Two brushes with death and a big brush with a happy Viet street corner

If you find yourself starting the day in Vung Tau then head to Cafe 9 for eggs benedict, French toast, and a latte. Mmmm!  Our bags were strapped (by ourselves this time!), and we took rural roads north along the coastline. 

Riding through the rice paddies smelled much better than the urban areas, but curiously the locals wear cloth face shields even out here.  Lush green fields surrounded us as we cruised along, with the occasional sighting of a bent over farmer, with their conical bamboo hat perched on top to shield them from the fierce sun.  Speaking of fierce sun, Barbs you shan't be pleased, we got a bit sun-kissed.  Hmm, lets quickly change the subject. The Vietnamese bamboo 'rice paddy' hats are called nón lá and can be seen embossed on drums dated to 2500 - 3000 years ago.  Nón lá are always right angled at their conical point, which makes them unique amongst other Asian bamboo hats. Thanks Wikipedia!

The first 'brush' of the day ... Was for someone else.  As Bry rode through a tight squeeze of massive surface flooding in the road and a big truck, she nicked the arm of a local as she went past. Wobble, wobble, steady on. A look over the shoulder and a sorry mate, and no harm done.  Phew!

The scond brush of the day ... Involved a massive bus, a sudden stop, and consequentially Bry testing the strength of her brakes (the brakes locked into a skid) and her ability to control a massive fishtail, and then her balancing skills as she headed right down a gravelly bank. Besides having her nose plastered against the back of the bus, there was simply no other space.  Blandy had ridden second on the bike with soft brakes, and saw the entire scene play out, and with just a meter or two to spare was able to nip around the left side of the bus.  Both hearts pumping hard!

(Check out the skids below, another rider made the left skid, and Bry made the darker right one)

The third 'brush' of the day was a brush with a beautiful life.  A happy communal life.  We spotted a little fruit market on the corner and parked up.  We get curious stares wherever we go, people shyly wave, and try to figure us out... and this was no exception. Blandy wandered over and chose some fruit to eat with the bread rolls we had on us.

The gracious lady in the fruit shop was a bit bedazzled that such strange-looking people were under her umbrellas.  A few nervous smiles later, and a few silly antics from us, and the smiley-fruit-lady realised we were going from Saigon to Hanoi. The neighbours poured out of their homes and shops to see the strange pair of crazies who'd found themselves in their tiny village. 

Smiley-fruit-lady gave us her chair and concocted a mini table from crates. Another neighbour brought a chair, and we were invited to sit at the friendliest restaurant I've ever dined in. I have tears in my eyes writing this (so that makes it obvious it's Blandy scribing!).  We pocket-knifed our bread rolls open, and threw a few mini bananas in.  The locals were humorously still trying to figure us out.  Handing a roll to smiley-fruit-lady, she hesitantly accepted and looked at it really puzzled.  We took a bite of ours, she copied.  A neighbour craned her head to see.  All were baffled.  We think that perhaps they'd never seen brown bread before, as all the baguettes here are white bread.  In any case, our new friend loved it!  Bry's dreds were a talking point.  The shopkeeper next door mimicked washing and brushing hair for about 5 minutes, all the while stroking Bry's long hair and beckoning all the other neighbours over.  

Others arrived, we smiled, they smiled.  What a happy little place!  I learnt that many happy memories can result from just one smile.  Never underestimate the power of your grin!  As we waved and tooted goodbye, I thought how neat it would be to say to our new smiley-fruit-lady friend (pictured below in black) "thank you tons for being extra kind to us, thank you for letting us enjoy your gregarious company in your shade on a very hot day!  May your life be blessed!"  But my Vietnamese isn't that good yet, so we just thought those kind wishes as we rode outta town.  We've downloaded a translating app so our thank yous can be more descriptive next time.

Zooming through mini 'fields' of dragon fruit crops was a bit other-worldly.  Kinda looked like overgrown aloe vera, and acres of them.  Glad there were no actual dragons, that would've been a downer.  Our destination of beachfront Mui Ne seemed improbable most of the day, but we made it with a mini Ray of sunshine to spare.  Found a wee guesthouse to crash in, $10US a night for our room.  At that rate we might stay here forever! 

Vung Tau to Mui Ne, a scorching 175kms.  Via our smiley-fruit-lady!

(We actually took a pretty coastal road from La Gi to Phan Thiet)