The Infamous Easyrider tour from Nha Trang to Hoi An

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May 20th 2011

Published: May 20th 2011

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JezandKiara

Kitted Out in our Protective Gear

Note the use of the Quiksilver 'Accident Proof' boardshorts

Nha Trang

We arrived into this city on an overnight train which took 9hrs. Not a bad way to travel if you are lucky enough to be the only two pax in a four birth sleeper cabin. Problems arose when our hostel check in time was midday and we landed at 530am. No problems though, we'll just spend the morning finding a bar that was showing the Pacquiao Moseley fight.

We walked down to the beach and watched a quite amazing site. A collective group of 100 Vietnamese women doing an Eastern form of aerobics, very different to the watching the ladies on Aerobics Ozstyle I might add!!!!! The beach was full of locals swimming, stretching, running and getting their tai chi on for their day of rest. I wonder if these guys were amped for the boxing as much as we were!

We went snorkelling in Nha Trang which was quite good, and comparatively cheap at $7pp. Kiara and myself got down with the inner kid and were jumping off the top of the boat with a few of the other tourists. Coming home from the dock gave us an interesting view into life in Nha Trang-

Bidda Brickwork

Kiara loves a bit of masonary in her spare time

an infant being held by its mother as it laid the biggest cable I have ever seen on the road- I figure this must be a good way to save on nappies!!!! That episode aside, it looks like the government is doing alot to keep the place beautiful as high season approaches, with new roads, manicured esplandes and a number of top end hotels being built. This is true of most of the Vietnamese places we've been, ladies constantly sweeping the roads, and civil development of roads and walkways. I did say most however, we hadnt gone off the beaten track on our motrobike tour yet . . . .

Easyrider DAY ONE- Nha Trang to Lak Lok

We started our Easyrider tour with a crash course in how to ride a motorbike again. Crash course being the operative word. If you have been to Vietnam before you will know that the roads and the traffic are unimaginable to a westerner, but as you get acclimatised to the organised chaos you realise that it is really a very efficient system that only has bottlenecks when the tourist set get involved with equal parts confidence and gusto.

We

Thanks Doc, 'You been doing this long?'

Too many beers not enough gym work?

roade for 240kms today, taking in the sites of an Agent Orange affected hillside, a brick factory that gives a new meaning for the words 'manual labour' a fishing village and a coffee plantation. There is something called Weasel coffee available in Vietnam which is where the weasel eats the coffee bean, defecates it out and the weasel nugget is cleaned and sold off. I wonder if this is coming to a Nespresso machine near you?

Interesting fact: Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee after Brazil.

After the first 150kms, the riding was good, the bum was getting sore and comfortability on the road was improving. At 151kms this all changed as inexperience, a sandy road and some pedestrians caught in the headlights caused Jez to remember just how unbullet proof he is. After much excitement for the people of Phuocan seeing a foreigner sliding down the main street of their town, it was time to get the monster grazes cleaned and disinfected. In the last post Jez mentioned that he felt a connection with his childhood when we went to the tunnels and after watching every episode of Tour of Duty, well same thing happened

Bidda Rice Work

Their husbands were back at the town getting on the gas: it was far too hot for them to be working!!!

again, except this time it was when the betadine hit the open wounds and started stinging- a feeling every 6 year old kid knows so well!!!!

We were lucky that there was a sick bay/doctors/human mechanic shop (imagine an open kiosk facing the exhaust fumes from the road) with a dirty bed was just across the road. We were unlucky that the water wasnt working so Jez had to use the 'bum gun' in the toilet to wash the sand and concrete from his arms and legs- sanitary no, but effective well, somewhat. An hour into the ordeal and we were ready to go onwards and upwards. Apart from a hyper-extended shoulder, arm and leg length grazes and the accompanying thoughts of amputation if this gets infected,we were in good spirits.

They say things happen in threes, and today Axel ran out of fuel, Lasse had a flat tire and Jez did his best at a Steven Bradbury interpretation. Hopefully tomorrow will be different!!!

DAY TWO- Lak Lok to Buon Ma Thuot via the Dak Gan Waterfall

Two bottles of betadine and all the bandages that the pharmacy had and we were off on Day Two

Mushroom Farm

Kept in the dark and fed bullsh!t - sound familiar?

of the journey. We went through the rice fields and watched as the workers were wondering why these foreigners were interested in their backbreaking work and so far from the beach side resorts. We went and saw a mushroom farm (no not the Thailand type of mushrooms) and the owner insisted we see his collection of snakes and scorpions. Now this guy was interesting. Communicating through our tour guide, the guy explained how he was fighting for the VC in Khe Sanh and showed us his two gun shot wounds from artillery helicopter- another reminder of how real the war in Vietnam was. We tried his scorpion rice wine which he convinced Jez that would help his healing and cuddled his 40kg python which had a rabbit in its guts that was eaten the night before!

