Good morning SE Asia!: 04/12/2013 - Phuoc Buu to Ho Chi Min City

We got back on the QL55 main road (not technically a motorway but feels like one) and set off for HCM without a breakfast in search of a coffee place. We didn't find anything so decided we would stop for a few breaks along the way later on, maybe have a lunch stop. We passed kilometers of roadside stops, all set up to cater to weary truck drivers who would have some food (and a drink usually) and then hit the hammocks for a half hour snooze. We didn't see any of them full or even half full, we wondered when people would use all those hammocks? Must have been thousands in total in all the different road stops. They are not quite set up for people our height (or weight) and my arse was on the floor when I got in mine. I think the family in the cafe were worried it was going to break.

We did then later on stop in a just off the road place and have quite a big lunch in the shade. The best tip is to try to choose the biggest restaurant as they are used to catering for more people, have more staff and it is usually good honest and cheap food, mainly the favourite dishes. This menu was totally in Vietnamese though and they didn't speak English so we guessed our way to a delicious seafood dish and a plate of spicy fried beef. It wasn't what we thought we had ordered, but was still awesome! We can now at least be sure of what type of meat we have - thit bo=beef, thit lon=pork, ca=fish, ga=chicken, muc=squid. They seem to change it all the time though, and apparently down here in the South it is all different.

It was HOT today. Following the main road traffic and dust doesn't make it any easier either. We stopped before HCMC at a fruit stall that sold Jackfruit. We have had this stuff a few times, smells quite strong but has a rubbery flesh that tastes a bit like juicy fruit bubblegum. Really nice. The fruits are HUGE. It's not Durian (the really smelly fruit that we haven't tried yet) but looks similar. We wanted a couple of hundred grams to take with us, but before we knew it the lady had prepared a couple of bags for us and was still going, she must have thought we wanted 2 kilo's. It was so hot and we felt bad for her standing in that heat at the side of the road we just took it all anyway, it just about fitted into my front bag - cost £1.20.

The last 15km or so into the city was a bit hit and miss. The roads were in a terrible state mostly, loads of dust and too much crazy traffic. There is not politeness when it comes to right of way here, people just pull out and sometimes back in right in front of you. Sometimes the trucks and buses use the hard shoulder and just horn-blare you off the road to get past. We put the camera on Johanna's bike for once and she just left it rolling, so we had about 1hr 20min of footage. I tried to slim the vid down, so there should be a 14min or so vid after this blog entry! It was really hot by now, hottest part of the day.

There were roadworks into the city, and at one place we got hived off the main road just before a flyover that we needed to cross. Damn. You can see all the hand gestures in the video clearly showing that I am lost! Actually we could see the bridge, just couldn't get to it. We doubled back a couple of times before asking a policeman who said to go back up the motorway the wrong way! So we tried that and found the entry to the flyover eventually and continued, road management is not what it is in Europe!

The next hurdle was that the route I had planned took us to a bridge that was tolled and bikes were not allowed. A passing motorcylist had tried to warn us of this but I didn't listen to him as it showed on the map that it was ok for cycling. Oh well, cue another detour of about 4km and a fumble through some larger streets of Saigon and we were back on the line again. Quite good challenge actually and one made so much easier by having the GPS map on my bike so that I could see all the smaller streets to cut through and traffic direction so we didn’t go up a one way street.

The video ends about 100m from the hotel. It was a nice little place down a side alley right in the centre of the city. £18 a night included a no-window room but breakfast. We dragged our sweaty bodies and dusty bags up to the 3rd floor using the too-tight windy staircase. The first room we got the key for was still inhabited, clothes and bags all over the room so they must not have checked out yet. So we got a second chance room, luckily on the 1st floor this time. Really nice clean and tidy room with small but proper shower room, fridge (somewhere to keep our massive stash of Jackfruit which was by now already pretty pungent) and of course the massive LCD telly. That was one of the best showers I had on the trip after the hot dusty cycle.

We had not finished cycling for the day though. J's bike had needed some bits and pieces doing for a while now, and we had waited to Saigon to get it done as there was more chance of a big reliable bike shop to do it. It was just gear cables, a chain and brake pads but I wanted the gears adjusted after doing the cables and chain and although I don't mind doing it I never really fancy such an oily job sitting out in the sun somewhere sweating to death. So we set off for a 5km trip to a bike shop we found online. Their labour rates were so low it was stupid not to let them do the work. They would fit the new parts for free and set up the gears for £1, also wash the bike for another £1. I decided to leave my bike in there too for a gear cable change and a wash! They didn't have some of the parts I needed for my bike (brake pads and hub gear oil) that I had been hoping for, but maybe I would find it in Bangkok, less than 1000 miles further. I was worried about my hub gear as it was leaking badly now though.

We got some food in the area after leaving the bikes in the shop, which turned out to be the Korean district. We were wondering why the Vietnamese in this area of Saigon were so tall! We had some great food - rice burgers with spicy beef and kim chi, a huge sushi roll and some other things we have forgotten. One of the best things we have tried on the trip! We got a taxi back to our hotel area and had a wander around. It seemed like they were setting up for some big event in the public park near the hotel, we had a couple of beers on the street and watched the world go by.