Animals....my worst fear.

<p>I have come across many cattle and deer while riding in the United States. Vietnam is very different in that the animals are very calm....unless a truck hits one of them and sends the rest of the herd running across the road.</p>
<p>Today I hit a cow (calf) or it hit me....the 200lb calf darted across the narrow street just after an oncoming semi truck went off the road just missing the mother cow. The calf started running and jumping toward me as I was moving further to the right trying to avoid the impossible. The calf t-boned me and my knee sent the calf spinning behind me while robot and chubby were laughing in my ears. They were hysterical, telling me the calf was spinning so fast it ran off all confused in the wrong direction. We may have a video, if it is not foggy from the humidity. If we find it we will try and post it.</p>
<p>We did find some good videos that were not foggy, but they are not for the weak hearted...lol</p>
<p>I pass a lot on the right side in the mud and dirt on the side of the road. One time I passed a bus full of locals, really moving along. I go flying by and stop at the door just as a guy decides to step to the open door to have a smoke break while in transit....his face was priceless when he turned and saw me inches from him. Then he looked down at my path I had to take to finish my pass. It was a narrowing mud strip to a parked moped....videos to come.

Posted by keith....traffic police

Robert down. Cow still standing. by Robert

This is not what I thought a communist country was going to be like.  Vietnam is a strange mix.  The complexities of Vietnam can’t be ascertained by one trip passing through the country as we are doing now.  Multiple trips would probably not give you the ability to ascertain even a small portion of what Vietnam is all about.  The best you can do is open your eyes, and your heart, enjoy the experience and glean little snippets of information here and there.  

I see is much capitalism going on all over the country.  There are two things that people are making a fortune on here.

First: Scooters. There are millions of scooters everywhere.  Cars are very expensive here and a very small percentage of the traffic.  People use their scooters for everything.  It is not uncommon to see a family of four, today we saw a family of five, riding down the street.  The next time one of your friends tells you that they need to get a minivan because their car is too small for their family, remember our pictures and laugh.  Today I saw a guy carrying five 60-80 lb sacks of rice, a scooter pulling a trailer with a 500lb pig, a scooter so loaded with bamboo that I have no idea how he ever stopped or turned a corner.  You see girls riding sidesaddle without holding on while they continue to text.  People are on their phones while driving through traffic with buses whizzing by, people driving the wrong direction, cows running across the road, bad roads and the list goes on.  It will blow your mind. 

Second: Small plastic chairs.  I understand scooters, I understand motorcycles even more, but why these people love to sit on these little plastic chairs, I don’t get it.  Whoever is making these things is making a fortune.  We are passing through these small towns at speeds that are probably double the posted limit, if there are any posted limits, and there are tons of these chairs at every shop we pass.  The reason I say I don’t get them is because, when you are 6’ 1” 178lbs sitting in a chair where the average person is probably 5’ 4” 130, they don’t work very well.  Today was a good case in point.  We stopped for lunch and beer.  We sat down on these small chairs.  As I went to drink a sip of my second beer I leaned back to poor it into my mouth and the chair buckled underneath me sending me to the ground.  “Man down!” my travel mates cheered.  “Robert finally went down!”  I am not a fan of these chairs, but I applaud the capitalism.

The sale of great food throughout the country side is also one capitalistic venture I whole heartedly applaud.  The one aspect that seems to have eluded the Vietnamese people though is the concept of proper sanitation and food handling.  If you are someone who is at all worried about germs, Vietnam is not the place for you.  I have seen people selling raw meat that has been sitting on a wood table in the warm sun all day.  Now think about it for a second.  If you pulled out a cutting board to cut up a steak would you not immediately wash it liberally before you used it again?  I guarantee you that they have been putting meat on that wood table day after day and the thought of cleaning it might never cross their minds.  Today we ate at a fine establishment in the country side that had some pretty amazing food.  The Thit Heo Quay, or roasted pig, was sitting in a display case in the sun, for God knows how long, before it was brought to our table.  They also pulled hardboiled eggs, fish and some other meat that we were not sure what it actually was, from the same case.  All of this was cooked in pots that sat next to us and looked like they were cleaned once a week maybe.  That was topped off with plenty of warm beer in a glass with ice.  The food was awesome.

Enough about capitalism in a communist country, there will be more time for that later, let’s talk about the riding and other fun stuff.  Today was not really a day of twisty roads, but one of congested streets with us weaving in, out, around and barely missing everything on the road.  Some of us missed everything.  With Keith in the lead, Scott following and me taking my usually position in the back, we saw a few cows in the road.  Going about 40 mph, and in heavy traffic, a truck coming the other direction swerved off the road into the grass to avoid the cows.  This spooked the little cow sending him into Keith who was hard on the brake but still going at least 20mph.  As Keith swerved to the right he hit the cow with his left knee and the left side of his bike.   He hit the cow right in front of its front legs as it was jumping in the air and it spun the cow around almost a full 360 degrees in the air before it landed and ran off the road apparently unhurt.   Keith was able to keep control of the bike while we yelled through the headsets.  We were amazed at what just happened.  When I say little cow I just mean that it was not a full size cow, but it was still pretty big.  Wow!

