Distance today: 210km | Distance total: 1,610km
We woke up on Cam Kim island to heavy rain. The entire sky was grey and the forecast for more rain all week. So no point waiting it out – our first ride in proper rain was waiting… ☔ 🏍 🇻🇳 👦🏼 👧🏻 Off to see the Golden Bridge.
Riding in the rain, Golden Bridge visit
We got dressed in our plastic rain gear that came with the bike and work well. Different to hiking, the fact they don’t breathe well doesnt matter much given you sit still all the time. My top of the range Rukka motorbike jacket from Finland on the other hand failed miserably 🇫🇮☔🙄
First stop after 70km was the Golden Bridge in the Ba Na hills. The entrance is pretty pricey by Vietnamese standards at 700k Dong, but you get a nice cable car ride and spectacular views for it. That is if the weather is decent. We were unlucky with clouds preventing good views. Still, the bridge with the two hands was a spectacular site though to our surprise all was part of an amusement park and a real bridge. 🤔🤷♂️
Despite awful weather we decided to head to Hue (though skipping the Bach Ma national park for obvious reasons). 110km more to go and it wouldnt stop raining. I have never been on a bike that long in constant rain. But had to be done.
The scenery was ghost like, very foggy and poor visibility. Result is pretty slow progress on generally poor roads and with the ever present risk of crazy Vietnamese riders!
Eventually we made it to the hotel in Hue. Very friendly staff welcomed their wet guests. And after a hot shower all was fine again and we hit nightlife a bit. Here, again without all the tourists we experienced in Hoi An.
Hue imperial city
We spent the morning slipping back into still humid clothes and biked over to the the main attraction of Hue – the imperial city of the last emperors (the Nguyen family).
Construction of the huge complex began in 1800 after the Nguyen took hold of the unified Vietnamese throne and made Hue capital. It belonged to the family until the dynasty was ousted in 1945.
Heading further North…. Into a thermal bath
In theory our plan was to ride 200km to a national park. But being wet and cold at the start of a days journey and with rain now ongoing for about two days… We skipped.
Handy enough, there is thermal spring not far outside of Hue. How better to spend a rainy day than this! 😊 The place was a little deserted though …
