May 11. Hue to Quang Loc. 69km.
Walking outside from the hotel I was staying at in Hue I noticed a big puddle under my bike - and it hadn't been raining. I had a closer looked and noticed fuel was leaking from the carburettor. Quick
stop off at the mechanic and $25 later and I had a new carby.
You can see here from the distance travelled we didnt make it far this day. The aim was to do the ~180km to Khe Sanh and make it to Phong Nha in two days but the powers that be had other ideas.
The idea was to continue along the Ho Chi Minh Trail from Hue to Phong Nha, to experience the most beautiful side of Vietnam - the mountain ranges and smaller towns.
The road up here was quite mountainous and Charlie's bike was really struggling to make it up the hills. Once we got to Quang Loc we pulled over to assess the problem - the clutch was pretty much shot. It was slipping through the gears and was struggling to get off the line or up hills on down changes - no good.
Dropping it off at a mechanic he advised it would be a two hour fix. We didn't get an early start out of Hue anyway so decided to call it a day and find a hotel.
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May 12. Quang Loc to Khe Sanh. 109km.
Once again, we didn't make a whole lot of progress the next day, for different reasons; we got stuck in a storm - a big one.
Riding along I had noticed it was starting to get a bit darker in the sky, and soon enough a few drops were falling from the sky. I pulled off to put on my rain jacket and continued riding. Within minutes I was riding through a proper thunderstorm. Off in the distance there was continuous lightning flashes.
With limited visibility and everyone going at a pace they felt comfortable with, we all got separated.
I rocked up at a big intersection and saw Charlie flag us down to a nearby restaurant. We stopped for beers and a meal to let the storm die down. While eating we heard and saw a massive crack that shook the table - crazy!
We found a hotel in Khe Sanh and Sonny caught up to us. His bike had become waterlogged and wouldn't start. Apparently the mechanics pulled off various pieces and poured water out of them!
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Comparatively to the other days, the final stretch to Phong Nha was incident free. I decided to head off first, early in the morning to try to avoid any potential downpour that usually happens later in the day.
As you can see from the map above, the roads were twisty and great fun to ride, up, down and around the mountains. The entire stretch in the map above only has around two tiny towns, one of which I stopped at for food. If something were to go wrong with the bike I would be in trouble. Luckily the old girl is as reliable as it gets!
Riding along I had noticed it was starting to get a bit darker in the sky, and soon enough a few drops were falling from the sky. I pulled off to put on my rain jacket and continued riding. Within minutes I was riding through a proper thunderstorm. Off in the distance there was continuous lightning flashes.
With limited visibility and everyone going at a pace they felt comfortable with, we all got separated.
I rocked up at a big intersection and saw Charlie flag us down to a nearby restaurant. We stopped for beers and a meal to let the storm die down. While eating we heard and saw a massive crack that shook the table - crazy!
After an hour or so we took off and continued up the road. We came across Aaron stopped drying off his gear. I checked my phone and had a message from Sonny saying that his bike had broken down. We had no reception and no way of getting in contact so we waited a little before continuing on to Khe Sanh.
After the sky had cleared up I had another great ride through the beautiful landscapes that is Vietnam.
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May 13. Khe Sanh to Phong Nha. 248km.
As you can see from the map above, the roads were twisty and great fun to ride, up, down and around the mountains. The entire stretch in the map above only has around two tiny towns, one of which I stopped at for food. If something were to go wrong with the bike I would be in trouble. Luckily the old girl is as reliable as it gets!
Shots like you can see above are just throughout the Ho Chi Minh trail. It is simply stunning around every corner. My only complaint is that its hard to take in the sights while concentrating on the roads!
I arrived first to the hostel in Phong Nha, Easy Tiger. An hour later Sonny rocked up. An hour after that Charlie arrived. Much later that night Aaron hobbled in.
His accelerator cable snapped (for a second time) about 60km out of Phong Nha in the middle of no where. He had to pay an exorbitant amount to have someone drive out from Phong Nha to fix his bike, riding back alone in the dark.
He ended up having a fall on the way back, misjudging a corner in the dark and hitting some gravel. He ended up with a few scrapes on his knee but otherwise got away pretty well, the bike largely okay too!
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