We checked out of the expansive resort and rode to the center of Mui Ne Bech but we got lost a few times but eventually we located the center of the Mui Ne beach we checked into a nice small resort called "BAO TRUNG" and they have air con rooms with hot water for $15 u.s. dollar a night and the food is good too we had lunch of fried fish with lemongrass and cocnut fried morning glory( kangkung) and garlic
After noon was spend washing dirty clothes and then laying on the deckchairs eating fruits ,drinking ice coffee and writting our diaries
Thursday, September 25, 2008
24 Sept Ca Na to Mui Ne 120 Km
The day started with a overcast sky and the head wind was very strong therefore our cycling was very slow and hard,by the first break stop we had only done 15 km we were told by the owner of the "pandaran" Hotel that there was a new road from "loung Son" to mui ne that will save about 20 km by the time we got to Mui Ne we still had another 47 Km to mui ne.
The new road passes thru a re- forested area with no houses and no people but it was a very quiet road ,only occasional motor bikes and a few buses but it also had hills to climb, we were really tired by then and we had to push on otherwise when sunset we will be in the middle of nowhere.20 km before Mui ne proper we saw a resort but when we went in it was deserted but still the staff there wanted to charge us 400,000 for a room with 1 single bed and 1 double bed we try to bargain and tell them we are poor tourist on bicycles but still we had to pay the full price, dinner that night was at the resorts restaurant we wanted egg fried rice but they had no eggs..!!!! so we settled for fried veggies on steam rice and a side dish of B-B-Q scallops..that night I was so tired I went to bed early,I rubbed my legs with a lot of the thai boxing oil,,it made it slightly better
The new road passes thru a re- forested area with no houses and no people but it was a very quiet road ,only occasional motor bikes and a few buses but it also had hills to climb, we were really tired by then and we had to push on otherwise when sunset we will be in the middle of nowhere.20 km before Mui ne proper we saw a resort but when we went in it was deserted but still the staff there wanted to charge us 400,000 for a room with 1 single bed and 1 double bed we try to bargain and tell them we are poor tourist on bicycles but still we had to pay the full price, dinner that night was at the resorts restaurant we wanted egg fried rice but they had no eggs..!!!! so we settled for fried veggies on steam rice and a side dish of B-B-Q scallops..that night I was so tired I went to bed early,I rubbed my legs with a lot of the thai boxing oil,,it made it slightly better
23 Sept Phang Rang to Ca Na 35 Km
Today was a very hot day so our cycling was slow,but then came 11 am ,,school was out and we have hundreds of school kids riding home on their 1 speed bicycles,like all kids they wanted to race us..all giggling and waving and they call out "HELLO""HELLO" The braver ones ride along side us and started firing questions at us .."where you going"? where you from? what you name? how old are you? but their English ability was not good enough to understand our answers but never the less it was fun and it really makes our day.
I think we must look really weird to them with our bike helmets ,anti-pollution face masks,sunglasses and our weird looking bikes,it brings back memories as I can re-call the days I too use to cycle to and from school in "Alor Star" a small town in the north of Malaysia during my school years there.There is not a day that passes where we do not hear a friendly "Hello" from the children on the road, even the adults scream out hellos from their houses , coffee shops,even the farm where they are working..It really makes it all so interesting to cycle in this country.
Eventually we got to Ca Na at12 noon we stayed at a beach side mini hotel called"PANDARAN" The owner is a minority tribe of Vietnam called 'CHAM"The malays are probably the descendants of these Cham people,Their language are very similar to Malay as we compared them..they call eyes "TA" malays says "Mata" nose they say 'dung" we say "hidung"they call legs "kake" we say "kaki"he even showed us pictures of the Chams in costumes they look just like the malays costumes but 1 thing not in common is that their written language is "Pali" from India.
