Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat

Today was the first day on the bikes and it was a very hard day. From Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat was around 300km, we left the bike place in HCMC at 7.15am and arrived in Da Lat at about 5pm. The main issue is that Bikes, even larger capacity bikes like we have, are not allowed on the freeways (120kmh) or main roads with cars. Bikes must take a side lane to the highway roads or take back roads. Generally we could get no faster than about 50kmh and most travel was between 30-40kmh. I bike tour leader, Mr Binh, was not a speedy gonzales and we were not allowed to go ahead of him. Most of the roads we were on were in pretty rough condition as well, which also made the going slow and tiring. I did not get chance to take a photo all day, we were pressured to keep moving and stops were brief. The bike I have is an old GS550 Suzuki (cruiser style) photo tomorrow. It is has the speedo on MPH.

Da Lat looks like it was all worth it, we only saw it briefly as we arrived but Dalat is about 1500 m above sea level so it is cooler, it has a huge lake, gardens and fountains. It is sort of like what I imagine Como in Italy is like, but Vietnamese. Tomorrow we get to see more Pagodas, A waterfall, a cable car ride across a valley and a palace. We also have a rest day from riding which is much needed. WE are told the first day is the worst, it gets much easier from now. Well I hope so otherwise I will be a bit disappointed.

Pics tomorrow.

LB