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Published: January 16th 2011
we have just done two long days riding motorbikes through the highlands in central vietnam. the weather is partly sunny and warm. we are wearing windbreakers, pants and running shoes for riding and a big bandana to protect from the exhaust. everyone else here also wears a face mask to protect not only from dirt/dust but also they value our WHITE skin and prefer NOT to get a tan. hmm. and so why do we want a tan in north america?
anyway, we went to visit an orphanage yesterday run by the catholic church. the children have no parents or are in care because there parents lack capacity. sad to see how little toys, supplies, clothes, etc. there. the older girls look after the infants. difficult.
the motorbiking the last two days has been on a highway..with big trucks and buses passing by us by mere few feet. we have both had to veer off the highway into the gravel on the side as big trucks came too close in passing us. what they do is get into the left lane and quite often right in front of an oncoming truck which then is forcing them back into the right lane where we are hugging the far right side and..the only place for us to go is the ditch/gravel..whatever is on the side. crazy crazy and yes at times i've wondered what we are doing riding motorcycles here. but then the adrenaline rush is rather neat and i think i've got the sense of how the traffic works here and know what to do so there's this odd sense of accomplishment at the end of day..we survived. i think i will get a t shirt at the end of this trip that reads "i survived vietnam roads on a motorcycle.and all i got for it was this lousy t shirt".
children and adults continue to stare at us wherever we go like we are some kind of odd white creatures. other than "hello" they dont know english so we cant say much other than gestures. i notice our hotel rooms have really low door handle and the view glass at the door is not much higher than my naval. we are giants!
At the end of the day of riding in this crazy traffic we need a glass of red wine...aah
Lasse has had taken tons of pics on this trip so far and will post some to this blog soon when we have a computer that will allow us to do so.
tomorrow we camp in a national park. lasse is getting a long knife to protect against tigers. (sorry i though it was going to be a gun..darn) i think the odds of seeing a tiger are even much less than a cougar on the island. sonot worried. but wouldnt it be cool though.
having the time of our lives!
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Sarah
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Sounds like you two are having the trip of a lifetime, looking forward to continuing to read about it!