Our room over looks the sea, clean but old we had lunch a few doors down the road at "Mai Linh" bus company restaurant we had B-B-Q prawns ,battered calamari and seafood fried rice,that night's dinner was at the Ca Na hotel a few mins walk away we ordered fried fish in tomato sauce and stir fried beef and veggies,one of the housemaids of the hotel approach us to ask if we wanted a massage,, she is moonlighting !! so I took up the offer as I was so tired,she used the staff quarters as the place of business!! she was in fact a specialist in "Moxibustion" a kind of acupuncture remedy that uses glass cups and a flame was lit inside the cup to create a vacuum, then the cup sucks on to your back and it leaves a deep red marks afterwards, well I opt for the regular massage .
I think we must look really weird to them with our bike helmets ,anti-pollution face masks,sunglasses and our weird looking bikes,it brings back memories as I can re-call the days I too use to cycle to and from school in "Alor Star" a small town in the north of Malaysia during my school years there.There is not a day that passes where we do not hear a friendly "Hello" from the children on the road, even the adults scream out hellos from their houses , coffee shops,even the farm where they are working..It really makes it all so interesting to cycle in this country.
Eventually we got to Ca Na at12 noon we stayed at a beach side mini hotel called"PANDARAN" The owner is a minority tribe of Vietnam called 'CHAM"The malays are probably the descendants of these Cham people,Their language are very similar to Malay as we compared them..they call eyes "TA" malays says "Mata" nose they say 'dung" we say "hidung"they call legs "kake" we say "kaki"he even showed us pictures of the Chams in costumes they look just like the malays costumes but 1 thing not in common is that their written language is "Pali" from India.
Our room over looks the sea, clean but old we had lunch a few doors down the road at "Mai Linh" bus company restaurant we had B-B-Q prawns ,battered calamari and seafood fried rice,that night's dinner was at the Ca Na hotel a few mins walk away we ordered fried fish in tomato sauce and stir fried beef and veggies,one of the housemaids of the hotel approach us to ask if we wanted a massage,, she is moonlighting !! so I took up the offer as I was so tired,she used the staff quarters as the place of business!! she was in fact a specialist in "Moxibustion" a kind of acupuncture remedy that uses glass cups and a flame was lit inside the cup to create a vacuum, then the cup sucks on to your back and it leaves a deep red marks afterwards, well I opt for the regular massage .
22Sept Dalat - Phang Rang
Rain came early this morning,so deciding to catch a bus to Phang Rang..according to what tony had planned for us looks to be the best way as we don't want to cycle all the way down hill on the wet road to Phang Rang.we had Tu to guide us to the Dalat lake and from there we cycled 5 km out of dalat town towards the bus terminal,
We took a mini bus that stopped all the way to Phang Rang picking up more and more passengers until the bus was overloaded.tony met us at the Phang Rang bus terminus with 3 "farmers" daughters of which 1 was his "girlfriend"now we realised that tony is a Casanova,we were taken to a seafood restaurant which was in fact a failed fish farm project it has a man made lake and we sat under a Ni pa hut,Tony wanted to impress the girls and ordered a lot of seafood and beers the waitress brought a whole crate of beer thinking these overseas cyclists need to be hydrated, but then tony said we shall split the bill 3 ways
One of the "farmers" daughter surprise us by speaking some Malay!! she had worked in a factory in "SUNGAI BULOH" in Malaysia.after lunch tony took us to a nice little mini hotel by the Phang Rang Beach but the beach was disappointing it was smelly and full of rubbish that night there was again a blackout so we had no choice but to eat at a 4 star hotel that was near us,we saw many Korean students in the restaurant eating only a plate of fried rice each we ordered 2 dishes and rice but it took so long to arrive and I went to complained...I told the manager that for a 4 star hotel the service was far below standard...I am not sure if he understood he only smiled....
