Delat is
quite a small town, quite pretty, but not a lot to do in the town itself. I’d
mainly come here as it is the base of a company called Easy Riders, who offer
guided motorcycle tours all over Vietnam. I’d arranged a three day motorcycle
tour from Delat to Nha Trang on the coast.
My driver /
guide, Toun, is from northern Vietnam
and is most informative about the country, the history and the people, and
clearly enjoys showing visitors his country.
Day 1 - Delat
to Lak Lake
Some of the
attractions that we stopped to see included:
·
The
Crazy House is a bizarre guest house / visitor attraction in Delat that has
been designed by (in my opinion) a clearly crazy architect. You cannot actually
describe it, you have to see it.
·
Flower
farmer and coffee farms
·
Elephant
falls waterfall and nearby pagoda with a giant happy Buddha
·
Silk
factory and Silk worm farmer
·
One
of the many hill village tribes
It’s been a
long time since I travelled any distance on a motorbike, and I don’t think I’ve
ever spent a whole day on one. After a full day of travelling my bum is
somewhere between aching and numb and I could barely dismount at the end of it.
I wish my body was the same age as my mind. I felt like I run the 150km instead
of being a passenger on a motorbike.
Day 2 – Lak Lake
to Buon Ma Thuot
The second
day was a shorter ride than the first, but very interesting as we went down the
back roads through the coffee plantations to a fabulous waterfall in a jungle
national park. The water was crystal clear and a lot of water, There were two
rickety suspended footbridges to cross to the one waterfall. I did the first,
being carefut to aim for the planks that looked like they may be able to hold
my weight. I only made it three quarters across the second bridge before
bottling it and backtracking. I don’t think it would have met any H&S
standards anywhere.
My guide
Toun took me out to eat at one of the local eating / drinking halls. It was
crowded with locals and clearly very popular. Toun ordered a selection of
dishes including eggplant, which I’m not sure I’ve had before. As I was eating
it it tasted a bit crunchier than I’d expected, which was when Toun announced
that it also contained a salmon head, including scales, which he’s neglected to
mention before. At least we didn’t get silk worms, which he has assured me are
delicious.
Day 3 Buon
Ma Thuot – Nha Trang
The
sunshine of the past few days gave way to rain but it wasn’t too bad, a steady trickle
of warm rain rather than the usual heavy short thunderstorm. It rained for most
of the day and it was quite a long haul down to the coast, but on much better
roads than we had had up till now. We stopped off at various places along the
way including rubber and pepper plantations, hot springs and a fishing village.
We stopped
for a soft drink at a roadside stall and I received a marriage proposal from
the beautiful young stall owner. I was almost ready to accept, but it turned
out that she thought that I’d be taking her back to live in Scotland and I thought I was going to lounge
away in her hammock at the roadside in Vietnam watching the chickens.
After three
days in the saddle I’d had about enough of motorcycling for a while. It was a
fantastic way to see the real Vietnam,
see interesting places off the beaten track and meet some very interesting
people. I can see how some people can do the length of Vietnam in this
way over a few weeks.
