Last trip in Vietnam
N 10°23'00.4'' E 104°28'18.0''
Date:
31.03.2017 until 01.04.2017
Day: 640 – 641
Country:
Vietnam
Province:
Kiên Giang
Location:
Hà Tiên
Latitude N:
10°23’00.4”
Longitude E:
104°28’18.0”
Daily kilometers:
100 km
Total kilometers:
23,328 km
As the crow flies:
80 km
Average speed:
24.1 km/h
Maximum speed:
41.9 km/h
Travel time:
4:08 hrs.
Soil condition:
Asphalt
Maximum height:
10 m
Total altitude meters:
70.490 m
Altitude meters for the day:
169 m
Sunrise:
06:00 a.m.
Sunset:
6:12 pm
Temperature day max:
36°C
Departure:
06:50 a.m.
Arrival time:
12:00 p.m.
(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).
Due to the sweltering heat, we start the day at 5:00 am. At 6:30 a.m., we sit in the saddle and leave the town of Châu Đốc, from where you can supposedly only enter Cambodia via the Mekong River. As the speedboat only stops in the capital Phnom Penh, this border crossing would be extremely unsuitable for us, as we naturally want to cycle through Cambodia just like all the other countries on this leg of the journey.
We have 100 kilometers of cycling ahead of us before we reach the next border town of Hà Tiên in the far south of the country. The little-used road is bordered on the right by the Kenh Vinh Te canal. On the other side of the canal we can already see Cambodia. The transition between the two countries is not separated by a visually visible border. Farmers work in their fields here and in Cambodia, spraying the rice plants with poison here and there. During a short break, we stand by the canal and watch the Cambodians standing barefoot in the rice fields without breathing protection. They have a poison tank strapped to their backs, holding a thin, long pipe in their hands and enveloping their young lime-green rice plants in a white poisonous mist. Even though I have regularly observed this type of pesticide and fertilizer application over the last two years, I cannot and will not get used to it. I turn my gaze away and watch a few barges chugging past for a while. Then I grab my long-sleeved shirt from the front saddlebag to protect my body from the increasingly strong rays of the sun. It’s now 37 degrees in the shade again. The only thing that cools us down is the wind. I would love to continue cycling in a T-shirt, as I did in the early morning, but the consequences would be nasty skin burns despite the sunscreen. So it’s better to sweat than to get sunburnt, which, we’ve been told, damages human DNA every time and can therefore cause skin cancer. For us as adventurers and cyclists who are constantly exposed to nature and therefore the sun, protection from the sun is of fundamental importance. In the USA alone, 38,000 people are diagnosed with skin cancer every year, 7,000 of whom die. In Germany, there are 6,500 new cases and 2,000 deaths every year.
After two hours, we stop briefly to fortify ourselves with a boiled corn on the cob by the roadside. When we want to drive on, the sales clerk gives us two more corn on the cob. “So that they have enough energy in the heat and don’t fall off their bikes,” we understand. “Watch out. We’re in the border area here. There’s a bunch of Ali Babas,” warns a moped rider who has also stopped to eat a corn on the cob. “Ali Babas?” I ask. “Robbers,” he replies. “Thanks for the warning. We’ll be careful.”
Five hours and ten minutes after our start today, we reach the ancient border town of Ha Tien, which is said to have existed 2,000 years ago, at 12:00 noon. Our road meets the Gulf of Thailand directly. We turn right so that the sea runs to our left. “Take a short break!” calls Tanja, which is why we stop in the shade of a tree. According to the travel guide, Ha Tien is incredibly beautiful, with picturesque bays and beautiful beaches, so I grab my camera to take a few pictures on the nearby beach. Not again, it goes through my head as the beach, completely littered with plastic waste, screams at me plaintively. In the meantime, I’m no longer sure whether my constant mentioning of various environmental sins is scaring you, dear readers. But what should we do? As I’ve mentioned before, I can keep quiet about it to keep up the pretense of a perfect world. But does that make sense? Perhaps one or two readers of our story would feel more comfortable, but ultimately that won’t get us anywhere. For Tanja and me, it is simply part of the job to report on the events we have experienced, whether they are positive or not so positive. This is the only way we can participate in raising awareness. An awareness-raising campaign that will hopefully help us humans to change our consumer behavior. For example, that we do without plastic as much as possible. That our behavior spills over to other nations and countries where there is still no environmental protection. Hopefully we will realize before the extinction of mankind that we have no chance of survival without alternative energy sources such as bioenergy, geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean energy, wind energy and solar energy. Disgusted, or should I say very sad, I turn my back on the former paradise beach and trudge back to my e-bike. As I get back on the saddle, I am glad to have covered the distance from Germany to South Vietnam by bike. Even if not everyone can do this for numerous reasons and Tanja and I are certainly not saints either, it is currently a wonderful alternative for us to see the world without contributing to polluting it significantly.
We cycle through a dense maze of alleyways in the historic town, which doesn’t attract too many tourists due to its remoteness. On the riverbank, we look out over the Cho Ca fish market, where the remains of the morning’s catch are being sold. “Do you know where the lodge is?” asks Tanja. “Sure!” I reply, steering my steed through the hustle and bustle. At the edge of the village, we stand in the sun at around 57 degrees. A little desperate, I enter the coordinates of the accommodation into the GPS again. “It’s not here,” I say meekly. I ask for accommodation in a nearby street café. The men shake their heads. “Let’s go down there,” I say, because I don’t know what else to do. “But we were there earlier,” Tanja replies. “Anyway, let’s drive further down the road. The hotel has to be somewhere.” After 250 meters we stand in front of a large brick entrance portal. To the left and right of it, a massive wall decorated with ornaments leads around a considerable complex of houses, which reminds us strongly of China due to its architectural style. “Thanh Loc Hotel”, Tanja reads on the sign above the gate. “That’s it!” I say. “That’s it!” says Tanja happily. Relieved and on the verge of heat exhaustion, we roll our heavy road trains into the facility. “Just stay in the shade and rest. I’ll ask about our reservation,” I say and shuffle off on wobbly knees. “The girl at reception doesn’t understand a word of English. Even with my limited knowledge of Vietnamese, I can’t get any further. Although we had made a reservation by phone yesterday, the reservation is not on the computer. “Wait a moment”, a boy asks me in broken English, offering me one of the solid wooden chairs. A little later, another young man approaches on a moped. He speaks English, apologizes for the obviously failed booking and shows me a large, ground-floor room with working AC. “Perfect,” I say thank you. As always, Tanja and I carry our equipment into the room and as there is no lockable garage for our bikes, we also roll our sturdy mobile stands into the room. of the trailer. Inside, I immediately switch on the air conditioning and am relieved when it starts rattling and slowly cools down the 35 degree room temperature…
If you would like to find out more about our adventures, you can find our books under this link.
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