claire- We just have to say that no amount of words can sum up this expereince we have had with BINH and HUY. They became like brothers to
us over the 9 days. Joking, play fighting, eating, drinking, chatting. They are 2 special guys and we heart them! We had an
adventure!!!! Thanks to them xxxxx
14/10/09 - Day One
Breakfast and meet at the cafe at 9.00am. We are both on track motorbikes, not low rider, as we are going over some rough roads in the mountains.
Our big bags get put in plastic bags and packed onto the back of the bike. A good back rest for us on there. We are all loaded up and ready to go...excited.
Helmets on, Sooz with HUY and me with BINH. Off we go!!!!
Fisherman Village - we stopped here and saw the boats, fisherman, fish etc. Was good to see the sale of fresh produce.
Bungalows - we stop here to see some posh bungalows that had started to be built on the coast line. Lovely. But the owner had to stop
as the price of fuel went up and he ran out of money!
Refreshment place - (There are lots of places in South Aisa where you can just stop and sit and get a drink/food with the locals)
we stopped here for a drink and Sooz said 'we have left the passports back at hotel!' - panic not, Binh phoned his mate and he biked them up to us within 20 mins.
Thank goodness. We feel safe though, as we are with the guys, bless them. 'no problem' says HUY.
We rode along and stopped at a worker place to see how bricks are made in Vietnam. The women are as much manual workers as the men,
if not more to bo honest. It the women who work the rice fields and work hard.Roads were mainly smooth to start but got
bumpier as we got into the mountains. Sore bum. Or 'monkey bum' as BINH would say! We always had the camera ready to take scenic
photos or photos of things on a bike. Gosh, how much they fit on and what they transport is mad!!! We stopped at a small place for lunch
and shared a variety of dishes between us. Only paying $1 each max for lunch. Ridiculous price and beautiful taste!!!
Riding to Buon Ma Thuot, we stopped outside a school. Well my goodness, the kids were screaming hello and waving! It was like
we were famous!! They were doing a little PE before hometime. We started to wealk over and they were screaming even more! We went inside the
playground and watched the teacher exercising with them. When it was hometime, they all ran over screaming. Any excuse to practice
their English. They do not see many foreigners here as we are on the open road, off the beaten track. We asked for photo and they were all
excited. We posed with the V signs all together! Bless them. We then ventured back and they were following and saying goodbye.
It was mad, I am guessing it was like being famous for 15 mins, lol!!! Passing through many villages we were waved at by children and adults.
This was something really special. You would not get this on a bus!!! We stopped at another worker place to see how they made wooden furniture
out of old trees. this was a good skill! Some beautiful carved furniture! We then stopped at a rubber tree plantation to see how rubber
is made! They slice the trees bark and let the white liquid drip into a bowl. Mad! Never would have thought it. There were
rows upon rows of trees, each strip owned by a different family. Come the late afternoon and a one hell of a sore bum, we arrived at our hotel
at Dray Sap waterfalls. (the bum thing gets easier apparently as you go along, and BIHN stops every hour anyway) Room is ok with
mosquito net, complete with a live frog jumping around...Sooz to rescue and catches it and puts it outside. We ate food with the family that run the hotel, which all the Easy Riders bring there travellers. There were only a few
others there though. We had lovely food shared with them and drank Rice Wine! good old rice wine....no headache next day they say....we shall see...We played some
games of trying to get money out from under a bottle and how can you stick a straw in a glass of rice and pick it up by it...interesting.....then to bed...we were greeted by
another frog in room...this time a tree frog, the ones that jump far....we left him in bathroom for evening...nice.
15/10/09 - Day Two
At brekkie we spotted a monkey in the trees! He was well within photographing distance. BINH said he had only ever seen
one a few times and it was rare to see! After brekkie we visited Dray Sap Waterfalls. They were beautiful! We crossed many bridges and walked for an hour. It was hot!
HUY took us on the walk. We felt the mist off the waterfalls and then we walked to a tiny swim area and dipped in. It was shallow
but good enough to dip. Until I lay on my back and nearly got swept down with the current under a small wood bridge...it could have been nasty! lol.
HUY hid in a tree with a big hole in and jumped out on us. He is nuts!
After we rode along some of the Ho Chi Ming trail. This is where the Viet Cong army were heading South to take over Saigon. There
is now a new road built along it. We stopped for lunch and had beef hot pot! yum yum. was great. BINH knows all the places to
eat from when he was a trucker guy before adn Easy Rider. We did lots of riding along windy roads, stopping at a coffee plantation and learning abou the beans.
