RIDE DAY: Pho Chau to Huong Khe, VT

2/2/09
Day: 57.65 km
Cume: 1693.9
Avg: 18.5 kph
Max: 37.0 kph
Time: 3h7m
Highs: Invited into various homes along the way, lunch and dinner with Vietnamese families who literally called me off the road and invited me into their homes, rolling countryside, fast riding, hundreds of kids on bikes from school, Huang Khe's charm, the choice to stay in Huong Khe, internet $0.20 per hour!!!
Lows: Uncertainty about going on without road/accomidation knowledge, feeling unsure about invitations into home after all the negative feedback I'd received from Lao, Thai and foreigners about Vietnam

This was a really neat day aside from the concern about where and when to stop! I had only ridden 60km which is under my mark of 80km, but had no idea where the next town with accomodations was. When I rode into Huong Khe, there was just something about it that really caught me. It was like a provincial little European town with a huge lake right in the middle of town surrounded by greenbelts. The hotel in town had lovely wooden spiral stair cases, a balcony for every room, wood furnishing and HOT water. It was all surprisingly lovely to me. There were all these little impromptu cafes around the lake with plastic chairs which were all empty except for maybe a person or two having a soda. I didn't know what they were about until night time when they were PACKED with people sipping tea or coffee or beers talking somberly around the lake. It reminded me so much of evenings I spent in Geneva during the summer!

In town, I enquired about fixing and/or replacing my cell phone because it had been acting up. A young man stopped me to talk to me in English, practicing his English like many many other Vietnamese who stopped me along my way. We talked a bit and then he invited me to his home for dinner and tea. I was wary because of all the stories I had heard from other travelers and warnings from both the Lao and Thai people about the Vietnamese. This made me a little tense once at his home, but when I finally settled down, I had the most delightful evening with Hau and his four brothers, sister-in-law, cousins, parents, aunt and uncle with much conversation, cultural sharing and laughter. They even gave me a bag of food to take with me including the interesting rice snack filled with red beans which I still can't remember the name of. Good for me, though, lots of carbs!

So I was pleasantly delighted with Huong Khe, even though the ride day was short.