We managed to make it to our hotel without any further incidents and without anyone going down on their bikes.  (Just me on those darn little chairs.)  

Then Ngoc took us to one of the biggest waterfalls I have ever seen.  We walked down right next to the falls and got sprayed by its power before walking across a small suspension bridge to the other side of the river.  This bridge gave us great views of the falls in their totality.  Once on the other side I followed a fisherman down a trail to the base of one of the small falls that was an off chute of the larger.  I walked across slick rocks as the water was rushing past.  It got pretty sketchy.  At one point I even had to put down my beer to continue following him.  I gave up the chase as I witnessed him get into the water at the base of the falls and continue in until only his neck was showing.  I watched in awe from my slick rock as he slung his weighed net into the rushing water below the falls.  After pulling a few fish from his net he continued on closer and closer toward the falls repeating his feat.  After taking many photos I scaled back over the slick rocks on the river’s edge and joined my buddies on top of the hill.  They apparently witnessed this whole thing, beer in hand, from above and were hoping that I would fall in so they could capture the whole thing with their camera.  Sorry to disappoint. 

   

Posted by Robert the one who can’t sit in a little red chair.

Man down! posted by Robert

Man down! Another man down!

Today was probably the mellowest day yet.  Other than riding down some amazing roads at some pretty amazing speeds, not much happened today.  Well there was at least ONE interesting thing that happened.  My travel mates told me blog about this but, since there was not much else to talk about, here it goes.  We stopped at our first beer break right in front our newly discovered toy, a roundabout.  After our break we jumped on our bikes.  I could see what was coming so, as Scott and Keith started up their bikes, I reached for my camera.  Before I could get out the camera, Bam, Scott was down sliding across the pavement.  Before I could react, or get out my camera, Bam, Keith was sliding across the pavement.  Two down at the roundabout in less than five seconds.  Getting up with their pride hurt and their clutch levers broken they sped away and I quickly followed.  Off and riding I was soon listening to them bitch about going down before the newbie and blaming the whole thing on the slick painted arrows on the road.  Down the road we stopped to repair the clutch levers and console Ngoc and assure him that his bikes were alright.  Scott rolled up his sleeve to show me the injury to his elbow which appeared to be the only injury sustained.

Posted by Robert the last man standing.

Oh, I forgot to mention.  At our lunch stop Scott found a nice woman to help comfort him after his crash.  She was a sweet woman.  We guessed she was about 90.  We later found out she was 74.  Check out the pictures. 

Roundabouts day 6 by Robert the wedding crasher

Roundabouts can be fun when used properly.

Knowing that we only had a short ride ahead of us we took our time getting on the road from Hue to Hoi An.  Before we got on our bikes we jumped in the truck with Ngoc and toured the city.  Keith let me sit in front so I could better witness how Ngoc navigated the streets in his big four wheel drive truck.  I am glad we are on motorcycles.  I could never drive a car through this mess. How people do this every day without going crazy, killing themselves, or killing others, is beyond me. 

Ngoc is a great guide.  He conveys tons of information on the history of the towns we are passing through.  I wish my ability to retain the information equaled his ability to dish it out.  In the first town we home stayed in Ngoc told us about the mating rituals of that town.  He said that if you like a girl you follow her home to find out where she lives.  Then, because the whole family sleeps in one large room in a stilted home, you have to find out what part of the room she sleeps in.  Once this information is obtained you then must take a stick and knock three times under her, being very careful not to get it wrong and knock under her father.  If you get it correct she will come out and meet you.  If she likes what she sees she will talk to you, if not she will send you away.  (And I thought dating was hard in the states.) 

Today, in Hue, we went to a large temple on the Perfume River that used to house the ruler who used the Perfume River to travel up and down to oversee his minions.   

After lots of pictures were taken we headed back, had a beer, and mounted our bikes for the short 90 mile ride to Hoi An.  The ride out of town was fun.  Weaving in and out of traffic and using our big bikes to their full advantage over the small scooters that fill the streets.  Before crossing the mountain pass we had to fill up with beer and food.  As we stopped and dismounted our bikes I was overwhelmed by the loud music coming from the building next to our stop.  I went to investigate and discovered that a large wedding was going on and people were doing Karaoke and drinking very heavily.  I, before I was able to protest, was swept in by the people and asked to sit down at their table.  I was immediately given glass after glass of beer with many toasts that I could in no way understand.  I could understand that they were having a great time and were more than willing to be generous with anyone who wanted to help them celebrate.  Keith, wondering what happened to me, came to investigate and found me sitting at a table full of food and beer being stared at by the other twenty people at the table.  He sat down, found a cute young translator, and then proceeded to entertain the group.  The guy is a ham.   

