Easy Rider Day 2: Tropical thunderstorm

The night chased away the loneliness and day two starts in high spirits.
We go into Lac Lake village to meet more ethnic minorities. Well, we actually invade their space shamelessly. Mr. Su is quite a character, far from shy I'd say. He walks through their backyards like he owns the place, ordering them around and explaining to me what they are doing. He also tries to hook me up with any single girl we meet. He knows I have Immy, but I guess he sees anyone who is not married as single.
This morning felt quite special, all these people were very welcoming and warm, I really got an idea how they live.

90 years young

Making some sort of rice wine (agriculture lesson 14)

Girl talk (and correct Gerry, the one on the right is the single one)

*Please go away scary man* thinks the little girl

Elephant ride, you can’t live without.

Now you might think, pfff an elephant ride, been there, done it.

But did your elephant also swim across a lake? Well mine did, much to my astonishment (I nearly jumped off).

*land ahoi*

Time to head further north

We reach the Dry Nur waterfalls during a heavy heavy rain session. Su stays behind with warm soup and coffee while I fight the elements.

It is a bit like Mario Brothers... first you have to cross this bridge with a few loose planks before you get any goodies.

But I lived to tell the story...

It is a powerful sight.

While some people are having coffee (Su), and others pretend they're working (yes you!), I am getting completely soaked by some tropical thunderstorm

Enough adventure for one day, we rush for our end destination Dac Lac, where we have BBQed goat for dinner. Funny detail is that this restaurant only serves goat (BBQ goat, fried goat, boiled goat, goat pie, goat juice, I think you get the idea), and nothing else not even rice.

Hot pot goat, not bad at all

Easy Rider 9 day motorbike trip

Next travel ingredient will be a road adventure. Since my one day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, I’ve dropped the idea of riding a motorbike alone to find any good spots in this country. I will probably need 2 years time and a fast track Vietnamese language training to make it a success.

However, a guy I spoke to in Saigon mentioned a group called Easy Riders. They are Vietnamese guides who operate from Dalat, a town in the mountains 300km to the north, and guide you by motorbike to any desired location, also tell you background stories and introduce you to local minorities.

Sounded exactly like what the doctor ordered, so this has now been booked and arranged.

After a long ponder, I decided to choose the sit-at-the-back-and-look–around option rather than riding my own motorbike. This way I can focus more on my surroundings than on traffic, I’m on holiday after all. And it is most likely safer too.

I tailored one of the longer trails around distance wise, which will go from Dalat to Dong Hoi in North Vietnam. It will pass all the amazing nature Central Vietnam has to offer, including history lessons my Easy Rider will provide, and sleeping at great locations no tourist would find himself. Hopefully we can finish it in 9 days. On average we will ride 200km per day, and the road passes through the mountains and villages allowing an average speed of 50km per hour.

Dalat 22 October 7:30am I meet my Easy Rider Su. He speaks excellent English, sells his pitch good (wants quite some $$$) and we agree a potential route to follow.

Off we go.

Easy Rider tour Day 1: From Dalat to Lac lake

Mr Su ready for take off.















We leave Dalat, a city in the mountains, mainly known for all the local vegetables and fruit.
On the back of the motorcycle I’m part of my surroundings and inhale the fantastic mountain environment.

Our first stop after a few hours ride is at a minority family. We give the kids candy (candy is worth its weight in gold around here) and Su tells me about their ways of living. They seem surprisingly relaxed of this stranger invading their house.

A minority pig is also having a look.

During lunch, where we had the barbequed sister of the fatso in the picture above, Su tells me more about the Easy Rider background in Dalat. He explains that there are now also Free Riders, Local Riders, Lone Riders etc. They all stole the trick and the hotspots from them, the Easy Riders, and it’s all so unfair. And if I do this internet thing, tell everybody never to go on a trip with mr. Luu as he indecently tried to touch a female guest. So here you go: To hell with mr. Luu everybody!

To me it sounds a bit like the movie Life of Brian, where you had the People’s Front of Judea, Judea’s Peoplefront etc. and they all hated each others guts. But eh, we all have our own blues.

Pit stop along the way.

We use time efficiently. Su drops me off at an interesting spot and rides on to smoke a cigarette. I then stroll towards him, in this case via a market along the road.

Everywhere we stop Su tells a background story. I soon realize he is especially an expert on agriculture. He tells me later he used to work as a farmer.

Agriculture lesson 1: Su explains how brown rice is grown.

Agriculture lesson 2: how to make fish traps

We are near our end destination with a bizarre sky.

On my right side a threatening rain storm is rushing our way.

And on my left side an amazing sunset

We check in in a lovely lakeside hotel, where there is no electricity due to a power cut. I now understand mr. Su’s face when I said this morning I would prefer to stay only in hotels with WIFI internet.
Sitting in the dark trying to read my book with mozzies circling around me, realization kicks in what sort of trip this is going to be. And I can’t deny I feel a little alone right here and now.

Mekong Delta 2 day cycling tour

A bit of action in the program: cycling through the Mekong delta.
The Mekong is allegedly the largest river of Asia, it passes 6 countries and ends in South Vietnam where the Mekong delta is. It is a watery, green and fertile environment with a high population density.
I have joined a 2-day cycling tour through the region. Our group of 6 is made up by 6 different nationalities, but luckily the standard interface English is implemented in all participants.There is not much to tell, I’ll attach a few of the thousand photos I took to give you an impression. I hope you enjoy the ride, I sure did.
…
Undeniable evidence of this post title


A fair share of South East Asia’s rice comes from the Delta
Some of which stays right here.


