I had pre booked a few days in the Madam Cuc 127 hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. This was relaxed and friendly. There is no lift but I like the way they get the bags up the stairs. A car winch is bolted to the ceiling and a steel cable drops down the centre of the stairwell. You hook your bags on. Go up to your floor, I think I was on the 5th. The winch winds you bag up, you then reach out and pull it in. My flight arrived early in the morning so I reassembled my bike straight away whilst waiting for my room to become available. I did this on the pavement outside the hotel and quickly had quite an audience. There was no need for a cycle stand with so many willing hands available. I have taken apart and reassembled my bike many times so am confident at it and can keep to a methodical order with an audience. Some may prefer to find a quiet courtyard. The hotel were quite happy for the bike to be kept inside in the reception area.
I cycled from Ho-Chi-Minh city inland to Dalat known for it Market gardening. I then briefly hit the coast at Nha Trang before heading inland to Buon Ma Thuot in the Coffee growing region. From here I headed north to Kon Tum before taking the road that parallels the Laos border up through the mountainous region to Phong NHA national park. I continued to follow the inland route up the western side of Vietnam before turning west up the long climb to Nam Phao border post with Laos. Cycles can go straight to the front of the queue and go to one of the pedestrian booths.
On several occasions when I made a stop at small shops and stalls I was invited invited in for lunch. I found people very hospitable. Even when people did not speak any English they would make an effort to understand by pointing and gesturing. Google translate came in quite handy. Younger people are more likely to speak English as it is taught in schools.
The route up the coast is incredibly busy. Once I turned inland towards Dalat it was much quieter and the road up the western side of the country was very quiet. Owing to local taxes, cars are very expensive. Consequently a very high proportion of the road traffic is made up of mopeds. Drivers are generally very used to and aware of bikes. Heading into major towns you get pelotons of mopeds forming up at the traffic lights. Drafting along in the middle of these at some speed into town was great fun.
I lost quite a lot of weight in Vietnam. Obtaining food was no problem but it was not of hugely calorific value. Away from the touristy area up the coast, chocolate and sweet snacks were not widely available. Filled baguettes were popular for breakfast which I assume was a taste picked up during French colonial rule. These were available from shop fronts or little trolleys set up during the early morning on the kerb side. Main meal was invariably rice with fried vegetable and maybe a bit of chicken if you were lucky. The Vietnamese have adopted the Chinese Golden Week holiday when many people head back to their family home. This fell when I was heading up the west of the country. I was still able to find accommodation without a problem. However, I found places to eat mostly closed. Just a few stalls and shops were open. I was lucky on one evening to be able to join a tour group for a evening meal as they had spare places. The main tourist destinations are probably less affected.
Accommodation was very easy. I found guest houses all up the country with very few longer gaps. Apart from rolling into a couple of popular tourist destinations, I did not book any accommodation in advance. The tent did not get an outing at all in Vietnam.
Although a communist state, Vietnam did not feel like a police state in any way. Travelling up the less populous inland route, many of the former communist administrative buildings appeared to be disused and some in a rather dilapidated state. The few police I passed at the roadside seemed to be most interested in identifying overloaded lorries. I had a bit of a mishap when I arrived at the guest house for my last night in Vietnam. Their was a certain degree of urgency in my arrival as I was suffering from a slightly groggy belly. I went up to the room, bolted the door and went into the bathroom closing the door behind. After doing the necessary went to wash hands and got wet feet, the U bend under the sink is missing. Went to go out and Doh! no door handle, it has at some point sheared off flush with the door and is missing…. looked round the bathroom for stiff cardboard or plastic to slide down the side of the door to push the catch in but there is nothing. It’s a cheap Chinese plastic door so the latch can't be that strong. Managed to get my fingers in behind the door edges and give it a yank but no joy. I considered the window but it is 3 floors up and no pipe in range to clamber down so give the door another go. Still won't budge but the window cracks. I was able to slide the section of broken windon below the break out of its slot and put my hand through to open door from the outside. What to do now? I don't want to be charged for the damage as a door with no handle is rather a fundamental flaw. I considered saying nothing and making a swift exit in the morning, but it is a long climb to the border so a moped would soon catch up. No option but to front it out and complain. The girl speaks minimal English but does understand "broken" so comes up to take a look. It did take a bit of persuasion to get her into the bathroom so I could point out the missing handle. They didn't query the cracked window which, by this time I had slid back into place. They gave me another room with a working door. For many stays afterwards I checked the functionality of doors before closing.