The High Road and The Low Road… Both are amazing. From DaLat to Nha Trang & Nha Trang.

That day I headed out of DaLat towards a town called Buon Ma Thout, it would take me along a small country road not normally travelled by tourists.

The Road was hard to find in its own right, it looked like a driveway in a small town not marked but then opened up shortly after. It started off fine and climbed to some amazing views, then the road turned to rubble and for the next 100km it was large stones and rocks. It was still a amazing ride, it took me to some small  villages and the people were so nice, I had some great lunch in there small town and tried talking to some people, English wasn’t a common language here but it was still nice to just sit and have a coke with them.

I didn’t quiet make my destination that night, I stopped as the sun was setting in a small village called Lak, The houses were all made from traditional material and I must have been in the only hotel in town. It was a good time to practice my Vietnamese that I had been learning, ordering food, check please, and saying it tasted nice were all the new words I had learnt. I downloaded a small podcast that went through some basics. It proved a hit with the locals in there shop, and it made it fun.

The next morning I continued on, my destination was not only to make up the 30km I had missed the day earlier and head towards Nha Trang, the hill road was getting very cold and a bit wet.

I stopped off at a local market in a small village, the local people were all dressed in there traditional cloths and it was obvious they don’t see many tourists this route. Walking through the market I was stopped every 10m with someone wanting to take a picture on there phone with me. So funny ;)

Still cold and wet :(

The closer I got to the coast the warmer and less wet it got, eventually it opened up on the AH1, to a magical ocean road. The beach, the sun… it was great, add the views and it was something else.

In Nha Trang I spent the day on the beach, I was considering going diving but the conditions were just not good and a fishing trip was just to expensive. Instead I lazed around the beach for ½ the day and spent the other ½ day riding around on my bike to visit the local fishing villages and markets. 


The locals used a small woven basket as a boat to get to there main boats and back. The fish markets were full of strange fish and looked so yummy!

I also stopped off at a nice old ruined temple, nothing to the likes of the ones in cambodia but it was placed on the top of a hill which gave nice views over the city.


On the way back into the city i also headed into a small tourist village, a chinese building which displayed traditional crafts and arts, a lady was making sand art. She would pore small amounts of coloured stand in layers to produce a image, not just on 1 side but both sides of the glass. Amazing skill and it would take here 2 months to complete 1 item. There was a rock formation just off the coast at this village that was nice as well.

I decided to head out of Nha Trang, as nice as it was it was way to touristy and busy for my liking, I read about a place to the north that was similar but not touristy. Sounded great… so off I went.

I thought I had seen every great road in South east asia, but I was sooo wrong. It blew the great ocean road in Australia out of water. Every corner was a new cliff view of white sand beaches and crystal blue water. Sadly it didn’t last, the weather creeped in again and by the time I reached Quy Nhon it was poring down cats… (no dogs they were all eaten for breakfast in Phò (noodle soup)). 


I checked into a hotel and dried my pants the only way I could… a coat hanger and a fan. J

There was another backpacker in the hotel and he was riding around on motorbike as well, same model of bike everything. We had a great time chatting about the ride from Saigon up and I told him about Laos and Cambodia. 


The next day I left and decided to try my luck in the hills again, the way I figured was if I could get over the mountain range it could be better there…

Till next time, HAVE FUN!

Steffen

                          

Road to the North, Ho Chi Minh City and Dalat.

I had just arrived back from my guided visit to the Mekong delta with ethnic travels, Ho Chi Minh (aka Saigon) was a very busy, noisy place.

The following day I hired a local motorbike taxi and headed out to see some of the famous places in Saigon. For $10 for the entire day it was a bit expensive compared to going on a minibus but only with a motorbike can you feel the real busy feeling of Saigon.

First place to visit was the reunification palace, the head quarters of the South Vietnamese government prior to the reunification of Vietnam in 1975. The Palace was a massive structure with ballrooms, theaters, conference rooms and dinning rooms. It over looked a main road, which leads to the river.

On the grounds was parked 2 tanks, both the same model as the ones that in 1975 bulldozed down the gates and lead the Vietcong into the palace to remove the south Vietnamese government. On the roof of the palace was a helicopter used by the president to tour in.

I tagged on the back of a guided tour group throughout the palace and listened in, it was full of history and stories from the past.

From the palace, I hopped on my Moto-taxi again and headed to the war remnants museum, a collection of war machines and building dedicated to the history and truth of the war through pictures.

