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Published: August 19th 2007
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From Cantho we took a long mini bus journey up to Dalat, via Ho Chi Minh City! The bus conductor tried to fit four people onto every three seats - not something you want when you are spending 20 hours on a bus! Bex wasn’t too pleased with the wandering hands of the drunkard sat next to her. Eventually we arrived in Dalat at 2am and were whisked off to a hotel by two helpful Moto drivers. Luckily Vietnam has a 24 hour reception system, where someone sleeps behind the desk, so if you bang hard enough and long enough on the door you will get in!
Dalat is situated in the central highlands and off the main route north which runs along the coast. Because of the higher altitude (approx 2000m) it had a refreshingly cool climate - we wore our fleeces for the first time in months!
On the 30th we spent the day enjoying a short trek up the nearby mountain, where we got a great view over the City. Dalat was very scenic, but for us the main draw was the prospect of cruising with the Easy Riders!
The Easy Riders are a 70
strong crew of "Moto Guides" who can take you pretty much wherever you want in Vietnam for however many days you want, providing the price is right! Originally set up by Mr Hien, after he left the airforce at the end of the war and found himself with no job, the Easy Riders has grown to what it is today. We found our Easy Riders, Hien (the founder!) and Hung (aka Scimitar - the Vietnamese name for a massive knife!?!) hanging around outside a Cafe in Dalat. We had intended to go for a one day tour of Dalat but these guys persuaded us otherwise. We settled on a two and a half day / two night adventure, ending in a random village where we would get the bus north to Hoi An. Hien and Scimitar were keen to show us their glowing references from other travelers and equally keen to emphasise that they were not the "Cheesy Riders" who liked to copy them. These guys even had matching tracksuits with "Easy Rider" logos!
We were very skeptical about whether the guys could put our backpacks (and a lot of stuff we've acquired along the way) on the back
of their bikes safely. They managed and we ended up with a comfortable backrest. We set off on the morning of the 31st, Dom's birthday. We stopped at a few local sites in Dalat, including the Dragon Pagoda, flower gardens, silkworm factory and coffee and tea gardens. Following this we headed north and visited the huge Elephant waterfall (so called because the rocks above used to resemble an elephant but no longer due to erosion). This was an eventful occasion! Dom tried to climb the slippery rocks in order to get closer to the falls for a better picture. He fell into what he thought was shallow water but was completely submerged! Luckily there were a few rocks in the way, stopping the strong current sweeping him into the Mekong (See how drenched he is in the photo!).
After an hours drive which allowed Dom to dry out, we ate lunch before visiting an "Ehin" village. Hien was keen to show us the converted bicycle used to carry up to 500kg of arms along the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the war (see photo). The war theme continued when we visited "Barbeque Hill", nicknamed by the Americans after the
vast amounts of Agent Orange and Napalm dropped on it. Our penultimate stop was at a special village where three different ethnicities lived together, each distinguished by their different style of house: M'Nong garh (round house), M'Nong ehin (square house) and M'Nong R'Lump (House on stilts). Here we were welcomed into the houses by the villagers (in exchange for shampoo and sweeties!) and witnessed the barbecuing of a dog!! Bex was very upset, particularly as Hien found it hilarious to shout "Hot Dog" at every dog we saw later!
We had done so much on this day and we thought that we'd just be getting an early night, however Scimitar had organised a friend of his from Lak Lake village, where we were staying, to bake a cake for Dom's birthday. Scimitar had also smuggled a couple of bottles of village wine into his bags! This was such a nice surprise for us and we felt really humbled. After a meal of soup and a whole chicken (Hien ate the head!!), we were told to cut the cake together - like we had just been wed! This was bizarre but very funny! After we'd eaten Dom was serenaded by
one of Scimitars friends and also presented with a bracelet by another. This was such a great experience, we felt like we were really in contact with some REAL Vietnamese (not some setup village for tourists). That night we slept on our bamboo mats content and very happy!
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anonymous
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Easy Riders
Loving your Nam tales - bringing back lots of great memories! The easy riders trip me and Ol did was also action packed and we were amazed by the lengths they went to make sure we had a good time. Sounds like you two have experienced the same kind of generosity! Take care xxx