I leave the coast and strike inland, starting an amazing three-days on a scenic part of the Ho Chi Minh Road. A local bus journey is more challenging than I thought, and I stop to eat fruit – lots of fruit along the way.
Ha Tinh province: back roads and the Ho Chi Minh Highway
But first… escaping the coast
As the sixth bus in a row refused to pick me up I started to have some doubts about my plan.
Not surprisingly it was my bicycle causing issues… and my grand plan to hitch a lift from the side of Highway One and fast-forward to the lush inland jungles was not looking good.
In fact, I’d all but given up when a nice guy came out of nowhere and asked what I was doing. “Trying to catch a bus to Vinh City” I said, “but it’s not possible”.
He pointed to a bus approaching, and I waved to it limply, more to humour him than anything else. Surely it would not stop.
The bus slowed, my new guardian angel said something to the driver, and – before I knew it – I was being bundled on to the bus. It was a sleeper bus fitted out with two levels of flat beds.
This sounds luxurious but the reality (on this particular vehicle) was anything but. Anyway, I bargained the ticket price down from extortionate to merely overpriced (400,000 dong), and refused the offer of an unwashed blanket. Two hours and 80km later
A last coastal sunrise
It had been a lovely morning already. I’d left at 5.30am, picked up breakfast banh my in the market, then cycled 12 km through beautiful countryside. The sun rose over fishing boats and kids made their way to school. By 10.30am I was ready to start cycling again.
Cycling back roads from Vinh to the Ho Chi Minh road
Starting just south of Vinh in the town of Hong Linh, I’d only cycled for about five minutes when delicious smells brought me screeching to a stop. Soon I was sitting in a casual bun cha eatery shovelling ultra-delicious grilled burger patties into my mouth along with piles of herbs and vermicelli noodles, with a peanut satay sauce on the side. Fabulous.
From there the scenery got better and better as I cut inland on the surprisingly scenic DT5.
In stark contrast to the North, the landscape here was bone dry, a reminder of just how complicated Vietnam’s patterns are. Gone were the constant puddles and potholes, and didn’t miss them.
Vu Quang meal stop: was that first lunch… or third breakfast???
By the time I pulled into the town of Vu Quang for lunch, second breakfast was a lifetime away.
I found a rice eatery with a larger than life family who filled up the room with infectious laughter, peppered me with questions and urged me to check out the forests around town.
Their ‘rice plate of the day’ featured tender braised beef that would have been at home in any fancy restaurant.
It was actually hard to leave as they keep showering me with pieces of pomelo and banana, but eventually I push on, turning left to finally join the legendary DTHCM (Ho Chi Minh highway).
Cycling the Ho Chi Minh highway
Not to be confused with the Ho Chi Minh TRAIL, this 2000km highway runs along almost the length of Vietnam and is a critical link for rural and highland communities. It may or not be based on parts of the Ho Chi Minh trail, a network of forest paths central to the Vietnam war.
This section through to Phong Nha is highly recommended by the Vietnam Coracle website and I find it a fabulous cycling experience, quiet and super smooth with forests and fields on either side. I occasionally pull over to allow a heavy truck to come through, but otherwise there is little traffic.
There’s not much around, but it’s not long before I’m being showered with fruit yet again, this time at the very relaxed “Coffee Meo”.
I drink my coffee alone in the main cafe but am soon soon pulled out to a back corridor where three ladies are engrossed in dismantling pomelos. Spirals of pomelo skin hang drying from the ceiling. The ladies carefully dissect juicy segments for me, peeling away the thick outer layers of the fruit (like a sweet grapefruit).
Clearly the pomelo season is at its peak in October, and eating them is a serious business.
Staying the night in Huong Khe
After a great 84-kilometre cycling day, I arrive at the Son Ha Hotel slightly weighed down with gifted pomelos. On a warm, golden afternoon I find a large lake at the centre of action in Huong Khe.
It seems like the whole town must be here: strolling, riding bicycles or sitting at street stalls.
I’m really surprised by how much friendly interest and surprise I attract as a foreigner.
As I take a walk around the lake there are dozens of ‘hellos!’ and ‘how are yous’ – and genuine ones too, not just kids being silly.
I guess the pandemic has just about wiped out road tripping tourists over the past few years, and I hope more people come back to this golden place
