48 miles before 11:00, beautiful shoreline, oppressive road heat

     6:12 out of Phan Rang, a few modest hills, beautiful shoreline but oppressive road heat after three hours.  A break for food and shade gave me the boost to finish the last ten miles to Phan Ri.  I noticed coral for sale for the first time and the cultivation of the Pitahaya cactus plants.  Subtle changes in the fauna catch my attention as I ride south. And less subtler is the racketeering up of the heat.  No clouds made it imperative that I start early and ride as far as I can in the first five hours.  The time goes by quickly as I am always observing what I pass by.  Villages, landscape changes, shoreline views you, passing motorbikes and honking trucks, bleating goats, cordoned off waterways packed with thousands of ducks destined for the market, large trucks filled with pigs, motorbikes carrying everything imaginable, students piled in motorbikes coming back and forth from school, tractors pulling loads of hay, house construction everywhere, bricks piled up on the roadside, unending family restaurants sunken into their primitive openfront structures, men in groups having coffee, periodic shouts of ‘HELLO’ from people of all ages and so many other countless observations.  The ride is never boring.
     I arrived in Phan Ri and with the help of the cafe employees, I found a hotel feet from the beach. A bit depreciated but the room and bath were clean and the second floor view off the balcony was spectacular.  A brand new supermarket was around the corner where I stocked up on breakfast and road food.  It was another one of those neighborhoods which appeared to have been demolished and under reconstruction. After walking on the beach, wading ankle deep in the water, collecting a few shells, watching a man work the shoreline for small shellswith this hand towed device, I headed down the street for dinner.  One waiter knew enough English to arrange for a veritable feast, Vietnamese style.
    Back at the room, the wind had slowed down but the sound of the surf was still there.
Tomorrow I huge the coast and stay off route one.