What an amazing week, i could quite possibly say its the best week out of the entire six months i have been away. After initially coming up with what we both thought a slightly hair brained idea it has turned into a stroke of genious or at least is paying massive dividends.
For the last week after leaving Hoi an with a few more kilos of clothes than planned we headed inland away from Highway 1 and the tourist trail that follows the entire of vietnams coast. The country may be long but it is also very thin and after 40km we had hit Highway 14 also known as the Ho Chi Minh trail. This road famously follows the supply routes of the vietcong from north to south (along the border with lao) and for this reason it is the most bombed area of the world. Both Josh and I have essentially gotten fed up of package tours everywhere, always being hassled by touts and the never ending supply of 'same same but different' sights. Instead what we have been after is unspoilt countryside, amazing views, mountains, forest and what i would now call the real vietnam.
Joshs bike has been so far without any problems and mine has had a few hiccups shall we say and is double the age of the other bike. I would say i set out with some tripidation of the bikes capability to do 800km of mountainous riding along roads that are one big pothole. The first day nearly killed me we did 350km in one stretch having gotten lost for about an hour earlier on. One thing about asia and i have found this everywhere if you ask for directions and they have no idea they will give you some anyway. This led us a merry dance but we eventually found our way and blitzed 40km inland towards the trail. My bike which makes numerous noises then started to vibrate really badly and forced me to pull into a garage. 10 minutes and 10,000 dong later (30p) my bike was better than new. The potholes had loosened a nut which was the problem. Sorted and for the first time when someone knew they had you over a barrel they didnt try and rip me off.
The rest of the day was shattering, roads that were beautiful but needed full concentration and then just when i was really tired we had to do the last 30km in the dark. I have lights that are pitiful at best and there are no street lights so 30kms straining to see while trucks are hammering past and people are everywhere and theres potholes and sections of the road missing was so exhausting. Nevertheless we made it to Kon tom our first staging post. I had not seen a foreigner all day and the town was no different. We dumped our stuff in our cockroach ridden room and went out for dinner. In vietnam you never eat from a resteraunt only off the street and in Kon tom we had prawn pancakes which were insanely good. I think this was probably the best food i had eaten anywhere ever!!!
The next day was a short hop 45km to Plikou as our bodies wouldnt take much more, so we treated ourselves to a lie in and the chance to eat breakfast before heading off. The towns themselves have nothing to see and are just dust bowls but its for the road that we were here so i didnt care too much. In plikou we just chilled in our nice hotel ready to do the 180km to Boum ma thot. We were treated to amazing roads again all day and the feeling is incredible. On a bus all this passes you by but on a bike you see it, smell it and have everyone waving and shouting hello from the side of the road.
Buon ma thot is the coffee capital of vietnam. Iced white coffee is something to which i am now addicted and there is nothing better than sipping this while watching the world go by. We have bought ourselves lots of the stuff in an attempt to not too succesfully recreate what we have had so far. On my trip i have tried to tick off as many new things as possible and one that had alooded me so far was Thit Cho also known as dog. The random place we were staying (im pretty sure they had just kicked there son out of his room) took us to a dog restaurant. The place was heaving so it must be good. We tried the lot, BBQ dog, dog blood sausage, dog soup, dog with ginger and generally the taste was pretty good although it doesnt smell great. The taste is unlike anything else not quite beef, not chicken or pork but you have to try it to know what i mean.
Our final day on the trail took us 200km south to Dalat a mountain resort in the south highlands. We both agreed that despite the road surface for large sections being the worst we had ever seen the scenery was incredible. People talk about great drives of the world and for me there have been some good ones in six months and this was by far the best. For large sections there were ethnic communities perched on the sides of stunning valleys, jungle, friendly people, mountain passes and exciting bends to really get stuck into.
We now plan to keep the bikes until Angkor wat in cambodia, and we are hoping we can cross the border easily (not too much money in bribes). We will see but tomorrow its back down to the coast and the amazing beaches of Mui ne. I cant wait
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