Keeping the fat lady at bay

A hell of alot has happened since last i wrote in dalat. We have navigated our way through Ho Chi Minh city accross the ferries and waterways of the mekong delta and over the border to Cambodia. All this in two utterly exhausting weeks, but ones that will live with me forever.

Dalat was a bit of a let down and sucked to be honest, there was really nothing to do at all and three days were more than enough. I was pretty glad to see the back of it as we returned to the coast and the fishing village of Mui ne. This place is the up and coming beach resort in vietnam but to be fair it was nothing to write home about. We found an ok place on the beach went out for some beers in an overly priced bar and generally complained about there being too many other foreigners. To be honest we have become travelling snobs, as with a motorbike it actually seems like and adventure rather than a holiday. Mui ne was good for two nights as we managed to get a look at the famous sand dunes which were cool almost like a few square miles of the sahara. On leaving Mui ne time was of the essence as Josh only had one more week left on his visa, which meant we had to do Ho Chi Minh, the delta and Phu Quoc island in this time.

I was dreading riding to Ho Chi Minh due to one of the quirks of my bike being i cant get it in to neutral so it stalls all the time. A city of 7 million people and hundreds of traffic lights was going to be fun. To be fair i only stalled 3 times on getting into the centre and it really wasnt as bad as i thought or that may be because i am now used to vietnamese traffic and the way the roads work here. I had been to Ho Chi Minh before and wasnt fussed about any of the sights, but took a walk anyway and went to the Museum of American War Crimes. Catchy title and a nice biased look at everything that went on. The photo gallery was amazing but the rest take it or leave it, pretty much the same as most museums you see. We had planned to go out to Cu Chi tunnels but as time wears on you long for a day of doing nothing which is pretty much what we did. Read a book in the park, practiced english with some students and drank some coffee to avoid the heavy afternoon rain.

Two nights was plenty especially as we had annoyed the hotel owner by insisting our bikes did not live on the street. We were both really excited about the next few days as neither of us had ever ventured into a region like the delta before. First day 90km to Ben tre. Easy we thought have a lie in, breakfast and head out around 10am. At 10am the heaviest rainshower ever starts so we are delayed by an hour, then the road gets a bit rough and my bike dies and we head to a mechanic. After Hoi an my bike had been great and joshs had been the problem as his chain amongst other things were causing him to take regular stops. Today was my turn and what a day. In total we completed 70km in 7 hours, arrived in the dark and i had spent nearly 10 quid in mechanics which comparative for vietnam is a truck load. I hate riding in the dark here and this sucked big time as we didnt even make it to Ben tre. I was seriously considering binning the whole thing as it had been an awful day.

Fortunately there is always the next day and it was joshs turn again although the problems were not too extensive and we did see a few of the islands in the delta as well as taking in the lush jungle and coconut plantations. There are no sign posts in the delta and we had to guess our way which ended in a 60km dead end road. It was soon to get dark so we had to ride 160km flat out along narrow roads, over tiny bridges barely wide enough to walk over and avoid the other hazards that litter the roads. Up to this point i hadnt really considered how dangerous the bike riding would be but we saw a proper accident for the first time which also resulted in my first dead body. In vietnam every year 70,000 people are killed on the roads which is over 200 a day. This is a crazy stat and seeing that really messed me up for the rest of the day. Fortunately the run into Can Tho went over a really amazing suspension bridge at sunset which was stunning and helped me put the days events behind me. Like with dog i am willing to try most things and here we had a buffet dinner of snake, frog and wait for it rat. Rat honest to god is amazing it doesnt taste like chicken its 10 times better!!

A really early morning start got us from Can Tho to Rach Gia intime for us to unwittingly ride into the biggest festival of the year. The place was boiling hot and absolutely crazy with people everywhere, which meant it took at least an hour to navigate through the small town to the ferry terminal. We wanted to take our bikes with us and had an infuriating few hours being told we could then couldnt take our bikes. Eventually for a ridiculous price we made it to the paradise island of Phu Quoc. I was totaly ready to unwind but joshs bike messed up straight after the ferry and this time the mechanics couldnt help. It seemed to right itself the next day but died again while pottering around the island. We were both gutted as it really looked like this was it. We got somebody to come and buy our bikes the next day as i didnt really want to ride on on my own as it wouldnt be as good. But miracles do happen and before the guy arrived josh went crazy at his bike and somehow it started working again. So relieved!! I havent really considered what i will do post bike and i dont really want to either until it is really necessary.

Fortunately we were back in business enjoyed a nice day on the beach and then headed back to the mainland and the cambodian border. We had done alot of research on crossing the border and had heard something differnt from everyone, from putting money in the passport to just sneaking accross. We decided on the honest option and had no problems whatsoever. So far the only issue has been the complete and utter state that cambodia is in. I will write about that in the next one but safe to say im looking forward to leaving and ive only been here a day!