Advertisement
Published: October 4th 2009
The Easy Riders trip was one of the best things I've done traveling in a while and I highly recommend it!
It's a wonderful way to travel up Vietnam through open country (quieter) roads, and have a unique experience. Each morning our luggage was bagged up and strapped to the back of a (very cool) long distance, comfortable motorbike. I put on my helmet, grabbed my camera and away we went!
Trips are available for all sorts of lengths and destinations. We chose a three day trip to Nha Trang. We could have done the journey in two days, but knew we would enjoy it so we made it three. People have been known to do one month long trips up the whole country! Now I can see why....
We met in the morning in Da Lat, my driver was called Wing, and he looked just as cool as I imagined an Easy Rider would! Straight away we took off for the open road, and were quickly out of town and driving through lush greenery with beautiful scenery around us. We drove along many green winding roads, sometimes through the clouds.
We spent the day driving through
the outskirts of Da Lat towards Lak Lake, and the Easy Riders were very good at stopping regularly for us to stretch our legs and take in some local culture or sight around us. At every stop, either Wing or Thai (Ben's driver) would explain everything to us and answer all our questions. A fantastic source of local information - they were such lovely people! The second day we finished at Buon Ma Thuot, and the third day took us to Nha Trang.
Over the course of three days we stopped to see many many things such as a flower farm, coffee plantations, bamboo cutting (the lady used a very sharp knife and her teeth!), bamboo baskets being woven and bound, a silk factory where cocoons were boiled to release the silk. We stopped at two very impressive waterfalls, a rice wine production site, a family business that grew silk worms; feeding them mulberry leaves - she had trays and trays of worms! We saw a chopsticks factory (there are endless uses for bamboo! Just shows how resourceful the Vietnamese are. With bamboo and within agriculture, everything is used and recycled).
All that was just in one day...on
the second day we saw beautiful scenery where walked for a while, and a couple of ethnic minority villages. We saw people working in the rice paddies, and a very old French church which had particular significance to Wing who remembers much from the Vietnam war. He was so honest and willing to tell us about his knowledge and his experiences. Further along the central highlands we saw how mushrooms are farmed (in sawdust!), a rubber tree plantation, pepper farms, and brick factories. We stopped once as we noticed freshly cut rice being put into a harvesting machine to separate the straw and the rice husks. There was a large family there operating the machine, and we talked with them through Wing, and the conversation ended with me having a Vietnamese husband! At every stage, Wing and Thai could explain everything to us, and interpret for us, it was excellent, and an invaluable source of information.
On route to Nha Trang, I enjoyed riding along the Eagle pass - which played an important role in the Vietnam war. It was beautiful, and thrilling to cruise along.
Even the rain did not stop us - the Easy Riders had
it covered and we donned a pair of waterproof trousers and a big poncho. At some points, we even had plastic bags to cover our shoes to save soggy trainers!
Every meal we had was fantastic - we went to local restaurants, and it was cheap and delicious, the benefit of having locals to help order the finest Vietnamese food. We always chatted together and Wing and Thai were able to share their love for their country, and the details of its' past. It is one of the highlights of Easy Riders for me - becoming good friends with real Vietnamese people who love their country and want to tell you about it, and answer your questions.
Wing and Thai took us to a hotel in Nha Trang, which suited our budget perfectly and it was time to say a sad farewell - we had come to know each other quite well, and I'd have loved to continue traveling along with them - I felt that there was still more to learn and know about Vietnam, from their experienced minds! I'll just have to save up for another trip! It cost us $65USD a day ($70 in peak
season I believe) - which is excellent value, because it includes everything but your own food (hotels are included).
I can honestly say Easy Riders was fantastic, and if you want to see parts of Vietnam not accessible by bus or train, take a ride with Easy Riders - you wont regret it!
J x x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0541s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Scott and Kristy
Scosty
Hello, I loved your post!! We are actually in Dalat right now (my second time, i was here 4 years ago and did a one day tour with the easy riders). We met up with them again in our cafe and started talking about doing the three day tour to Nha Trang, it seems like an amazing experience and we're completely sold, I just have a question about the price you paid. Was it $65 a day each, or $65 for the three days each? I was sure our driver said $65 for three days but seeing your post is making me wonder. We're leaving the day after tomorrow, and while $65 for three days is a tad pricey, it is still very worth it for us, not sure if $65 a day is affordable for us though. Thanks again!!