The sun was back out again today and what a difference it makes! The countryside was so vibrant and it was lovely to feel so warm again after the colder days up north. We passed the most luscious green rice paddies that looked so inviting to lie on... until we remembered they were filled with water, but a swim would have been nice too. We also had a few funny encounters with some locals.
We set out from Quang Ngai a bit later than usual, knowing we would be travelling about 90km to our destination of Bong Son but confident we would be able to get there by mid afternoon on the flat road. We found the traffic to be a bit lighter today which was a welcome change and, as usual, we received lots of smiles and hellos along the way.
(A beautiful little window. Wonder what the significance of the date is.
Perhaps the year the owners were married?)
We stopped for lunch in a town called Sa Huynh. We pulled up to a little restaurant where a small group of people were sitting. They ushered us in, and after taking a good look at our gear which included some pointing and laughing, they helped to park the bikes. We do wonder what we must look like to them with our padded shorts, helmets and even full shoes, considering most people get around in flip flops and maybe 1 in 1000 people on bicycles wear helmets. Nicky ordered some food and as it was being prepared, a few of the neighbours stood around looking at Nicky with one also taking photos of Nicky using her mobile phone. Maybe that is Nicky's karma for the number of photos she has snapped of others on this trip. They then asked one of the children to ask us how old we were and seemed highly amused at Paul being one year younger than Nicky. They continued to watch and laugh for a while as we ate but finally (thankfully) got bored and went back to their own conversation.
(We believe this is a hearse. How different from the black hearses we are used to seeing.)
(Women hard at work draining a rice paddy. See the video below to watch them at work)
By 3pm we were in Bong Son where we found a good number of guest houses. We chose one in the centre of town and after cleaning up, we headed out to find a cafe and some food.
We took a little walk through the market which was selling all manner of things. We had to stoop to avoid the low hanging tarpaulin hanging overhead, much to the amusement of the women running the stalls. If you are at all uncomfortable being the centre of attention, it would have been an unpleasant experience as we were gawked at by almost everyone. It was hard not to laugh - we really felt like we were a walking exhibit with people stopping in their tracks to just stare up at us.
(The Vietnamese know how to make a good green tea with ginger, lime, tamarind, goji berries, raisins and dried plums.)
Tomorrow we are heading to a resort in a town called Quay Nhon and we're pretty excited about it! We've been very fortunate to find good, clean accommodation for almost the entire journey so far but a little bit of luxury for two nights will be a real treat!
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