Locals are very friendly, most of them wave and greet us when we pas.
And the kiddies are sooo cute


Excellent scenery

More excellent scenery

Excellent lunch

There are several floating markets around here where all the farmers get what they need. This started long ago before there were any decent roads.

And surprise surprise, it’s the women that do the shopping

Because we are not dressed like tourists nobody notices our boat.

Dinner is being prepared for fish lovers

And for meat lovers

The locals drink snake wine for their health (and entertainment). You put strong rice wine in a big jar, you find a poisonous snake and add the two together. The snake being trapped in a jar of rice wine is getting pretty pissed off, as you can imagine (besides Ward perhaps). So instinctively it starts releasing poison. This mixes with the rice wine, et voila, you have a delicious snake wine that guards you from illness and you get drunk as a bonus.

...
Q: Why don’t you die on the spot of the poison?
A: Because the poison does not come in the bloodstream when you drink it.
...

*Bastards* thinks the snake

Having a glass of snake wine with a friendly local, who is 78 and says he never has even a cold thanks to the miracle drink

Vicky from Hong Kong fainted after she fell of her bike on the second day. The intensity of this trip was Tour de France level, no shit.

The long tail boat flows through the rivers arms back to the bus, and with sore bums we head back to Saigon.

Goooood morning vietnam

What looked like a holiday so far now seems to have turned into proper travel.
All alone I arrive in Saigon (currently called Ho Chi Min) for a few weeks of Vietnam. And my god, what a chaos! So many people, so much disorder. Traffic is the most striking feature in this mega city, one can watch it for hours and be bewildered how this works and why no-one crashes into another.
...
So many motorbikes, so many


Everybody wants something from you, and in a quite aggressive way too.
Need taxi? need motorbike? Need sunglasses? Need Marihuana? Need books? Need new wallet? (likely yours is already stolen or about to get stolen) Where you going? Where you from? Need drink? Need food? Now happy hour, come inside.
Need a punch in the face? I can’t blame them, but still it’s irritating. Let’s say I have to get used to the new situation.
...
Need cigarettes?


First day I’m busy sightseeing, but the truth is it’s not a very pretty city with mainly socialist square architecture. Still the most striking is the traffic, this amazing traffic. I got a haircut too, the first hairdresser ever that started cutting my hair straight away without asking any questions, coup Vietnam I suppose. When done (in about 10 minutes) the neck and head massage made up for the meager cut.
...
By cyclo around town, my new best friend for a few dollars


Tomorrow I will visit VietCong tunnels used during the war, the Cu Chi tunnels 50km north of Saigon. I’ve already decided not to do this via a travel agent, but by myself on a rented motorbike. I’m all day studying the traffic and building up courage to dive into it tomorrow.Nighttime is spent socializing with other travelers and expats. We are all a long way from home and are open for new contact and company.
...
Joe, English teacher in Saigon.



This morning the hotel dude asks me where I’m off to on my scooter, so I inform him about the Cu Chi tunnels. He raises his eyebrows and asks: ‘By yourself?’, grins and walks back inside. I mumble that I have roadmaps and that it’s no problem, but it doesn’t seem to impress him much.
...
It is a tremendous thrill to be part of the city traffic. It’s so different from seeing it from the side. It is alive and I’m part of it, I’m a blood cell flowing through the city veins. With thousands of us we go around and through each other. Most of us use a reasonable speed that allows you to react on all elements happening on the road, still for me upper concentration is required. It is unbelievable, but this is doable!
...
Riding along


There are more people on the road


Amusing what you come across along the way: folks carrying their complete home furniture on their scooter or even bicycle, trucks on the wrong side of the road arrogantly honking their horns, fruit stalls to tank energy, pumping music from speakers here and there causing me to head-bang on the beat, chicken, dogs and children crossing. It’s a pity it’s too dangerous to use my camera more often
...
One pineapple please.



Actually the trouble starts when I’m out of Saigon. My precious roadmaps are worth nada, and not a Vietnamese around that speaks English, or understands my map (or bothers to have a look).
- ‘Where am I now? Please point on this map’. And they look blank and smile politely if I’m lucky
...
No English, and no interest too


The most helpful was a soldier, who fully agreed with all my enquiries.
Me: Where am I now? Here?
Him: ‘uhm, yes!’
Me: Where are these tunnels?
Him: ‘uhm…’
Me: go left?
Him: ‘Yes go left!’ while zig-zagging his hand to the left, ending it with a confirming nod
Me: Ok, thanks.
…
Luckily it also started to rain


I was about to cut my losses and thinking what to tell this miserable hotel dude, when I saw a country side restaurant with a few tourist busses in front. Strange how happy you can be to see a few white faces. However, the odd 75 Italian tourists spoke as good English as the rest of the locals here and I could forget about a smile too.
But happy happy after all, the Vietnamese tour guide could explain me in detail how to find the tunnels. I used the moment also to have deicious grilled gambas for lunch in this idyllic restaurant.
Restaurant out of nowhere


There are a few tunnel complexes around the area, and the one I found, Ben Duoc, is visited less by Western tourists and more by the Vietnamese themselves. Besides tunnels this one has a bit more ‘interactive elements’ so to speak, read further for details :)
...
Tunnel layout explained

Chatting with the VietCong

Emptying a (real) AK47 for an extra $15. Kickuh!

Entering the tunnels, of course.

A nibble of VietCong army food (yuk) and that was it.

The way back is a piece of cake, while traffic looks a bit more familiar by now.
...

Immy and her laundry?