Ba Vi to Hoa Binh. A flat, easy rand fairly pleasant route today allows for some swimming pool time at a newly-built hotel with killer views across to the mountains – part of my route to come.
Cycling Ba Vi to Hoa Binh city
I find a second wind and head off from Ba Vi
After spending the previous day battling heat, headwinds and a dodgy stomach, I needed to listen to my body and make this an easier day. I pinpointed a hotel 50 kilometres away, just out of the regional capital of Hoa Binh.
Some ground rules also needed to be set. I would aim to stop and take a proper break every ten kilometres, no matter what. (When cycle touring its easy to give in to the urge to just keep going, only feeling the after effects later).
And that is exactly what I did.
Leaving the guesthouse (the Ba Vi Homestead), I cycled along some pleasant, scenic country streets around the base of Ba Vi mountain, eventually linking on to a long, straight road straight down the Da River.
Cycling the Da River in Ha Noi province
My first stop (right on the ten kilometre-mark) sees me at a specialty shop selling local cow’s milk on tap. It’s a bit sugary, and the venue is clearly designed for mass tour groups, but its nice to have fresh milk all the same since it is a rarity in Vietnam.
I’ve heard a saying from travellers that the “road provides”, and today it gave me exactly what I needed – a long, straight uncomplicated route on mostly very rideable roads.
More stops followed. I sat and drank ice tea by the roadside, coca cola on a deck overlooking the river and sticky rice at a local market. Each interaction a small thread in the travelling experience.
By 1pm I arrived at the very spiffy looking Moonlight Hotel where I ‘splash out’ around $30 AUD for a brand new hotel room with a pool, café rooftop and killer rice field views.
There’s a bit of highway noise, but who cares?
The only problem is that as dinner time approaches I really can’t be bothered leaving the premises to buy food. What to do? I remembered the sicky rice I’d stashed in the fridge, left over from the huge serving I got for lunch.
Xoi Xeo (sticky rice with mung beans and dried shallots) is one of my favourite Vietnamese foods. I don’t think it’s really meant to be served with peanut butter, but that’s exactly what I do, digging in to my ‘emergency’ jar to supplement the stash.
There’s a nice spot to watch the sun set as I eat, though I wondered if I was going to get hungry later.
Anyway, I look over to the mountains and hope I’m ready for tomorrow’s big hill climb.
Snuggling into my comfy hotel room, I switched on some Netflix and started to doze off. But suddenly, around 7pm, there came a tap tap tap sound on the door.
Two of the sweet young staff members stood at the door. “Excuse me, but you are the only guest here and my director would like to invite you to dinner,” the girl said.
I came downstairs where around 16 people were gathered around a large table. A larger than life woman, oozing confidence, asks to me to sit down. This must be the director.
“Do you want beer? Rice wine?” she said. “Oh, no thank you,” I said.
My glass was filled beer and the director chinked my glass.
“Eat!” she said.
As is the style with Vietnamese meals, the table is filled with a bunch of shared dishes, which people serve themselves from piece by piece from as the meal continues.
Or if you are a guest, people tend to serve you.
So, surrounded by good-natured chatter, my bowl is filled with a steady stream of tasty grilled pork, water spinach, chips, and small pickled eggplants (actually one of my favourite foods in northern Vietnam).
Beer keeps refilling my glass.
A huge, delicious banana fritter goes in too, and by this stage I was starting to get rather full. I ask for the vegetable broth (which finishes every meal) as the best way to stop more food making its way into my bowl.
Testing the limits of my Vietnamese the conversation turns to all the wonderful things there are to do in Hoa Binh city, and I start to feel a little chagrined that I’m just passing through. There are boat trips on the lake and a lot of other things… Ok, I don’t understand much but I’m sure it’s a wonderful place and if I ever go back I think at least five people have offered to show me around.
Abruptly, and thankfully, the meal ends and the director pulls me into a small building, gesturing with ring-filled fingers at the wall. There are a lot of plaques and certificates on the wall and I gather the director is the owner of a much larger company.
We then go out and look at the full moon.
The director points at the moon and enthusiastically at the hotel sign.
“Moonlight!!!!” I exclaim.
Maybe I will come back to Hoa Binh one day.
Accomodation: Moonlight Hotel, Hoa Binh
