Vietnam - Motorbike Tour

Motorbike Tour Day 1 – Nha Trang to Dak Lak (Lak Lake)

Mr Si and Mr Thanh arrived on time at our hotel and proceeded to put our rucksacks in green bags and attach them to the back of the bikes. We donned our helmets and were away! 5 days lay ahead so we hit the highway. For the first part of the journey we held on, not being familiar with biking, but as we grew more confident, we relinquished some of the grip. I was keen on this trip as it pushed my boundaries somewhat..

We stopped quite often so as to get used to the bikes. And to take in some of the early sights. For instance we stopped just outside of Nha Trang near the water and Si told us the story of a guy and a girl who were in love, but he died out to sea, so she turned into a mountain or something like that and he turned into a rock. Weird, but interesting! A little further we turned onto Highway 1 which was very busy and stopped to see some of the views and shrimp farms. Not too much further up and we hit the smaller roads again, and after buying a face-mask for Jenni we continued on to a brick factory! It was quite interesting to see them making the bricks – the women doing most of the hard labour! They get clay from the river, put it into blocks and dry it then bake it!

We stopped at a couple of cafes for drinks and then lunch and also saw a coffee plantation and peanut trees, lots of screaming kids (when they saw us), a furniture shop, amazing scenery and some bumpy roads. I reckon we went at speeds of up to 80kph but averaged at a more leisurely 50 or so. We got to the resort about 5pm and Jenni went straight off to bed. The guys gave me some rice soup and a concoction of salt and lemon juice in a shot glass. It was refused! They also tried a various concoction of drugs to try and make her feel better, but they didn't really work! I went for dinner, it started raining and there were hundreds of lizards and bugs about. Ugh!

My Butt hurt a bit! But clouds, mountains and really green fields were the highlight of the day.

Some facts about Dak Lak: The largest province in Tay Nguyen Highlands, is located to the southeast of the Truong Son Mountains and shares a 240 km border with Cambodia. Though the population of Dak Lak is not large, it includes several different ethnic minorities such as Kinh, E De, Gia Rai, and M'Nong. Dak Lak has many beautiful lakes such as Ea Kar, Ea Sup. Lak Lake is where the M'Nong minority has been living for many generations. Dak Lak's historical vestiges include Buon Ma Thuot Prison, Dak Tua Underground Tunnels, and Bao Dai King's Building. The annual average temperature is 24°C. Economic potentialities: bamboo, hydro-power reserve.

Motorbike Tour Day 2 – Dak Lak to Buon Ma Thuot

Breakfast and then off to the nearby minority village with the M'Nong people. The village was very self sufficient with pigs and piglets, chickens and dogs free roaming with elephant walks available for tourists. We opted to skip the elephant walk in protest to their conditions! Onwards from the village we stopped at a mushroom farm, where there were rows of soil bags hanging in a shed. They were moist and had mushrooms growing from them. Weird. They also had a cage full of really cute fluffy bunnies, that we later found out were to feed the pet Python with... Jenni was not happy about that!

Firstly the guy who owned the house pulled out a scorpion from a cage and let it scurry about. I kept my distance! Seems the scorpions end up in the rice wine! Next was the snake. I held the snake, which was quite a big deal for me as I really am not a fan of snakes. It was about 8 feet long and liked to wrap itself around me. Ugh, I shudder at the thought of it, but I did it! Jenni was thinking too much about setting the bunnies free to hold the snake.

We arrived at our hotel about lunchtime, dropped off our stuff then hit a dirty little place for lunch of chicken rice and headed to the waterfalls. It started to get wet! Rained all the way to the waterfalls, it was annoying but the waterfalls were beautiful. There was also a bridge crossing the river, another kinda scary bridge! A bit unstable. We headed back in even more rain, but it stopped eventually – for a bit – and so we got back all bedraggled. We headed out on our own that evening and opted for KFC for some chicken & rice respite! We also popped into the supermarket to get some supplies and found we were like lepers! Everyone was openly staring at us, which was kind of weird. Especially Jenni and her blonde hair and pretty white skin!

Motorbike Tour Day 3 – Buon Ma Thuot to Kon Tum

Stopped at a war memorial along the way after waving to some army guys! After that it started raining and didn't stop all the way to Kon Tum, so we were wet and irritated! The scenery would have been nice, but for the incessant rain. Not much else to note, but our dampened mood. The bed in the hotel was rock hard too, so that did not help!

Motorbike Tour Day 4 – Kon Tum to Kham Duc

The morning started where the previous evening left off, wet. Rain, rain, rain. We were pretty much at our lowest ebb by this point, of the entire journey so far in fact. Whether it was the 3 month itch, or the rain, or whatever, it was not a nice feeling. Jenni just sat down in reception and cried because she just wanted to go home. I could understand, and it made me upset to see her like that. So much so that we enquired about getting a taxi to Hoi An! Mr Si talked us out of it, mainly due to him losing out or not having happy customers, so the thought of an expensive taxi ride and no refund made us soldier on.

The guys even admitted it was no fun for them either. So, off we trotted, ipods in, rain pouring, feeling homesick. We skipped the days scheduled events – orphanage, coffee and rubber plantations. We stopped for snacks, still in the rain and lunch, still in the rain and went a bit further along the Ho Chi Minh Trail until we reached the mountains. It all of a sudden stopped raining and got warmer. We saw a waterfall that looked like a scorpion (loosely) and then were able to take the waterproofs off! By this point my ipod had got wet and stopped wanting to work, but at least it was dry and warm!

We were caught up by some more easy riders and Mr Thanh managed to hold off the other guy at high speed as they raced to our destination for the night! Jenni turned up several minutes later! The mood was definitely better out of the rain, we quizzed Mr Si about Vietnamese culture and the wars and history etc before hitting the sack.

Motorbike Tour Day 5 – Kham Duc to Hoi An

The last day of the tour and no rain! Much better. Much better moods too. We stopped at a waterfall, pineapple farm (saw 1 tree!) and ate delicious pineapple (minus the salt...), and the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail. I don't think we passed far from the border with Laos. The fork in the road at Ho Chi Minh trail was where the north Vietnamese troops met up before joyously defeating the south and reunifying the country. Interesting history. At Hoi An we were taken to a recommended tailor and measured up, then headed to a hotel and parted ways with Mr Si and Mr Thanh.