to Na Phac: holy cow!........the Cubs won!!!

November 3, 2016

"We have 14 hills to climb today" Patrick says. "Can I check the Cubs score at the top of each?" Rachel asks. The Cubs play the Cleveland Indians today in the world series! First time in 108 years! Rachel was born in Chicago and stems from a die hard Cubs fan family. On her first bike tour, her fender bore a Chicago Cubs sticker.

We set off from the Guesthouse after another great breakfast. We could have taken a long boat across the lake saving us 10 km and some hills but we choose to continue riding around the lake. We go through Pac Ngoi with many homestays and shops. We buy some tangerines and choco-pies. We have seen choco-pies all through India, Nepal, the Pamirs and Mongolia.

"The score is 1-0" Patrick says when first checking the link, Cubs favor. We are climbing many hills today. Throughout the day Patrick checks the score...5-3, we climb a hill, 6-3, we climb a hill, tied 6-6, we climb a hill, game delay because of rain, we climb a hill....we reach Na Phac and find a Guesthouse, checking in and see "Holy Cow," the Cubs won the 2016 world series! After 108 years the goat curse is broken in 10 innings and 8 runs.

As far as the cycling today: We start by riding around one of the lake arms on a very narrow one-lane road, more like a paved path than a road actually. We are rewarded with very nice views over the lake and a lakeside village. At the other end we have to climb over a major ridge, then the road continues up and down. One more steep climb gets us to the junction town of Ha Hieu. On the way we pass the 15,000 mile mark. Even though we are measuring our trip in kilometers, CGOAB reminds us of this event.

Mr. Linh, or the guy that owns the place, ensured us there is a guesthouse there. Guess what: there is not. It is a small place with several restaurants that all seem to be out of food today. We are told there is a guesthouse ten kilometers to the south in Na Phac. The road follows a river and is fairly flat, so backtracking tomorrow will not be as bad as it could have been. It is very scenic though. in retrospect, staying later at Mr. Linh and a short day to Cho Ra would also have worked distance wise for tomorrow.

Na Phac is a larger town, but neither of the three Nha Nhgi guesthouses we see look very impressive. We end up going with the first one that is willing to show us a room. Like we say: "we've been in worse". There is a hot shower and the beds look okay. For sure we will use our own sheets and pillow cases here, we doubt they get washed often.

Next door is a restaurant with a nice Pho Bo. Then a couple of beers and potato chips to celebrate the Cubs win.

It is typical in Vietnamese hotels to have to turn over your passport upon check-in. Even though you pay you don't get the passport back until you leave. We heard of several cyclists setting off happily only to discover at the end of the day that they forgot their papers. Bummer. At the hotel we are staying today we also handed over our passports, we think the owner needs them to go register us at the police station. Later she comes to our room with several copies of the passports and our visas, plus a couple of forms in Vietnamese that need to be filled out. Google translate helps us put the right information in the right box.

Hopefully we are legal for tonight.

Views over Ba Be Lake as we make our way around one of its arms.

Crossing a river at the far end of one of Ba Be Lake's arms.

Traditional wooden house under construction.

Dog meat for sale. We see a lot more evidence of this than we saw in Southern Vietnam ten years ago. There are many signs advertising dog meat and we see several cages with sad canines.

Cycling narrow roads, very little traffic.

Wood flitches drying in the sun. The wood does not seem to be a valuable hardwood so we assume it is used to make plywood.

Drying crops on exposed beams of a traditional house.

Rachel celebrates the Cubs epic win with a Bia Ha Noi.

Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 24,184 km (15,018 miles)

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