We then went to see how they made mushrooms at a family home place. They are made in bags full of tree bark. Here there
was a python in a cage. Friendly they say. I was scared. The woman gets the python out and lifts it around Sooz's neck,
with Sooz helping as it was so heavy! About 9ft long and thick!!! I then had to put it's other end over my neck. I could not
beleive I had a snake around my neck. Sooz had the head!!!! Eek. It started to coil it tail around my arm...it was time to put it down
after a few photos by HUY. Scary!!!After riding for a bit, we stopped to see how granite is chopped up and sold over here. There
was a worker guy working chisleing it up, in the heat!!! hot hot. It is so cheap over here, I can hardly believe how much
you pay for granite in UK!!!! Robbery!!! We then went to Lak Lake, which was beautiful, we took piccies and then we rode to Lak Lake Resort.
It was posh! We had a swim in the pool which was nice. We have a posh room with air con and balcony view over the lake.
Over dinner and rice wine(again) we asked BINH and HUY if they could take us onto Mui Nie for a fourth day. They were happy to! Yay.
16/10/09 - Day Three
First of all we went to the market and waltzed around seeing foods there. It breaks my heart to see the little ducklings and puppies been
sold, but BINH assures me they are pets! The duck are bought to eat the rice fields once they have been harvested(usually approx 60 ducks strung upside down on the back of a moped). I still
think their future would be bleak after that though! Then we went to Lak Lake Village, where we gave some candy to the kids, bless them. The village is shack huts, but the government is
helping them to build better homes. The government wants them to live in city, but they are happy to live their simple life! Can't
blame them as they are happy as they are. We stopped for coffee in a nearby cafe place and we had a ball. Kareoke was on (approx 10am!)and the guys there
were singing. God they love kareoke in Asia!! The woman got me & Sooz to dance and we all ran in to house part and danced away.
It was funny! Everyone happy and smiling. BINH started dancing around like a monkey!!!! We bough some coffee here
as Buon Ma Thuot has the best coffee around. We got 2 of the strainer things for on the top of cups too. All good....
Setting off for Dalat, we saw many more coffee fields along the way. We stopped at a bee hive place where there were lots of boxes
of bees and honey(sooz-claire needed lots of encouragement tostand near the bees :-) ). They apprently move the boxes around Vietnam according to where the bees are. The flowers are here in the mountains
at the mo. Dalat is a cooler climate as it is higher. We saw curry plants. The rain set in and out came the waterproof trousers and jacket(hilariously baggy on sooz)
that BIHN and HUY provided us with. Thank goodness as it was wet!!! Then it cleared for lunch! Pho Bo, beef noodle soup=lush!
Near Dalat we went to a pagoda with the happy buddha at it. Happy buddha was certainly happy, and he was huge!!! A good 30m tall and
several wide! The story behind the happy buddah is tht he had many children. He did not know why. He finds out after he castrated himself, women
stole his 'wotsit'(sooz-the technical medical term for penis) and made themselves pregnant. He was confused at this, but very happy he had so many children. You often
see the big fat happy buddah in a statue with many children on him. This is why. We also went into the pagoda and saw the buddha with a 1000
eyes and 1000 hands. This buddha watches over everyone. We then had time to go to the Silkworm factory to see how silk is made.
This was very interesting. It comes from the silk worm cocoon. A tough process (especially on the boiled cocoon-as they heat up the worms insie start moving around to escape, then they are boiled to death!) and hard work.
After this we reach Dalat, it was cold!!! After showers we had fish hot pot local style and yet again more rice wine!!! We are very happy we
decided to carry on to Mui Nie tomorrow as staying in Dalat in the rain is not really a nice option. So it all worked out well.
17/10/09 - Day Four
Dalat is lovely...but wet! The buildings are very French as this was a favourite spot for the French. They gathered here as it was a
cooler climate. You could almost think you were in the French Alps with the houses and buildings. There is a flower garden we passed, a gingerbread
style church and a tower built which resembles the Eifel Tower. We had the waterproofs on as it was raining alot. We then went to visit
the Crazy House which was designed by a female architect who had family in Vietnam....lets say it was crazy...it was a bit like being
in something at Blackpool....The hotel area looked like it was a big veiny tree and we were in it, whichvarious plaster type animals
in various rooms...was crazy...we didn't stay long as it open plan and it was raining!!! There is a honeymoon suite there which
is amongst a big spider web...all very tacky...but apprently a lot of Vietnamses get married in Dalat because it is cold, and the heat
of wearing a dress!!! Leaving Dalat we went by a candy place in the jungle type area. They make sweets from fruits, very natural process...
very sweet!!! After we ventured on our journey to Mui Nie. Outside of Dalat we came to Chicken Village. Here there is a large statue of a chicken.