We took a mini bus that stopped all the way to Phang Rang picking up more and more passengers until the bus was overloaded.tony met us at the Phang Rang bus terminus with 3 "farmers" daughters of which 1 was his "girlfriend"now we realised that tony is a Casanova,we were taken to a seafood restaurant which was in fact a failed fish farm project it has a man made lake and we sat under a Ni pa hut,Tony wanted to impress the girls and ordered a lot of seafood and beers the waitress brought a whole crate of beer thinking these overseas cyclists need to be hydrated, but then tony said we shall split the bill 3 ways
One of the "farmers" daughter surprise us by speaking some Malay!! she had worked in a factory in "SUNGAI BULOH" in Malaysia.after lunch tony took us to a nice little mini hotel by the Phang Rang Beach but the beach was disappointing it was smelly and full of rubbish that night there was again a blackout so we had no choice but to eat at a 4 star hotel that was near us,we saw many Korean students in the restaurant eating only a plate of fried rice each we ordered 2 dishes and rice but it took so long to arrive and I went to complained...I told the manager that for a 4 star hotel the service was far below standard...I am not sure if he understood he only smiled....
21 Sept Dalat
This morning tony and Truong Vy took us to breakfast at a very nice restaurant called '' PHO DALAT" which specialised in a kind of soup noodles called "BUN BO HUE" a kind of rice vermicelli in a spicy soup, specialty of Hue.later that morning as it was a Sunday Tu Tony's grand son took us on a bicycle tour of Dalat we cycled around Dalat's lake and I saw a golf course , so we cycled up the hill to Dalat's golf course a very nice 18 hole course,I will come back one day with my clubs to play here.we t6hen stopped at the restaurant by the lake to have a very expansive milkshake...40,000 dong for a coconut milkshake.
After the Milkshake we called tony at home and he said he will take us to a seafood restaurant,their specialty was live seafood..we had boiled calamari eaten with rice paper and salad, B-B-Q and steam blue swimmer crabs, then came the live prawns on a skewer...and we B-B-Q then alive..but it was so delicious.
As we were having Lunch Truong Vy said she will cook us a home cook dinner tonight,tony then took me to a foot massage place and I was the only one having a massage... while I was having the massage I could hear Tony's laughter all the way from the 1 st floor...tony and lou was being seduced and entertained by another masseur in the lobby, tony thinks that she was not a real masseur!!
Dinner that night was really good, Truong Vy had to cook dinner by candlelight as there was another blackout we had "CA KOR TOR" mackeral cooked in sweet soya sauce and fish sauce,and beef salad Vietnamese style
that night Tony was planning his escapade using us as an excuse,to lead us to Phang rang so he can visit his "girlfriend"
After the Milkshake we called tony at home and he said he will take us to a seafood restaurant,their specialty was live seafood..we had boiled calamari eaten with rice paper and salad, B-B-Q and steam blue swimmer crabs, then came the live prawns on a skewer...and we B-B-Q then alive..but it was so delicious.
As we were having Lunch Truong Vy said she will cook us a home cook dinner tonight,tony then took me to a foot massage place and I was the only one having a massage... while I was having the massage I could hear Tony's laughter all the way from the 1 st floor...tony and lou was being seduced and entertained by another masseur in the lobby, tony thinks that she was not a real masseur!!
Dinner that night was really good, Truong Vy had to cook dinner by candlelight as there was another blackout we had "CA KOR TOR" mackeral cooked in sweet soya sauce and fish sauce,and beef salad Vietnamese style
that night Tony was planning his escapade using us as an excuse,to lead us to Phang rang so he can visit his "girlfriend"
20 Sept Dalat
I woke up early as usual,we had coffee in the front yard of Tony's house with a nice view,then we took a taxi to Dalat's town to a coffee shop to have breakfast of baguette and fried eggs and coffee ,later we walk around "CHO DALAT" dalat market looking for a water bottle to replace the ones that I have lost along the way.we saw many kinds of fruit wines for sale in the market like strawberry wines, rasps berry wines and lots of fruits and vegetables ,in fact Dalat reminds me of our Hill resort in Malaysia called "Cameron Highlands" except thet they don't grow tea leaves here.
