April 3 - Life is a Beach
I was still feeling weak in the morning, even the trip to the bathroom appeared to be a long one. Hmmm...did I get sick by eating all those pancakes? It was close to 10 when I was able to climb on the bike. The actual act of riding my bike made me feel gradually better and soon I was able to forget the large quantity of food eaten the previous day.
The first thing I saw that day was a makeshift wooden bridge, which meant a shortcut, instead of riding on a major road, this cut some 5 kilometers. It was private-built and there was a small fee (10 cents or so) to be paid when crossing.
Not the safest of all bridges
Motorbikes and bikes welcome...
Not far from the hotel was a place highlighted by my books: an area of rock columns right by the sea. These columns were created from volcanic eruptions millions of years ago, when the molten basalt flows met cold water, they solidified and shaped these rare polygonal formations due to thermal contraction effects. This is what they looked like.
Rock columns
...right by the beautiful ocean...
I had to go in for a swim, the water was sooo pleasant...
Later that day, I rode by quite a few beaches, where I would go in for a swim. Here a couple.
Life is a beach, as they say...
Where is everybody...?
I got to the town of Tuy Hoa, where there were some reasonably-priced hotels, but there was still some sunlight left, so I carried on. It got dark and, of course, the road started heading up, though, luckily, there was not a lot of traffic. After a few kilometers, I saw a sign showing the way downhill to a beach. Nothing like camping next to the sea. I rolled down the road and was a bit surprised to see light - they were the caretakers of the beach, consuming their dinner - and there were 3 European guys, two from Norway, one from the UK, they've had the same idea of camping at the beach. I joined them for a beer, (though decided to skip dinner, trying to save my tummy), and pitched my tent not far from the other tents. That day I did somewhat less than 100 kilometers: I started late, then spent a lot of time swimming - not all too bad of an alternative...