The village is mainly shacks. There is a woman there making silk scarves etc. Hard work on the process. Takes 3 days to make one!
The colours of the silk is made from natural substance like flowers and leaves. I bought a scarf and paid an extra $3 dollars for it
as the woman was lovely. She was so humble and said I had bought good luck to her family. Bless her. We passed peanut fields.
We drove a long way. We reached Mui nie and went to the Red Canyon, which was lovely to walk through. Only sad thing is it was made of sand
and travellers are carving names in it and stuff(bolton wanderers forever etc). It doesn't look good that way and its eroding it. Hopefully they will stop.
Then we went to the Sand dunes. Here, BIHN selected 2 boys to take us sledding down them. Now, the dunes were only small and not as spectacular
as we thought they would be, but then it was good fun. We tipped the boys. They tried for more, until we got back to the bikes by BINH who keeps and eye
on them. He tells them if you do good, you're good. Accept what you're given, otherwisde he will not bring his customers to them again.
lol. it was funny. BIHN is a good person of Buddhist religion. He cares for all and tells people to be good.
We book into hotel and chill. Meet 7pm for dinner of seafood. yum! we pick what we want. shrimp, squid, clams all amazing and sooooo
cheap still!!! A few pounds! BINH had bought his book with him for us to sign and we felt sad. Sooz and I had chatted already
about going to the Mekong Delta with them. We asked if they were able, and they were very happy to do the trip with us. BINH had
his brother at home picking up the other customers for him, so the work was shared out all good. We were happy, another 5 days ahead
of us for the Mekong with guys who know what they are doing there! Yeah!!
18/10/09 - Day Five
Sooz takes over the laptop....wake early, meet with our brothers- Binh + Hoi, and wander down to the 'fairy stream' a stream that has
carved out a small canyon and it's river bed is all sand, so head up it barefoot for about 40 mins then head back, via a small fish sauce production area(smelly) for a local
noodle, egg + some random meatball soup- lovely (apart from the strange meat,lol). We set off on the bikes, passing through markets and fishing villages. We stop for a short time at a memorial
and grave site outside Ho Chi Minh city (HCMC) thousands of mass graves from where the american troops dropped cluster +chemical bombs. hundreds upon hundreds read
'Cha Biet Tev' - name unknown. It's sad to think of families coming to pay their respects to missing sons/mothers/fathers, never really knowing if they are buried there
or not.
We head on and don our attractive waterproofs as a massive storm closes in, the rain absolutely buckets down and within afew minutes the highway resembels the mekong river, the boys carry on
at some points we are driving through calf deep water, but we safely make it through...thanks to awesome drivers. The traffic slowly starts to increase as we approach HCMC on the highway. there are literally hundreds of mopeds
and many crazy buses and lorries, horns sounding skimming past you. there are so many accidents here...now we know why! Eventually we reach our guesthouse in a suburb of HCMC, a little rattled from the last part
of the journey(the only time on the trip i felt scared). We shower and have more delicious food at a bia hoi- DIY beef hotpot + of course plenty of rice wine! some soldiers sitting next to us come over and put their
army caps on us + have a laugh, locals are so friendly here!
19/10/09 - Day Six
Hoi has his chain + types replaced,then we hit the road...soon Bihn's chain isn't working and we drive round some moto shops, we wait while his is fixed (his last chain he bought turned out to be a cheap chinese fake...so even
vietnamese get ripped off in their own country! Once repaired we head to the Cu Chi tunnels. We get a guide, dressed in traditional Viet Cong outfit to show us round.
There were over 200km of tunnels they constructed to fully live underground. right under the American troops! so intricate and clever, with traps inside,incase 'the enemy' got in. Also they used to place dead amaerican troops
clothes at the entrances inside the tunnels, so the sniffer dogs couldn't detect where the opens were. They would come up to get food/supplies at night or to snipe and duck back in in the day. Many of the tunnels have collapsed, but
I got to enter an original tunnel (tiny hidden hole) then close the lid...felt eery in the pitch black! We walked round to see the differnt bamboo traps they made (very barbaric) and how they made homemade mines from old shrapnel from US weapons.
We then got to travel down through a slightly widened tunnel (for the bigger westeners!) it was so hot and stuffy,we don't know how they coped. They just wanted to protect their land from invasion.
