– ODO- 17811-17969km
– Location- Hanoi
– Weather- 22-24 with constant downpours
I’ve never seen so much water on the road. I followed the highway on the hard shoulder as the rain come down. I left at 5-30, just before sunrise, to get to Hanoi early to relax and settle in but as I awoke the sky was split by lightening and thunder rolled through driving bursts of rain into my face. The highway was quiet at this time, being early and on a Sunday. The hard shoulder was ample and even when I had to move out to avoid the large puddles there was rarely other traffic.
As the rain continued the road got busier and my luck ran out. As I came to a flooded section which spread across all lanes and the shoulder two trucks crawled up behind with horns blazing. I stuck to the white line just visible below the water. At first my wheel split the water with ease. I kept sinking. My feet were fully submerged at each pedal stroke. I kept sinking. Finally my panniers touched the water and sunk through. If I didn’t have 55km of kit they would have started to float. Finally to put the icing on the cake the trucks passed driving a wave of water soaking me head to toe in the Goretex jacket.
Thankfully the weather dried up a little and with the help of a tail wind I make it 150km to Hanoi. The traffic was a doddle after Istanbul, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi.