<p>I can tell this is going to be fun ride, we brought along a newbie. Woke up early this morning and had coffee on the top floor. Like always we spent several minutes trying to learn how to order the correct coffee all over again, "cafe su num" coffee hot with sweet creme. Then we ordered fresh orange juice...it was so good until we got our bill and found out we could have had two beers each for of us and spent less money.
The morning was a little overcast and drizzly but warm enough to be excited about being on our XR250 bikes. We explained the game plan to Robert about how we were going to leave Hanoi and the sea of scooters behind. Don't look back, don't look to the side....just drive through the traffic like it was not there. Call out the close calls, laugh and try not to piss your pants. We actually had the best escape ever...a few close calls, a few bad words, but no damage and lots of laughing. We did warn "Robot", Roberts new nickname, Saigon will be much worse, but he will have more experience by then. It hard to fathom the mass of people and scooters in Saigon, the horns are always in your ears to warn you not to move sideways. The horns are very important and with out them you life expectancy is shortened by a lot.
The roads opened up and we were screaming up the mountain roads, way to fast, but fun. The views were incredible even though the drizzle continued. We came across lots of kids on bicycles, just a small problem for Robot and Chubby "Scott" who were behind me. The reason was I brought a cruise control for my bike....in other words I did not need any hands on my handle bars to ride and all the kids noticed and started running out in front of them pointing at me. To make things even better I was turning around and snapping photos with their smiles. Came close to running off into a rice a few time while taking the backwards photos.....check them out once we get them posted.
We rode around a very large beautiful lake on a small narrow paved sidewalk. Like always here in Vietnam there are many obstacles, and we found all of them here on this narrow path. Everyone of us had close calls with dogs, chickens, people, and yes the famous water buffalos. The mopeds carrying the logs sideways on the back are always fun to find on the blind corners too. Then Robot lost his horn....oops....we tell him "you don't need that" lol
So we ended our first day of riding at a familiar home stay, just got here by some very different roads. We are sitting here drinking beer with yet another beautiful view, waiting for the power to come on. How can you not enjoy a day in the life of the Vietnamese farmers.
We grab another beer and go for a walk. Heading off on a dark trail, weaving around the rice paddies and the houses selling nice weaving and polished stones, thinking we know where we need to go to show Robot what the village has to offer. We did not make it far in the dark night before we had to turn around and find out how to get back to our resting place for the night. For dinner we walked up to another families hut. The meal was very good, we left nothing on the huge banana leaf plate. We ate flying shrimp (fried grass hoppers), banana flower salad, wild boar, lots of vegetables, braised pork in a Thai caramel sauce and a ton of fried spring rolls. We ate and enjoyed all of it.
Side joke, really funny, but you have to ask.....Yum Low ....Yum Low
Posted by Sidetrack (Keith).
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