DAi VILLAGE - DONG HOI - PHONG NHA CAVES - HANOI, goodbye motorbike

Family breakfast on the floor with leftovers from the day before. And in the morning farmwork. This is my last day on the motorbike. And the sun is back again, visited the beach of Dong Hoi, talked with some fishermen and went to the famous Unesco World Heritage Phong Nha Caves. The scenery here was beautifull and at 12:00 there are no tourists. Twan payed for my boat so no worries that I was the only person on the boat :-) Firt a little cli mb to the dry cave; Tien Son. Huge caves and inside very quiet. Outside irritating persons that want to sell you cd's, postcards and drinks. Uhm, NO means NO! The second part was a boattrip through the wetside of the caves; Phong Nha. Some stops to walk around the big sandy tunnels and went back. The trip including the boattrips takes about 3 hours.

Returning to Twan's village was more exploring...he told me he knew a shortcut, yea wright :-) It inded up in dirty muddy motorcross. Said goodbye to his family and went to the trainstation at 17:20 for a 12 hour trainride. Boring, no chance to talk with anybody so just closed my eyes and try to fall asleep. This was hard becuase at every stop heaps of children/teenagers banging on the windows to get your attention, for what?!

Arrived in rainy Hanoi at 05:30, and yess, now I believe the stories about some Vietnamese people that try to ripp you off and are pushy. Maybe Easyriding is a better way to expplore Vietnam :-)

HUE - DAI VILLAGE; Motorbiking in heavy storms

Hit the streets for a delicious breakfast, yummie 2 plates for me! We were sitting on babychairs under a sail but it ddn't help that much against the massive amount of rain. First plan of the day, find a ank that will help me with my issue, otherwise I'm stuck to Twan for a long time because I owe him some money. After 6 banks and 1,5 hour it finally worked at the Military Bank.All ythe other ones had excuses like no machine for craditcard, national softwareproblems with Mastercard at the moment, etc. But when you keep smiling and make friends with locals who can translate (many thanks to Twan) it will finally work. Damn, I'm happy now.

I visited the Royal Enclosure and the Forbidden Purple City in Hue (The City surrounded by walls). The FOrbidden City was not so attractive, but it is World Cultural Heritage site. Many old tourists and they think it was funny that I was walking around in my orange t-shirt wehile it was raining cats and dogs, so I was the main atrraction for them. Also visited some old Kingdom pagoda near the Perfume River.

The road to Twan's family was long and wet. We stopped at several batlefields (former border of South and North Vietnam) and a huge War Cemetary. So he told me more about the history. I think this is a part of travelling in these countries.

All of a sudden Twan stopped on the middle of the road, he jsut saw somebody selling I wild sort of jungle pig. Just cut to pieces, in the middle of the rain and full with flies...but he bought the damn thing for dinner. In the evening we arrived at the village. A bumpy, slippery and very muddy dirtroad of 1,5km was the last part. And it was dark. His family lives in the countryside on a farm. Met his family and nobody is speaking English so this was funny communicating with Twan as a translator. Shower was oldskool; just a tub and throw the water over your head whaha! Having dinner with the big family was really cool, just a big carpet on the floor and bowls with food everywhere. They had so much fun watching my style of eating traditional food with chopsticks. After a few local Whisky's it was time to sleep after this long day (more then 200km in the storms). Sleeping was without a matras, but still okay.

HOI AN - HUE; Motorbiking in the rain

19-01-2010 HOI AN - HUE; Motorbiking in the rain

After some discussions and miscommunication at the tailorshop, it was time for pharmacy. Yeah, 4 different sorts of medicine, 3 times a day. We left to Da Lang. Lot's of beaches but stormy weather. The rainsuits are nescesarry today. We received a gift from our last hotel, 24 cans of Tiger-beer! But today is not my lucky day, after the the argueing at the tailorshop, the banks in Vietnam are pissing me off. Relax, relax...but all the banks tell me that I can't get money anymore with my creditcard. We tried so many banks today, we lost a lot of time. Stopped at the pagoda and buddha caves of Ngu Hanh Son, a big rockformations in Da Nang. Slippery steps and rockclimbing inside. We headed on with a dangerous but fantastic motortrip; awesome views from the mountains and adrenaline rushing through my vains after all the stunts on the slippery mountainroads. Chaos evrywhere, holes in the road, slipping, trucks and busses on the wrong side, nobody's watching...no wonder why there are so many monuments next to the road.

After some tea we arrived in Hue in the evening. Took a warm bath...well just 15 litres of water, then the hot water stops :-) The visit to the shoping mall was like entering Guantanamo Bay....so many security checks, you had to prove that everything in you bag was yours. Well, I just walked out of the shopping mall. The roadtrtip was beautiful today, the other experiences were shit :-) But at least, it was not a boring day.

