;
when I came back out, there was nobody around so I quickly put the bag back on
the trailer and drove off At first
sight it looked still the same, but after 15 km, the differences became clear:
the people live completely different. I entered the territory of the Cao Dai
religion but that is not all, you can see that they are better of here: they
have machines to work the land, they have electric scooters which are getting
pretty popular, people are constantly working, Today I wanted to reach Ho Chi
Minh, but for that I needed a map. I entered a lot of bookshops, gas stations,
supermarkets but nowhere I could find a map of Vietnam. In a bar where I
stopped I could take a glimpse at the map and saw that it would be better to go
to Bien Hoa instead of Ho Chi Minh City. This way I would avoid the totally
crazy traffic of the big city and I would take a shortcut as well To find the
road to Bien Hoa was more tricky than I would have ever imagined: I knew that
Vietnamese arent good at directions but this was really bad. I took 3 times
the wrong turn from the main road and when I got to the city before Bien Hoa I
arrived at the same hilltop for 4 times and from all directions there is a sign
careful slope of 10%. A bridge is difficult with a trailer but a steep slope
is just dying! Ill have to get used to that if I want to go to Hanoi Anyway
at 15 km from Bien Hoa it started to rain so I took a brake and went for something
to eat. I had a delicious grilled chicken! After an hour the rain almost
stopped and I continued to my destination. Once in the city I went for dinner
in a student restaurant: the perfect spot to get information in a country where
barely anyone speaks English. They advised me a hotel which I would have never
found (everything in Vietnamese only) but I have a phrasebook and after 5
minutes I got a cheap room. Well I paid slightly more than a normal Vietnamese
but that is because they arent allowed to house foreigners At the restaurant
I also got directions to a book shop where they should have a map and
directions to Vung Tau. I was pretty tired and had a long ride to Vung Tau
tomorrow so I went to bed early after calling my cousin (it was her birthday today).
