From Cau Ha to A Lưới

Got up very early today – 08:15! Shower and pack the bag game and after good-bye host I was on the road.
The clock: 60768 km
Back up the hill to the Ho Chi Minh Road. That stupid Google woman did trick me and changed the route on the way without telling me. I did learn today that she likes to do that from time to time. Sometimes she tell me that there is a faster route available and sometimes she just thinks she knows better. So this time she got away with it since I was not aware of her little tricks. That way I saved 50 kilometres but did miss out on about 30 kilometres of Ho Chi Minh Road. Guess I did not miss too much.

Coffee break in the middle of nowhere. The woman made my coffee and left with her child on the bike. Interesting! So I did drink my coffee and went to find somebody to pay. Vietnam – away from the tourist highway!

Still some original forest left

Over the bridge and on on

Slow slow they make way for more agriculture and burn down the next piece of forest

I am not alone any more. That guy had a blue plate: official bike. Did overtake him a few times when he was on the phone. He stopped when he had reception. And he overtook me a few times when I took a picture. And every time we waved to each other.

More burning

New shrine on the street

Guess they put if after the accident

Does not look to good – speed kills!

Getting closer to the border. From now on the street will stay close to the border

Over the bride and up the hill

Than you have a very long stretch of pristine forest

Open road – no traffic – no nothing – no settlements – no house – no farming

Just green – as far as you can see

Driving into the clouds

Left, right, left, up and down

Above the clouds

After many more left right left right corners you drive down into the farmland again. People, bikes and domestic animals as well as farming. If you are up there alone with the road and the sound of the bike it feels like a special kind of meditation. You feel the elements, smell nature, see the street, the sky, the clouds and green – a lot of green. That all stops when you drive back into the land of the small villages again.

My room at the Thanh Quang Guest House in A Lưới. 8,16 € for one night. 2 Beds, closet, table, chair, TV, AC, Fan, WiFi and a private bathroom with hot shower.
The clock: 60956 km = 188 kilometres today.

View from the door

View from the bathroom

Old style mosquito net

It folds out and you stuff it under the mattress – this was the luxury version of the good old time

Went for dinner with my little piece of paper (vegetarian food – no meet, no chicken, no fish) and the woman made me “Special Vietnamese Spaghetti” with really hot chilli!