Flat roads = happier cyclist

We've spent the last two days cycling from Nimh Binh to Haiphong. Signs directing us to where we want to go are still somewhat lacking, but at least the roads are flat and the skies have been sunny.

We've been trying to take a more coastal, scenic route, and therefore have been having to find our way more than one would expect on a major highway. It's not always clear exactly where to turn, but we've gotten used to asking as we go. On our ride from Nimh Binh to Ngo Dong we took two (unintentional) detours that cost us well over an hour of cycling each. Luckily both roads included stunning views and very few trucks.

At one point we came to a crossroads where the direction we thought we should be heading appeared to be blocked by construction. After asking a helpful local which way to the next town he pointed at the construction zone. Of course that's our way, of course. However, in Vietnam it would seem when things are under construction you simply drive around/through the construction zone. After getting closer we realized that this is what every other moped and truck had been doing. Simply wait until the machines have stopped for a moment and go, with the assistance of a construction worker causually waving you through.

Yesterday we had had hoped to make it across the river to our next guesthouse. However, nearing the end of our day with the sun setting we still hadn't found the ferry that we believed would take us across. We decided to stay on the south side and try again tomorrow morning, but at that point we appeared to be in the middle of farmland and no where near a village. We stopped to find out where the nearest guesthouse was and ended up following three different people back a larger town we had cycled through earlier. After checking in at the hotel where we had been left by our last guide out of the farmland we asked about the ferry. Apparently it was 300 meters from the hotel, though no sign indicated a boat crossing, and we had passed it 2 and a half hours earlier. Opps!    

Other highlights of the last two days included: accidentally putting brown salt, not brown sugar, in my Vietnamese coffee; Dana's phone in a bag being mistaken as garbage and thrown out by a helpful food vendor on the side of the road (luckily Dana noticed almost immediately); finding a lost Dutchman with a broken spoke; eating fresh baguettes dipped in condensed milk; and milage signs placed in the wrong direction - yep, that wasn't helpful.