Welcome Home

After 6 weeks away, visiting Oz and travelling some of Vietnam, I returned to Hanoi and hit the ground running. We arrived on Saturday night and both had a full day of classes on Sunday. It was really nice to go back to our schools. We were welcomed with friendly smiles from the staff and students. The teaching environment is relaxed and very enjoyable. It was almost a pleasure to go back to work; something Celine and I definitely didn't feel in some of our other jobs. The owners of my school invited us out to dinner early next week.

On Sunday night our neighbours were having a party and invited us to come along. They have two young kids, who spent most of the night doing dragon dances in preparation for the autumn festival. They had a few of their friends over as well and we sat on a mat on the floor and chatted and shared a few drinks. We ate chicken hot pot which was delicious. Everything was going great until they pulled out some trung vit long, or duck embryos. They cracked them open into the hotpot; semi-formed embryos with all the added blood and goo you would expect. It was ghastly. I was wide-eyed and stunned. Celine broke into a cold sweat and couldn't look. It got worse when they served us some in our bowl. Celine politely refused. I summoned up the courage and thought of a happy place. It didn't taste so bad.

Last night we caught up with our friend Nam. We rode to his house and visited his family; sister, nephew and niece. We have organised to catch up for lunch next week.

We have been welcomed home by many people in the past few days which makes us very happy to be back.

Danang

After a few days in Hoi An we jumped on the bike for our final journey; a 30km ride up the coast to Danang. Our bags were bulging with some last minute shopping and the straps to tie on our luggage were past their used by date. After 1,500km, and no 3rd gear our bike was struggling as well. Us, the bags and the bike made the short trip up to Danang in one piece.


Danang is a big town. It is very clean and I would say quite modern. That said, the city itself is not very attractive. The city runs alongside the Han River. There are mountains on one side of Danang and the South China sea on the other. The best things to see are outside the city. We rode up towards Monkey mountain to visit the big Buddha (apparently 68m) which looks down on Danang. The views and setting were amazing. There were a number of Buddhas situated around the main one. In the pagoda monks sung. It was 7am and the place was virtually empty. It was incredibly peaceful and very beautiful.

We then rode 10km to Marble Mountain, took a look from afar at some of the pagodas and checked out statue street (street alongside the entrance to the mountain where all the statues e.g. Buddhas are sold).


After that we stopped at China Beach and went for a swim. The sea was unbelievably calm; all the way out to the horizon. The water was great and we had most of the beach to ourselves. We also came across a rooster fight (as in the gambling type), on the side of the busy highway. A group of Vietnamese men were squatting on a patch of grass watching intently as the two roosters fought. I had never seen this before and was surprised that the roosters seemed to know what they were doing; prancing around each other before making an aggressive attack. It wasn't a fight to the death and the spurs were taped.


At around lunch time I put our bike on the train; sending it back to Hanoi. Celine and I found a bar that was showing the AFL grand final and we chilled there for a few hours. We had a flight back to Hanoi at 5.30pm bringing our trip to an end. The past few weeks have been amazing; both of us spoilt with some beautiful landscapes, wonderful people and delicious food. That being said, we are happy to get back to Hanoi.

Hoi An - Full moon festival

I knew that every month on the 15th day of the lunar calendar, there was a full moon festival in Hoi An, where in the old town no electric lights or motorbikes were allowed. As a result, the old town is lit by candle and multicolored lanterns, creating a romantic ambiance. Romantic, yes: Vietnamese people come from all around the country for this special night and I swear I’ve never seen so many Vietnamese couples holding hands (including on Long Bien Bridge in Hanoi. If you know this bridge, you know what I mean. Love Bridge). Romantic, no: because there are thousands of people in the streets.

So, this is only once a month, and even though we had not planned it at all, we were lucky enough to be in Hoi An when in happened.

The streets of Hoi An were riddled with massive crowds walking around, holding hands, and with kids dressed as dragons playing drums. From what I gathered, the kids (boys only) got in the local shops or restaurants and danced around in Dragon outfits until the shop owner gave them a little money. It was fun to be around for this special night – actually it was two nights, the second one even more intense than the first. Oustide of the “pedestrian” area (in quote marks because only pedestrian on this instance) streets were gridlocked with bikes, not able to move even one inch. We were happy to have left ours at the hotel.

Hoi An

We arrived in Hoi An very tired after 6 hours on the road, booked in a wonderful looking guesthouse, where the walls are antique carved wood panels – it felt like staying inside a Pagoda, and slept.

The rest of the evening was spent exploring the most charming town you’ll ever see, Hoi An, unfortunately absolutely ridden with tourists. But who could blame them? Hoi An’s old town has the most beautiful architecture and decrepit looking walls which to pretty much quote the LP; modern interior designers would spend a fortune trying to reproduce. I can see that, and I can see why.

