Motoring through Nam part III

Tomorrow morning I fly to the great, mystical nation of India. There is little doubt that this chapter of exploration will generate much fodder for this blog, so I apologize if I am a bit hurried in the remaining summation of Vietnam. If only there were more time.

The drive from Nha Trang to Hoi An covered 710 km and took 20 hours in total road time including breaks. Bare in mind, my curious readers, that this moto-journey takes place in a tropical country during its hottest month. Relentless heat. Never have my knees and toes been so burnt. I had 2 or 3 minor cuts on my legs which by the end of this segment were badly infected (I shall spare you the details but I’m now on a 10 day course of heavy duty antibiotics).

Our route was predominantly on the Ho Chi Minh trail. It was about 150 km longer than the Highway 1 route, but as I mentioned before, Highway 1 is dangerous, congested, and without scenery, while the HCM trail is the opposite. This was not the case on the first day. The first 2 hours were lovely, but then we were in traffic for much of the day. It was very discouraging. We wondered aloud whether we would have been better off on the A1.

At one point we missed an important turn by about 15 km, adding a 30 km detour to our day. After backtracking a few km I realized I hadn’t seen Evan in my rearview for a while. Too long. Emil and I pulled over and waited a couple of minutes. Something was wrong. There was no way Evan was driving that slow. We hopped back on our bikes and went looking for him. Soon we saw a shaken, disheveled Evan coming our way. He had crashed. He tried to pass a big truck on the 2 lane road just as another was coming in the opposite direction, and in the very last second had to bail out on the graveled left shoulder, his right leg sliding underneath the bike. We sat down on the side of the road to get his wounds bandaged up and to wait for the shock to wear off. For all we knew adrenaline was concealing an injury far more serious. He had cuts on his right knee and forearm, as well as burns on his right ankle which had been trapped underneath the muffler. He was very lucky to not have broken anything.

We had hoped to reach Kon Tum by the end of the first day, leaving us only 300 km for the second day, but by the time we reached Pleiku, 50 km to the south of Kon Tum, it was dark and we were trapped on a narrow unfinished road amidst massive Mack trucks with high beams on and horns blaring. Very danergous. We had serious trouble seeing the road, each other, anything really. The gravel road increased the chances we might fall and get run over. I was scared, and in retrospect I can only imagine how Evan felt, only a few hours since his accident. When we pulled over to the side of the road to discuss our options, Emil noticed I had a flat tire. FUCK! It was, indeed, the last straw. We stopped for the night in Pleiku.

Mercifully, we found a mechanic who fixed up my bike. His daughter climbed on while he fixed it which I must admit lifted my spirits. Our hotel was littered with large insects but no matter, we would only be there for a few hours. We rose at 5 am the next morning to hit the road once more. I was adamant that we start the day early, using as much daylight as possible. I wanted to reach Hoi An the next day and I did not want to have to drive in the dark again. No sir.

The second day was even hotter than the first. Stopping even for a moment out of the shade was almost unbearable. The roads were empty though and the views excellent which was a relief. Evan did plenty of complaining over the course of the day, frequently asking if we were almost there. At the time I wished he would pipe down and suck it up but the next day we found out he had second degree burns on his ankle, badly infected, nearly to the bone. How he made it through another 10 hour day on the road with those infections exposed to the blistering heat is beyond me. And for the uninformed, on a semi-auto the footbrake is on right side and Evan’s infections were on his right ankle. A road warrior that man is.

We arrived in Hoi An around 4 pm, exhausted and filthy. Here’s a look at the route from Nha Trang to Hoi An on Google Maps.

Emil and I were elated to have finally arrived, but Evan was in too much pain to celebrate. For all of Evan’s family and friends reading this, I want to reassure you that Evan is fine and has healed completely. He saw a doctor the next morning, received antibiotics for the infection, and stayed off his feet for the next few days. He took great care of himself (perhaps I helped a bit).

