Spin, Spin, Spin

The last two days of cycling went smoothly. Yesterday we cycled for about two and a half hours and covered about 40 km. The day started out rainy, but cleared up after we drove about thirty minutes. We spent most of the time cycling along the ocean side on small country roads.

Today we bicycled for three and half hours and covered 67 km. First we cycled to Phong Nha Cave, a World Heritage Site in Vietnam. We took a boat tour into the cave and got out partway through to walk around inside one of the many land branches. After the boat tour we had one of the best lunches since we left Hanoi. There was a good balance between fried, stir-fried, and boiled food, and between meat, seafood, and vegetable dishes. I especially liked the breaded fried shrimp. They were fried well enough that you could even eat the tails. They reminded me of fried shrimp heads that I used to eat in Japan. Yum!

After lunch we cycled along the Ho Chi Min Highway back to our hotel. The road was smooth with rolling hills and traffic was light, so we were able to make really good time. It felt nice to hit a steady pace for an hour without slowing down. This was the only day I wished that I had been on a road bike.