Thursday 20 October 2011

Cycling Vietnam - Mui Ne to Vung Tau...Not much change out of 10 hours in this one..

Last time I did this ride in April I was a different man, on a different bike with Rob leading me out all day. We had a good tail wind and it took us around 10 hours...
Today I went solo and although we had inclement weather in Mui Ne the previous days, I struck gold with a beautiful day! There was a gentle cross breeze blowing , the warm sun was on my back,  ipod locked and loaded - heaven is the rode ahead!

  • Riding time 7.16.  Distance 196km
  • 2 stops - 1 Banh Mi, 1 Pho, 1 Stinger.... 3pm ferry VT-SGN

Even though it was Monday the road was dead quite. NO trucks, few cars and not even many bikes! Much of the journey is as peaceful as you will get anywhere in the south of Vietnam!



(The April Ride)
This was a great 1 day ride taking us about 10 hours including stops. The road is in surprisingly good condition most of the way and traffic is light. I foolishly did it on a mountain bike but in hindsight it was far better suited to a road machine. My riding partner Rob was kind enough to lead me out most of the day and we had a tail wind to push us along all day. DO NOT try riding this route south to north until you have checked the wind. The prevailing wind is a huge factor along this coast. We had a welcome south-east-er pushing us along. Riding against it would have been a struggle. The logical lunch point is the lovely Ho Tram resort. You can cruise in and use the restaurant. We ate a hearty meal before punching out the last 50kms to Vung tau. On another day you could push through to Saigon (add 5 hours) but we opted for the 90 minute ferry back up the Saigon river. The bikes were tied on top of the old hydrofoil and we rested the legs and aired the feet whilst reflecting on a great days work in the saddle.
  • Highly recommended.
  • Safe
  • On road
  • traffic - Light 
Rob & I having lunch at Ho Tram...
We had cheese burgers to get us home..
Ho Tram Beach
We bribed our way onto the last 'very full' ferry of the day...Bikes got sprayed a bit!...


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