It’s very hot here though, and there’s nothing to do between 8.00 am and 4pm but hide out somewhere and wait for the burning sun to subside a bit. Since I’ve been here, I’ve mainly wanted to chill and do nothing. I sleep a lot, walk around the old town, then sleep again or read (my DS charger is bust, so I can't read on that anymore... Dan just finished the third volume of Millenium, I was more than happy to read THAT again, damn I love Salander), swim a bit in the sea or the pool, get a few clothes made because, well… it’s Hoi An, the capital of Vietnamese tailors, then have a diet coke by the river and read some more… very relaxing. Very, very sunny and hot, so relaxing is a must.

Every day I discover walls so beautiful I have to catch my breath. I took a few pictures (500), some of which I’ll share here.

Dak Glei was uneventful, it’s a very quiet village in the mountains where we only stopped for the night, but the people were extremely friendly. Kids were preparing for the full moon festival by banging on drums most of the evening and running around singing and laughing. We did baptise it “oil town", as we decided it was the Vietnamese cradle of oily dishes. I mean we have now been through the cradle of wine, of dragonfruits, of flowers, of coffee, of milk… so why not of oil? Dak Glei is not famous for its oil, really, but after being served two dishes bathing in it, we declared it was. (Photo: would you like some Pancakes with your oil??)
We stayed in a very cheap guesthouse where the shower was outside(litteraly I mean not in a room outside but just outside in the backyard) and we weren’t given towels anyway, so I must admit we skipped the shower. I know I washed my face and feet, but I can't promise anything about Dan.

In the very early morning I discovered My Quan, a noodle dish I didn't know yet: thick noodles, quail eggs and bits of pork and shrimp. Perfect for breakfast but in good Dak Glei style, a little too oily.

Then we set off on the Ho Chi Minh trail towards Hoi An. The ride was stunning. We had a coffee around 7am in a tiny mountain village, altitude 1900m. We shared a table at the cafe with this adorable little girl and her father. I don't have a good picture of her, but she had one of the most perfect prettiest face I've ever seen.The air was pure and once again, the locals were very friendly. Women would come out of their little wooden houses, baby on the back, and when seeing us, looked a little startled before waving at us with a big smile. Some of them didn't speak Vietnamese, so obviously they were from a mountain Ethnic minority but we don't know which one.

The road was virtually empty. That mountain ride took several hours and it became very hot very early, but it was the most beautiful of all.

Photo of the week # 6

Young boy from the Banhar minority cutting a piece of bamboo

Road trip section 8: Kon Tum to Dak Glei

After a morning bouncing along dirt roads, visiting ethic villages, in the blazing sun we headed back into Kon Tum to pack up our gear and make a dash towards Hoi An. Being 300km away we wern't going to arrive that day so we wanted to make the following day as bearable as possible and aimed to ride around 100km and find a place to crash as night fell. Once we had checked out of the hotel run by the Happy Family (note: sarcastic tone) I tied our bags onto the back of our bike as the sun belted down. Sweating profusely I did my best in an otherwise uncomfortable situation.

It felt like a sauna as we rode along. We decided the afternoon road trip was not for us and would keep to the early mornings for the rest of the trip. We were not in the mood for photo's and flew along the highway until our bums needed a break. The seat on our old bike is not the best and the padding provides little support so after an hour or so it starts to get a little painful. Celine and I would take turns standing up on the foot rests and stretching our legs, getting the blood circulation going, while I rode along. It was probably not the safest thing to do but provided great amusement for any other riders nearby. In Kon Tum our bikes third gear decided to die so we could only use first, second and fourth for the 300km journey to Hoi An.

We were now on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. We stopped in Dak To, a small unassuming town which saw some serious battles in the Vietnam/American war, for a coffee and a relax. This was an area that saw major human losses, on both sides. It was hard to imagine what happened in Dak To as you sat and chatted to friendly locals, watched kids play and ride bicycles, waving enthusiastically when you caught their eye.



After that the rain set in so we stopped and put on our new raincoats. The rain came was heavy for about 30 minutes but we rode straight through it waving to anyone else who was still on the road. We continued along the Ho Chi Minh Trail passing many ethnic minority villages that lived close to the highway. Women in traditional dress were walking up the road carting timber. Young boys drove buffalo's with a long bamboo stick. Others gave us a curious gaze as we slowed on the bike. The minorities have their own languages and many village people, especially those living out of the bigger cities, don't speak Vietnamese.

As the sun was going down we arrived into a small town, Dak Glei, and found a guesthouse to sleep the night. The room was basic and relatively clean, the people friendly, and the rate very acceptable: $5 for the room. It was nice to be staying somewhere not written about in guide books or online reviews.