Rice and vegetables please

A long day today…120 km from Hoi An to Quang Ngai. I am tired. It was hot today and although the road was flat the heat was a bit much. A far cry from the winter weather in Hanoi! The road on this stretch was much better than before so that made for some easier riding. At one point (about 1.5 hours into the ride), I pulled off in a gas station to check out the WC and when I pulled back on the road there were 2 guys on touring bikes that passed me. And they didn’t even say hello!! What is WRONG with these people…is the unfriendliness rubbing off on the tourists as well?

The only other cyclists I met so far were a couple at the hotel I stayed at after my first day of riding…they were heading north. So I asked them about the road condition and mountain pass that lie ahead for me and the guy was really arrogant and short with me. WHATEVER! So here I am faced again with attitude. Of course I jsut HAD to speed up and when I got to the first guy I said,’a bit UNFRIENDLY aren’t you? HELLO!!!’ Then I passed the second guy and said’HELLO!’ and he barely said hi back. Then I just had to pull out the turbo boosters and get ahead of them a bit to put them back in their place. Such pleasure I had for the next 15 miles as they desperately tried to catch up to me time and time again to pass but they just couldn’t get a higher speed. Eventually I stopped to have an orange and they were nowhere insight- ha! I never saw them again. Ha ha ho ho hee hee…they picked the wrong girl to mess with! And the one guy was wearing spandex biking shorts with built-in spandex suspenders – that alone warrants a good passing. I mean, WHY would you need SUSPENDERS on SPANDEX??? Ok, sorry for the digression…back to today’s events…

So I actually had some positive interaction with the Vietnamese today…what a shocker! I decided I needed a hearty lunch break and was trying to find SOMEWHERE to stop where I wasn’t going to feel people staring me down while I ate. I managed to find a place with 3 Vietnamese women and said right, stick with the girls on this one. They didn’t speak a word of English and with my Vietnamese phrasebook I managed to tell them I was vegetarian (an chay) and I tried to order rice and vegetables but all I got was a bowl of rice. Well at least I got half of it! The women were so cute though – just looking at me, but in such a friendly, curious way, not the shake-down stare I had felt many times before. I guess word travelled fast and before I knew it there were about 15 women surrounding me – of all ages from little girls to grandmothers! I just had to laugh! I would say Thank You and they would all repeat it mumbling Thank you, Thank you…

The second time I stopped (about 2 hours later), I was looking for water and this old man took me to a shop run by 2 women who insisted that I sit down to drink it. Before I knew it they wanted to know if I was married because one of the guys who wandered over to watch the foreigner drink water wanted to marry me. I managed to gather a group of about 10 that time.

I felt a slightly friendlier tone with the people in general today – more hellos, a few smiles, and one or two thumbs-up even. Others have told me that they felt a friendlier vibe in the south and I’d have to agree. I finally arrived at my destination a bit after 4pm – slightly sunburned with a touch of heat rash on the legs but otherwise unscathed.

Miles biked today: 75 (121.5 km)
Time: 6 hours 4 minutes

Taking a break at a gas station on the road

Add comment February 8th, 2002