My world walk blog - Vietnam #5 - The heat is on.

My world walk blog - Vietnam #5 - The heat is on.

I walked for two more days and once again my battle against the intense Vietnamese heat continued. Humidity which was in the region of 90% also became an issue. To walk for a single hour and cover close to four-kilometres was tough going. Instead those two days I just made extra stops and indeed some of them were prolonged. I plastered myself with sunscreen but the sun rays continued to burn down on me through my clothing causing discomfort to my neck and chest. I even had to buy a new rugged shirt with long sleeves and a zip-up hood. This made a huge difference even if it was a warmer garment to wear. Another problem which I have been having is that I'm getting a lot of mosquito bites, especially at night. So I will definitely get another one and wear it more often, my new pyjamas lol. Dust from the road and even sweat underneath my cover up garments caused me irritation and an irresistible urge to scratch. I noticed that once I sprinkled on some cooling powder that I got instant relief. I bought that stuff in Thailand and haven't seen it since.

 I mentioned before that it seems to me that bizarrely the further north I walk away from the equator the hotter it seems to get. Five-years ago and almost at the same time of year, I was running fifty and sixty-kilometre days at a similar latitude in Thailand and I was comfortable for the most part.  I just don't understand this, but it's my experience, climate change I guess. 

It would be a good idea if I started walking early in the day, but I'm hopeless in the mornings and it's already hot at 7 am. Both of these days I walked through spread out towns about ten-kilometres apart that ran into each other so there was the occasional bit of welcome shade. Once I came across a tub of ice cream and demolished it in a heartbeat. One thing I have noticed is that there is not much junk food in the shops. I rarely see any biscuits and chocolate doesn't exist, perhaps because of the heat. Having said that there is no shortage of chocolate in Australia. Interestingly since leaving Bangkok seven weeks ago, I have only seen two or three obese people. 

Those two days I walked 36 and 35-kilometres and finished walking at 8 pm and 9 pm respectively. They were long twelve and thirteen hour days. Once the evening rush hour is finished the chaotic traffic becomes less intense as is the heat. I walked in a two-metre shoulder and I was well lit up with a powerful flashlight and a flashing red light and my hi-viz vest. 

Upon reaching town I took a rest day not because I needed it. More because why not? I have about a week to spare on my visa and its also no harm giving my skin a rest away from the highway. Despite being well covered up I've had to plaster on the moisturiser lately. These last couple of weeks I probably used more than Kim Kardashian!

Latest: 24,880 myworldwalk.com kilometres walked in 713 road days.