dat 275, Mo Cay

Was a bit of a struggle to get out of bed this morning at seven, it was so nice in the air con’d room plus the bed and pillows were of a cracking standard. Nonetheless dragged myself up and packed, checked out of the room after a little faff with the passports (they couldn’t find them and wanted the reciept for taking them in, despite them having the carbon copy and we could see them in the box, it still took five minutes, was painful.) Anywho another lovely day, Martha still is whining about something or other though seems to run ok once she gets up to speed. It was a arduous chug along the 1a, a big bastard of a road with lots of trucks and buses. We were making good progress retracing our route which we took yesterday, reluctantly past the place where we stopped for lunch which served the best coffee so far toward Ho Chi Minh. It’s starting to sink in how far we have come on Martha and Martin, don’t know where it’s gone! On google maps we found a brand new road which wasn’t in our atlas which we went off in search for, ended up on a narrow brand new paved road through an orchard, which despite it not being the correct road was fucking amazing. We backtracked and resigned ourselves back to the 1a. We stopped off for lunch and had bun thi nuong plus a coffee, Michael reckoned the coffee was better then yesterdays, and the noodle dish was outstanding. Also, unfortunately I think, people down south are so much friendlier then those up north, you’re not a walking dollar sign or a pain, and they seem happy to see you which is always nice, smiles make the world go round. Back out to pound the road and as we encroach on HCMC you can smell the traffic, it comes out of nowhere and suddenly it’s a bloody slog of a drive.  Vietnamese moto riders love nothing more then overtaking someone and then just sitting in the space between you and the next person, however if there’s a clear road they just slow down and sit on the side, it’s so frustrating. After my two mishaps I’m being super careful. We opted for the route around HCM instead of through it, but it was still chock-a-block with trucks and bikes. It carried on with the busyness after HCM, and didn’t clear up till we got off 1a onto QL60. It was a tough three hours of riding, the sun was bloody hot, and in jeans, a coat plus my buff pulled up to the bottom of my sunnies to protect my sunburn I was melting. Luckily past HCM the sun took a break behind a big cloud, plus crossing over the Mekong a couple of times on what were damn impressive bridges it was cooling down. We went past Ban Tre and carried on going toward Tra Vinh, though that was too far away and settled for Mo Cay. Struggled to find a hotel in the small town, had to do three up and downs before seeing a Vietnamese sign for one down an alley, checked in with a room each as they only have double beds, Michael took Martin to get his gear shifter tightened, I showered and took a wander round town. Got a Banh Boo, a dumpling with quail eggs, some sort of berry/seed and minced meat, was brilliant before checking out the town. It’s full of people and not a lot in which is cool, people were shouting greeting from their houses while eating dinner and this girl who studied in Manchester for a bit came and spoke to me. Rendezvoused back with Michael and went scouting for dinner. We operate on the people power principle, and ended up at a one dish plastic table restaurant, had…sorry, no fucking idea what it was, though was really good. Had an ice cream and found a bar which was showing the Liverpool arsenal game, had a seat and a drink watching it chatting away. It’s strange that I feel more comfortable in this town and having a better time then in Mui Ne, which looking back on it was a bit of a disappointment, over developed (including onto the beach, which is supposed to be the focal point). Had a lovely time and back to the hotel to crash out. Tomorrow we are aiming to get as south as possible in Vietnam, another early start armed with my compass till we can’t get any souther!