Nicole and Ingrid have exchanged their taxi-bike for a supertandem made by Koga Miyata. A bike with 27 gears and huge red springs. The Vietnamese will stare like a stuck pig to our tandem. "On our first night the tandem stood next to our bed," Nicole laughs.
The two are staying in Bao Lôc at 850 meters. "The humidity is 90 percent and it is 40 °C. At night it hardly cools down. We are sweating terribly. April is called the 'boiling hot month' overhere." "We really don't understand how the locals survive ! In this deadly heath they are all dressed in layers and the high temperatures don't seem to infect them at all !! They must have cardboard carton skin !

Our tandem is so luxurious. Besides our luggage there is plenty of space to stow away 8 liters of water. The one in the front is the pilot. He has to make sure that he keeps his balance. The one in the back pedals and he is the one who makes the speed. Having all eyes fixed on us, we drove out of Vietnam's biggest city with 6 million inhabitants : Hochiminh. In no time, our 2 mirrors had been smashed to pieces by motorcyclists who raced along us. They keep on sounding the horns too !! To feel safer, we bought an electrical horn and assembled it on our bike. Now we can fight back with our own weapons and.... we are now accepted by this diabolic traffic !
Our goal now is to reach Dalat, known as 'Europe in Vietnam'. It's a place where newly weds like to spend their honeymoon. It is very unique. We had two options : mountains or the sea. Because of the heath, we chose the mountains. It will be much cooler up there.....