Ride4Education

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

Photos from Day 18 - 'Dak Glei' - 'Kon Tum'

Our magnificent hotel

Enjoying a rare piece of flat road

No rest for the wicked....downhill straight into unhill

130 km later.... we arrived in 'Kon Tum'

Day 18 - 'Dak Glei' - 'Kon Tum'

After a mosquito ridden nights stay in the worst hotel we’ve stayed in yet, we were keen to get out on the road, even though we were aching from the massive day of climbing we had had the previous afternoon. Luckily, what lay ahead of us, was a simple 60 km day of small climbs and descents. This would give us a nice well earned long time to relax after our ride. However in true 'Ride4Education' fashion; expectation and reality were not one and the same.

Approximately half-way into the ride our driver hit us with the news that the place we had planned to stay at, which was 30 km away was as poor, if not worse, than the place we had stayed in last night.

He suggested to us that we should cycle the next days ride of 70 km as well, for the end destination for the following day was a place called 'Kon Tum' which was apparently one hundred times better than our planned night stop.

This suggestion was met with skepticism from the group as we really wanted an easy day. However, the driver assured us it was ‘all downhill’. We decided to trust him, as we couldn’t face another night in what can only be described as a ‘hole’. What came next was not only the longest distance we’ve gone since the trip started, but also contained the most un-relenting hilly roads! The statement ‘all downhill’ could not have been further from the truth...... The ride contained undulating hills, as soon as we’d used all our energy to climb one hill we had to muster up speed and power on the down hill as it immediately fed into the next energy sapping ascent. It was a touch demoralizing.

Finally, 130 km after our starting position, we arrived in Kon Tum. Thankfully the driver (this time) was not lying and it was a much larger settlement and cetainly a better place to stay.

We were all truly knackered and since we’d ridden the equivalent of two days in one, we decided to take a well earned rest with the extra rest day we’d given ourselves.

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Photos - Day 17 - 'Dak Kum' to 'Dak Glei'

Questionable road quality.....

One of our many picture stops

Freshening up under a roadside waterfall

Man sewing rice in 'Dak Glei'

Nothing left in the tank

Monday, 25 June 2012

Day 17- 'Dak Kum' to 'Dak Glei'

An unwelcome sense of nerves drifted through the camp during our morning ritual of small talk, groin stretching and luke-warm ‘porridge.’ This was because we were fully aware that this was to be our toughest day yet- even taking into account our 120k the day before.....

On we pedalled, towards the ‘Ho-Chi-Minh Highway,’ and were approached with the refreshingly beautiful sight of green-rolling hills. However, these picturesque hills soon took on a much more ugly shape- in the form of a 1,300m mountain- with nothing but our lonely dusty trail to guide us over the 12% gradient. The views were indeed stunning the higher up we climbed; and the number of rest stops (cleverly disguised as ‘picture stops’) also increased.

Over 2 hours of constant climbing later, we reached what we believed to be the ‘top’, only to find the 'distance signs' had lied to us, and as we went round the next bend, we discovered we had a further steep climb until we finally reached the true summit.

The 2 hours hard work of climbing was duly rewarded with a rapid 10 minute downhill pursuit, where the unique scent of brake-pads melting was clear to smell. This beautiful road, however, led us straight into a valley floor- where the only way out was up another 10% climb over an equally impressive mountain. This tested our mental strength to the limit, and the many passing lorries made it a very dangerous riding on some very testing terrain. Again, the views from the top were stunning- and we could see our road stretching out into the mountains.

An enjoyable 10k decline gently bought us into the small mountain-town of 'Dak Glie' - a tiny settlement inhabited by some very interesting people. The receptionist (an absolute behemoth of a woman, who clearly struggled with the concept of good manners - or any manners for that matter) at one point even tasted some of our pasta, only to spit it out back into our bowls! So we filled our bellies and settled in for an eventful night’s sleep - where we were introduced first hand to the ancient Vietnamese art of karaoke, conveniently happening next door... either that, or the dying cat parade was passing through town! www.justgiving.com/ride4education

Photos from Day 16

Standard Vietnam.........

The boy we gave the pens to

View from one of the many dams used to generate some of Vietnam's electricity

Two little girls racing Callum to thier house.

Day 16 - 'Hoi An' to 'Dak Kum'

Rested, Relaxed and now equipped with suits, we were ready to set off from 'Hoi An'- Vietnam’s answer to Savile Row.

Our first proper breakfast since our arrival in Vietnam spurred us on through the morning covering the first 70km in record time, yet by mid morning temperatures were searing into the 40’s once again.

As we stopped, once again, to fill our empty water bottles, a little Vietnamese boy came to say hello. We were so impressed by his fluency and interest in our journey that we decided to buy him a batch of pens to accompany the handful of school books he was carrying. We watched on with amusement and a great sense of well being as the boy gave Callum a 'high-five' and sprinted down the street shrieking with joy to passers-by. I can only imagine the joy that the close to £15,000 we have raised so far for 'Saigon Children's Charity' will be bringing to the children and young adults that we’re supporting around Saigon, so thank you, one and all, for your support!
The afternoon granted us no cloud cover as we began climbing steep tracks that lead back onto the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' - the road we’ll be taking for the next 12 days or so. We battled through the mighty ascents and rattled nervously on the gravelly descents barely daring to mutter a word to each other - 120km, 24 litres of water, and an impressive 8 hours later we had reached Dak Kum! All that was left was for Sam to fall asleep at 5pm, George to throw-up on dodgy noodles and Cal to lose a game of darts meaning he has to carry the magnetic darts board for another day!

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