My world Walk Vietnam blog # 10 - Herculean Smack!

My world Walk Vietnam blog # 10 - Herculean Smack!

Herculean Smack!

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Herculean Smack!

A 34-kilometre day followed by a 33 to Tien Yen. That left me with about 82 kilometres to Mong Cai, the China border town. An awkward distance as I have got into the tempo of lashing out days in the low thirties. So to save a day on the road, that is another rest day I figured on two big days to walk the 82 and I also planned to arrive on Saturday 22nd September.

I'm taking a lot of days off at the moment as I have some projects I'm working on and I have the time to spare on my 30--day visa. Also as its also still pretty hot it's my attempt to play the clock down towards hopefully a cooler October in China. I think I said that in August about September? Never-the-less, here's hoping.

Then a massive 48 km day on a long hot and hilly day with high humidity left me too tired to do a blog update. At around km 40 I walked up a 7% grade that left my legs a bit wibbly-wobbly but I plodded on regardless. However, that day started off slowly; a tortoise-like morning with only 13 kilometres walked in over four hours due to so many stops. At one of those stops, I even made a child cry. No Tony, some drastic action clearly was needed!  I reckoned I needed a boost, a slap to get me going so I texted a friend and her resulting virtual smack, bif, bam and smack resulted in a Herculean performance that 48-kilometre day. I guess I was saved by the bell.

That night I made it to Hai Ha an easy name to remember and fun name. Like many explorers, I have problems trying to remember exactly where I am, where I have been and where I'm going. The place name that gave me the biggest grief in all of my travels is in Mexico. I used to tell people I was going to the Pee place when I was running towards Pijijiapan

Back here I carved out a comfortable final day in Vietnam, I had just 35 km to Mong Cai and my next step would be in the Peoples Republic of China. I expect to cross over on Tuesday.

Mong Cai is Vietnams most important trading hub with China and Cantonese is widely understood. With a population of just over 100,000, it is one of the wealthiest cities in Vietnam with the average family income in excess of US$20,000 in many locations

To get there I walked through about 13 kilometres of congested suburbs where kamikaze buses and truck drivers played chicken with each other while the motorcycles were pushed into the hard-shoulder where I was walking.

Eventually, I made it to the Chinese border, the end of the country. From Laos, I walked 637 kilometres in 19 road days. Thanks a million to all of the lovely Vietnamese people who helped me and also for their kindness and friendship.

That day I heard that the Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang had just died. According to the BBC, he was 61 years old and had been suffering from a serious illness and had gotten treatment at home and overseas. The BBC went on to say: "He was seen as a loyal and committed communist party member and known for his hard-line approach to dissent. Scores of dissidents have been jailed under his leadership."

My condolences to the Vietnamese people.

Arriving at the China border I decided that as  I'm going to spend a couple of days in Mong Cai before crossing I went about searching for accommodation. Mistake: it would have been a better idea to have stopped a few kilometres before the border and walk that when I'm leaving as the price of accom near the border is outrageous as they are fancy glitzy places with porters et al.

I ended up having a bit of trouble but after two hours of aimlessly wandering around, I thought I scored a bed. Then after about fifteen minutes of scrutinising my visa, I was refused because of having Karma, my cart. I eventually found a reasonably priced place to lay my weary head but had to endure another passport scrutiny and then only after the owner phoned an English speaker to interview me! At that stage, I thought it wise just to say one night and to get off the street.

I will have to walk this couple of kilometres again back to the border. I guess if one has to make a mistake this kind of mistake of not stopping earlier is the best kind to make as there could be worse mistakes to make than wandering around and wasting a couple of hours. No harm losing a bit of time, I have a lot of that! On the way into the city, I was shocked to see a huge slab missing from a footpath and running water below. I don't know how deep the water is but its a bit a drop down. I can't imagine how visually impaired people manage here.

Total km walked for 723 road days = 25,240.