KHAM DUC - HOI AN; Easyriders day 5

Damn, what a rainy day! Twan bought some rainsuits because this is gonna be a wet trip. Hours of driving through mountains with jungle and villages. We stopped at several villages and tried to communicate with the local hilltribes. This is even difficult for a Vietnamese because they speak a different language. In the village near the Laos border we were invited in some small wooden houses, unbelievable how they can live here with a whole family. And still all the people during this trip a so happy and friendly. And more and more compliment from the local girls, I feel like a fuckin' playboy here :-)

The road to Hoi An was just paralel to the river. A river that looks even more dangerous then the Mekong with all his rocks. Twan told me more about the tracks and the history with Americans.

The last 30km to Hoi An was also a road through the countryside and some small towns. Here you could see the remainings and memories of the last flooding of September. Most of the houses are repainted, but a lot of them still have the dirt of the highest waterlevel. The first floors of all the houses were completely under water. Amazing how fast people recovered the town and went on with normal life after this tragedy. After visiting some ruines we were almost there...

Hoi An, arrived around 15:00, soaking wet of the rain. Dropped the bags and now it's time for shopping. This town looks so different, really nice with all these tardional styles of building. Lot of Japanese architecture. And tailorshops everywhere. I stopped at Kimmy's, this shopuld be one of the best places... 6 suits, 7 shirts and many ties. Well, after this I was out of budget so I decided not to go on with shopping :-)

This was the end of the Easyridertrip... Sort of. Twan is going to visit his family further up North and asked me to join him in the 3 day trip. In the evening I joined him and some of his girlfriends in Da Nang. After many beers and with heavy wind and rain I didn't feel that same anymore at the back of his motorbike. He drove way to fast and sometimes we almost hit some other cars, scooters etc. But we survived. After checking my suits (not everything was ready) I went to the Before and Now Bar, one of the places Karien recommended me. Well, this place was filled with backpackers, had some chats with Italians and deep in the night it was time to go back to the hotel.

KON TUM - KHAM DUC; Easyriders day 4

Early noodle breakfast on the streets, just in on of the alleys. Very busy here and everybody is trwoing everuthing on the floor (what seems to be normal here in Vietnam). Twan had to buy a new tire, because the old one is getting flat all the time. It took a while to find a shop that wanted to fix it right away. I walked around surching for a supermarket. Even though it is Sunday, everything is open.

After all the start up troubles we finally left the town at 11.30. First we stopped at the hilltribe village of the Bana people. After that we spent some time at the ophanage behind the wooden church in Kon Tum. I spoke to the nun and some of the children and learned that not all children cab get to the orphanage. hen the nun visits the villages and want to take the children to the orphanage they first have to talk with the government and get permission. At the moment there are around 120 children here, and last September the place was flooded in consequence of the big storm. Gali teached me how to play the bamboo instrument, he is one of the former ophanages and now teaches how to play this local instrument at the University.

During our trip today it was getting hotter and hotter. We drove through the highlands and the views were fntastic. Stopped at some small towns and rivers to cross these handmade bridges, during my hike after crossing the brigde I got lost. But after a while I found a different way back to the bridge. After our dinner in Dak Glei Twan discovered that somebody stole gasoline out of his motor, so we were out of gas.

During the trip I saw the consequences of the floodings from last September, really devastating. Higher in the mountains some roads just disappaered into the deep ravines. Luckely they build some new roads. At the height of 1.600 metres we drove straight into the clouds and temperatures dropped fast. We couldn't see a thing in the mist and the roads were slippery and full with rocks that falled down. But driving through the mountains of the jungle was incredible to see in the mist and with all thse waterfalls. TWan also showed me pieces of the old Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Before we arrived in our overnight stay Kham Duc Hotel (in Kham Duc) we visited another village and talked to the local hilltribe. Beside the kids, the teenage girls were very interested in me. Some of them actually looked pretty hot :-) But Twan told me that they were not even 20 years old so we went on...

Ow today I have an extra nickname; Osama Bin Laden...because of my scarf

BUON MA THUOT - KON TUM; Easyriders day 3

08:00 left the city for a 250km long ride. First we stopped at Chua Nam Thien (some special pagoda). We had our second breakfast somewhere in Buon Ho. During the roadtrip we experienced many things. Seeing a scooter driving away from the petrolstation and while doing that hitting somebody else his petrol hose, petrol was flying through the air everywhere. We saw some accidents and one truck was rolling over several times after a wrong manouvre. So now I know why the speed limit for motorbikes is just 60 km/hour outside the city's and 40 km/hour inside town. And there is a lot of police on the road today (also with camera's). o today should be my day to drive, but because of all the police this was not a good idea.

Twan learned me more about making rubber out of trees, pepperfarms (the fresh pepers tasted good), and we saw many hilltribe villages. He also told me more about the war monuments that you will see a lot next to the road. There is even a huge football school here in Vietnam, owned by Arsenal.

During our ride we stopped for lunch and other snacks in Peiklu (and see Sea Lake, a big lake in an old vulcanic crater), Chu Se and ended in Kon Tum after a bumpy last part of the track, they are building new roads everywhere. In Holland they can learn something from this. Vietnamese never close the road while building or fixing it, traffic is still on it.