After lunch we went to one of the most picturesque waterfalls we have ever seen. Not on the scale of the Victoria Falls but definitely worth the visit if you're ever in the Central Highlands of Vietnam (not sure that this one will be in any Flightcentre brochures though!). Kiara and the Danish lads we were travelling with went swimming and it was

What Receding Hairline?

All the cool kids have a hat like this these days.

interesting just how powerful this water was. After climbing the rocks behind the waterfall, you jump out and the force of the water pushes you out into the middle of the lake- good fun if you're a good swimmer, not so fun if you havent been in the current at Bondi Beach before (read: If you're a 19yo from Copenhagen!!!!)

We dined on a feast of snake and frog and sat (on our ass that had the pain of the previous 360kms of riding) with the locals drinking a few local ales that evening and prepared ourselves for the next days touring.

DAY THREE- Buon Ma Thuot to Kon Tum

Our longest day of riding at 250kms, we were heading into the top of the highlands and an 830am start was planned for. What wasnt planned for was a night of debauchery for our tour guide and the Danish boys who gave Buon Ma Thuot a big nudge at some nightclub with earbleeding techno- so the five of us didnt end up leaving until 930am. Given the length of our journey today and the late start, sightseeing was kept to the bare minimum today. We saw a

40kg Python

Ive never handled anything this big before!

war monument, went to a pepper farm that had been harvested so there wasnt anything to see (but a welcomed relief to get off the bike seat) and took in some rice paper making. The dust and pollution was horrendous today as we meandered through local villages with more potholes and gravel than sealed roads. One funny thing was as we were going thru one town, an excavator was laying a new stretch on concrete road and instead of stopping and letting us go through, we had to navigate past the bucket on the machine as he dropped blue stone into the hole- very different and some might say unsafe!!!

We stayed in this dodgy hotel that turned the electricity off at 11pm to save money because this province had to lease power from the Chinese- interesting when its 90% humidity, 30degrees and you are digesting a meal of ostrich, crocodile, wild boar, venison and the chewiest piece of weasel meat (nay, salted rubbber) that has ever be ingested.

DAY FOUR- Kon Tum to Kham Duc

Kiara's most anticipated day of the tour as we were off the visit the kids at an Orphanage. We were taken

Awesome Waterfall

Probably a bit too soon to go swimming for FryZee

to a wholesaler of candy and bought about 5kgs of sweets for the kids and nuns. Now usually if we were going to see an orphanage, we would bring crayons and books which are more functional and dont rot the teeth of the kids, but we were assured that they had plenty of these and that they would be more interested in candy. Well nothing was more truer than this. Like a Bells Beach wave these kids came and pulled at us, jumped on us, played the old game of hide the lolly behind the back and get another one and it was one of the most fulfilling things that we have done so far in Vietnam. The orphanage is at the back of a church and has 213 kids from 0 to 15yo. Some of the kids were abandoned, some have physical disabilities and some without parents, but what was similar about them all apart from their current circumstance was that they were happy to play soccer with the foreigners and eat their lollies!!!

Axel got himself a flat tyre 10kms into the trip which put us back a bit, but we had a relatively light day of

Sister Kiara at the Orphanage

Making the kids smile was a big thrill

riding. We stopped to see some war tanks at Po, and stopped at another waterfall (although this one you couldnt swim in) and continued up the mountain on amazing roads. It later was apparent why the roads on this stretch were as good as they were. We arrived in Kham Duc and went exploring trying to get the blood recirculating thru our posterior. It was evident that this place must be a gold mining town because every second shop was a jeweller or mobile phone shop. A funny thing happened the next morning when we decided to check out the prices of the jewellery. We went to two shops and nobody wanted to serve us and after a bewildering 10minutes or so, our tour guide explained that if the first customer of the day doesnt buy anything then it brings bad luck. Well blow me down and call me Charlie- maybe I wouldve bought something and not only would youhave avoided bad luck, I would've filled you pockets with some USD or Vietnamese Dong!!!!

DAY FIVE- Kham Duc to Hoi An

An easy ride to Hoi An today, excepting for Axel and yet another flat tyre, an unbearable

Jez and the Kids

. . . taking candy from strangers: the message just doesnt seem to be getting thru

40degree heat as we came down the east side of the mountain. Safe and sound in Hoi An with only a couple of massive scrapes, a stiff shoulder and an unnaturally sore rear-end. 900kms of the best and worst of Vietnam, without any sign of a Spa, Suit Shop, Tour Company or Tuk Tuk driver. Great!!!!!

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