The Sh*t hits the fan! Hue to Hoi An...Post 6

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Please note..Because I am doing some of these posts historically they are out of order ...Thats why this has a "Post 6" suffix....Confused??You will be!

Today we intended to take a fairly easy ride from Hue to China Beach just South of Dan Nang, taking in The Hai Van pass on the way....Intentions are one thing!!

From virtually the moment we woke it was obvious that the Gods were not going to be smiling on us...
I could easily wax quite lyrical about this particular day but instead I am just going to deal with it in list form...That way I should be able to stay objective and not find myself bursting into tears as I remember the way it progressed..So please bear with me!

-We pack and realise we have lost the "master" wallet...credit cards, cash..(you know, everything!)..We had it in the restaurant of the Imperial so I dash around there but it does not open for three hours..The hotel receptionist tries to help and even calls all of the staff at home...Nothing!!She promises to send it to the UK if it turns up..I try my best to thank her and return to the Morin to find Rhianydd sat where I left her looking shellshocked..we have one back up card which we can transfer funds to so at least we should be able to get solvent and carry on but the cash is a major blow...Neither of us can face breakfast so we sit staring at the wall for about half an hour..After half an hour of misery I look in one of the day-bags for the umpteenth time and the wallet slips neatly into my hand....I swear it wasnt there before!!!!

-The ride starts and almost immediately the bike is playing up!!! Heading out of Hue it keeps slipping out of gear..I adjust the clutch and it seems a little better but not really right...Fingers crossed!

- We pull into a petrol station as again we are very low. A girl runs from the hut waving her arms and yelling "No! No!" We dont know why. She certainly doesnt look friendly so it could be the fact that we are western...( I still hope there was some other reason as this would be a first)...We pull back onto the road with the bike running on vapour.

-We struggle into a second petrol station but have no joy in communicating that the bike needs both petrol and oil...What seems like a long time of fruitless arm-waving ends when I get chased out of the station hut/kiosk after going in trying to find oil..Obviously staff only..Sorry! Find a lone can of what looks like it might be oil (or could be brake fluid, which given that vegetable oil would do at a pinch might get us out of a spot) in a glass case at the side of the station and decide to risk it...No measure available, so put in what I think is the right amount, give or take ..Fingers crossed...Again! The bike starts and with the clutch getting worse we head South.

-We arrive at the Phang Ru Pass, (Hai Vans little brother about 40 K North) and gulping a bit at the 1 in 7 incline indicator start going up..First mile things seem promising..the bike is revving hard but pulling and so far staying in gear, then we turn a hard right and the incline steepens, I try to drop from third to second, the gears crunch and drop directly into first with screaming revs, the front wheel lifts and we stare directly into the sun for a brief second before the back of the bike hits the floor and our arses hit the tarmac. The bike is on my left leg and we're just round a blind corner with the possibilty of something coming round at any moment....SH*T!!!!
I shout to Rhianydd to get to the side of the road as she seems to be clear and pushing the bike off me I get up and do the same..
Luckily the coast is clear so we get the bike lifted and to the side of the road..We only skidded for a few yards which I suppose we have to thank the steepness of the road for and after a cursory inspection seem to have got off lightly..
Damage....Rear right light assembly pulled off/luggage rack distorted/number plate twisted to vertical and (the only really bad one) Engine mounting bolt completely shorn off....
After a few moments we both start to chill out a bit as the shock passes and, apart from my leg being a bit battered, we've come out unscathed....
We bend what bits we can back into shape and luckily I manage to replace the engine mounting bolt using the nuts and bolts from one of the rear view mirror brackets, so at least the engine wont fall off the bike...The clutch is another story...I again adjust the clutch cable and tighten the nut on the gear box that changes the biting point but this makes the clutch lever virtually impossible to pull back far enough..I should be able to change gear as long as the revs are at the right sort of level but it will be touch and go..
We continue.

-We drive through Lang Co on the approach to Hai Van pass..Its not supposed to be any steeper than Phang Ru theres just a lot more of it...Other than taking a detour of over 250 K there is no alternative to going over the top (At least according to all the guide books and internet research we have done) so gritTing our teeth we head for the start of the pass..
Depending on how you look at it we are lucky! Lucky in that after the first sweeping bend and slow 1 in 8 slope the clutch dies completely and we are left on the side of the mountain with a dead bike, 6 weeks worth of luggage and not the faintest idea what to do! At least this time we are upright!!

- It was at this point, at least after only about 5 minutes that the Gods (Bless'em!) obviously had a change of heart.....

- Just before we started to unload the bike so I can roll it back down towards Lang Co some 3 K away we hear the put-put of a small honda and seconds later it rolls around the bend and pulls up alongside..Youngish guy late 20's early 30's pulls up, crosses one leg over his seat and lights a fag while he tries to work out what sort of trouble we have..I do the charade thing complete with dying clutch noise and he seems to get the drift..he kicks the gear pedal and smiles then shakes his head and points down the hill the way we have come..At times like this all you can do is smile, shrug and place yourself in a strangers hands (like an Amsterdam gaybar or so a good friend once told me)....Anyway...To surmise, our friend whose name I never found out so I just call him Gabriel then proceeded to Sort Us Out!!
He put Rhianydd onto the back of his bike and using a length of guy-rope we had for luggage towed us the full three K back to Lang Co and then further still to a roadside mechanic he knew where we pulled up and waited for about 20 mins before realising the mechanic was not going to show. Unpeturbed he got back in front and again towed us to another place where the mechanic was on site along with half a dozen friends/assistants who got the bike up on blocks and tried to get us going..30 mins later I test rode the bike about 100 yards up and down the highway and though the clutch was still pretty much shot it was as good as it had been when we left Hue..
Gabriel then lead us by a branch road to where we saw a road tunnel going through the mountain..We had heard nothing about this tunnel and it wasnt on any of the maps (even a current year one we had bought in Hanoi) but after a moment of real relief dissapointment set in again when we gathered from all the head shaking and pointing that Gabriel had been unable to talk the gate control into letting us ride through...At this point Gabriel got back on his bike and just rode off back down the hill..I actually felt sick when I thought after all this he had just left us ( I had given him some cash back at the mechanics), but it just shows how cynical I was ready to be...As we caught up we saw he was still waving us to follow and we realised he was just rushing to get us to a small back road at the south end of Lang Co where in what seemed like less than a minute he got our bike put on the back of a small flat-bed truck and us into a crowded little mini bus of locals all laughing at us while the driver, eager to go, gunned his engine and spat out of the window...I just managed a quick wave and final grin to "Gabe" as the minivan rattled out in pursuit of the bike truck and, feeling totally punchdrunk, we headed back up the hill to be swallowed by the mountain..... Twenty minutes through and underneath the Hai Van Pass via a road tunnel that, according to everything we have read or seen, doesnt seem to actually exist........!!!!

-Back onto the bike after Hai van we limp (just 2nd and 3rd gear) past Da Nang and China beach (major building site) and biting the bullet continue on another 40 k to Hoi An...Journeys end and we definitely know what motorbike touring is all about!!!!!!!
Book into the Thien Thanh hotel (thank you rough guide), waterfall in the lobby, small pool, view over paddyfields of water cress (Or Morning Glory as it appears on the few western menus), big soft bed, cold beer and a full size bath..........What a day!!

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Photos

Running repairs roadside!
The bike's on blocks, no-one speaks any English and in my phrase book vietnamese I've probably just said " My hovercraft is full of eels!" but soon she is up and running again.....

The mighty Minsk takes a breather!!
Through rather than over the Hai Van pass by a tunnel that doesn't really exist!