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Published: December 5th 2012
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Food basket of Vietnam
Dalat is the only place in Vietnam where fresh strawberries, many sorts of vegetables and luxury food can be produced due to its cold(?) climate We decided our first beach destination would be Phang Rang-Thap Cham, a small stretch of beach more popular with the Vietnamese and not marketed to Western tourists, conveniently located straight down the mountain from Dalat. We heard the road from Dalat was in bad shape, but it was beyond anything we could have imagined. We didn't get the earliest of starts, but we never could have anticipated we would spend 8 hours driving less than 70 kms. The views were stunning, and it was impressive to watch the scenerey, architecture, and even the people, change on our way down. However, every turn down the mountain hid a new stretch of excavated road, where the dips engulfed our wheels and the rocks were so big and abundant, it was no wonder the only shacks on the way down were mechanics. When we finally got to the bottom and saw the first straight, flat stetch of road in days, lined with places to eat, we rested our weary behinds and our tense muscles for a quick lunch and coffee stop (again, not at the same place). It had once again gotten later than we hoped, but after Øyvind performed his very first repair
Wonderful views
The road down from Dalat was terrible, but the views were stunning on his own bike (tightening the spring on the kickstand, which seemed to have been supported by a bit of wire up until that point), we were on our way.
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But the road down had taken its toll, and Sadie's bike started making an unhealthy scratching sound. The first mechanic we found soon discovered that the bumps had shaken many of the bike's screws loose, and some were altogether missing (including some of the ones holding the newly installed rack in place). The sun was winning agian, and after settling yet another astounding 2-dollar mechanic bill, we knew we wouldn't make it by nightfall.
Even though we were trying to make time, the views of the sun setting over the rice paddies were striking, and it was nice to feel the warm air again as we drove.
Darkness crept up on us, but to our great surprise, Phan-Rang Thap Cham and its surrounding had wide streets, few potholes, and was ripe with street lights. A soon as we stopped to find out where we needed to go, a very friendly man tried to help us out. He soon
Now theres youre problem
One of Sadies bolts that had seen better days... realized he couldn't, and found a nearby café, picked up a young girl working there, and offered her up to drive us to where we were going. We tried to say no, but she was soon on her bike waiting for us to follow. It really is true that many people enjoy doing things for us just to have a fun story to tell (and to be incredibly ncie, of course).
Finally at our resort, Bau Truc (
http://bautrucresort.com/service.html), and feeling a bit out of our league in our fancy beachside bungalow (which of course we had booked at a discounted rate through Agoda), we were soon out cold (that's another truth about traveling, you don't always have energy for romance...)
Number of screws missing on Sadie's bike: 6? 7?
Number of repairs on Øyvind's bike: 1?
Number of repairs on Sadie's bike: have you been reading the blog?
Percentage of driving days where the last part turns into a race against the sun: 90%!(NOVERB)
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mom
non-member comment
the road
you guys are easy riders with some cranky nuts and bolts but that was a hell of a road! (glad i saw it in fast speed!) congratulations for tackling all the loose screws. missing links. crinks. and thanks for such fun images and writing! love you!