10th
Early start, checked out by 05.45. The manager is doing some exercises next to the hotel, running up and down barefoot and bare top while I am strapping my luggage on the bike. I set off 06.12, the village market is already in full swing but the traffic on the main road is fairly light for a little while at least.

I make HoiAn before 8, quaint place. I drive around trying to find somewhere to park with a vallet service, you do have them here. I end up parking in a hotel carpark and am a little surprised to find everything as I left it couple of hours later. There is a river running through the town and very busy market next to it. I hate smell of fish and there are lots of fish here as well as all the ohter usual veg and fruit etc.

I have a good look through town but dont bother with museums. I am very surprised to find that it is only 10.00 when I return to the bike having had some lunch too. I set off for Myson (pron meesan) 35 km away, where there are some ancient Hindu temples. The day is really hotting up even though it is not even 12 yet. I find the village ok but not where the ruins are and take a nap at 11.42 for about half an hour by the side of the road under some bamboo trees. The ruins are another 10 km and by the time I get there it is seriously warm. I park the bike with an attendent, get a ticket and enter the park where I am supposed to get picked up by a minibus and driven 2 km to the site. The driver has better things to do with his time and asks if I want to take a bike! I head for one of the bikes but another guy says I need to take my own bike which I point out is now parked outside the part, he drives me up in a very old Jeep.

The ruins are pretty impressive and I am likely to visit some similar ones in Cambodia as well. The construction technique is apparently still controversial as no mortar is used for putting the bricks together. despite the sweltering heat inside the structures (I am surprised we are allowed in) is quite cool and funnels up at times more than 10 meters.

I try to get some instructions for making my way back SOuth West onto the HCM trail, and am getting mixed directions. Unfortuanelty the day did not improve as I spent about 3 hours going round and round myself, including a full circle trip back to Myson and travelling up North! All in all I have ridded something like 70 km without going very far at all. I dont think the heat helped my focus on the directions, nor did the conflicting instructions I was getting.

I was at one point riding back exactly the way I had come the previous night and this morning with the accompanying traffic.

Eventually I think I may be on the right road, having come off A1 as I dont  want to use it. I am heading towards ThanhMy ( I have heard as many pronounciations of this as the people I have spoken to). By now it is getting dark again and I am yet again tired, unsure of where I am, have made little progress and feeling tad sorry for myself. One consolation is that I did have a reasonable lunch at my last stop for getting direction. I am also pondering my arrogance of arguing with a female petrol pump attendent about the direction I should have been travelling in, you know who was right in the end. I decide I have to stop, visibility is low, people are travelling without lights and I am tired. I manage to find a guesthouse but the young woman is telling me there are not rooms despite all the keys lined up on the rack behind her. After some grovelling on my part she accepts to give me a room. I was getting seriously worried, too tired to ride on and nearst hotel accoring to her is in HoiAn 25 km away (yes I have only travelled 25 km all day). To top it all I am getting saddle sores because of the hours I am spending on the bike!

HoiAn was interesting but this diversion has cost me two days and not sure if it was worth the time and the effort, one of those things.

11th

Discarded a bag-load of stuff in the morning at last I am back to a single piece of luggage again. Most of the weight is that of the laptop so I might as well make use of it.

After few misdirections I eventually find myself heading south/south west, better still I see a sign for Kamdoc which was my planned destination yesterday. I had gone past the place before I even realised, the main road bypasses a lot of towns unless you particularly want to go into them.

I decide to eat less/no meat. The woman at the place I go for lunch initially looks blank at me, then I point out the courgetts and cooked soya slices in the cabinet, the soya stuff cooked with a tomato sauce is actually pretty good.
I have seen lots of animals being carried on bikes, 100 at least chickens in 4 bundles, legs tied and hanging upside down, similar number of ducks, pigs stuffed into tight cylindrical cages ( I have no idea how they make the poor animal get in there).
Unfortunately I usually see these while I am riding too so cant photograph them

I try having an initial nap at a place some pineapple pickers/packers have been. I have seen them most of the morning by the side of the road bagging large quantities of pineapples and loading them onto trucks. It is almost midday now and little shade is available and I dont stay for long. I do however feed on two smallish pineapples left behind.

Later on the road becomes mountainous again, beautiful and lush green. A lot of the time I have a river to one side and would love a quick dip but there is no access or I keep missing access points.

The road is generally pretty quiet and of high quality. There are times though when you suddenly come across gravel surfaces/road under repair. The first time this happened I came round a corner to encounter one of these and I had a minibus bearing down on me too. I managed to pull off the road and let him go ahead, there was no way I could have gone through as quickly as I was expected to.

I have decided and managed to have a few nap breaks. Few days ago when I took a nap I was so tired I went to sleep with my helmet on, I do this on purpose now as it acts as a pillow and protects my ears from creepy crawlies too. Earlier today I saw another smaller snake slithering across the road, I am hoping they are just as reluctant to meet me as I am they, when I am having a rest in the greenery! The last rest was only 10 km from where I stayed for the night. It was only 16.00 so I leant against a crash barrier post and rested my eyes. The scenery was alos beautiful and the sun is softening so I took a few photos.

I manage to check into a guest house by 4.45, pretty good. I shower and take the bike next door for a service, it gets oil change and drive chain retensioned. They also set out to change the headlamp which I broke when I fell. This turns out to be a longer job than any of us expected. The main guy fetched the light with his motor bike (replica of mine with a Honda badge) and left the other chap to deal with it. He disconnects something in excess of 20 connections before he can take the casing off the bike. I begin to realise that all the electrics of the bike have connections inside the fron light casing. This includes the indicators and even the horn. He struggles to make the connections for about an hour and has to call the other guy back and the whole thing takes about 2 and a half hours including some adjustments to the front fork. I had planned on having a massage but decide to stay and make sure everything is ok. Eventaully I drive back to the hotel, 50 meters away and the rear brake is screeching like mad. I go back and the guy does some adjustments to the brake pads. We are both glad this is completed and hopefully safe too.

I feel relieved to be heading south on the HCM trail, it is going to be longer than if I had stayed on A1 but hopefully a lot more interesting and enjoyable ride. There is also very little traffic on this road.