Today we left behind the sandy beaches and coconut trees of Vietnam's coast and began to make our way inland towards Da Lat. The weather was fine with blue skies and a warm, northerly wind behind us.
(Early morning sunshine in Nha Trang. Sorry about the wonky angle)
(Beautiful blues)
(We thought this building was deserted but there appeared to be people
living or working there. It had a European style about it)
(At lunch, an elderly Vietnamese lady wearing the conical hat and a traditional jacket)
The landscape changed dramatically as we headed further in land. Instead of rice paddies, we were now surrounded by mountains, sprinkled with cacti and dense bush. Alongside the undulating road we saw goats and cattle grazing. At one point, we stopped to take the photo below and both of us could see a hint of our home countries in the landscape.
On the road, we passed through some of the poorest villages we've come across in Vietnam and we were reminded of our time in Laos. We also noticed some of the local people had a different appearance to the Vietnamese we had encountered so far. Tim and Tina had mentioned that there are ethnic groups living in the area which might explain the change.
(The landscape changed dramatically as we headed further inland)
(Two football pitches, with bamboo goal posts)
(We think these may be Government housing as yellow is the Communist colour
and the houses were all similar in style)
As we cycled into the early afternoon, the sun began to sting so we decided to find some shade and something to eat in a small town. We pulled into a little roadside shop selling coconuts where the husband and wife who owned the shop set about preparing a drink for us. There was one other woman sitting in the shop when we arrived. A young woman who had a fruit stand next door was napping in her hammock when we arrived and having woken up, she came to see what was going on. Once we were given our drinks, the husband climbed into his own hammock and the three women sat around watching us. They chatted away and the husband chuckled every few minutes. One of the women then came over and indicated to Nicky that she would like to use our camera. Nicky showed her how to use it and she then took a photo of the two other women. That broke the ice a little as we were all laughing and the young woman then asked us some questions about where we had come from and how old we are. It was a nice little stopover.
(Two of the women at the little shop from where we bought the coconuts)
(On the outskirts of Tan Son)
After riding 110km, we arrived into Tan Son by mid afternoon. The first hotel we came across was bright and clean so we checked in. Later, we wandered up and down the main street before sitting down for dinner. It seemed like a typical Sunday afternoon with groups of people out eating together and karaoke blaring from somewhere.
Tomorrow we will do the final 72km to Da Lat. We are 120m above sea level at the moment and will climb 1600m tomorrow to get to our destination. Nicky is a little nervous and Paul is working hard to be reassuring. Physically we are fit enough but sometimes finding the self-belief is the hardest part.
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