We did it! Casey and I successfully rode over 2,000 km on an illegally purchased motorbike from Hanoi to Saigon in just under one month- What an adventure! Sitting in an internet cafe in Saigon, even as I type this I am amazed by the experience that Casey and I have had... Vietnam is insane. I mean it, literally insane. The culture is by far the most foreign to our culture that I have ever encountered, the language sounds like a cat in the throws of death, the food tastes like an odd mixture of fish paste gooey shtuff, boiled chicken-of course with eyeballs, tormented little chicken flesh and scaly feet still intact, and plenty of white rice. If I never see another bowl of plain white rice that will be fine by me!
The journey began in Hanoi. We arrived early in the morning after an overnight bus from the border town of Dien Bien Phu. Thanks to Tylenol PM I remember little of the 12 hour journey crammed onto a stinky bus with a hundred or so odd people, rattling its way through mountain passes, jungle and rocky "roads"... the quotations are in fact necessary as there was very little recognizable pavement on the journey. Hanoi presented itself to us, at 5 in the morning, a heavy fog lingering over the enormous city, the motorbikes already zipping by in full force even before the sunrise. Hanoi is a noisy cram packed city of twisting alley ways, a million aromas intermingling in heavy plumes- some incredible that I greedily sucked in as deeply as I could, some absolutely repulsive (An image is called to mind of a man taking a dump on the sidewalk right in front of a restaurant... hungry anyone?). Casey and I stayed in Hanoi just long enough to go bike hunting, eventually finding a sweet little ride for sale for $400 USD, incredible expensive by Vietnamese standards, about half of what we expected to spend. The bike was in great shape, a cute LITTLE 100CC Honda Win. We loaded that baby up with two large backpacks and our big ol' American bums and rode away into the sunset... putting along at a meager 40 km an hour :)
Our first destination was North of Hanoi, to the beautiful Ba Be National Park. We averaged about 150km a day, passing through endless rice paddies, villages shrouded in red dust, lush green jungle and enormous limestone mountains appearing out of nowhere and disappearing into a soggy grey mist that chronically lingers above the north. We rode on roads that I was certain would kill our bike... a particular mountain pass outside of the village of Pac Ngoi that took us up and down steep mountains, on jagged rocks the size of soccer balls, as rain drizzled down and the mud began to shift beneath the road. We were both convinced we would be blowing both tires and walking the bike the 30 or so odd km to the next village, but miraculously- we survived, as did our bike...which we've nicknamed little Dynamo. Ba Be Park was our home for a quick two days, but during that time we were able to hike through the jungle on rudimentary trails, one of which led us to the most incredible cave either of us had ever seen. A small sign marked the trailhead to an unnamed cave- in the spirit of adventure we decided to try to find it. A few kilometers of jungle walking later (and two VERY strange spiders later) from behind the human sized banana leaves and thick cloak of jungle emerged a giant gaping cave mouth in an absolutely looming cliffside. The cave entrance was draped with vines and thick cobwebs. Casey and I were stunned by it, one of the more surreal images of my life. We slowly entered the cave mouth, our flashlights poised- a little afraid but very excited, almost instantly noting the pungent aroma of bat guano wafting on the stagnant cave air. The shrill screams of hundreds, thousands, maybe even MILLIONS of bats echoing from cracks in the caves ceiling. Bizarre rock formations caked with brown slimy guano (how we didn’t contract a disease I have no idea!). As we pressed on into the darkness, along a small green creek running through the cave mouth we watched in awe as the creek widened into a wide rushing river, running directly through the mountain. Were we braver we could have swam deeper into the cave... but we aren't- so we had to enjoy the scene from the rocky ledge overlooking the milky green sediment rich river, disappearing beyond the reaches of our flashlights. Sufficiently amazed, we made the return hike to our bike, waiting patiently on the side of a dirt road to carry us away to the next adventure.
As we proceeded south we were baked by the hot sun, pelted by fat raindrops, drenched by the mountain mist, and nearly blown over by heavy winds. The weather in Vietnam can change on a dime, and more than once we were forced to stop, lest we be blown over a cliff and swept away by the pouring rain. On one particularly rainy day we limped into a Vietnamese village- noticed a familiar sign (Ahh.. cafe sua da, I LOVE you! The best Iced Coffee ever!) and decided to take a break. Barely into our iced coffees we heard the beating of a gong... along the roadside next to us a procession of glum faced Vietnamese villagers trodding past us, some with gongs, other drums, and near the rear, a brightly decorated coffin was carried past. A funeral procession, along a muddy dirt road, in the highlands of Vietnam, while the rain dumped down and the angry sky turned a sinister shade of grey. As soon as the procession had past, so did the rain. The sun peeked out and we were able to continue a journey. I felt as though I had been allowed a sneak peak at a part of Vietnamese culture I was never supposed to witness. A chilling but incredible feeling.
