Ba Rai --> Phan Thiet - Day 3

Hello everyone, this is James writing - Seba has been kind enough to let me blog for today (he is drinking whiskey and playing on my iPhone...)

So today we notched up around 200km through the Vietnamese countryside, a patchwork of fruit farms, grazing fields and little villages. The thing that strikes me most about riding through Vietnam is how surprised the locals are to see two big foreign guys on bikes - we turn heads all along the road and attract crowds of cute children screaming 'HELLO!!' whilst waving like meth-users who have spotted their dealer; by lunchtime my cheeks were hurting from smiling so much :)

Seba's sweet chariot

Our first stop for the day was a sea salt farm, basically big evaporation beds that they pump seawater on to - apparently they can harvest 1000 tons of salt from 1sq km every month, not a bad yield at all.

Salt farm

The next few hours of the ride took us though some remote villages, up mountain passes and down through green valleys, stopping off for the obligatory iced coffee and a rest in a hammock. We dropped into a tiny fishing village and saw the fishermen (and women) with their daily catch. Vietnam has such a huge amount of coastline and the people living along the length of the country have a wonderfully simple way of life

Traditional fishing boats

Today's catch

After lunch we stopped off at the Binh Chau hot springs eco-tourist resort, a massive compound built around a natural hot spring. We had a natural hot spring bath at 37 degrees and then a 'mineral mud' bath before heading off to the coast.

Zulu warriors!

We had a few minor bike issues - my chain came off and needed to have the tightening screw replaced as the threads were gone, and Seba needed an oil change. That's nice thing about riding around a country where the main form of transport is by motorbike - a repair shop is never too far away. In our case it was all of 20 meters to push the bike, then after 10 minutes and US$0.50 we were sent on our way with another smile and a wave.

We stopped off at some fruit farms - the best one was the dragon fruit farm where we could see the crops at different stages of their growth. As a part of the cactus family these plants thrive in hot, dry and sunny conditions and produce fruit all year round - ideal for the many subsistence farmers who rely on exporting the crop to live.

New plants

Mature plants

Finished product - Vietnam exports 200 tons per day

The road along the coast was long, winding, deserted and beautiful. The sun was shining, the wind in our hair - wow - such a great feeling, and along the way we found amazing scenery to feast our eyes on, such as these pile of rocks jutting into the sea...

As the sun set we rode into Phan Thiet, weary from the 8 hour journey, but with big smiles on our faces. One thing I should mention about touring Vietnam is that the food here is absolutely outstanding (except for the cock/ball/brain soup from last night - that was....a little different but not what I would describe as a delightful culinary experience). Being in a large fishing city, we went and ate in a fantastic local restaurant on the bank of the river Thien Giao. Vietnamese food is all about fresh flavours - many dishes are served with a plate full of leaves - bay, mint, lemon grass, coriander and basil. You take a handful of mixed leaves and tear them into your spring rolls or throw them into your soup - I'm no foodie but Oh Em Gee, the flavours seem to explode and combine with the lime, chilli and barbecued meats giving you what I can only describe as an edible orgasm.

On the line up tonight was deep fried frogs legs with a local variation of sweet chilli sauce and mayonnaise along with fried prawns, fish and salamander. Everything is caught (or bred in the lizard's case) within a dozen miles of the restaurant and slaughtered in the kitchen to give a real fresh and authentic dining experience! I could eat Vietnamese food for years and not get bored of the combinations of flavours.

Frog's legs

Delicious leaves, fish and prawns

Tomorrow we head into the famous highlands, the most sparsely populated part of this country and perhaps the most scenic. Another long ride ahead so it's time to get some well deserved rest.