Vietnam Day 16 – All aboard the Miss Kitty Express to a border refusal.

Distance 87Km

Pan Flat

Saddle Time 3h 15m

Relive Video – https://www.relive.cc/view/2021421269

After my hospital visit yesterday and my broken wee toe, I decided that once I could get my cycling shoe on relatively pain free then I was back on the bike and heading for Bangkok. I had already planned the route, I just needed to download it to our Garmin (GPS) devices. My grin and bear it tactics were also fully endorsed by a friend, Dr Phil, who is an orthopaedic surgeon. I’m very grateful of his advice yesterday.

Just like Cinderella, the shoe fitted, so today it was Game On. This morning I sorted out the admin of GPS and printing off the route and return flight details to help us in blagging out way through the border. Greg took our bike bags onto our next hotel for when we return from this next chapter.

There’s a potential for a disaster at the Cambodia border because my passport expires in April – which is less than 6 months. It was fine for entry into Vietnam but likely to be an issue at Cambodia and possibly also Thailand. I tried to renew my passport before coming here but the passport office made it difficult with some unexpected red tape and I ended up being at risk of not getting a new passport in time so stuck with the current one.

Anyway… we set off this morning later than usual and the foot was feeling good. Certainly better than it is walking on it. We stopped off at Ho Chi Minh’s statue for a photo as we didn’t manage that on our arrival. Unfortunately he was all covered up for the winter so we settled for a helicopter instead.

This was in the grounds of the HCM museum. They wouldn’t let us in for a photo without paying full price – scandalous. So we each handed over £1 and got an entrance ticket.

Then it was on the bikes, and following our new route, VCT 1 – (Vietnam – Cambodia – Thailand – Day 1)

HCM was crazy busy traffic for ages and quite a bumpy road which was hurting my foot. We made our way out of the city and caught the odd draft from passing vehicles doing a sensible speed.

After about 40 mins my foot was sore. By 60 mins it was screaming. We stopped for a good lunch at a sort of roadside cafe and I got a couple of bags of ice to chill my gammy foot.

It felt much better after that and we decided there was a compromise between making good progress so that I had my shoe on for less time and pushing too hard on the pedals. The best solution to draft behind mopeds etc.

A three wheeler truck was our friend for a while. Plenty to shelter behind and he was going a steady 30Km/h. Unfortunately it was an old banger so it was really noisy. He then turned off and we were looking for a new Good Samaritan. Then along came Miss Kitty. She was doing a similar speed to us. Sometimes slower sometimes faster but she always ended up passing us. We decided it would be easier to always just stay behind and get the drafting benefit.

We were pretty much settled in at 30-35Km/h for quite a while.

Then the road opened up and she was boosting us along at between 40-45Km/h. It was tough to hang on but we did and then something would happen or there would be lights and we got a breather. We went over a series of rumble strips and they really hurt my foot and I started to lose Greg’s wheel. And then that was it. I was dropped and the Miss Kitty Express sped off into the distance. As good a time as any for a juice and foot icing stop.

The in house entertainment was an old woman clubbing a fish to death and then scaling and gutting it for her customer.

Then we were on our way to the border. Vietnam officials were easy going and they let us go onto the Cambodia desk. One look at my passport and he said – “No good. Not 6 month”

I politely showed him our cycling plan and reassured him that we were just passing through on our way to Thailand. He was having none of it. I asked if some folding money might be of help in grantors short term visa. No cigar there either.

I suggested Greg went on as his passport is fine and that will be a great trip to do. He was reluctant as he felt it wasn’t in good spirit to break up. I suggested that the alternative isn’t anywhere near as good as that experience will be.

We decided to head back 10Km to the last town, stay the night and consider our options. I was thinking of heading south into the Mekong Delta and maybe doing a boat trip or something coastal. Or, cycling back to Dalat and then loop back to HCMC before Xmas. Greg came up with a better plan which I think I’ll put into place tomorrow. That is cycle back to HCMC airport, fly to Da Nang and then do the bit we missed to Nha Trang. That’s the section we flew before because of the bad weather.

It’s looking fairly certain that we will part company tomorrow after breakfast to do our own adventureS then meet up again in HCMC on Xmas eve for a beer.

In other news, Rowi finally Ho Chi Made It after her beach stay in Mui Ne. Well done Rowi. She will enjoy a few days in HCMC before flying home.

And do you remember the woman and girl who helped me out with the moped when I had broken spokes ? Well I’ve also been in comms with her husband, Michael, who has been very helpful with info re HCMC and visas etc – thanks Michael.

Another Vietnam rip off… We went into town for a coffee. I went and bought some ice for my trotter. The guy gave me a big bag full and signalled 2. So I gave him 20,000 Dong (about £0.67). Then he gave me 18,000 Dong in change. It was 7p. This place is just soooo cheap.