4 WHEELS TO ALASKA (2026)

10/05/2025

Day 47 - 0Km - Day off Ho Chi Minh part 2:
- we continued our day off, exploring different neighborhoods and trying to feel and discover more this crazy city. We went on to find an apartment building where half of the apartments have been turned into cafes and restaurants. There is a famous one which is nice but really touristy but few blocks away there is another one which is way nicer and more local. We tried to find the famous Vietnamese egg coffee to try it but no luck. (It’s Made with egg whites, almost like a cocktail). We had lunch in a local market, tried new Vietnamese meals which was nice. And after walking around for hours we headed back towards our hotel for dinner. But we experienced a massive traffic jam where no one could go anywhere, so walked back and treated ourselves to a famous hot pot on the last night (really expensive compared to most meals here). A drunk older guy came to speak English and some French to us which was funny, he kept coming back over and over until his friend forced him to get on the back of his scooter and drove off.

09/05/2025

Day 47 - 0Km - Day off Ho Chi Minh (part 1):
- Spent our second morning properly exploring this massive city starting by visiting a pagoda and the huge markets in china town where we bought some Vietnamese coffee filters that they use for ‘Ça Fe Sua’. We just spent ages walking around the little streets of this neighborhood and seeing what hidden gems we could discover! Already in love with this city! So much going on, lots of noises and people, the real heart of a city!

09/05/2025

Day 46 - 0Km - Day Off 1 in Ho Chi Minh:
- Today is a “to do list day”. After a nice lie in! We “explored” district 10 of Ho Chi Minh City on the back of taxi scooters while we sorted some things on our to do list. It felt fun to get lost in a big city again like we did in Bangkok at the start of the trip.
- We had to replace Leo’s back tyre as the side wall completely cracked so the inner tube had been bulging out for about 4 days. Luckily it lasted long enough to get here! Found a small bike shop called 26 cycles, that had an almost exact replacement. Really nice owner who really knew his stuff!
- Then on to find some replacement clothes in decathlon for things that we had lost or had become really worn in the sun and dirt over the last 2 months.
- We also managed to try some new street food, deep fried banana snack covered in coconut and some tofu omelette called ‘bột chiên trứng.
- so much to see and explore in this city. Markets, small alley ways, cafes and restaurants everywhere! We were both so excited to have time to wander around and feel the culture of this place.

09/05/2025

Day 45 - 99km - Binh Thanh to HCM:
-In the morning we went back to the tiny fishing village which we passed the night before. When we arrived it was so busy. They were all running around, catching sardines, sorting them out to sell, breaking ice to keep them cold & a few locals watching while having their coffee.Everyone looked at us wondering what we were doing here.
-Took our breakfast while witnessing the heart of a Vietnamese fishing village in action, amazing! So much happening! A few locals invited us to sit with them. We wanted to stay here for ever but had to keep going. It was such a special moment!
-Once on the road, we were still unsure about the coast..even if there is lovely fishing villages, the roads in between are quite boring or big with lots of traffic. & most of the beaches are full of trash! We usually prefer to see less things but cycle nice roads through more remote places than bombing between 2 destination points. So the question to either stay on the coast or not was still on the table.
-Later on, we crossed another village with a nice market where we took a break. Going through the market with our bikes was quite fun. Again we were the “attraction”.
-At first the road was along the beach so quite nice but quickly it ended up being big and going through mass tourism areas which was quite sad to see. That made us feel that we should leave the coast.
-We stopped for lunch in a small town where the owners were really nice. They filled our water bottle with ice & tea for free without even us asking. So cute! There we took the decision to leave the coast. One last fishing village and then go catch a bus to give us more time to enjoy the Mekong Delta which we’re really excited about!
-The last village was absolutely gorgeous! We went through small roads, up & down, through stairs and steps…locals were amused by us trying to go through. A perfect way to end the coast.
-Once in Phan Thiet we got our bus tickets for the evening. Enough time for dinner before the 4h night bus (with proper beds!) We loved it.
-Arrived late in Ho Chi Minh & cycled to our hotel at night which was quite challenging as the traffic here is mental! But pretty fun!

