First off I have to say that the time we spent with our riders was possibly the best three days we've spent on this trip so far. It really was something special. Beth had never been on the back of a motorcycle before the previous day but her rider had taken great care and her confidence was up. It took a bit of a knock however when my driver Ly turned up with a new chap called Mo.
The ride was so ridiculously smooth that after about an hour we were both relaxing on the backs of our bikes and marvelling at the stunning scenery that passed us. We stopped at various points along the way to briefly visit different aspects of Vietnamese life with our guides, well... guiding us and providing an informative running commentary.
Among the gems we saw the first day was 'Chicken Village'. At first we thought this was going to be pretty much what it seemed but were proved wrong as it turned out to be named after a rather sad legend. The story goes that a local boy wanted to marry but to do so he had to go into the forest and find a chicken with five spurs on it's feet to present to his girlfriend's family. He died searching for this mythical creature and in his honour the villagers erected a huge stone chicken at the entrance to the village.
Later on we saw how incense sticks were made, something I never thought I'd ever care about but actually found quite facinating. The woman who ran this little cottage industry was mesmerised by Beth's camera and positively squealed with joy when Beth gave her a crash course in how to use it and she fired off a few snaps of the kids living with her. The kids practiced their English on us and fed us sour tasting fruit which I politely eat.
Another small home we visited grew cashew nuts and the old lady who was matriarch of the family stood to attention as Beth took her photo. It was upsetting in a way as she had such a characterfull and wise face but was so mortally ashamed of being dark skinned. Over here paleness is apparently next to Godliness and you see girls in the more cosmopolitan areas going to extraordinary lengths to prevent their skin going any darker.
Another family we visited took us in and shared green tea with us. Here too the kids were learning English and asked us our names and ages in between fits of giggles. It's amazing how furiously the Vietnamese are embracing change.
That night we stayed at a pretty basic but pleasant guest house on the shores of Lac Lake.
Our second day took us to the lake where we visited a village of long houses. These are exactly as they sound. Great long houses of what is essentially one communal room. Outside some of these houses, (apparently owned by the more traditional of the families as it's a practice that's dying out), were two sets of wooden steps. One carved with what can only be described as breasts. Apparently there is a set of steps for men and one for women to use when entering the property. Excellent huh?
On the roadside we stopped to watch a group of young lads mining and cutting granite, again a subject I probably wouldn't have lingered more than a second over if it was a BBC2 documentary and I'd accidentally switched over too, but strangely fascinating when witnessed in real life. We also saw the now obligatory waterfall and more coffee plantations.
Day three was full of rain. It was like biking through a bucket of water and we got soaked through to the bone, even through the double layers of waterproofs Ly & Mo gave us. However we're British and a spot of rain wasn't about to dampen our spirits now was it. No siree Bob. We took in many things on this last day including a rubber plantation and pretty sombre war memorial. The scenery we drove through on this last day would've looked so much better in more clement weather but it was pretty damn breathtaking all the same. The final mountain road to Nha Trang was particularly beautiful and Mo & Ly dropped us off to walk for a while. This whole area has suffered greatly at the hands of the American army. Apparently the US convoys had to move slowly through this region because the road was so precarious, as a consequence the Viet Cong, using the surrounding trees as cover, could take their time and pick the convoys off. The American's answer to this was to Napalm the entire area thus depriving the VC of their advantage. To make matters worse they then dumped thousands of kilos of herbicides to prevent the regrowth of trees and plants. The area is only now beginning to recover.
Anyhow, on a lighter note... food. The food we had whilst in the company of Mo & Ly was amazing. Up until this point we'd thought we'd been experiencing 'real' Vietnamese dishes but it soon became clear that the stuff they serve in restaurants to Westerners pales in comparison to what they serve the Vietnamese. Each lunchtime we were presented with five to six dishes of various things, each utterly delicious. The whole repast cost us just 20,000 Dong! That's around 75pence. This discrepancy was made even more obvious when we finished our trip in Nha Trang and made for the most basic looking eatery only to be given a Western version of the Vietnamese menu they'd whisked away as quickly as possible when we sat down. No doubt the Vietnamese dishes were not only nicer but cheaper too.
We left our riders in Nha Trang with heavy hearts and a promise that should we return to Vietnam we would definitely seek them out and secure their services. It's a promise I reckon we may just keep.
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