Day 4: Highway 1 and fresh crabs on the BEACH

So today was pretty easy. Which is a good thing,  as last night I was fairly certain that today would be my “hump day” in terms of getting settled into this trip. The first three days seemed a breeze fueled my adrenaline and a somewhat disturbing lack of sore muscles or even ability to feel blisters. All that came back a bit last night.

But today we were in for an incredibly (almost perfectly) flat ride on smooth roads. This was the day that made me nervous as it was largely on Highway 1. That’s the big highway that shoots straight down the coast. If we wanted to be in HCMC in a week, we could do it by staying on highway one. But the downside is it’s a big busy road with lots of loud trucks and scenery sort of disappears. So I was nervous about that.

I don’t like big trucks. I think they’re loud and bossy. And in Vietnam “right of way” rules are pretty simple. They go like this: the biggest vehicle always has it. Who’s smaller than a road bike? That’s right, nobody. And there’s a fine line between claiming a fair space on the road and playing chicken with someone who weighs 500 times as much as you. But I think we did a good job today, and I was pleasantly surprised by the politeness of  the trucks. And if we can do Highway 1, the rest of hte roads are just kids on bicycles who like to race us (and always lose, by the way).

So we arrived at our destination at noon, and had the afternoon to spend on the beach, reading books and eating crabs. It was lovely, and welcome break from our usual diet of noodle soup and peanut butter (generally not together).

So now I have this hotel’s guard standing behind me and I think he’s ready to have his computer back, but I just wanted to post a quick update. Tomorrow we go down a bit more of Highway 1 before cutting across the country to end the day near the Laos border. Bring it on!