05/05/2025

Day 44 - 121km - from Vinh Hy to Binh Thanh:
- We set off heading east again along the south coast.
- Past some towns we had passed on our way to the fishing village so we tried not to stop too much.
- Found some Banh Mi’s again with fried egg instead of meat which makes an even better breakfast (especially for Diane).
- ⁠Manage to go through some small roads that took us to a lovely fishing and salt producing village where we had lunch. For some reason, this village made us feel like we where in Marocco! It was really pretty!
- ⁠Then on to some nice coastal roads that hugged the cliffs with nice views of the ocean.
- We passed more salt and seafood farms that take up a lot of the land in this area.
- Unfortunately after the morning the only possible roads became bigger and bigger and headed more inland so no nice coastal views. We thought it might just be a short section but it ended up continuing for a very long time at least 60% of the day. Long straight roads with nothing to see for hours with lots of cars and trucks got tedious quickly, made us miss the central highlands of Vietnam a lot.
- We started to think that maybe the coast is not for us after hearing mixed opinions about it from other cyclists.
- We managed to cycle 120km but couldn’t quite get to our planned wild camping spot before dark so had to find a wild camping spot on a field near the ocean, hidden from the road by trees and bushes.
- We slept early thinking about whether or not we should change the rest of the route before arriving in Ho Chi Minh City.

03/05/2025

Day 43 - 0km - Day off:
- Finally our day off again!
- we had a nice lie in then headed out to find some breakfast. It seemed super hard to find anywhere open, we avoided Sundays but maybe Monday is also a bad day for days off!
- We really struggled to know how to spend our day, the fishing village was way more touristy than expected, with some big resorts. They’re really ugly and kind of ruin the small fishing village feeling that we’re sure it once had.
- We find it hard to know if we should rest, catch up on admin or go explore on our days off. We knew we needed to rest today but there were some beautiful beaches about 10km north east and we were desperate to go for a swim after being in land for over a month. However it was straight into a head wind so cycling into that on our day off was a no go. Diane came up with the idea of renting a scooter which ended up being the perfect answer. Cheap and saved our legs!
- The coast and beaches were beautiful! Rugged rocks creating coves that flow into the turquoise water.
- There are however loads of half built or abandoned concrete resorts that you have to try to avoid. Also a lot of the beaches are covered in plastic that’s drifted from nearby towns, pretty sad to see that some beautiful spots have been badly affected by this.
- We spent the afternoon swimming and chilling on the beach.
- When we came back we tried two Vietnamese dishes for the first time Banh can (like 8 mini omelettes with different toppings, very different to Banh Canh) and Banh Xeo, a thin crispy rice pancake folded in half with seafood and egg inside.
- Followed by another big mango smoothy then back home to pack and prep for the next day back on our bikes.

03/05/2025

Day 42 - 113km - from D’Ran to Vinh Hy:
-Woke up excited for two reasons! First because we knew that it was going to be an easy day and second because we were going to reach the coast of Vietnam!
-But first, Vietnamese coffee in the traditional little coffee place with banhmi from the bakery! A nice way to start the day!
-And off we go! A massive descent (about 10km down hill) was waiting for us and we couldn’t wait! This descent was amazing as on top of being down hill, the landscapes were beautiful! We kept stopping to take pictures so at the end we didn’t do it really fast, we wanted to make it last!
-Once at the bottom we took few gravel roads through villages which was nice but then it was mainly the big road which was surprisingly really pretty!
-Stopped for lunch in one of the little towns on the way. owned by a family who offered us some yummy watermelon for desert! So cute!
-We knew we had quite a lot of km to do (113km) that day but as we were excited, it was a fun day (with lots of stops here and there).
-The reason we had to do that many km is because we decided to go north when we hit the coast (wrong direction)…instead of going south straight away, it was a little detour in a national park for our day off the next day.
-Even if the wind was strongly against us for this 30km detour (like crazy strong) and that a few hills came along, it was a beautiful road, going through fishing villages, mountains, rice fields, salt fields, beaches…just beautiful!
-We arrived in the town of Vinh Hy which is beautiful even if it’s quite touristy. We checked in at the Homestay and went for a simple but nice dinner on the main square. Once back in our room, we fell asleep really quickly after our long day!

