Vietnam Central Highlands

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Day 1

Minh (the Easy Rider) arrived at 8.30 as arranged. I had breakfast while he strapped the luggage wrapped in plastic, onto the back of the bike. The bike had a wide seat at the back and with the luggage strapped securely behind me it turned out to be rather comfortable, I could lean back a little. We had gone no more than 4 blocks when the rain started, the usual Vietnam torrential rain. Ming gave me a set of purple plastic trousers and jacket to wear (very fetching but it did the job). We set off again, cautiously in the slippery conditions, making our way through the Central Highlands towards Dac Lak.

The roads were long, straight and thankfully pretty quiet. We wound our way through small towns, past flooded paddy fields in the relentless rain and wind. Happily we stopped for coffee (Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk) at roadside cafes and lunch at a local restaurant. Some of the cafes only open for breakfast or lunch and may only sell one dish usually Pho (noodle soup) or fried rice. The place we stopped at served chicken with fried rice. And that's all you get, chicken and fried rice. All the seasonings are on the table for you to use to taste: whole chillies, chopped chillies, chilli sauce, chopped garlic, fish sauce, salt and pepper, soy sauce and lime. It was delicious.

The journey was a daunting 250 k so we kept moving most of the day. Some stretches of the road were in pretty poor condition, almost impassable for the number of pot holes adorning it. It felt like being on "Kick Start" (anyone remember it? Minh would have lost points for putting his feet down several times). I felt pretty secure on the back of the bike and it was thrilling seeing the real Vietnam floating past. The houses changed from the more modern brick built single storey to wooden houses and bamboo long houses on stilts as we went further into the countryside. Some of the houses were built out of anything and everything; tarpaulin, corrugated iron, wood and bamboo were cobbled together to make a house. Miles of coffee plantations lined the road (Vietnam is the worlds second largest coffee exporters after Brazil), we even stopped to venture in to look at the beans growing.

We pressed on and arrived at Dac Lak before nightfall. In the last two years the local tribes people (the M'Nong) have built a resort for tourists where all the workers are local and profits go to the tribe. To be honest it looks like I've walked onto the set of Dirty Dancing.

Pastel coloured wooden bungalows with views onto the lake. All very nice but not exactly the 'homestay' I was expecting. Ming and I had dinner in the restaurant (I had a sip of rice wine...that was enough!) then early to bed for me, it had been a long day.

Day 2

Up and out for 8.30, I had an elephant ride booked for today. I met Minh at the clearing infront of the hotel and a few moments later I saw the elephant approaching. Slowly it lumbered through the trees with it's rider sitting on it's neck steering it with his feet. I was excited and worried about the ride. I've heard so many bad reports of the animals being mistreated and beaten to control them I was uncertain that I was doing the right thing. She was magnificent and utterly silent (I think it was a she anyway!). I climbed up a set of steps and was helped aboard. Thankfully when i was seated the rider put his stick away, he never used it at all on the trip, he just spoke to her and nudged her with his feet to steer.

I was captivated by her. This huge animal silently walking up the path. Her trunk browsed the trees and bushes as we passed like running your finger along a supermarket shelf. Every so often as something took her fancy she would stop, wind her trunk around the foliage and pull. She liked to walk snacking on some leaves (when i say leaves... read small tree). We walked on through the village outskirts and turned left, making for the water. Minh told me that the elephant went swimming but I wouldn't get wet. As you can imagine that wasn't quite the case.

She had obviously made this trip a thousand times before and needed almost no steering or encouragement. She knew the way, the way was into the lake. In she went. She waded deeper and deeper as she crossed the bay towards the village on the other side, her trunk popping up for air. The water crept up further still and i think even the rider was surprised at how deep we were. He sat on her head to keep out of the water, feet on her neck getting soaked. By this time the water was sloshing around my legs and i was soaked. The rain started too. Both of us were laughing as there was nothing we could do except hold by bag in the air out of the water and wait it out as she waded forward. We made it safely to shore with a big grin on my face and dripping wet trousers.