When we finally went back to our restaurant next door some trickle over from the wedding followed us. A guy who was sporting two lovely women by his side came walking in.  Keith started to strike a deal with the guy to have one of the girls join him.  He did this by trying to barter us to the guy, who told him he preferred boys, in exchange for the girl.  He told the guy that this would not be a problem since both Scott and I also preferred guys.  I hope Keith knows that payback is coming. 

Once over the mountain, which featured some great riding with ocean views, we came down to China Beach where we found a new toy, roundabouts.  Since we were so far of Ngoc we decided to continue to ride around the roundabout until he caught up.  This immediately turned into a race where we were riding counter clockwise as fast as we can.  With our left feet out and our bike leaned over as far as they could go we went round and round as fast as we could.  Scooters entering into the roundabout only added to the fun.  If only we could do this at home. 

Hoi An is, according to Ngoc, the oldest city in Vietnam.  Built in the 15^th century.  It is a photographer’s wet dream.  This place is beautiful.  After taking a dip in our hotel pool we walking around the city before we stopped to have dinner and more beer on the river.  A woman selling toys tried to sell us a few things.  She had this toy that you lit up and flung into the air with a rubber band and then watched as it flouted back to earth.  The bargaining started at 60,000 dong for three.  We offered 30,000 and she countered with 50,000.  I offered her a deal.  I told her if she could launch the toy higher than Keith I would give her 50,000.  If Keith’s was higher 30,000 was the price.  They both loaded up at the same time and on my command launched into the air.  We all cheered in amazement as the woman, who was half Keith’s size, launched her toy twice as high as Keith.  I am now 50,000 poorer. 

Did I mention that I love Vietnam?  I also love roundabouts.

Posted by Robert the wedding crasher

Some roads are better than others

We left on what we thought was going to be an easy day....250 miles.... no problem. What we did not figure into the time was how windy the roads could be.....It looked like rain  we geared up and hit the road. We were soon climbing through the jungle roads with thick vegetation climbing to the clouds. A few sprinkles and then soon the monsoon rains were upon us. We had big smiles as we burned up the soaking wet concrete bike path, thank god there was no traffic. Scott and I rode side by side trying to find the edge of traction. We had the video camera rolling which caused us to push even harder. Soon I had a flat tire and nearly slid off twice before I figured out why. It had finally stopped raining and we pushed on. After a great lunch in the village we continued on. We were all commenting on just turning around the next day and repeat it all over again. We rolled into town way after dark and had the best day of our trip....as of this post we can not find any of the videos of this road...they may be gone...there are some photos of the dry section in day 5.

The next day we got the video to work and will post some of another pass we tore up. Later in the day we found some huge round abouts and went around so many time weaving in and out of the locals we ended up with a small audience. I guess we were bored and needed some obstecales to entertain us. The video of this is a little foggy due to the humidity over here. It might have been due to the beers we had too, who knows.

Fun times for all roads. Even robot and chubby are getting the hands free riding down.

Posted by Keith (the calm and reserved member)

Hold your line! by Robert

Hold your line!

Today was all about the riding. Sure the coffee was great, as always, the scenery unbelievable, the people gracious and always smiling, the beer warm, the food ok (today was the first day food was not the best ever), but today we rode.  After four coffee su’ num’s we put on our rain gear and headed out of Phong Nha (Phong= wind, Nha= teeth), where we stayed the night before, for our longest day of riding yet.  The moist streets and the looming clouds convinced us that rain gear was a necessity, not an option.  Scott in his full yellow rain suit that puffed up like the Michelin Man when he opened the zipper to let in the wind, Keith with his zip in rain pants liners and me with my red Patagonia rain jacket that I bought second hand for $5 and some pull over rain pants from REI.  We were prepared, at least some of us.  Keith decided to not put on his rain coat to start, but quickly decided that it was probably needed.  So he decided to put it on, in typical Keith fashion, without stopping the motorcycle!  He engaged his cruise control.  Turned around and pulled his jacket from his rear pack.  And then he proceeded to put his arms through the arms while Scott and I laughed at him through our headsets. 

