Day 45
Today was a day of contrasts. Taking the most direct route out of Vinh, we passed a short stretch of muddy rutted paths which opened up into spacious fields and villages on smooth concrete with almost no traffic. We were in bliss, as we pedaled side by side, we were tailed by some curious children, and waved and shouted some hellos to the women working in the fields. Our road then took us winding over and around the railroad tracks and across a train trestle. Google Maps did it’s magic by guiding us through these tiny roads, no wider than sidewalks.
Our bliss was short lived as we started on Route 8, which will took us all the way across Laos. We moved out of the valley into the hills. Our smooth road became one of the most muddy, bumpy, and challenging roads that we’ve seen so far. Even though it had not rained in 3 days, tire sucking mud was 3 or 4 inches deep and for long stretches the road was so uneven that we only kept ourselves from flipping over by leaning over and balancing like sailors on a catamaran. With our extremely low gears and large tires, (thank you ICE for recommending 1.75 tires) we managed to inch through the worst places and never had to get off the trikes. I did have to stop once to remove my rear tire and scrape mud from my the mud guard, a process which involved taking all the luggage off my trike. We kept each other laughing while a family closely watched the two maniacs having a great time fixing their strange vehicle in the mud.
It took us almost 7 hours to get to Pho Chau, the nearest town with hotels. Pho Chau has all the feel of a town on the border. There’s a little bit of everything that you need before getting back on the road. With plenty of hotels, convenience stores, auto parts, mechanics, and even fresh baked bread. We stayed at the Bach Dai Dung Hotel for 200,000 Dong and were happy to have a clean room facing away from the hectic main road, a hot shower, and WiFi. Although it was a long rough day, we were both excited at having surmounted any obstacles the road through in our way while laughing at the worst and patiently enduring the rest. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring but we’ve already come this far so little by little we hope to make it through and enjoy ourselves as well.