Minh met me in the village where I waved goodbye to the elephant. We walked through the village of traditional long houses as he spoke about their culture. They were happy to have visitors to their village as it brought money into a poor community. In Vietnam people pay for education and medical treatment. He said the government helps some poor communities such as this and provide free schools, free university education, free medical assistance, a residential nurse and ambulance service and even free electricity in an effort to help them up to the basic Vietnamese standard of living (which is pretty basic as it is). The houses were all traditional long houses built on stilts (so the animals can live underneath), made out of bamboo with a separate cooking house at the back. It's a matriarchal society where the women choose the men and the children take the mothers name. Anywhere between 15-30 people live in the houses, the extended family living together. (As you can see I learned a lot!)

I changed my clothes, checked out the hotel and we started on our journey to Da Lat, a town high up in the mountains. Luckily the weather was better today and the purple plastic suits weren't needed. The roads wound their way around the mountainside and although I had enjoyed the previous day I was less happy being on the bike as it was hardly ever upright. We stopped several times that day, to visit a honey making in the forest, silk worms, coffee being dried by the road (infact EVERY house seemed to be drying coffee on their driveways), a magnificent waterfall, green tea being grown, a silk factory and even huge farms of flowers being grown.

It was another long day and another early night for me. The hotel wasn't great at all and the room smelled of damp but they provided a flask of Atiso tea (artichoke tea which is incredibly tasty even though it sounds horrible), had American film channels in the rooms so I had a quiet night and drifted off to sleep pretty early.

Day 3

A day of sights in and around Da Lat today. Firstly we visited the Dragon Pagoda. A pagoda decorated with dragons (funnily enough) but done in a Gaudi-esque style. It was beautifully ornate with almost every surface decorated in broken tiles. I managed to fall down the last few stairs,think I'm more of a danger to myself than the motorbike is. Next was the 'Crazy House'. This was a hotel with 'crazy' rooms decorated in a 'crazy' style. Ahem. Not my favourite sight I need to say but I did bump into Alan and Gemma from the Trans-Sib trip! The park in Da lat was pretty disappointing too as it was out of season and very bare. After lunch I was taken to see the summer residence of the last King of Vietnam. A large modern thirties style house on the hill. And lastly i went on a cable car ride (you know how much i like a cable car ride!) to see views over Da Lat and the surrounding countryside.

I chose to forgo the last day of my 4 day motorbike trip. I was getting more and more uneasy being a motorbike pillion passenger and the thought of a 300+ k trip in one day to Saigon on the windy roads was too much. I didn't want my luck to run out. Minh booked me a bus for the morning. We had dinner in a local restaurant beside the hotel. Minh asked if I'd had a good time then told me it was time for me to tip him 20%. I was not amused. I told him he had been paid (a lot of money!). He said I had to understand their culture at which point i walked out (as in Asia there is a culture of no tipping let alone 20% tipping). I was livid. He began shouting and i walked back to the hotel. I hardly slept. It had spoiled the whole trip. The hotel had my passport (as they always do) so I just had to keep my fingers crossed I got it back in the morning.

Day 4

Minh was sweetness and light in the morning. I ended up giving him about 2 quid as he said I had burst the zip on the lovely purple suit so to keep the peace (and my passport) i offered him my change. Thankfully he was appeased.

The journey on the bus was pretty uneventful. I managed not to be sick on the journey (unlike most of the bus). It had been very cool in the Highlands of Da Lat but as the bus neared the city the heat came back into the air. The bus passed a pretty gruesome accident on the way into the city which confirmed to myself that I have my motorbike phase out of my system. The bus dropped us off in the main backpacker district and I alighted (with all my bags), checked into a hotel and had lunch. And who did i bump into? Alan and Gemma! They had just arrived too so we made plans to meet for dinner. It's always nice to see friendly familiar faces.

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Photos

Vietnam Central Highlands
On the road to Dac Lak

M'Nong Village
Coffee drying in the sun