The outside was full of tanks, helicopters, guns and old bombs. All which were used during the war, but the real purpose of the complex was inside the building. The first floor was full of poster banners, paintings and pictures from countries around the world protesting to the war on Vietnam. Germany, Poland, England, Australia, USA, China, Russia… etc. All had News Paper posters from the time of the war and messages of protest. It also hosted a wall of medals, from people who had received them in America but sent them to the museum in protest.

The 2^nd floor was full of photos was the people killed illegally during the war, photos and recounts of people who were there and there stories. It’s a important piece of history and it’s a unbelievable that it happened.

The 3^rd and finally floor was to the survivors and a message of piece, a lot of chemicals (Agent Orange and the others) were used and left many new born children deformed, the floor was full of statistics and pictures of people deformed from the use of the these weapons. With a message of never let it happen again. It also closed with statistics of the war and how much money, peoples lives and explosives were used during the war compared to WW2 and Korean War. It was truly unbelievable.

After the museum,  the motorbike was off again this time to a old Chinese temple, one of the oldest temples in the city. It was a small Buddhist temple which had extravagant carvings on all the roofs and columns in the temple. There was several small rooms with shrines in them. The paintings on the walls were old and very beautiful.

The next day I checked out of the hotel, todays destination was DaLat, some 300km away in the hills of the southern highlands of Vietnam.

First I had to get out of Saigon, should be easy yeah? Saigon has more motorbikes and a maze of streets, it took me a while with the aid of a GPS (my iPhone) to get out of the city. Once I was on the AH1 (the main motorway in Vietnam which runs from Saigon to Hanoi) it was smooth sailing, just had to mind the trucks, busses, cars and police. There was a army of police on the road, and I happened to get pulled over on the AH1. The reason was that I was in the car lane not the breakdown lane or in Vietnam the Motorbike lane. 
The officer asked me for my license so I started slowly untying all the bags off my bike, after all my Vietnamese drivers license was in the most remote and time consuming place on my bike (under the seat, which I didn’t have a license so…), after 2 min the officer said, license here? Yes… Ok you just pay fine. 200, 000 dong, about $10 and I was off and on my way again. Hehe it paid off, if I didn’t have a license they had a slow pick up truck there to carry my bike away.  I got lucky.

The road was quite boring up until the 100km mark away from DaLat, when it started to climb in altitude and I passed a large lake that had a floating village on it.

The climb would take me through several small towns and villages, as it snaked its way through and up the mountains. Just as the sun was setting, I had still not reached DaLat, I was only 20km away so it was fine. But I looked behind me and it was as if the hills were on fire, the sun was setting and it cast a fiery glow over the hills. By the time I had pulled out my camera it had changed, but the effect was still nice.

Pulling into DaLat it looked like some European Swiss town, the hotels and buildings were all European architecture and grand. It had started to rain so I headed deeper into town. The hotels on the top of the hill would no doubt be expensive, I was looking for something much cheaper. 


One of the main streets, the hotels were 30$, bit further, 20$ and the side street…. $5? Done. It was clean and came with a free breakfast.. can’t complain about that. It was still within walking distance from the main square as well so no problems.

The next morning I headed around town on my motorbike to see the sights, DaLat had many temples and lots of hill tribes in the surrounding area’s. The area was heavily bombed during the war, so all the forests were destroyed and have never recovered. They are now the home of green houses where flowers and fresh produce are grown.

The first temple was a extravagant garden with statues of dragons and Buddha, all telling a story. In the middle of the complex was a small statue of Buddha and a temple for praying. It was very well preserved and looked well maintained.

I headed out of town, the next temple was famous in the area with a multi story pagoda, the temple was lined with small pieces of ceramic, giving it a shine but also high level of detail in the dragons and sculptures that were on the temple. 


Not only was every centimeter of the outside covered but the inside as well. It was a amazing sight, and close inspection of the ceramic pieces shows that they were pieces of old plates and vases smashed. The mosaic effect was amazing and I spent a long time looking over the temple. 


The pagoda was in a similar state every section was covered in small colored pieces of ceramic.

I headed further away from DaLat till the roads became mud and eventually had to turn back, the views gave me more of a sense how much into farming the surrounding villages were into.

On the way back into town i spotted a large golden Buddha on top of a hill, it wasn't on my guide book so it too some time finding it in the maze of streets but it was worth it, the grounds were covered in bonsai plants and the statue was on the top of a hill which over looked the town. very nice views.

