12 February.
A rest and tourist day in this old French resort town. Wonderful food in this 5 star hotel – one of the best in Asia according to them.
Two pics, one from outside my room and one of some of the tour riders eating breakfast.
Some observations overlooked.
Golf::
Much of the ride along the central and north central coast looks like golf courses. The rice fields are so verdent and widespread, with random flags waving (not sure if they are delinéators or scarecrows, that they appear as wonderful courses.
Wildlife:
The South was dogs and chickens and very tired and think cows on the road. Occassional pigs. Here we see Oxen, cows, ducks, and goats up on the higher passes.
The cows and oxen are working and often crossing the road, even the hiways. Have had to stop more than once to let them pass or push through.
Architechture::
South, as mentioned, is a small narrow house which doubles as a store front. Dirt in front and then the road.
Here, nice houses, real cities, far less living on the road, taller and more narrow housing and stores. Lack of the dirt frontage.
Temples::
This area is dotted with Cham temples. Each more beautiful than the previous one.
Food:
Excellent but not as fresh as the Mekong. More extensive preparations as not as immediate from the ground or river. Prawns, giant, the kind we pay $30/lb at home, are expensive in this area. About $9 per pound here. With a living wage at $100 /month for one single person prawns are out of reach.
Morning excercise:
Starting at 5 am, especially North of here, folks are out doing their morning routines. Walking, jogging and lots of Tai Chi variations. Done by 7 am as it is too hot. Very good to see but not join.
Tet:
As the holiday starts next week (first day is the 17th) the preparations are evident everywhere. Roads being cleaned with village crews. They seem to be converting the roadside garbage eyesore to air pollution by roadside burning. Wonderful biking through it.
Doors and trees being decorated. Kumquat trees and many other types of flowering plants to decorate the entrance ways. Lights and cleaning.
Busses full of people mostly going North to visit their families. Busses so full that we would not consider getting on, let alone riding for several days. Motor bikes on top of the busses. Police stopping them to check papers (or bribes).
Fellow travelers:
Very experianced and wide ranging travel junkies. Cuba, Amazon, Alaska, Polar Bears, Europe, Barges, Cross (fill in the geographic area). Not a lot of Asia travel, except China, so far. This is not a stay at home retirement group.
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