20/02/2020 – The uneventful trip to Nha Trang

Heading south to Nha Trang meant that the weather was getting hotter. Each day that went by was a day closer to summer and getting closer to the equator.

It was now above 30 degrees for most of the day which meant trying to front load the days and making more stops for water.

The first day on the bike after over a week off was an easy one. A very flat route along main roads meant that I could keep up a good average. However when I reached the town of Quang Ngai the homestay I’d found to stay at was fully booked.

Annoyingly, the next 3 places I found were also fully booked. Eventually after cycling around the town for a while I found a place on the main road and settled in finding an amazing vegetarian restaurant just around the corner.

The next 2 days we’re getting me back into the swing of cycling every day with the second day being the first rain I’d experienced in months. It was a torrential downpour unlike anything I’d seen in a long time.

I managed to seek refuge in a beach side hostel a little way off the main road with roads so bad I was sure I was going to puncture. It was worth the risk though as the hostel turned out to be super cheap with the restaurant actually on the beach. I decided to take a day off and spend it in the sea topping up my tan.

I was 1 day away from Nha Trang so I set off just before lunch and with another uneventful day on the Vietnamese highway under my belt, I cycled through a far bigger town than what I expected Nha Trang to be.

It was more of a city than a town with towering skyscrapers. It transpires that this is a common holiday city for foreigners. I found a hostel, checked in and tucked into a veggie burger on their rooftop restaurant watching the sun go down.

Another day off was needed to make the most of the warm weather and sea as I didn’t know the next time that I’d be able to go for a swim.

Cycling down Vietnam was very uneventful. Having cycled the Ha Giang loop the rest of Vietnam was a bit of a disappointment. One saving grace were the beaches but I’d trade the northern mountains for the beaches any day of the week. The route I took was 1 highway the entire way south. In hindsight, maybe I should have travelled south through the more mountainous roads in land.

My next job was to head west for the first time on this trip and go towards Saigon, through Cambodia and to Bangkok but with the temperatures now approaching mid 30’s in the afternoon, it was going to be tougher than planned.