And I heard it before this trip, but now I hear it all day long...hey, you look like Ruud van Nistelrooy! Oh no, my old friend know this story :-) I did't hear it for a long time, but since my hair is getting longer...

LAKE LAK - BUON MA THUOT; Easyriders day 2

Twan didn't want to wake up, so I kicked him out of his bed. Had some breakfast in the windy restaurant and headed forward to the North. He showed me and teached me something about making rice and bricks in Vietnam, interesting to see and you are talking with the locals, who show you everything. I'm sdurprised about Vietnam, during this trip all the people are so friendly. All the locals are smiling, waving at you. They like to talk with you and the try to spreak English. And during the trip you meet a lot of other people that do the Easyrider-tracks, which is cool. Twan maybe has to back, his brother is in the hospital all of a sudden.

After dropping our stuff in the Eden Karaoke (oh noooo!) Hotel in Buon Ma Thuot, we drove to the Da Long Waterfall. What a beginning of a day full of incredible sick waterfalls! So beautifull. The tracks are a little bit dangerous, they don;t spend money anymore in fixing the tracks and bridges, which is a shame. But damn, it's so wonderfull to be here. Swimming in clearblue pools between the waterfalls, having a massage under some smaller waterfalls and having a chat with other backpackers. Twan told me the other two waterfalls were not worth a visit, but I'm glad I kept pushing him to show me. After crossing some bridges that almost fall apart you end up at to spectecular waterfalls. So different then the ones in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Ofcourse I was climbing rocks and trees to find the best spots and Twan got a little bit tired.

On the way back we stopped at a streetrestaurant and now I could finally experience the madness on the roads! Without a helmet on the horning of the cars, trucks and busses is fuckin' loud! I had a delicious beef noodlesoup for almost nothing. This is good cheap food. The way back to the city was chaos, almost had a few accidents and I could notice that Twan was not that clear anymore. So he showed me an old hilltribe village inside the city of Buon Ma Thuot. I walked into somebody's garden and saw some boxingexercise equipment, so I was training for a while and the owners couldn't stop laughing...

He went to sleep when we got back at the hotel. Unbelievable how?! THis is a real karaoke hotel, they start at 17:00 and the whole hotel is shaking while Asian people scream with the loud music. This is going to be a sleepless night. And whahahaaa, at some point they played Marco Borsato 'De Meeste Dromen zijn bedrog' and the Asians were doing karaoke on this song...WHAT THE FUCK!? In the evening Twan let me try goatmeat (medium cooked and hotpot), not my favorite. The locals invited me for drinking ricewine with them, but I refused. They were just too drunk.

In spite of the pain that I feel (serious problems with my teeth, broken root of my backtooth, swollen throat and more) I still enjoyed this day. Finally some energy again. The medicines are not working so I have to visit a hospital/clinic soon to get some surgery.

DALAT - LAKE LAK; Easyriders day 1

08:30 start of the trip. Visiting th Da Lat area. Old railwaystation and after that the Crazyhouse. This is a hotel from a daughter of a big communist person in Vietnam. It's still not finisched and it's in a sort of style of the buildings of Gaudi in Barcelona. What a crazy architecture and if I have the chance to build a house for my own, I would do it like this. Every room had his own animal/country as theme (Kangaroo, Eagle, Tiger, Bear etc). When you are in Dalat, visit this place a rent a room for 40 - 70 USD a night.

During the day I visited several places where I could see how Vietnamese people earn a living. Making and drinking ricewine ofcourse, well wine? It has 65% alcohol! SIlk factory, farms, flowerfarms, small hilltribevillages, coffee farms etc. After some bad dirtroads we had a flat tire, but this was fixed very easily. Just keep on driving till you see the signs next to the road with 'HONDA' on it and here they can fix everything for your motorbike. Funny how they do it, melt the rubber with a lighter and a piece of paper. And just 7.000 Dong. Twan teaches me everything about Vietnamese food and I tried everything. Some things are very nice to eat. The Elephant waterfall was a bit dissapointing, lot's of garbage in and around the waterfall and for some good views the rocks were too muddy and slippery. The Happy Buddha was funny to see, so I wished that the medicines would work and I will be smiling again soon. I was so dirty after the waterfall, one of the local kids was washing my clothes and shoes with a hose and a brush (and I was still wearing everything). He was so happy with it, so I let him do the job.

In the town you can see the French colonial architecture and I like most of it. Most people know how to combine colors pretty good. Bright colors, fresh combinations, warm contrasts, you will see everything. After some amazing views while riding through the highlands we ended up in Lake Lak. A small hilltribe village were we stayed for a homestay. Here I met some Swiss girls that had some accidents with another motorbikecompany today. After dinner everybody went to bed early, the area is pretty windy and there is nothing to do. The homestay was nothing more then sleeping on the floor in somebody's home.