I’ve already written extensively about Hoi An so I’ll move on. Emil, if you remember, said goodbye to us in Hoi An since he had to see a man about a dog in Hong Kong. We drove to Hue, Vietnam’s former capital, after 4 days in Hoi An. The route was, again, gorgeous. It was all on the 1A (about 175 km) but for the most part there were few to no cars on the road. Instead of driving through Southeast Asia’s longest tunnel (6.3 km), we took the most epic of detours on the Hai Van Pass. The Hai Van Pass, just past the border of Da Nang, winds 21 spectacular kilometers around the Annamite Mountain Range, jutting out into the South China Sea. I found the views similar to those of Route 1 along the California coast. Simply magnificent.

Here’s a look at the route from Hoi An to Hue on Google Maps.

Evan and I arrived in Hue early enough to actually do something. Instead, we watched half of a movie in our hotel room, went out for a very early dinner (5pm), then played pool and drank beer in the back of the restaurant for hours, flirting with the waitresses all the while. Ah to be young. We toured the city on cyclos for a half hour and lounged in a couple of fancy hotel lobbies before calling it a (relatively) early night.

The next day we explored the Imperial City, the centerpiece of Vietnam’s former capital, surrounded by a walled fortress and moat. Within the Imperial city is the Purple Forbidden City, also enclosed by a walled fortress. The Forbidden City was reserved for the Nguyen imperial family, along with their eunuchs and concubines of course. It was very hot and we didn’t last long wandering the grounds on foot, maybe a couple of hours. Here are some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the day a local man named Top had struck up a conversation with me hoping to practice his english. We met him after looking around the city and he invited us to his home. We accepted, eager to experience local life. We had a beer in his home, a very simple place with no furniture aside from a kitchen table and chairs, a few pictures of family on a small bulletin board. Then we went out to a seafood lunch. Top insisted on ordering for us which we had no problem with. The meal was fantastic: squid, shrimp, morning glory, rice, and around 16 beers.

Evan and I offered to pay for lunch which he gladly accepted. He said that he would go inside and pay and then we’d pay him back, since it would be more expensive for us (foreigners) to ask for the bill. The total came to nearly $50, and while this might seem inexpensive for a delicious seafood lunch for 3 with 5 beers apiece, it’s extremely expensive in Vietnam. In fact it’s nearly impossible to ring up a bill that high. There’s simply no way lunch was that expensive. After a delicious meal and 5 beers during the middle of the day we were in no mood to argue, but I left feeling taken advantage of.

We made plans to meet up with Top after taking a nap. He offered to rent a boat, take us out on the river, then bring us to his house for dinner afterward. We paid for fuel and beer, he paid for the boat (a small fraction of what we paid). I was happy to have made a local friend and to be shown around, but I had deep suspicions that this man was interested in more than making friends and practicing english. In retrospect I’m sure of it. He wanted to profit from us, and did so. Still, we wound up paying no more than a hotel sponsored city tour would have cost.

Though my suspicions had been confirmed I did my best to push that aside and enjoy the evening. At sunset we set off on a “dragon boat” down the Perfume River. Evan and I slugged beers, Top steered the vessel.

We stopped by another boat where some kind of religious ceremony was being held, and Evan and I were welcomed on board. Top passed out our beers to several people. Here’s a short video of some of the ceremony. I had (and still have) no idea what was going on.

Afterward we floated back into the middle of the river. I went for a swim. Then we took turns singing songs. Top sang several, including famous vietnamese tunes as well as lullabies he sings to his children. Evan crushed a few numbers. Me? People who know me know I never sing, at least never solo in front of a group. I had to make an exception in this instance and proceeded to belt out “Frankie and Johnny” by Sam Cooke. Evan says I have a good voice but I think he’s patronizing me.

Next we had dinner at Top’s home with his wife and children. Dinner was simple but good – squid, veggies, and rice. Around 10 pm Top began arguing with his wife and I deduced that it had something to do with Evan and I being there so late. We thanked Top for everything, said goodbye, and went back to our hotel, exhausted after an interesting, local, albeit expensive adventure.