Vũ Lâm, Lạc Sơn District, Hoa Binh -> Tam Coc – Bich Dong, Hoa Lư
Distance cycled: 68 km Ave: 18.4 km/h Max speed: 37.8 km/h Elevation gained: 171 m
As we left Condom Castle in the morning, we discovered their mystery machine is an ice machine! So cool! Ha!
We returned for more delicious phò for breakfast, and we were flattered by being treated like regulars.Today was our last riding day, which was bittersweet.We stayed on the busy highway to get the first 30km behind us, then switched off on a more direct secondary road for the second half.We found amazingly good roads with nobody on them, an absolute mob of ducklings,wallowing water buffalo, and a cool, weirdly mobile floating concrete toll bridge.
There were mausoleums dotted all over the rice fields… it seems strange given the challenges of making a foundation within the regularly flooded paddies, but evidently they’ve got a system that works.
Classic instance of Vietnamese guy videoing us as we rode by. In the afternoon, we stopped and climbed into a mausoleum where we were hiding to stay away from people who might talk to us while we ate a pomelo.Before F could even get the rind off, a woman came over and talked persistently to F about skin whitening products and asking how to become a pale as F.This region boasts many dishes that feature goat meat. Luckily this troupe looks like dairy gals.As we neared Tràng An and Tam Coc, which are cute little towns with amazing limestone hills walling them in,we found ALL THE OTHER TOURISTS. The roads were jammed,the lakefront was teeming,
and the waterway itself looked like you could walk across it there were so many tour boats. The last hour was highly defensive riding, mostly as people on 2-wheelers don’t seem to check if there’s room before pulling into the stream of traffic.
We arrived safely at our homestayand went for celebratory croissants, brownies,pizza and beer, all of which were stellar.
BC by Cycle 
Your tiny knitted friend looks like she has had a hair-raising time! Thanks for bringing us along on the trip!
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Felicity’s friend made that beautiful worry doll, hair is probably on end because she had a bit of an exciting time… nearly fell off several cliffs!
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