Being Slugs

It was a day off, waiting for headwinds to shift. The location of our hotel is really something to write home to your Momma about! As with most we have stayed at (other than Hỏi An), we seem almost alone here. There are three large separate buildings in our hotel complex nestled on the mountainside. Ours alone has seven floors. Randy noticed the “No laundry” rule, but we are cycle tourists. We have needs. We were hoping for incognito-laundry-drying but not so sure we achieved that. (see photo—we hope nobody rats us out).

When travelling by bicycle, days off don’t resemble that of a typical tourist. We spend the day hydrating. Guzzling water. We stare out the window and scan only for shady spots at the pool. We eat food. Plenty of food—servers probably think we are binge-eaters (which we are). Spaghetti and french fries. We plan routes, sleep on pool loungers, lube bike chains. We went to the nearby village to buy water but only after hitching a ride with a Polish film crew’s van headed that way. We are too lazy to walk. We looked up at Big White Buddha and considered the 600 steps—we’re not doing that! We were slugs today. Tomorrow we are promised tailwinds, slightly overcast for part of the day and we’ll be well-hydrated, ready to give’er.

Each morning we wake up and never know where we will lay our heads that night. We pedal, pedal, pedal and when our gas tank is about to run dry we look on Google Maps, Booking or Agoda for a hotel room. Google maps would lead one to believe that accommodations are a dime a dozen, but many have no more reviews as of four years ago and in fact, they no longer exist.  Our conclusion is that COVID might have decimated many businesses. What remains are very vacant. Perhaps it’s low season, and our hotel will be hopping in summer, but for now it’s likely there are far more employees than paying customers.

We sit by the gigantic, gorgeous pool in this huge capacity hotel all alone. Likely the only person to have entered the water in recent history is Randy. The beach beckons, with its clean, white sand that stretches from here to eternity but it’s too windy. Plus, there are no beach loungers, or infrastructure of any kind, save for a lifeguard tower where an employee, dressed as though expecting snow, keeps watch over the waves. It’s truly a pristine, unspoiled beach. Bein’ a slug today has been all right!

Our hotel nestled in the mountain.

Ssshhh….don’t tell anyone which room is ours.