We started off down the beach road hoping it would stay on the beach despite google maps saying no. It didn’t last for long and we headed back to the AH1 but went the wrong way and added a few of km's to the journey. It was hot but just like yesterday it was slightly raining and with the heat it was quite a nice cycling weather.
On a short but steep uphill out of the town we were sided by mini-trucks with happy drivers but noxious fumes. It is tough with a high heart rate and holding your breath to avoid the fumes and also enjoying the humidity. Sweaty. We stopped in at a roadside cafe for a drink and met two Vietnamese guys on a moped who were going the same way as us and we had seen about 3 times so far. They were impressed with our speed, but they must have been stopping a lot. These café’s are great for a rest in the shade, swinging in a hammock for half an hour whilst enjoying a cold drink.
Up and down all small 50-100m hills all day on the AH1, which was more a beach road in this section as there was a more direct road inland. It was a picturesque cycle, with idyllic beach cove vistas to keep us optimistic despite the rain. Between the showers it was oppressively hot and humid as the sun shone down.
We folded again by booking a 5 star hotel (this one the Cendeluxe at £35 a night - holy moly) so that we could have a wee break after our AH vigil, a day off next to the pool and maybe a saunter on the bikes down to the beach. The hotel was the centrepiece of a new but dormant resort/shopping/leisure complex just on the outskirts of town, around 4km from the beach. There was a closed shopping centre, a huge pool hall, a coffee shop and another huge building across the road ambiguously titled the "Thuan Tao Conference and Eco-Entertainment Centre". Seemed more like a big Karaoke bar. The whole complex was full of pretty tasteless and unconvincing fibreglass animals and figurines standing around ponds and greenery, giving a oddly Butlins-y feel to the place. Butlins in the winter maybe. Someone had been very creative with the camera taking the shots of the hotel area that we looked at online!
We were happy enough though as it had a pool, so after a walk around the complex looking for the shopping centre we came back for a dip. Unfortunately the pool was closed for maintenance, we were told. Johanna and the poor reception girl could see my proximity to toddler-style meltdown clearly. The receptionist then also let us know, with the concern of a bomb disposal person, that the pool would be closed all day tomorrow as well. If she wasn't so bloody polite and harmless looking, we all might have had an argument. It is of course not her fault but it was for us quite a disappointment. Oh well we thought we would just go to the beach the next day instead. We consoled ourselves with a pizza in the hotel restaurant (they had 3) and a few drinks an the terrace. We may actually be starting to prefer the Nha Nghi's and £4 dinners in all honesty.
Route Link
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| Just about to leave |
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| Still raining... |
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| ...and still smiling! |
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| Coracle boats for fishing in |
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| Fishing nets on a grand scale |
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| Yes they are very long |
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| Was so hot when we took this picture |
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| More snake and lizard flavoured schnapps for your ailments |
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| Our road |
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| Place to rest |
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| Next hotel - splashing out |
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