Off once more on my trusty, rusty bicycle to explore the countryside outside Hoi An, After Saigon I’m still craving the salt winds from the sea, the waving coconut palms and the lush greens of the rice paddies.
And then I found myself completely lost with no sense of direction!
Three cyclists had been following me thinking I knew where I was going, so when I stopped they caught me up and we discovered no one knew where we were.
But Rosie and Jack, from Canada, and their daughter in law Jade from Australia, off on vacation (their son lives in Kuala Lumpa) had a very good map.
Together we worked out a route along the waters edge, weaving between rivers, canals and the sea, cycling over narrow bridges, down mud tracks and into rural territory. The local villages, intent on spring cleaning and decorating for Tet, thought this was a real laugh, waving and shaking our hands as we went past.
Several times we had to stop whilst enormous orange trees and poinsettias were manoeuvred past us by young and old alike –each family aims to get a bigger and better floral display than their neighbours, it’s just like Xmas decorations!
My new found friends and I finally fell into a beachside restaurant for lunch-well, we had to eat lunch, so we discovered, having left our bikes and taken seats for a drink, but it cost more to pay for the bike parking than to eat lunch and have that for free so we did…even those of us who think we’re savvy travellers get caught out sometimes, but in fairness the meal was cheap and we were sitting on golden sands watching the surf under the shade of the palms, not much to pay for a paradise moment.
Over lunch we found we had much in common, as well as a combined love of cycling: Rosie and Jack are Canadian, but Jack's family originated from England, the founders of Marley tiles, he has relatives in Surrey. Originally an engineer, he and Rosie now run an apple orchard and keep chickens, they lose their chickens to raccoons though not foxes.
Returning took hours as we kept taking wrong turns-we knew we were within sight of the town as the cyclo tours were around-the men cyclists took great exception to us overtaking them, and would speed up in competition, slightly to the consternation of those sitting in the chairs who looked rather taken aback as we all raced each other along the narrow lanes……
The sun was setting when the four of us arrived back at our destination. I left them to a recuperative beer, and being English, retreated to my hotel for a nice cup of tea!
My fourth floor room is up almost in the roof, and I can see into the playground opposite and listen to the children playing and the everyday life of the town. A very short stroll along the river bank to stretch out my aching legs, and I’m off for a very early night………
And then I found myself completely lost with no sense of direction!
Three cyclists had been following me thinking I knew where I was going, so when I stopped they caught me up and we discovered no one knew where we were.
But Rosie and Jack, from Canada, and their daughter in law Jade from Australia, off on vacation (their son lives in Kuala Lumpa) had a very good map.
Together we worked out a route along the waters edge, weaving between rivers, canals and the sea, cycling over narrow bridges, down mud tracks and into rural territory. The local villages, intent on spring cleaning and decorating for Tet, thought this was a real laugh, waving and shaking our hands as we went past.
Several times we had to stop whilst enormous orange trees and poinsettias were manoeuvred past us by young and old alike –each family aims to get a bigger and better floral display than their neighbours, it’s just like Xmas decorations!
My new found friends and I finally fell into a beachside restaurant for lunch-well, we had to eat lunch, so we discovered, having left our bikes and taken seats for a drink, but it cost more to pay for the bike parking than to eat lunch and have that for free so we did…even those of us who think we’re savvy travellers get caught out sometimes, but in fairness the meal was cheap and we were sitting on golden sands watching the surf under the shade of the palms, not much to pay for a paradise moment.
Over lunch we found we had much in common, as well as a combined love of cycling: Rosie and Jack are Canadian, but Jack's family originated from England, the founders of Marley tiles, he has relatives in Surrey. Originally an engineer, he and Rosie now run an apple orchard and keep chickens, they lose their chickens to raccoons though not foxes.
Returning took hours as we kept taking wrong turns-we knew we were within sight of the town as the cyclo tours were around-the men cyclists took great exception to us overtaking them, and would speed up in competition, slightly to the consternation of those sitting in the chairs who looked rather taken aback as we all raced each other along the narrow lanes……
The sun was setting when the four of us arrived back at our destination. I left them to a recuperative beer, and being English, retreated to my hotel for a nice cup of tea!
My fourth floor room is up almost in the roof, and I can see into the playground opposite and listen to the children playing and the everyday life of the town. A very short stroll along the river bank to stretch out my aching legs, and I’m off for a very early night………
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| Sunset from hotel balcony |
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