Here I am in the city of Dong Hoi, having had another beautiful few days of travel. With several thousand kms of accessible coastline, this country has its fair share of sights to see and experiences to be had.

Averaging some 70km a day, I feel as though I’m starting to pick up a bit of steam through all this rain, with bike repairs and flat tires bringing my average down occasionally, there has been several days in the 90’s and even my first 100+ run. So far, so good.

Other than the odd hotel being so bad that I set my tent up inside as a back up, the need to stay somewhere overnight as a registered guest hasn’t been all that bad. My single occupancy tent has served as only use in case of emergency, as in this country they like to have their tourists accounted for at all times. Letting the hotel keep my passport in a drawer over night has been unnerving at times but only once did I not receive my change back in return for  it. I ended up being down $1.55 after not getting back 50,000 d.

Overall my worst experience was a hotel called the Senec, the first room they showed me would’ve been unacceptable to a pack of lemur monkeys, and whoever was in there before must’ve ripped a wig apart and ran out. The second room smelt ok but I still set my tent up and had it on the bed beside me just incase the 3/4 bottle of raid I sprayed around the room wasn’t enough.

Being here in the off tourist season sure has its advantages, like being the only person in the whole hotel most of the time wherever you are, but because of that, most of the rooms aren’t properly sorted, and the restaurant or coffee shop within isn’t operational. It seems like only yesterday I was eating 17 wagon wheels for supper because that was literally all I could find in the area. No big deal. Who doesn’t like wagon wheels?

It’s not all bad though, most of the hotels I’ve stayed at so far have run me between $7-$30, but if they’re around the $30 mark you get the kind of five star experience that will run a bill of $200 in Canada. Marble floors and king sized bed with a balcony and pool sort of thing. For myself, there’s these super cheap and basic places called Nga Nhie’s, and I’m told a rough translation is cheap or basic accommodation. Always run by an older couple it seems, and always very friendly and smiling. Having a far away traveller randomly show up at your place among so many others is viewed as good luck, or so I have been advised.

As for food, water and supplies in general, I’m never too far away from the next  major centre, and try not to carry anything I won’t easily find in the next hour. Pho-Bo has been my go to, for a meal at any time of the day, it’s a noodle soup with a bit of beef soaked in and as I head further South they have been giving me a salad of clover leaves and other spicy greens to soak into the mix. Vietnamese subs, Bahn Bo, are a hot dog sized treat, and the bread is always fresh that day. They fill it up with leafy greens and a small portion of meat with a couple different sauces that seem to all fit just right.

A few welcome reminders of home are Oreo’s, which come in a plastic sleeve here, and I mentioned the wagon wheel phenomena earlier. Fido Dido is still on the 7-up cans which has been absolutely terrific, and they’ve got a version of McDonalds called Lotteria, copied so close you wouldn’t know the difference if they didn’t serve Pepsi over Coke.

The last few days have been pretty stormy, and a few locals have mentioned hurricanes, with the waves coming in as they have been I believe it. A few times the big water is visible from the main drag, so I will stop and have my break in the rain, and often in the wide open without shelter. The last time I had this opportunity, there was a break in the weather, so I took the time to get out my fancy Nikon camera, and get some shots of my bike propped up in the sand amongst the crashing waves in the back ground. I was lucky enough to have took the pictures and seal everything up again, before a bug rogue wave ran up on me and knocked my fully loaded bike right over body check style. My only saving grace was the effort of always having my laptop in a dry bag, otherwise everything else is replaceable for next to nothing.

All part of the adventure, and if it wouldn’t have been for all the trouble that day, my timing would’ve been off and I wouldn’t have been at the right place at the right time to help push a motorcycle and it’s huge trailer of nets and fish out of the sand after they spun it right out. All they needed was a big horse to help out and there I was. As soon as the hand shakes were shook out we were all off on our bikes again and smiling through the rain. I was wondering why all these bad things were happening to me that day but sometimes you’re where you are not for yourself, but for someone else.