After that we walked to Truong Vy's office she is an accountant for a motorbike shop, one of the biggest in Dalat town,we then had lunch at a Chinese restaurant the lady boss spoke Cantonese and Mandarin she recommended their specialty " WON TON" noodles17 members of her family works in this restaurant and her brother said he had been hand making the noodles for the last 40 years.
That night we said we will treat tony and his wife for dinner ,so they took us to a nice Vietnamese restaurant,but when we got there there was a blackout..tony said that the Vietnamese government was selling electricity to the Cambodians.. tony ordered B-B-Q frog.Roast pigeon,chicken feet salad and the main course was "tom yum" canh cua...a tom yum flavor fish hot pot eaten with thin rice vermicelli
After that we walked to Truong Vy's office she is an accountant for a motorbike shop, one of the biggest in Dalat town,we then had lunch at a Chinese restaurant the lady boss spoke Cantonese and Mandarin she recommended their specialty " WON TON" noodles17 members of her family works in this restaurant and her brother said he had been hand making the noodles for the last 40 years.
That night we said we will treat tony and his wife for dinner ,so they took us to a nice Vietnamese restaurant,but when we got there there was a blackout..tony said that the Vietnamese government was selling electricity to the Cambodians.. tony ordered B-B-Q frog.Roast pigeon,chicken feet salad and the main course was "tom yum" canh cua...a tom yum flavor fish hot pot eaten with thin rice vermicelli
19 sept Ba Ngoi to Phang rang 47 Km
Sorry I have not been posting for a few days as we were tied up by Mr tony Nguyen and his wife is dalat ,also I could not find any inter net cafe that can upload pics for you all..
19 Sept. Ba Ngoi to Phang Rang,
Started the day at 7 am very little traffic on this stretch of Highway 1 and we arrived at Phang Rang at 11 am we headed to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Dalat as the road to dalat is all uphill and its 110 km but they only have a local bus to Song Fa,which is at the bottom of dalat.
while waiting for the bus to dalat we had lunch , we got rip off by the rice shop lady who overcharged us,the cost of the lunch 2 plates of rice and pork chop 1 plate of cucumber salad 2 ice tea 100,000 dong the cost of the fare from song fa to Dalat with bikes 100,000 each the mini bus stop half way up to dalat to let some passengers out to vomit we got to Dalat at about 4 pm.
we were dropped off at a petrol station opposite dalat lake, Troung Vy, Tony's wife came on a motorbike to lead us to their House,Dalat is a very Hilly town hard to cycle around,Tony insisted that we all stay in his house which was quite a nice little house on the hill side overlooking mint leaves farm and other buildings .Troung Vy cooked us a home cooked dinner and her sister was also invited to join we also met Tony's grandson Tu, who was very interested in kung -fu, so Lou showed him a few moves and I had a little spar with him .That Night I slept ion the lounge while Lou slept in the room
19 Sept. Ba Ngoi to Phang Rang,
Started the day at 7 am very little traffic on this stretch of Highway 1 and we arrived at Phang Rang at 11 am we headed to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Dalat as the road to dalat is all uphill and its 110 km but they only have a local bus to Song Fa,which is at the bottom of dalat.
while waiting for the bus to dalat we had lunch , we got rip off by the rice shop lady who overcharged us,the cost of the lunch 2 plates of rice and pork chop 1 plate of cucumber salad 2 ice tea 100,000 dong the cost of the fare from song fa to Dalat with bikes 100,000 each the mini bus stop half way up to dalat to let some passengers out to vomit we got to Dalat at about 4 pm.
we were dropped off at a petrol station opposite dalat lake, Troung Vy, Tony's wife came on a motorbike to lead us to their House,Dalat is a very Hilly town hard to cycle around,Tony insisted that we all stay in his house which was quite a nice little house on the hill side overlooking mint leaves farm and other buildings .Troung Vy cooked us a home cooked dinner and her sister was also invited to join we also met Tony's grandson Tu, who was very interested in kung -fu, so Lou showed him a few moves and I had a little spar with him .That Night I slept ion the lounge while Lou slept in the room
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