To write about all of the places we visited would be impossible, but some highlights include... Our lovely guesthouse in VihnLoc... fully equipped with a moth the size of my fist, dirty razors in the bathroom sink, a petrified gecko carcass on the floor, and what appeared to be an entire heads worth of hair nuzzled up under the sheets... that was a fun night. On a different occasion in the city of BacKan we were oh so pleased to discover a used condom completely fused to the bedside... as if it had always been there and was part of the room decor. No amount of cheap Vietnamese vodka could make us sleep soundly that night, even after disposing of the evidence and putting on every layer of clothing we own to prevent our skin from touching the contaminated sheets- UGH! That was a tough one on Casey... moral hit a low on that night :) But we made it to morning, and (knock on wood) we haven't been forced to sleep with any other used condoms since.
In Central Vietnam we visited the Phong-Nga Cave, one of the largest in the world (or so they say). We hired a boat, with two elderly Vietnamese women with paddles, who rowed us the 5km to the cave mouth, upriver. How they do it, everyday, sustained on a diet of white rice, is an absolute mystery. They are protruding bones draped with thin skin skin as wrinkled as melting wax dripping down their faces. I wanted to grab the paddles out of their skeletal hands and make them sit down, but of course any attempts on my part were met by the absolute screaming cacophony that is the Vietnamese language, so I took my seat, and enjoyed the ride. The cave was enormous, by far the largest I had ever seen, dwarfing our cave from Ba Be National Park in size. We rode the boat deep into the cave, which seemed to never end... we turned back after about 30 minutes of paddling; obviously it would take days for us to see the entire cave. Quite an incredible landscape- hanging stalactite- reaching to meet their stalagmite counterparts jutting up out of the river. Casey and I hardly spoke- just looked wide eyed at the incredible feat of Mother Nature presenting itself before us.
Once we entered Southern Vietnam we were reinvigorated by the beaches, stopping for several days to enjoy the nearly uninhabited coastline along China Beach- white sand, powerful waves (although unsurfable... sorry Casey) and in the evenings- green blue phosphorescence tumbling with each rhythmic crashing. A couple of cold beers, a spot on the beach with your boyfriend, stars overhead, luminescence and the waves... you get the picture. Heaven.
Nah Trang, further south, was a bigger and better beach- less quaint but with a whole lot more action. We went scuba diving off the coast of Nah Trang- our first underwater excursion of the trip, with many more to follow. The reefs weren't fantastic as the winter lowers the visibility in this part of the world, but we were thrilled to get wet, and we did see some beautiful fish, a cuttlefish (SO cool... camouflages itself to match whatever it's next to... sometimes that means neon blue to match the reef) and lots of urchins and anemones, fluid tentacles undulating with the currents. I love scuba diving.
We left Nah Trang and headed towards Dalat on a mountainous road with incredible views of the jungle. About halfway through the journey Dynamo started to wobble, then buck... then DONE. A complete flat on our rear tire- in the middle of nowhere of course. We hailed down the next passing moto, after some confusing communication he promised to return with a mechanic. We sat on the side of the road, I braided some grass bracelets for us... we fried like bacon in the sun... and MIRACULOUSLY a mechanic came riding on his motorcycle down the road to save the day! Half an hour later we had a new rear tire and we were back on the road- EASY!
After a short stay in Dalat, a city in the Southern highlands with a thriving market, and CRAZY house... a bizarre architectural phenomena equipped with creepy kangaroo sculptures with glowing red eyes, staircases leading into the tree tops and plenty of mazelike hallways decked out with glitter plaster of paris to look like a psychedelic cave passage... whoever built this structure was definitely on something good.
Our final day of riding was through the intensely cram packed superhighway leading into Saigon. By the end of the ride we were both drenched in swear, and our faces coated with a thick black soot from the exhaust fumes of a thousand diesel semis cruising past. I am pretty sure I have the black lung now... Casey and Kendra and Vietnamese chimney sweeps... we were happy to arrive in town and take a cold shower.
As I type Casey just popped his head in on me to let me know that Dynamo has sold! It’s been sitting on the street corner with a homemade for sale sign for about 4 hours- not bad! I'm so sad to see it go; I'd better go say my goodbyes... sniffle.... I will miss him! Pictures to follow.... miss you guys!
