Things started off nice out of Cat Tien but it did not last long. More traffic and potholes than we’d like and a few downpours towards the end.

All in all a pretty uneventful day, but we did run into a group of local cyclist out for a 3-day ride. Although it was difficult to communicate they were really nice guys. After tossing us some bananas and a Saigon Cycling T-shirt, they picked up our tab.

Also, one more ride to go!

We started off with an early morning trek in search of wild gibbons. Met up with our guide a mile down the road at 4:45AM and started off into the jungle. After about a 30 minute hike we setup hammocks and waited for sunrise.

After more hiking and no sign of any, our chances of spotting them looked slim. Then, much higher than we expected our guide pointed out two adult gibbons in the canopy. They were so fast and so agile swinging from tree to tree. An amazing experience.

Afterwards we went and visited gibbons at the rescue center. This is another place in Vietnam where they try to rehabilitate monkeys that have been rescued from the pet trade or some other awful abuse.

They also have a bear sanctuary.

Most of these bears were rescued from farms were they are kept for their bile, which is periodically collected from their abdomen with a needle. The bile is used in traditional Chinese “medicine.” Pretty cruel stuff.

In the park we are staying in a tent-cabin. It is quite nice but at certain times they turn of power to conserve and it can get a bit hot without a fan.

Our deck overlooks a river that was dry when we left Hanoi, but with the start of the rainy season, is now rapids.

A long descent and a couple patches of rough road. The plan today was to end at Cat Tien National Park, something we have been looking forward to the entire trip.

We needed to take a small boat across a river to enter the park.

After that it was just a short ride through the park to where we are staying. Going to take a couple days off here for sure.

We had a later than usual start today as we were unable to pass up our hotels breakfast spread.

The morning went fast as it was mostly downhill. We finally stopped at a roadside coconut stand. Quite refreshing. They chop off the top, pour the water in a pitcher and mix in a little salt and sugar. Then you get to pour it over a mug of ice with some coconut meat in the bottom. Very nice. Not sure why we waited this long to try it.

Also, we passed 1,000 miles for the trip today. Not to bad. Staying in a nice little town still in the mountains tonight. Took a quick walk while searching for some food.

The cool weather here in Dalat was perfect for a rest day. We started the morning off with a fruit buffet breakfast free courtesy of the Dreams Hotel. After that a walk around the lake.

Stocked up at the local fruit market including two trips to the sugarcane juice stand. We then headed back to the restaurant from last night for some take-away sandwiches and spring rolls. Again delicious. We found a coffee shop called Bicycle Up. Could have been dropped directly in Brooklyn or the East Bay. We are starting to get a taste for this Vietnamese coffee.

We made one more trip back to our usual restaurant for dinner, and grabbed sandwiches to go for tomorrows ride.

Today was one of those rides that really forces you to think about what you’re doing out here. As if our climb to Dalat at 4900ft was not bad enough, the road was less than ideal.

For the first 19 miles the road changed between broken pavement, gravel, mud and sand. It was pretty slow going as we had only covered the first half of the ride by noon when we left at 6am.

It got only slightly better as our second climb was only broken pavement.

Then, just as we finished the second big climb, the rain started. We couldn’t even enjoy the downhills when they came because the road was so broken up we had to ride the brakes to avoid major holes.

As terrible as all this sounds the views were excellent and it is quite a nice change up here, much cooler.

Our hotel is really nice and we found a vegan place right down the block. The food was great. We are going to really enjoy a day off here tomorrow. It feels great to have this day behind us. Definitely a sense of accomplishment.

We met up with the Italian cyclist again. Heinz is his name and he is actually from a northern part of Italy where they speak German. As he was a bit unsure of the route he road with us today.

Out of nowhere we passed a vegan place. Awesome food for a great price and one of the people who worked there knew pretty good English and was stoked we were vegan.

We split up with Heinz for a bit in the hills. Again the heat was worse than the climbing.

It was amazing how quickly the landscape changed. Even the local people in this area seemed to have their own ways.

We met back up with Heinz in town and were happy to find a hotel. This was the one stop we were a bit worried about, since the Internet didn’t come up with anything and we were just going with a tip from another blog. Off to go try and track down some dinner.

We met back up with the Italian cyclist and had a chance to exchange route plans over breakfast.
After that things got exciting. On our way to more Cham Towers, one of the phones was left behind in a taxi. Just missing him, we jumped in another taxi and went back to where he picked us up. There was no sign of him but we recognized someone the driver was talking with earlier, and with a translator app on the other phone, and a bit of luck, explained the situation. He made a call and a few minutes later the phone was back. We gave him some money for hassle. Also, in the confusion we accidentally paid the second taxi driver ten times the fare! Still it could have been a lot worse and the driver got a laugh when we asked him to bring us back to the towers, which he did free of charge.

These date around the 8th century making the towers we saw previously seem brand new. From there we checked out a Buddhist pagoda and another giant Buddha statue. As the monks are vegetarian, there was a veg restaurant right on the grounds of the pagoda so we had some lunch. After a visit to the beach and a local microbrewery we called it a night.

This morning we headed out to sea for some snorkeling. There are some reefs just off the coast of Nha Trang.

Saw some crazy sea creatures.

The area is quite beautiful and is one of the best spots for snorkeling and diving in the country.

From here, we cut inland and begin our two day climb to Dalat.