Hello My Baby, Hello My Honey, Hello My Ho Chi Minh

So obviously I survived my "Trial By Cave" (just barely), and I can't wait to tell you all about its stupendousness, but first, shall we "head out on the highway"?

It had finally arrived - my first official day on the Ho Chi Minh Highway - and I was pretty darn excited. I'll cut to the chase, and tell you right now it was all I expected and more, which turned out to be both a good and a bad thing, as you shall soon see.

The first thing that happened was I came across a cyclist who I recalled glimpsing at the Khe Sanh Memorial. This time I stopped and it turns out Viet the Vietnamese (I know - you couldn't make this shit up) is biking from Saigon to Sapa, which has to be easily over 3000 km. We had a lovely chat, exchanged phone numbers and I promised to let him know the hotel situation in Phong Na. I felt kind of guilty and envious at the same time.

In case you were worried, he messaged me and everything worked out fine for him - due in no small part to my reconnoitering and reporting.

Back to the ride. The most accurate description I can give you of the road is that on my Google Maps screen it looks like a blown-up picture of the world's longest zipper. Oh, and the scenery is spectacular.

Not much point in saying anything else is there?

Another huge bonus, theoretically at least, is that there was no traffic whatsoever - and I mean NONE. Of course this immediately conjures up the two equal, but diametrically opposed thoughts in my feverish brain:
"Holy shit! I have this whole road to myself! This is fucking fantastic!"
Holy shit! There's no-one else on this road at all! If something happens, I'm so screwed!"
C'est la vie.

Another interesting result of this isolation is that, for the first time, there wasn't a gas station every 100 metres. In fact, I couldn't find one at all. Eventually, with visions of strandedness dancing through my head, I pulled over at a house and tried to indicate that I needed gas by moving my hand up & down, thumb extended, over the tank. Initial reactions were not exactly what I'd hoped for ("Kill him now. He's obviously deranged."), but finally someone caught on and immediately everyone seemed to be pointing and gesturing at the neighbour's house back down the road. Now who was confused?
"What the hell?" I thought, and pulled into the neighbour's yard, making my "gas" sign again to the wizened old lady sitting on the porch. No confusion here. Granny went inside and emerged a minute later, wearing the regulation Viet face mask, and carrying a giant gas can. Out came a funnel and a litre plastic container, and before you know it I was topped up and on my way. I'd heard about these family fill-up stations, necessary since scooters have a tiny 2 litre tank, but to see one in action was a whole different thing.

                 Granny gases me up.

Towards the end of the day, I did get caught up in some fog and a bit of rain, but honestly, by that point I was so tired I hardly even noticed. This is the "too much of a good thing" syndrome I alluded to earlier. The whole scenario reminded me of two incidents that occured when Sarah & I did our Mexico trip. The first was when we were leaving Las Posas, and the owner's husband told us we "must" take the mountain route to Mexico City. The first hour was breathtaking and glorious, the next 5 were a physical and mental nightmare, as we wound around and around without seeming to go anywhere. "Weren't we already here?" Sarah kept saying. The exact same thing happened on the Pacific Coast Highway north of San Francisco - one fucking corkscrew after another -  until it became a choice between a van full of vomit or the interstate. Adios, PCH.

Same scenario here, except no alternative. By the time I got to the Farmstay, I could barely move my arms and literally dragged myself into my room.

Gratuitous Farmstay photos that have nowhere else to go.

So, was it amazing? It certainly was.
Would I do it again? I don't think I could.
As the old saying goes," Be careful what you wish for...". With the obvious exceptions of turkey and chocolate.

Next episode: "Let's go caving now, everybody's learning how..."