February 6, 2007
To Da Nang: Meeting Canadian cyclists
There is no rush today. We check out of the hotel and have breakfast in a restaurant, then make our way out of town to Da Nang.
The day in kilometers go quickly. Just near Marble Mountain, a woman on a motorcycle talks with us as we cycle. We follow her to her marble shop and café at the base of the entrance/exit of Marble Mountain. She agrees to watch our bikes.
We climb the many steps up to one of three pagodas. There are many caves and at the top is a Happy Buddha Statue. There are views of the ocean and beach and of the other mountains. This is the one area David, Rachel's brother, had marked in our guidebook. He was in the Navy and stationed in Da Nang over 35 years ago. Rachel was in College during protests against the "Vietnam war" and the bombing of Cambodia.
As we ride on the new road along China Beach and My Khe Beach, we also see Monkey Mountain that still is a military base. We cycle toward the river and then over the big bridge looking for the LP recommended hotel--only now it is a Nha Nang restaurant. We find a hotel a few blocks away for $9USD and before 1130am.
A half hour later, showered and cleaned up, we walk to the Post Office and mail home 75kg of souvenirs; a woodcarving, t-shirts, silk scarves, 2 wooden boxes with chopsticks and the 2 marble Happy Buddhas on turtles (one for brother Dave) and marble incense burner we bought today at Marble Mountain. The process is pretty easy, the PO even has a mailing box.
Our other goal today is to buy Nutella and find a tent (we had shipped our camping gear to Peter Snow of Bike China in Chengdu to be picked up). The hotel suggested "metro". So, we take a taxi expecting to find a big department shopping area of stores. It was a big box store like Costco. We have to show passports and get a membership card. There is no tent, we did find cornflakes, and cheese and ham. The taxi didn't wait for us. We end up each on the back of a motor scooter back to the hotel. The ride was a bit unnerving.
Then we set out to find a "supermarket." We walk and walk and finally find it and there is Nutella!! We buy 3 jars! On the way back almost to our hotel we see 2 cyclists, who are also looking for the hotel (now restaurant) and they come to our hotel. They are Quebec Canadians, Robert and Jesse Bibeau. We have dinner together at a restaurant where we'd eaten lunch. They are headed South, so we exchange information, a very nice evening.
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Today's ride: 31 km (19 miles)
Total: 5,203 km (3,231 miles)
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