Biking from Dalat to Mui Ne

For New Years, we decided to celebrate in Dalat, a town located at 5000' in the central mountains of Vietnam.

As fate may have it after our train ride to Nha Trang, the 8-hour bus ride from Nha Trang to Dalat came complete with music videos, no extra charge. When Wierd Al Yankovich's Like a Surgeon began blasting over the speakers at 7:30am, we knew we were in for a long ride.

By the time we arrived in Dalat, we were ready for a nap, cocktail or both, having heard enough Lionel Richie for a lifetime. Even today, many days since, I still have Hello, is it me you're looking for, stuck in my head. Brutal.

So when we began exploring options for transfer from Dalat to Mui Ne our next destination along the coast, we were excited to come upon Gecko Tours - the only operator to offer a (entirely music video-free) bike tour between the two towns. In our eternal quest to use as many modes of transport as possible, we embraced the opportunity.

In the four months we have been on the road, Erin and I have struggled to maintain some semblance of physical fitness. Between massive breakfast buffets and fried spring rolls at every turn, this has been a bit of a challenge.

So we were a bit concerned about our abilities to cover the 80 kilometers on bike. Never fear, we were assured, the ride is downhill, mostly.

Six kilometers into the first uphill section, sweating like a hog in the Tennessee sun, I began to wonder when the promised downhill section would begin. I noticed our eternally cheerful guide, V, was not even glowing, let alone dripping with sweat. Hmm.

Moments later, we crested the top of the hill and began more than 20 kilometers of glorious downhill, all on a narrow, winding, freshly-paved road with very little traffic. Ambrosia.

With a van following us to carry our luggage and lunch, and to provide support as needed, the ride was wonderful. The scenery varied from pine forests at the top to rice fields at the bottom.

And all along the way, people called out "Hello Hello" to us.

Children, adults, people on motorbikes, in trucks, under trees, in hammocks, working rice fields, everywhere they said hello. Towards the end of the ride, I was beginning to feel downright famous as children emerged from the shadows to yell hello and run alongside our bikes. I gave a few high fives to the faster ones, and spread my limited Vietnamese (sin chow = hello, which is approximately 50% of my total vocabulary) far and wide.

When we reached our destination, I was feeling hot, dehydrated and happy. More than many of our travel activities, I felt I had really seen some countryside. And the genuine smiles on the faces of the kids as they tried to understand what the crazy foreigners were doing biking during the heat of the day is something I will long remember.

When the option to travel by bike presents itself again, we will have to embrace it.