We carried on on the bikes for many many kms to the Mekong Delta (afew coffee stops, to prevent the monkey bum (numb bum) effect :-) We reached the large suspension bridge over to Ben Tre just as the sun was setting over the Mekong, a beautiful moment
to take in. We drove literally through the market to reach a small wooden boat, which we hopped on in the dark and made a pit stop at Bihns's friends mooring to buy 2kgs of live giant prawns, wriggling in the plastic bag (£6.60!). We headed across to the
Phoenix Island, seeing fire flies in the bushes and setting some free we had in a bottle.
Binh cooked up the prawns + we washed them down with 3 bottles of banana rice wine between us...leading to many drunken piccies with the remains of the prawns + then me being violently ill back in our room...
i still maintain it was afew less well cooked prawns (aswell as the wine).
20/10/09 - Day Seven
Wake up (feeling horribly hungover) and have pho Bo for brekkies, then walk round the island + 'fish for crocodiles'- a random inclosure of crocs which we dangled bits of meat off bamboo, until the lunge for them...they are so fast+powerful!
We hopped on a small local boat and headed back over to Ben Tre through small bamboo lined rivers, where we went to see how they make (+sample) their special coconut candy,mmm! then watcheda traditioanl band + ate plenty of fruit..gradually curing hte
hangover! we got back on the bikes and ventured further into the mekong delta, taking afew passenger (or bike) ferries. We vewntured to the market to buy ingredients for dinner- fresh thai basil, ginger, water lilly, rice noodles...then it came to chicken...
we headed to the 'meat area' with many interesting smells+sights to behold (animal rights organisations would have a field day here!). There we found the chickens, no suprise, still clucking away with their feet tied up. the boys had a feel of afew to find a nice
plump good'un, once found the lady grabbed it and shoved it into a plastic carrier bag- still flapping and clucking away! At this point (sorry claire) the tears start streaming down Claire's face, not knowing how upsetting this would actually be. The boys soon saw Claire
and being the good souls they were decided not to purchase it (..im sure it definately didn't stay sat there long!). Instead we opted for duck...dead..plucked ducks. 2 for £2- bargain!
The animal rights are so harsh here, I would become a vegetarian out of principle here...but the meat is good + fresh!
We headed on to Binh's friend's house. Dinner was cooked and we all sat on the porch floor to eat together-mum, dad, uncles, cousins etc! The mum+dad played a joke on claire by bringing the dish out with the cooked duck's neck, head, beak, tongue'n all, sat neatly on top. We all had a good laugh, plenty
of rice wine + lots of gestured conversation. It didn't seem to matter we spoke different languages, the barriers were broken.
In the morning we gave the mother some fruits and a bit of money, she was so humbled. It made me feel a bit emotional, these people live hard lives waking up at sunrise, working till sunset everyday.Yet they are so happy+ content.
21/10/09 - Day Eight
Say goodbye and set off through more winding roads and ferry crossings until we reach Can Tho, the biggest town in the Delta.
We arrived mid afternoon and decide to catch up on sleep and chill for awhile. We have dinner then join Binh and Hoi at a bia Hoi for afew cheapo
siagon beers + learn some general Vietnamese insults ;-)
22/10/09 - Day Nine, the final day!
We wake up very early and head to the dock, we charter a local guy to take us around the famous floating markets of Can Tho. There are many
barges selling fruits and veg- indicated buy a bamboo stick on each boat with whatever goods they sell onboard. we weave through the market,
it definately isn't as picturesque as we thought it would be...more like a wholesale market. We hopped on board a boat+ had a whole pineapple each for 25p,
then carried on along the river+ stopped for a traditional breakfast- like a cold white rice pudding, with alot of salt+sugar in,topped with
coconut....interesting (the hair in mine was particularly nice!). We stop at a cambodian pagoda in the delta (the Mekong delta was formally Cambodian land) and then carried
on towards HCMC, through manic traffic! We check in at the guesthouse and meet Hoi's wife.Then it was time to reluctantly say goodbye to Binh
and Hoi. We felt we'd become really close and we felt like crying. Binh had a tear in his eye as left. We will definately keep in touch
+highly recommend then to anyone!
We head out and have dinner+afew beers, feels really wierd without the guys there!
22/10/09
Lie in finally!! wander round, get some cheap ipod uploads, claire has a cheap pedicure + I have a facial- soo good to get the road grime out of
the old pores. We have dinner+ a good few beers, plus have crap celeb spot in the bar- the bloke who plays Natty in Hollyoaks. wow. lol.
