A Frightening Scare While Riding to Plei Can from Hoi An

From Hoi An I hit the boring road till I could leave the main highway of Vietnam QL1A which was heavily used and finally pull off to the right off DT611 changing heading for inland mountain region. The ride was ok, roads were countryside of a humble kind where the ramshack clobblered together houses were scattered within paddy fields and paddy fields.

Off to the Inland Mountains of Vietnam

It was planting season it seams over here between Hoi An and Plei Can. I could see many farmers carefully tilling their ground and spraying medicine and throwing out seeds. It was not a scenic sight but it was a real place where I ride by encouraged by the little kids which gave me three basic reactions. A smile, A wave and A middle finger and usually a combination of those three.

The weirdest one would be A smile with a middle finger coz it felt really warm and not hostile. Kids must have picked them up thinking its a greating for f*cking idiot forginers riding around the whole of Vietnam.

The road quickly became horrible just like that and construction road plus few rainy days before means mud tracks which is always scary for me. 

Bad Construction Roads and the Snake Bump just before that little mount

I went as slow or as fast as I dared but somewhere between focusing on trucks, mud, stones and all the chaotic shit going around, I was glad when there was a small stright patch of good road and was just about to speed up when suddenly a snake decided to dash/swim accross the road.

Arrrgghhhh ... was my reaction for it was a long snake around 3 meters from my distorted memory. Both my legs went up in the air affraid that the snake might bite me and panic gripped me when I was not sure if to stop and let the snake pass or turn to avoid the snake and risk a fall with the snake so near.

I ended up just riding through the snake like a hose on the ground and the snake being ridden over did not turn to bite me but dash/swim even more faster to cross the road to the next bush.

I definately did not stop to try and take any photos ... Keep riding and calm myself down. What the f*ck just happened. I once heard a story from a fellow traveller long long time ago about him riding over a snake when I was somewhere in Thailand when riding bluey back a few years ago and now I have the exzact same story .... legs up in the air and over the snake bump. Crazy.

Boring Beautiful Mountain Roads

Boring Beautiful Mountain Roads to Plei Can

The rest of the ride was much better once I manage to cut through to the main HCM road inland. Lovely boring mountain pass after mountain pass going up and down untill I reached Plei Can for the night.

Traveled on: Jan 2024