We were both very excited about today. Xuan had told us that this is his favorite part of the ride between Dalat and Hoi An. We will be spending a fair amount of time on the new Ho Chi Minh road. Well, like many things so far, it delivered. The first stop was at a family owned taro factory. They dry and grind them into a powder to sell to others that then use the powder in combination with rice powder to make a batter. The batter is then used to make rice paper, like Emma has tried making. This area has a lot of Vietnam war history and it…
-
-
Day 4 – Easy Rider – Deeper
We are pretty deep in Vietnam’s central highlands and easy riding has become a bit of a routine. After yet another incredibly tasty breakfast we set off on another day of riding. Our first stop was a tea plantation and to much of the women’s amusement we were able to spend some time with them on the field. Meanwhile a newly wedded couple were taking photos next to us. It seems traditional to take very elaborate wedding photos in Vietnam, which may be why you sometimes see a bride in her dress climbing over rocks near a waterfall to get that special photo. Later we pulled into a small shed…
-
Day 3 – Easy Rider – The Longest Day
In the morning we stopped in a minority village, where Xuan knew a family that allowed us to see their home. The houses were raised off the ground and while basic, they are very sturdy. It was really great to see this and not feel like we were walking through their house uninvited. Today was going to be the biggest stretch, about 220km north to Pleiku. I knew this would be a challenging ride as it included some of Vietnam’s interesting traffic. But knowing Xuan would stop frequently to take breaks was good. He stopped and would tell us about Vietnam’s war history, which was very interesting to learn about…
-
Day 2 – Easy Rider – Around Lak Lake To Buon Ma Thout
The next day we set off to explore the region around Lak Lake. First stop was the giant lake. The people in this area are incredibly friendly and relaxed. They all turned to wave at us as we passed and always had beaming smiles, yelling “Hello!” We stopped near a rice field to get up close and personal with some rice plants and Xuan explained to us how they plant and harvest the rice, which is very hard work. Our next stop was a brick factory. The workers there get the clay from nearby construction sites and mix it by hand before feeding it into the machine that shapes the…
-
Day 1 – Easy Riding from Dalat to Lak Lake
We’ve now finished our six day tour from Dalat to Hoi An with an Easy Rider guide. Lionel rode his own bike while I rode on the back of our guide, Xuan’s bike. Amazing experience with lots of cool stops along the way. We did a bit of a loop around Dalat which was good as we hadn’t seen anything around Dalat in the previous two days on account of me throwing up from food poisoning. It was a very popular route with other Easy Riders and we kept bumping…
-
Easy Riding from Dalat to Hoi An
As we have both been sick as of late, we’ve ended up already spending ten days of our 30 day visa and feel we have barely ‘done anything’ in Vietnam. It’s actually been a lot of hotel rooms, hotel bathrooms, Discovery Channel, and Nat Geo. So we’ve decided to skip Nha Trang as we’ve heard it’s mostly a beach resort (we’re beached out at the moment), with sub-par diving, and stories of being a party town (too poor for that shiz at the moment). We are now heading to Hoi An from Dalat but instead of the horrendous sounding journey (5 hrs bus to Nha Trang, then 12 hours on…
-
What To Do In Ho Chi Minh City; Saigon For The Cool Kids
We haven’t so far been too much in love with cities, but Saigon has broken this pattern. Both of us really love this city. There is so much going on all the time and it really feels like a well oiled machine, where tourists and locals can co-exist naturally. The best way to see this vibrant city is by walking. You can spend an entire day walking around and discovering new things and that is what we did. The clash of classic and modern architecture, saturated in history and culture with a vibrant pulse, really makes this city feel alive. I never got bored and never stopped being amazed. Emma’s…
-
Elephant Valley Project – E.L.I.E. – The Local Perspective
We had read a lot about the Elephant Valley Project, an Eco-Tourism Project by E.L.I.E (Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment) in Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri, and um’d and ah’d whether to do it or not. At US$60 per person per day (US$30 if you volunteer – half day with elephants, half day building, or gardening etc.), this wasn’t cheap for us and tricky to justify and fit into our tight budget. We did a lot of online research and found only great reviews on Jack Highwood’s Elephant Valley Project. We had heard and read a lot about the mistreatment of elephants in Thailand and other countries, so it was a relief to…
-
Training Day – On A Semi Auto Motorbike
For a while now we have reluctantly hired automatic motorbikes and struggled up hills with them. With the off road conditions of Vietnam looming, we knew it was time to learn how to ride a proper motorbike – both of us. Michael at Bacoma Guesthouse was a very nice Swiss guy, so I approached him about it and he said that it is easy to learn. He offered me his bike for a trial ride down the drive way. I knew in theory how and he also explained it to me again. The ride down the driveway was no problem and I felt comfortable enough to hire a semi-auto now.…
-
The Best Road in Cambodia – Bokor Hill Station
We loved yesterday’s day of exploring the area on our bike and decided to stay one more day in Kampot and ride up to Bokor Hill Station, north-west of Kampot. The casino complex that is already open was quite an eyesore on the way up. This was a 41km ride to the top, however the road here was in better condition than roads back in Australia. After 8km, we turned into the Preah Monivong National Park, paid our 2000 Riel entrance fee and off we went. The ride up is beautiful, lots of very nice corners, perfect for a motorbike. There was not much traffic and the view quickly became…