02/05/2025

Day 40 - 60 km - Nam Ka to Phi Liêng:
-Started the day in our makeshift wild camping spot. Knowing we had a big climb coming so tried to eat all our heavy fruits.
-Set off nice and early but it wasn’t long before we stopped at the first bakery we could find, followed by a coffee, then lunch, then another coffee & then a sleep in a hammock..Not our fastest day, but took it easy knowing there was a big climb at the end of the day. The landscapes were so beautiful: huge lake, coffee plantations, villages and mountain view’s. We took it in as much as possible knowing we’d be at the coast in a few days and the landscape would change a lot!
-It was hot, sticky and gusts of wind blew through the valley..with dark clouds on the horizon we could tell a storm was coming but we decided to keep cycling as we couldn’t sit and wait hours for it.
-About 1/2h in to the 10km climb that’s when we really experienced torrential Asian rain! We could barely see 3m in front of us, we were soaked to the skin.
-Even though it was crazy we both realised we would have been sweating buckets in the sun if the rain hadn’t come so in a way it helped us out. And to be fair it was kind of fun! Diane was laughing at the situation pretty much the whole time.
- By the time we got to the top it was getting late so we cycled on in search of someone to host us. We were treated with a beautiful sunset shining across the tops of the mountains, almost like a reward for pushing through the rain.
-A really nice family let us put our tent next to their house. They invited us in for dinner, we were given some special eggs that we’d never tried before and were..‘surprising’ to put it nicely (it was fœtus eggs). Their son even took us to the local circus that was in town. Vietnamese people keep being so generous to us!

02/05/2025

Day 39 - 91 km - Ea Pô to Nam Ka:
- We woke in the rubber tree forest nice and early.
- At the first village we passed (maybe even the first house) 3 friendly people called us over and invited us in for Vietnamese coffee. They were so friendly, we stayed for a while, asking questions and telling them about our trip. The owner said he grew corn, black pepper and cashews.
- After the coffee we passed lots of picturesque mountain villages. But suddenly the road became really busy with lots of trucks all honking as they love to do when they overtake here. We’re getting used to it but some are so loud.
- Luckily this didn’t last long and the roads became nice again before lunch.
- We had a super long lunch break with coffee and long nap in a hammock. Catching up on some sleep from the 5am starts.
- The roads got nicer and nicer with smooth up and downs through more rice fields. Beautiful views all around us!
- We had to stop for supplies in the late afternoon just when the schools were finishing, the daughter of one mother in the shop tried to ask us lots of questions in English, she would pause, think really hard then ask us, like she was trying to remember what she’d learnt recently. We were impressed as she was quite young to know so much. She gave us both lollipops as we were leaving which was very sweat.
- We continued on through the mountains to get to the lake where we could camp.
- We found the camping spot marked on the map but it was very busy with local teenagers swimming, normally that would have been fine but we were a bit worried someone would go back to town and we’d have another visit from the police telling us to go to a guesthouse.
- So we continued on to find a farm stay on the map but as we arrived at sunset it was closed, so we had to wild camp in a forest nearby and have dinner in the moonlight to not draw too much attention to ourselves from houses nearby. It ended up being a perfect wild camp spot!

29/04/2025

Day 38 - 94km - Cu Mot to (near) Ea Pô:
- woke up early at Huy’s parents house.
- They quickly invited us to go for coffee to see the whole family again. So we jumped on the back of their scooters again and went off to have some Vietnamese coffee which came with a glass of iced green tea as well.
- Huy also ordered some Banh Mi for all of us. So nice of them to treat us to all of this, they made us feel so welcome from start to finish.
- We rushed back after and said our goodbyes to make sure we started cycling before it got too hot. We really felt adopted by their family for one night, we will never forget them!
- We managed to get our 70km done before 1pm for the first time since Thailand!
- We had thought about going to Yok Don national Park for the eco elephant tour but decided against it in the end as something about it didn’t feel quite right.
- Decided to have a chilled afternoon relaxing in the hammocks that a lot of the cafes have.
- Then we set off again to try and catch up on some km that we had lost the day before. Eventually ending up wild camping in a small rubber tree forest.
- …hoping that we wouldn’t be woken by locals with head torches like in Laos.😂

4 WHEELS TO ALASKA

10/05/2025

09/05/2025

09/05/2025

09/05/2025

05/05/2025

03/05/2025

03/05/2025

02/05/2025

02/05/2025

29/04/2025

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