Good morning SE Asia!: 11/11/13 - Dong Hoi to Quang Tri

We decided against hitting the main highway of the AH1/QL1A during our stay in Dong Hoi, as the main road is notoriously bad, and at least for now we had another option. We had to cycle one part of the main highway to get to it, and it was a lot better than the constant 200dB horns and mad wrong-way traffic we would have had. Plus, it looked like we would be on the main highway for a few days to come, so if this was our chance to avoid it at all, we would. The road we were on was actually part of the HCMH again, but not as good as before Dong Hoi, and alot busier.

The weather was HOT, probably about 35 degrees, no cloud cover and high humidity. The heat from the sun burns down on your forearms and the only saving grace is that when you are cycling, the wind keeps you cool. As soon as you hit a hill and slow down, it's almost too much as you heat up at the same time as the breeze subsides. On one little climb today we got the temp needle into the red.

We didn't take too many pics today.

We got to the next town of Dong Ha (Quang Tri) and couldn't find the hotel we booked, mainly because we couldn't remember the name of it. We cycled past it being harassed by a guy on motorbike who wanted to take us to his hotel and just wouldn't piss off. Closest I have been to really shouting at someone over here. We even stopped to try to use the WiFi of our hotel to check our booking online before going into another hotel instead! We found it eventually but found out we had booked a single room! Problem with Agoda, but we only had to pay another £3 anyway. The hotel was full of Vietnamese guys who like to sit around in the rooms with the doors open, shouting at each other between rooms. I guess they are enjoying themselves as the company pays for them to be in a hotel.

We got changed and went out for dinner. There was a suggestion of a restaurant in the book that looked good and Johanna really wanted to try. We got the reception guy to explain where it was and he tried to draw a map which was unintelligible, but we found it on google maps on his computer in the end. It was a 1.5km walk but we decided to go anyway. Well it was a crap walk. The place was of course not where it said it was on google maps first of all, it was further, and it was closed. Plus it was so hot I was still sweating to death. To top it all off on the way back from the closed place I slipped on a turd or something and nearly twisted my ankle. Not happy...

The place we went to was about 2 doors from the hotel (after a 4km round-trip walk), and was excellent. The menu was in English - but bottom dollar Vietnamese prices. In the end the owner lady came out and we just ordered our favourite things with her directly. Awesome food, and enough rice to fill up on. Less than £6 for both with a couple of drinks each.