That night I wanted the streets and side streets of DaLat, it was a maze in its own right and the small streets again felt more at home in Europe that anywhere else. It was quiet apart from the constant beep from motorbikes.

The next day I would leave DaLat along a small road, but that’s for next time.

Till then, Till Next Time,

HAVE FUN!

Steffen.

The Delta, The City, The one and only Vietnam. My Return!

My last border crossing on my bike, Cambodia to Vietnam over the border near Kep. Its so funny to ride for 100km on dirt and the worst roads you can imagine to some random border, then seeing Casino’s pop out of no where.
You cross and the road turns to dirt again… yet these casinos draw so many busses and cars.

Good bye Cambodia.

It was so nice being back in Vietnam, the language and currency seems easier, I know what to look for and how to get things done. 
The cars that were in Thailand and Cambodia seem to disappear and be replaced with 10000’s of bikes. I headed for Saigon, I had a tour of the Mekong delta area booked and had to get there in 2 days. I hard ask but I was loving the ride. Cambodia was straight, boring… nothing to see. 
Vietnam every corner is new and the chaos of so many bikes and busses hell bent on hitting you makes the days ride just fly.

Hello Vietnam.

That night I stopped off at a small port town called Rach Gia, the Mekong delta rivers ran straight through the middle of the town and after a hour of walking around it was obvious I was possibly the only foreigner in town.

I left the early the next morning the goal was Saigon, I had booked a tour for the next day. The ride would take me square across the middle of the Mekong delta area, I crossed several bridges and even took a ferry over the largest river.

The following day I headed out on another Ethnic Travels trip. My guide was (much to my surprise) Zu who I had met on my trip to Ha Long and Bai Tu long Bay. The group was as always a nice small one, we were 3 and 4 with the guide.

A few hours drive out of town we stopped off at a small market place, it was a local market that sold all local produce. Fruit, Vegies, Meet and included were rats and snakes (Yummy! hehe). After trying some of the local fruits I convinced Zu to buy a durian (sticky fruit) to try as she had never tried it before. In her words “It smelt like poo and tasted like it too…” It was to become the back of all our jokes for the next 2 days.

That evening we pulled up to a nice small village called “Cai Be”, the houses were built in rows with river channels running down the side, the rivers were only 3 or so meters wide, just enough to have a small trade boat float down and back.

That evening we took a ride on some bicycles around the rive banks. It was to be a good 3 hour ride, taking us first to a brick making factory where they used rice husk to fuel the fire to the kiln, then to the local river ferry crossing. We then took a path that Zu didn’t know, normally she would head back but we were all keen to go for a bit longer and picked a random path, it took us past a coconut candy factory.

The ladies took the coconut, scooped out the white part, then sliced it into small strips then rolled it in sugar, and bagged it. If needed they would also color the coconut. It was all hand made and ready for Chinese new year (Tet in Vietnam).

Not far past this the road became covered in rose apple trees that were in full fruit. The apples were sweet and juicy and fresh. We spent the next hour just picking random paths and riding down them, it was a lot of fun.

That night dinner was a well presented fried fish, which we would roll up the meet in a rice paper and make fresh spring rolls with. It was a nice twist on the fish.

The next day we took a boat trip along the Mekong river to another candy factory, they were in full swing as well making candy for Tet. The factory also made other items like rice paper, rice pops and rice wine. It was interesting to see the process of making rice paper.   

Around the back of the candy factory was another sweet tooth factory. A honey factory. The owner explained the process and we got to hold the honey cone with bees still attached ;)

We then headed to another fruit orchid, this one had everything, apples, bananas, every tropical fruit and vegie that you can thing of. It was great we wondered in and out of the paths for a hour and samples many different types of fruit.

That evening we moved on to another town called Ben Tre, here we would go for another bike ride but this time guided by a local.

The homestay was again on the river banks and on a large property with a beautiful garden. The area we were in was mainly growing flowers not fruit now.

The local boy took us in on all the small paths between the houses and back streets, to see how people lived and where things were grown.
It was so colourful and all the flowers were in full bloom.

The next morning we took a river boat trip and watched as people fished and loaded boats full of fruit and plants ready to be shipped to Ho Chi Minh City. The boat was small and able to go in and out of all the small channels, some were very over grown and jungle like.

We returned to Ho Chi Minh city later that evening.

It was a nice trip and I really enjoyed staying in the guesthouses and with the locals, it’s a different experience when you can get into these small communities.

Next up Ho Chi Minh City,

Till Next Time, HAVE FUN!

Steffen