Now that we were all prepared we were ready to ride.  We entered into a national park with Keith trying to duck underneath the large tube barrier, at 20 mph, that was left unattended.  He hit the barrier with his shoulder that pushed it up so that our passing was much easier.  Once we got through the barrier we found the about 100+ miles of the most outrageously fun twisty road I have ever been on experienced.  I have often watched Top Gear were they searchfor, and sometimes find, some of the sweetest roads in the world for super cars.  If they were into motorcycles, this would be the road.  What appeared to be slick concrete roads actually was a really pretty grippy surface.  In no time Scott and Keith were railing in the corners side by side yelling at each other “Hold your line!”, with me struggling to keep up.  My riding, being in the back, was made so much easier by Keith calling out any obstacles that maybe in the road.  Since this was a twisty curvy road that went up and down steep grades there was very little traffic.  No big trucks, no animals in the road.  Just the occasional scooter.  With little traffic we were able to push the bikes to the limit and really lay them into the corners.  We were going so fast that Ngoc took forever to catch up to us when we stopped to pee or refill on beer.  Once he did catch up, “You guys are crazy!” he would say in his heavy Vietnamese accent.  The roads continued to dry since the only rain we actually saw after dawning all our gear was early in the morning.  With dryer roads our speeds continued to increase with each corner seeming to be better than the last.  I often heard loud screams emanating from my earpiece.  Thinking I was going to come around the next corner to see Keith laying on the ground, only to discover that these were whoops of joy for telling the greatness of the corner to come. 

Our first stop for beer, one of many, took place in typical Vietnam fashion.  We get off our bikes and strip off all our gear as many locals gawk at the tall white people and covet our bikes.  At this stop the warm beer was quenched our thirst while the smile of a very short local woman warmed our hearts.  Keith kneeled down next to her to take a picture and he still towered over her.  Her infectious smile was reminiscent of so many we have seen along the road. 

Back on the road we continued to be amazed at the slice of paved heaven that kept coming.  We stopped again for beer, riding makes us thirsty, and some lunch.  We stripped everything off except our t-shirts and riding shorts that looked like underwear to the locals.  A woman, who we later discovered was 23 and married (Darn), was mesmerizing.  The many beers did not help us overt our continuous gaze in her direction.  Just when we thought we had enough beer, at least until the next stop, a guy comes up to us with what looked like an old oily anti freeze bottle.  Out of it he came some clear rice alcohol.  We all took a sip and almost exploded from the strength.  The guy who brought it sat next to me and started to light a cigarette.  I quickly stopped him thinking, “I wouldn’t light a match within a 100 yards of that moonshine.”  After the last beer was finished Keith and I put on our riding gear minus our rain gear.  Scott, wanting to keep cool and look sexy, road for a while in just his underwear.  Maybe Scott had too big a sip of that rice alcohol?

After the first hundred miles or more of perfect roads we continued on back down the normal Vietnam roads through construction, around trucks, splitting cows, passing sleeping dogs in the middle of the road and the crazy guy who I almost hit who seemed to think it would be cool to run in between two racing bikes.  Then of course, after a few more miles of riding, we had to make another beer stop.  On this one we saw many young children coming home from school.  Ngoc told us that this was a very poor part of the country.  He opened his truck and started handing out back packs.  We quickly followed suit with the pencils and tootsie rolls that we brought with us for just such an occasion.  Smiles all around. 

The sun started to go down.  I guess we had one too many beer stops.  The road got worse.  The smooth predictable roads and curves were now a thing of the past.  Bumpy, sometimes paved roads were now ahead of us.  Construction on steep mountain roads at night were made even more challenging by the fact that Keith and I had tinted visors that made things really dark and Scott who’s headlight failed to work.  Ngoc pulled in front of us and led us the last 60km to Hue (Hue=Harmony).  Once we arrived in Hue we breathed a big sigh of relief and, of course had another beer followed by dinner and massages. 

How have I lived before this?  Total miles 257.

Posted by Robert a.k.a Robot

Wet day in the mountains

So far Scott and I have both gone down twice....yep. Nothing hurt but our pride. The newbie has won the first round. We had a great day of riding. We pushed the limits of wet pavement and found no problems. Riding side by side through the twisty corners we only touched once. We had a lot of mud and off road paths today. The mud was thick and very rutty. Lots of passing through the ruff stuff.

So how did we go down.....well we were told we ride too fast and burn up our gas faster than the normal groups. So coming over the wet mountain pass we ran out of fuel only 5 km before the nearest gas station, it was with out power so it was of no good. I ran out first and really did not want to wait around so I grabbed Scotts bike as he went by. That worked until he ran out too..lol

The next move was to dismount and lay the bikes over to grab any fuel that might have remained on the far side of the tank....it worked....we were both running again. The next time the bike was all the way on the ground and lifted the wheels a little. We made it to the gas station with out power to pump any fuel...nice. We were pointed another 2 km down the road that would have enough to get us to town. So even after reserve we had a reserve, but had to go down to find it.

Only complaints so far....some bad food here would restore faith in our own food system at home, dieting will be a must when we get home. So far the meals have been unforgettable. A firmer bed would be better for our backs. Robot thought he had found the stiffest bed in the world until he sat on my bed this morning. Not enough cold beer in the mountains, someone should have told them we were coming. Turn on some power and chill our beer.

Posted by bone dry...Keith