It was time to depart Phong Nha for the city of Dong Hoi and I decided to take a slightly longer but (hopefully) more scenic and lightly trafficked back route.
First though, it was time for some tourist shenanigans.
On a trip to the aptly-named ‘Pub With Cold Beer” (situated in the peaceful Bong Lai valley, another popular excursion out of Phong Nha).
A Hanoi expat and her friend told me I just had to visit something called the ‘Duck Stop’. There, mysterious things involving ducks would happen, prompting a lot of laughing at your phone’s photo gallery afterwards.
So off I went to to the duck stop, probably their first customers at 10am in the morning. There I was sat down, given some plastic shoes and offered peanuts and the choice of water, coke or beer (um, no thanks).
Without giving too much away, here are key Duck Stop takeaways:
– Duck bums are surprisingly soft.
– Duck foot massage tickles a lot.
– I shouldn’t pose for photos in bike shorts.
Anyway…
Back roads cycling from Phong Nha to Dong Hoi
Leaving the duck stop behind, I cycle along the Ho Chi Minh road before turning east onto a quiet back route.
This passes peaceful plantations and silent lakes before reaching coastal towns and fishing villages.
Family tombs are a constant feature of the landscape, often painted with horse motifs.
It was a fun and easy route to cycle, but no sooner had I started to smugly congratulate myself than an all-too-familiar type of problem presented itself.
Arriving at the Nhan Trach fishing village, the river bridge longer existed. Nhan Trach was split in half, with a new bridge temptingly close to completion but not yet open.
My only option was to ride back to the main highway, adding around an hour of extra cycling against an annoying headwind and quashing any enthusiasm I had for exploration around the fishing village.
As usual, I consoled myself with an icecream.
Despite all this it was still fun to cruise in to the city of Dong Hoi along the quiet coast road, passing more tombs, and glimpses of beach.
There are signs in Vietnamese pointing to sand dunes ‘Doi Cat’ and I climb up to take a photo. It’s okay but maybe not worth the intense energy needed to climb up a deserted sandy hill, though I imagine in summer families come here to slide down on plastic boards.
Arriving in Dong Hoi I walk out on to the main town beach. Not surprising it is a desolate place in the rainy season, but the evening is still a balmy one and I make the most of it by walking around trying Dong Hoi’s street food specialties.
Having avoided major cities until now and bypassed Hanoi entirely this is really the first regional capital I’ve been to, and I decide to make the most of it to taste some ‘Dong Hoi specialties’, honing in on a zingy chicken salad with a kind of crispy pancake made from fried sticky rice.
Delicious.
Later that evening I join throngs of teenagers along the snack food and barbecue stalls along the waterfront, watching the world go by from a tiny plastic stool.
