Day 20: Gia Nghia – Dong Xoai

Distance: 76.45 miles

Time: 6:33

Average Speed: 11.7 mph

Looking back at a cycling blog I read before I came here, I was reminded of a comment made about the section of the ride from Saigon to south of Kon Tum. ‘A lot of the riding up until this point has been hard in a not fun, feels like punishment way.’ I didn’t know exactly what he meant at the time, but I do now.

I climbed back up to the main road, before stopping for some noodles and unidentifiable meat. Setting off along the highway, at half past 9, the road plummetted before instantly climbing a 10% gradient back up again. Over and over the pattern repeated, the steepest route down the hill, the steepest route back up again, no skirting around, no plateaus, no valleys. I imagined photographs of the Great Wall of China with the wall replaced by a road.

But then, as I climbed back up to 750 metres, I zoomed out the map on my Garmin, and saw the relief map of the area’s topography for the first time, and it looked like I was about to reach the end of the mountainous terrain.

The road descended in installments, with plenty of sharp little climbs thrown in for good measure, then, gradually some flatter sections were introduced and when the sun went behind a cloud, taking the edge off the 33 degree heat, I started to make some headway.

I stopped for a Banh Mi and Nuoc Mia (sugar cane juice), before stopping at a large service station canteen for a coffee, Vietnam-style, served with condensed milk and heaps of ice.

While pedalling along, a couple of snarling dogs emerged at the roadside in a flash, they were too close to outpace, so I employed my other tactic, slow to a virtual standstill and wait for them to lose interest. Further along the road, another dog chased alongside me at full speed. As its pace waned, a teammate was primed to take over the race, and when its pace waned I made my escape, relieved that these dogs seemed more interested in sport than dinner.

As the road dropped to under 200 metres for the first time in over a week, I became even more determined to get finished for the day. As I rolled into Dong Xoai, after another 76+ mile day, a man on a moped came alongside, he persisted in talking to me in Vietnamese, every time I motioned to him that I didn’t understand, I seemed to be answering whatever he’d asked.

At first, Dong Xoai did not seem like the place to be. The first hotel I made for was closed. Then I booked the only place available on Expedia, and got there to find it was also closed. Fortunately, it was third time lucky, and not only was BomBo open, but it was also a half-reasonable hotel, and just across the road was a huge New Year’s celebration.