Man watching his buffaloes
Temp: 23 to 26C pleasant
Rode 67km
Had an ordinary night’s sleep, coughing kept me awake and I wasn’t settled or comfortable all night. Have a sore throat this morning; seems inevitable that I’m going to catch something when surrounded by sick people. Yesterday afternoon I noticed that the driver had the aircon set to recirculate, so all this time we’ve been breathing each other’s air. A couple of people arrived in the country already sick. Never mind I will remain positive and hope that it doesn’t hit me too hard.
It was a short trip in the bus to the site of the My Lai Massacre, where 504 locals were murdered by an American Army Platoon stationed in the area. The massacre, when the truth came out, caused a huge backlash with the public in Australia and America. I recall being spat on and called a baby killer as I walked down the street in uniform. The Army then brought out a policy that everyone had to change into civilian clothes before leaving the base. This backlash may have ended the war sooner, hard to say.
Back on the bus for another hour or so to start the ride. The hour actually turned into at least two hours due to a “big accident on the highway which killed 13 people.” Then he added that the accident was a week ago, so go figure.
Eventually found a spot to unload the bikes from the truck and off we went. At the 55km mark and 3:30pm we stopped for lunch at a very local fish farm come restaurant. There were two types of fish, chicken, pork with greens and rice. Fairly stock standard for over here. We sat in a rickety hut on stilts over the water. Always plenty of food.
The final leg of the day was a 12km ride through back streets and lanes to the hotelh. The last couple of km was a nightmare with a million tourists out and about in the waterfront area where we had to ride through. Made it to the Hotel which is about a km out of town.
I dumped my gear in the room and then walked back into town to get some cough mixture. Wens had sent me the details of the one I needed. Like most places outside Australia they only sell it in tablet form. I know it’s not going to work immediately but it should kick in tomorrow, hopefully.
Needless to say I had an early night.
