21 Dec - Ho Chi Minh City to Mui Ne
Slightly ironic that after passing all the places featuring construction equipment, the main road out of the city had some pretty bad potholes though there were some resurfacing going on. When we arrived at our cycling starting point, the tour mechanic provided me some superglue to fix my camera mount - bless. The country roads had very little traffic compared to the sea of Saigon scooters. The other good-feel factor was the friendliness of the local children as they waved at us, saying hello or even at times giving us high-fives as we cycled by. The small towns and villages we passed through had many Nativity scenes made out of tin foil by the roadside. Plus a few Christmas decoration shops selling kid sized Santa suits - all very odd.
The baking heat of 31 degrees got to everyone but the well-timed stops helped. With the food, drink and tip kitty already sorted the other night, we were spoilt with a selection of bananas, nutty snacks, chocolate biscuits, water and a most refreshing lime drink.
Other common sights were the Communist billboards and small bonfires along the route stopping off to see a rice sorting processor machine. Amazingly this doubled as some sort of steam-driven like engine which overtook us later spitting out some oily crap.
Lunch was quite basic with what consisted of a baguette and Laughing Cow cheese with salad or tuna. The tour rep had an agreement with a local restaurant which allowed us to use their toilet. The back of the restaurant was really the family's living quarters where it only consisted of a large bed and a very basic bathroom with crouching style toilet. It was quite humbling to be allowed to use their facilities especially as the tour rep brought along our food instead of their own.
After lunch we took the coach heading for Mui Ne, through some very traditional scenery of rice fields, salt plains and the odd dragon fruit field. We were starting to see some coastline and some very exclusive hotels and resorts. Our own hotel was the Dynasty, a sight for sore eyes with infinity pool, palm trees and just steps away from the beach.
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