Today's ride was ridiculous. About 400km with no good towns in between, I decided to pull a massive day, and just go for it.
After a wrong turn early on which lead to me getting directions from a group of 10 year old school children, I was on my way.
The majesty of the Phong Nha mountains were quickly forgotten, and replaced with highway 1, a very well maintained, but overall quite boring road.
I stopped for lunch at a small shop that seemed to be full of locals, and with the magic of Google translate, ordered some food. The woman wouldn't take my to of about one dollar, and seemed genuinely offended when I tried to refuse to accept the change from the $2.50 i had given her.
The real excitement came at around 240km in when the truck I was following suddenly, without indicating, turned right, stopping directly in front of me.
Everything went slow motion, and I quickly pressed on the breaks, waiting until I was going as slow as possible to serve, and threw the bike away from me as I feel to stop it landing on me, and maybe breaking less.
I tucked and rolled, and got away with a tiny scraped knee and hip. The truck driver was super apologetic, and in no time I was ushering the crowd of locals away, insisting I was fine.
I must have somehow wiped since dirt on my face though, as the petrol station attendant seemed very concerned for my well-being until I got a wet wipe and cleaned myself up in their bathroom.
I ended up getting to the hostel without a hitch though, and the area seems just as beautiful as Phong Nha, so i think I'm in for a treat.
Tomorrow, the national park xx