Cycling “dusting” 58 provinces, the boy lost in the forest, spent the night at the sea

90 days and more than 7,000km

After capturing all the beauty of O Quy Ho pass – the longest pass in Vietnam, Nguyen Trong Danh slowly put his bike down the mountain to run towards Lao Cai.

Going downhill, even though he applied the brakes, the young man suddenly saw the car speeding away. Knowing that the brakes had slipped, Danh quickly stepped on the front wheel with his foot to slow down.

However, this “fire fighting” method is not as effective as always. The car kept going and had no intention of stopping. Observing the deserted road, the young man quickly leaned over and jumped down, letting the car splash for a while. The landing was on the grass by the roadside, so Danh was lucky to be uninjured.

Trying to regain his composure as quickly as possible, he pulled the car to the side of the road to find a way to fix the brake lines and continue on the route.

Share with Reporter Dan TriDanh Bao that was just one of many incidents of vehicle breakdown during his recent solo bike ride through 58 provinces and cities.

As a travel enthusiast, Danh has traveled many times by motorbike.

After graduating from City Law University. In Ho Chi Minh City, he decided to make a bicycle trip to 63 provinces across the country before applying for a job. Danh told his friends that he would “go to the bush” before going to work.

After that, the young man wiped out the money he had saved from working part-time for a real estate company when he was a student, and his pension after attending a reserve officer training course to buy a car and make a road trip. road.

After consulting all the terrain vehicles, Danh decided to buy a “fit” bike for 3 million VND. Stuffed in his backpack a few clothes, some dry food, two mobile phones and a flashlight, a tent, car repair equipment, on March 1, 2021, Danh departed from Ho Chi Minh City. HCM. He traveled to the provinces of the Southwest region, the Southeast region, the Central Highlands, and the Central Coast.

At the end of April 2021, Danh’s destination is Quang Ngai – the hometown of this 25-year-old man. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, Danh’s trip was also interrupted. For more than 8 months, Danh was just hanging around in the countryside helping his parents with housework.

On December 14, 2012, realizing that the epidemic situation was stable, moving to other localities was more convenient, he asked his parents’ permission to allow him to continue traveling from the Central to the North.

Eating, sleeping and living on the journey of thousands of kilometers across the North Central South is not an easy thing. In his pocket, there was only about ten million dong, so Danh tried to save little by little.

“I usually have lunch along the way. In the evening, I ask to sleep at people’s houses, temples or churches. Here, I often ask the host to cook rice and then send money for food. However, most people They do not take money but create conditions for me to eat and sleep.

The next morning, they also gave extra breakfast. Therefore, the cost for each province, including food and tickets to visit famous monuments and landscapes, is usually only around 100,000 VND,” Trong Danh shared.

In the southern provinces, Danh often asked to sleep at friends’ and people’s houses. However, when he moved to the North, most of them had to sleep in tents by the roadside. Because at that time, the epidemic in the northern provinces was still complicated, so many people were afraid and did not want to contact strangers.

Danh understands that, so he actively chooses places on the street with lights, opposite people’s houses to set up tents to sleep overnight. Sometimes, wanting to inspire his own experience, the young man sets up a tent in an isolated place, or in the forest to sleep.

All the destinations and memorable memories on the journey are carefully recorded by Trong Danh in a notebook. Later, when he returned home, Danh found himself cycling for 90 days over a total of more than 7,000km.

Ever wanted to steal the car for me

Traveling the country alone, Danh has experienced many emotions and has many memorable memories. Danh most remembers the time he got lost in Khanh Hoa when he went to conquer Mui Doi – the easternmost point on the mainland of Vietnam.

The boy born in 1997 in Quang Ngai hometown said: “That day around 5 pm, I parked my car at a roadside house and then crossed the forest to the easternmost point. I brought a flashlight and thought that I should just walk along the trail. that many people have gone before to reach Mui Doi.

There are many sections of the road that go close to the sea, some parts go back into the forest, many sections have to jump over each cliff to go… However, we can’t see Doi Mui anywhere. I don’t know when the hat, the bandana and the camera stick fell.”

Walking alone in the forest and then back to the seashore, in many passages Trong Danh felt heart-stopping and bewildered by the vastness of darkness around him, no one in sight, only the sound of waves crashing, the sound of the wind howling late at night. . There were parts where lights flashed from nowhere, Danh looked back and hurriedly walked away.

At 9 o’clock that night, Danh was lucky to find a freshwater well, so he stopped to rest. In the bag was a packet of dry food, the young man took out the lining. After dinner, Danh found a cliff on the beach, spread his sleeping bag on the sand, and then fell asleep without realizing it.

Early the next day, Danh continued to grope his way to Mui Doi but still got lost. Finally, near noon, he found the exit to the main road to return to the house where he had parked his car earlier.

During 3 months of “dusting” across the country, soaking up the rain and sunshine, Trong Danh was fortunate not to get sick or have any unfortunate collisions or accidents. However, because he was alone on the journey, sometimes he inevitably felt lonely and bored. At one point, Danh seemed to want to give up.

He said, the journeys in the South are very normal, there are almost no difficulties. However, the northern roads are difficult. The mountain passes keep rolling in succession, the houses are sparse… and the most miserable is the bicycle that constantly “protests”.

At that time, the car not only had a punctured tube, but also damaged parts related to the vehicle’s structure, axle, pedals, brakes… I don’t know how many times Trong Danh had to walk in the middle of the road.

When his legs were exhausted and he still couldn’t find a car repair shop, he was forced to hire a motorbike taxi to find it. Finding an off-road vehicle repairman in those remote villages is not easy. Starting from Yen Bai, difficulties kept popping up.

“One day, I was so tired and discouraged, I set up a tent to sleep along the road. The car did not bother to lock. At that time, I thought, if I steal the car, I will have a good reason to go home tomorrow. But then, the next morning, I woke up. When I woke up, the car was still there. Pleasantly inhaling the aroma of the mountains and the fresh air, receiving encouraging messages from friends, I was excited to get in the car again, “said Trong Danh honestly.

Danh’s journey stopped in Bac Ninh, the 58th province, because at that time his car was constantly breaking down. The mind was a little flustered when Danh thought that this was an omen of bad luck.

He was afraid because the car broke down but unfortunately he had an accident and collision. It was also close to the Lunar New Year, so Danh had to temporarily close the journey and plan to conquer the roads in Bac Giang, Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong and Hai Duong at another time.

Although he has not completed the goal of going to all 63 provinces, Nguyen Trong Danh still feels satisfied with the special journey he has passed. He was satisfied with his youth passion, met kind and chivalrous people everywhere, and was caught in the eye of countless landscapes and beauties of Vietnam.

“After what I’ve been through, I’m more in love and grateful for life. Those will be beautiful baggage before I enter the next career path,” Trong Danh said with a smile.