Day 12 walk

Day 12: Saturday, March 26, Donggang to Suao. 6.5hrs (With Big Jerry)

After taking the train to Luodong, we got a taxi and managed to explain where we wanted to go. After 10 minutes, we were back where we had emerged from the beach walk on Day 11. As usual, it was difficult to go directly to where we wanted, as there was no dry access to the river mouth without going a long way around So, we did just that, walking beside pleasant canals until we found a bridge to the beach, and then, slightly to Jerry’s annoyance, backtracking to the river mouth to continue my “continuity quest.” There was nothing new on this part of the journey: Grey sand, fisherman and their cars and bikes, the same estuary, although still an interesting environment. We marched on, and as before there was the strip of straight track “bicycle path” separated from the beach by a wall of brush. After a time, the track ended and we were on the beach sands. Not much to notice, really. We saw a number of fishermen who all seemed to like yellow boots, green pants and blue jackets. We saw a factory or utility plant smokestack in the distance, a solitary landmark, and then gradually passed it and left it behind. There were occasional, very vague views of the mountains. It drizzled for most of the day. Eventually, we saw a mountain wall ending the beach, and in time came to it. That was the end of a very, very long beach! There was a pleasant village area, then a tunnel, and then POP! We were in Suao. We found some OK seafood, at a restaurant downtown. It was a tiny little place, with a friendly, noisy loa ban niang. It wasn’t cheap but it was ok. Then we got a couple of beers, and took the train for Luodong to Jerry’s car.