Vietnam (part 9)

What a couple awesome days it has been! I am in love with Vietnam. : ) This trip has especially blown my mind with the neat people I am always meeting, the friendly locals, the scenery, and more.

To start this post off I would like to offer a friendly reminder to my fair skinned friends to make sure to wear your sunscreen if you are motorcycling Vietnam.

Matt got a little bit kissed by the sun on a day ride. Take a look at his hands too. : / 

Old town in Hoi An at night

Another group from the hostel was leaving the same day I was for Hue, and we all headed out together to enjoy the famous Hai Van Pass.

And what a day it was to be alive.

The first place we stopped was the marble mountains and their caves.

Lunch was next at a very local place. 

In the middle is Philip and to the right of the pic is Anthony. (yellow shirt) Therese is the one in the bottom left (in blue) and then Kirsten. In the best fashion, the menu was in Vietnamese and we couldn’t understand any of it. The guy trying to serve us grabbed some seafood to try and visually show a menu. Google translate helped Anthony and I order some delicious beef noodles.

When the bill came it was all together and we didn’t have enough small bills. I couldn’t help but smile as Therese went over and had to write down all the numbers showing how we wanted to pay separately :D.

Just down the road from our lunch spot, Anthony’s bike decided to stop working. While Kirsten stayed with him, we kept pressing on.

The road started to wind up the mountain and each of us felt on top of the world.

A lot of people, like Philip and Therese, rent bikes just to do this section of Vietnam. Other companies offer you the back seat on a bike with guides if you don’t feel comfortable driving a motorcycle yourself.

Anthony and Kirsten caught back up to us, with his bike being a quick fix. So good to have you guys back with us. : )

Enjoy this nice collage of pictures as we wove down the mountain living young, wild, and free. A twist of the throttle sent the mountain air rushing past our cheeks and leaving any troubles we had behind us.

Absolutely stunning.

We got to our hostel in Hue and headed to this abandoned water-park the next day.

The main exhibit here was the dragon bridge. The big main room inside was filled with broken aquariums.

 

 

There isn’t anything to me like being able to explore and see the world in a wide eyed wonder.

On the way out we all were driving through the rush hour traffic and there are no rules in Vietnam. Going through intersections and roundabouts is an elegant dance. Driving a bike in Vietnam is an intricate, thrilling, and dangerous pastime that I love so much. I am going to try and capture this madness but haven’t yet because I am not sure I can safely do so. In an upcoming blog, I’ll strap my phone to me and hopefully show you how crazy the driving can be. I have seen so many people drive through countless red lights without hesitation.

On the roundabouts I love to ride right on the side of a vehicle as they create an opening in their wake. It is very intimidating otherwise, with so many scooters coming at you from almost all sides. In Quy Nhon, I even saw a local that had gotten into a low speed accident around the traffic circle. 

My bike had been making some noise and I took it to a recommended shop to get it fixed.

They had my engine completely apart in less than an hour to replace some ball bearings. The owner of the shop had heard my motor for about one second and told me without hesitation what the problem was. 

This shop (Kim Thien mechanic shop) was truly the best I have been too. They treated my bike like it was their own. Many small things like my slightly bent gear shift-er was straightened without me even asking. I don’t know if it was a father, his sons, and friends, but everyone working in here had so much fun and worked so well together. I could tell some were more experienced, and even though I couldn’t understand the language, I could see how they would playfully get on someones case if they were doing something in a way that wasn’t the best, as they walked over enthusiastically to show them a better way to do it. No one sat around at all. It was the best teamwork I have had the pleasure of seeing. Maybe this was like their first day back after all going on vacation?!? I don’t know, but what an amazing way and work environment. I was almost tempted to hand them my resume and hopefully be accepted to work and have as much fun. haha

Thirty six dollars later I was back in business with my bike working better than ever.

Hue is a lovely little city.

Well. It’s time for me to sign off.

Hope you guys enjoyed.

Until the next one.