Advertisement
Published: December 9th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Heavy traffic
Goats was a bigger problem than buses and cars on the way to Mui Ne We left the luxury and quiet of our resort and began our first leg on Highway 1, the long stretch of coastal road road, home to all the dreade open-tour buses. What we didn't know was that the road was in great condition, and was mostly flat, wide and empty. After buring through 40 km in an hour, we were feeling pretty confident until for no apparent reason, Sadie's chain came loose on the middle of a bridge. We wheeled it to the roadside, and before we had a chance to look at it ourselves, there was a small army of young guys on their way to go fishing pulling Sadie's bike appart. They sent a guy off to get some tools, took the chain aprt and had us going again in no time. We convinced them to take some after-fishing-beer-money, and they hung around and followed us to make sure we were OK.
We were driving again, but stopped at the nearest mechanic for good measure (after putting the bike together again, the guys had a couple left-over, broken parts, so we though it couldn't hurt). The mechanics fixed the chain easily, but, to our big surprise, were the
first to take any interest in the fact that the back wheel waas wobbly and out of balance. They said they could fix it by 3pm, and we simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to get it fixed.
We went into the town for lunch, bungee chords and coffee, and caused an especially big commotion at the latter. The owner, who was 18, was especially eager to speak to us even though we soon ran out of things we understood - though that didn't stop him from rambling on for a long time 😊.
The bike fixed, we had 2 hours to cover 100 km before dark.
We gat as far as 90, before it got pitch black. We had alreay booked our hotel by the beach, and there was no alternative accomodation in sight. The streets were lined with street lights, but these seemed to be only for decoration, and not for lighting. We decided to go for it, to drive as slowly as we needed to to feel safe, and to strap our headlamps (intended for nightime reading) onto our headlights for extra light. This worked out amazingly well, and when the occasional street light
spending time
Sadie is spending the waiting time while her motorbike is being fixed for the... seventh time? - well, writing blogs and updating the plans for Mui Ne did come on, we were there in no time!
As soon as we hit the fluorescent lights, street souvenir shops, and overwhelming amounts of signs in both Englsih and Russian, we became very aware that this was not our kind of place. Luckily, we had chosen well and our hotel (
http://www.haiyenguesthouse.com/En/default.asp) was at the far end of the strip, away from most of the madness. We quickly jumped into the rewarding, glorious swimming pool.
Meters ahead visible in the dark with regular headlight: 2, max
With headlamp in addition: 10!!! at least!!!
Reason why people honk more at night: I want to say safety, but really, I know better...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.254s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 29; qc: 120; dbt: 0.1065s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
Jason
non-member comment
6 years later I am doing the trip in reverse. Lol.
Hi - I just happened upon this blog. I am currently in a coffee shop on the se coast of Mui Ne waiting on my motorbike to get a new piston. so I can either, A) turn back to Saigon and not risk it; B) Head on to Dalat and hope for the best. Haha. Your info on Nha Trang and the area around Ninh Chu seems about right and will save me the trip. My first experience in Mui Ne / Phan Thiet was also the strip at night and I seriously questioned what I was doing. I can't wait to read more about your trip. I think I will head to Dalat for a few days and then probably head back to Saigon and fly to Hanoi and get another bike for the trip south. Looking forward to reading more of your travels. Cheers, Jason