We got up this morning with the intention of an early start but an unexpected puncture set us back about half an hour. The family who owned the guest house we were staying at, tried to help where they could. The father provided us with his tool box and the son, who was about seven years old, provided Nicky with a basin of water in order to work out where the puncture was. His sharp little eyes spotted the bubbles in the water before Nicky's did. We eventually set off with the thick morning mist still around us. The hotel we had been looking for the previous evening was only a couple of kilometres down the road but the guest house was a good stop over in the end.
(A large memorial and pagoda that we passed along the way)
(A section of the memorial that contained an old plane and various army vehicles)
With today being our fifth consecutive day of riding, we found our energy levels were a little low and we ended up stopping for an early lunch in a small town at about 11am. Shortly after we sat down, a mother and her little girl arrived and the little girl proceeded to watch us, mouth wide open, until we left. She gave us a great, gap-toothed smile anytime we looked at her.
The scenery in parts was quite different today from the previous day. We still saw many farmers out in the fields, but we also passed through more forested areas with a few timber factories.
(A line and a rod with a weight on the end is used to keep this water buffalo from wandering too far)
(A huge dam sits between the two hills. Wonder if the valley used to be filled with water)
After about 80km, we turned off the Ho Chi Minh highway towards Dong Le. We had a couple of short hill climbs before descending to a good flat road for the rest of the way. We passed through quite a few towns with lots of friendly locals. We were followed by groups of school children on bikes - one who was tricking around ended up tumbling off onto the ground, only taking his eyes off us for an instance, before jumping up and back on the bike to continue following us.
We arrived into Dong Le mid afternoon and had a quick look around the town. We saw four guest houses but no hotels, which we have been told are usually of a slightly better standard than guest houses. We ended up settling on a guest house that was a little further away from the train line that passes through the town. The owner speaks no English but was friendly enough. We had a good meal at a restaurant around the corner from the guest house. Tomorrow we will have a rest day and use the time to catch up on a few things and plan the coming days.
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