Solo Ride – Vietnam

I woke up around 8am today but didn’t rush to leave the hotel. The plan was to get to Nha Trang – about 120km away – which should take between three and four hours depending on how leisurely I rode. That meant plenty of time to make use of the hotel facilities before setting off.

Breakfast was simple: a fried egg, bread, and coffee. Then I went for a big swim in the pool – a full hour. After a shower and packing up, it was 11am by the time I finally hit the road.

I’d read that the route along the south-eastern coast of Vietnam was spectacular, but I wasn’t prepared for just how great it actually was. The coast road had little traffic and wound its way past stunning scenery – small fishing villages, sweeping bays, and long stretches of untouched shorelines and beaches.

I arrived in Nha Trang about three hours later and stopped to take in the beach. Nha Trang is a vibrant coastal city – a mix of gleaming hotels, bars, lively beach cafés, and a buzzing street scene that really comes alive after dark. But it still felt too early to stop, and not feeling like nightlife, I decided to carry on north a bit further.

A quick search on Booking.com turned up a beautiful-looking resort about an hour away in Ninh Hòa. To be honest, it was on the posh side (£50 for the night), but it looked spectacular and for around half the price of a night in a travel lodge back home – that justified the treat! 

An hour later I arrived, parked the bike, and checked in. Wow. A truly stunning place – the room has an incredible sea view, and the resort has a pool, beach access, and a spa (with a free sauna and steam-room session included in the price), all of which I made good use of.

On my way back from the spa, I noticed a large family group who looked English, so I asked about eating options. It turned out they weren’t English but Russian – and as soon as they realised I was English, the atmosphere changed completely. It became tense and unpleasant, even a bit intimidating. I can only guess there’s some real animosity because of the situation in Ukraine. It was an uncomfortable moment, and I’ll definitely be more cautious about striking up conversations for now.

Dinner was a buffet in the resort restaurant – nothing special, but fine and inexpensive.

Tomorrow, the plan is to get further north to Quy Nhơn – around 220km, so probably a six to seven-hour ride. I’ll need to set off early, ideally by 9am. If the weather holds, the ride should be another stunning one.

But there’s a potential problem looming. Tropical storm Fengshen is currently approaching central Vietnam from the east. Forecasts suggest it will hit Da Nang on Thursday – which, inconveniently, is exactly when I’m due to arrive there. I haven’t yet decided what to do. There’s a chance it won’t be as bad as predicted, in which case I could just push on and wait it out in Da Nang. But it might be wiser to pause in Quy Nhơn – which is further south and should miss the worst of the storm – until it passes. That would, however, set me back quite a bit and would make reaching Hanoi by 1 November even tighter.

For now, the plan is to ride to Quy Nhơn tomorrow, then carefully review the latest forecasts before deciding what to do. Even if I manage to avoid the storm’s full force, Fengshen looks like it might bring days of heavy rain – and that’s definitely not going to be fun. 

Let’s hope the forecast is wrong.