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As I said in my last blog, I have just had the most unforgettable tour I have ever done in my whole life and the advice I give to anyone is to never even waste a minute thinking about doing this, just do it!
Yes the tour is expensive in Vietnamese standards (65 US per day incl accommodation) but it is worth every penny and the price is only going up from now as this concept becomes more and more popular. So do it now before it becomes a tourist attraction.
My original plan was only spent 3 days doing this but actually I did 5 as I had so much fun, In this tail though I learnt a massive lesson and all will be revealed later on.
I can now say I have felt, seen and tasted the real Vietnam, I have seen how this country supports itself, witnessed it's dark underworld and rode on the Ho Chi Min Trail. All things tourist/backpackers will never ever see if they follow the coast north/south.
On the tour I visited so many places, Tea, coffee plantations, pepper farms, rice paper factories, avocado farms, pineapple farms, silk farms the
list is endless. I have tasted dog, the many tropical herbs/plants and locust. I have met the ethnic tribe, farmers and the poorest and the most happy people in Vietnam. But the best bits are the views, no picture can do the scenery any justice. I started in the highlands and moved through the different layers of jungle, wetland and coastal plains all of this witnessed on the back of a motorbike..... the perfect way to do it.
As I said earlier, this is becoming more and more popular. I was lucky enough to meet up with two amazing Norwegian girls from Bergen and they have made my trip too! complete nutcases! But along the way we must have only bumped into 10 other Easyriders making or arrival into Hoi An a bit of a shock to see so many westerners again.
A successful concept this is, so in Vietnam this attracts imitators who are after all one thing... your money! And now I will tell you the lesson I learnt Be very careful who you choose.
My Easyrider Huan from Dalat (http://www.tmbrothertravel.com/) at first was very good and after the first day I told him
I would like to carry on my trip to Hoi An a further 3 days. The alarm bell should have rang when he immediately upped the price to 80 dollars per day which I was not prepared to pay considering the Norwegians had a flat rate for the whole trip! On the second day he was still was not prepared to budge and when I told him I will look for another driver who could do it for 65 dollars he stole my passport and demanded 1.7 million dong (80-90 dollars) to get it back. Amazingly I remained calm and was not scared and after almost 3 hours of stalemate I gave in and paid him the money to sent him on his way! Please please please never ever use this thief!! But I rest easy and believe one day what goes around comes around and hopefully it already has for him. Jumping on him is no option in Vietnam as your likely to have the whole town linch you aswell. I did call the police but they never showed and in Hindsight ( a wonderful thing) I could have reported my passport stolen and claimed on my insurance however,
I'm gaining a good collection of stamps now and it would have been a shame to lose them.
So in the middle of nowhere with no rider, my Norwegian friends did witness the whole incident and so did there drivers Spencer and Terry who over the past two days I had become good friends with.
This leads me now to tell you how those two guys saved my tour and organised a new driver for me for 50 dollars per day!! I was so happy. I can not say enough to Spencer and Terry and now Mr Bee for helping me out. Those guys were kind, knowledgeable, respectful and most of all honest, that's all you need to make a good easy rider tour.
I spent a further 3 days with them and I can honestly say they are the best and have alot of experience doing this. If anyone would like to do a tour drop Spencer an email or call him in Dalat (vnexplorers@gmail.com/(84)01228707838)
So now I'm in Hoi An, a beautiful place and time to get a custom tailored jacket!! first fitting 4pm today. Also I hear the good news I'm once again
an uncle time for a celebratory drink.
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