Tag 74: Between dirt and rain

Our destination for today was Cat Tien National Park. Since the distance to the national park was quite short, we decided to take a detour around a lake. But before leaving the city, we went to a post office to send our postcards from Cambodia. It's hard to believe, but Cambodia doesn't have a functioning postal system. When we arrived at the post office and explained that we wanted to send the postcards to Germany, they had to make a phone call to the main office in Ho Chi Minh City to find out the cost. While they were on the phone, we talked to one of the employees who told us that we were the first foreigners they had seen at the office. After we paid, we went to a mechanic to finally fix Kathy's motor problem. It took about an hour of tinkering. With high hopes, we left the city. Unfortunately, a few kilometers later, we realized that the repair didn't solve the problem. We had to continue at a slower pace... After a while, the asphalt turned into dirt and the road was full of holes and bumps. We drove in second gear for about 25km on this road through the jungle. We were all relieved when the road turned back into asphalt. But we didn't get very far before Jan's accelerator cable suddenly broke in the first village after 25km. We couldn't believe our luck because just 50 meters from where it broke, there was a MECHANIC! We had the cable replaced for about one euro. We continued on narrow and very curvy roads to our destination. About 30km before our goal, it suddenly started pouring rain. We first sought shelter under a canopy on the side of the road. It seemed to improve for a brief moment and we continued driving in light drizzle. But after a few kilometers, it started pouring again. We were completely soaked. When we arrived at our accommodation, we were looking forward to a warm shower for the first time on our trip. The accommodation consisted of many bungalows built along the riverbank. It was one of the nicest places we had stayed so far.

We ended the day with a few beers and Vietnamese food...