We went to bed 2 nights ago with lightning flashing in broad streaks across the sky, and rain just beginning to fall. We were meant to leave Friday morning, but there had been 70mm of rain forecast, so we had decided to dig in and wait out the storm.

The rain was ferocious, and consistently so. So yesterday morning the phone rang at 5 am and a little voice said "Sir we need the keys to your motorbikes - the flood is coming. We need to take your bikes to higher ground" a few minutes later we were handing over the keys and could see that the street out the front of the hotel had disappeared under water.

The river that was paying us a very personal visit was the Thu Bon River- the largest in the Quang Nam Province of Vietnam. The Thu Bon River is also known by another name among the people of Vietnam: “Kuadai”.



The River’s inexorable rise



We knew we were in trouble when they started to save the clay pigs.

We went for breakfast and watched as within an hour or two the grass disappeared, the water climbed the steps and lapped at our toes, and then the walkways floated away.



Now how do we get back to our room??



We hoped there wasn’t a motorcyclist under this helmet……..



Business as usual



Wondering just what was coming.



Then the boats started plying the streets



God Bless the SS Mannequin and all those who sail in her…….



By now the flood water was sloshing at our feet in the ‘safety’of the breakfast area.



Food still had to be delivered



Coffee was now served in the wet area



A frog somehow landed in a drinking glass

But a curious thing happened. Many if us staying in the hotel gathered, and whereas on previous days we had eaten our breakfast in our own little cliques and then gone our separate ways with little more than a "good morning " suddenly we were interacting, animated and lively. And talking and gelling together.



Guests leaving the hotel were ferried to higher ground by long boat

There was much laughter, and even singing, and people sloshing around in the water declaring the whole thing a great deal of fun. The waitresses served copious amounts of tea and coffee and we settled in for fun.

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Then came the boats. By mid-morning the road outside had become a river and the front of the hotel was well under water. So the hotel brought in a boat to take those who were leaving to higher ground, and the airport - and some to previously booked appointments. The "Old town" part of Hoi An, with its ancient covered bridges, temples, markets and restaurants (and therefore the haunt of the tourist ) was, we were informed, closed as the water was more than waist deep. However, some of the more enterprising shop keepers and marketeers had moved up to higher ground.

So into a boat we climbed and off we went. We met up with a delightful couple from Vancouver and decided to brave the waters with them.



Leaving the hotel by boat to find lunch



The vegetable market had moved to higher ground

Once dropped off by the boat we walked (sloshed) through calf deep water (THIS was high ground?) and had a look around before settling on a "hole in the wall" restaurant with Com Ga Pho - a local chicken soup with piles of fresh herbs. Yummy yum yum! It felt nurturing given that by this time I was struggling to find a dry patch anywhere from the waist down. Even carrying an umbrella the rain, when it came, just poured in, blown by the wind, but thankfully our heads and shoulders stayed dry.



Silly tourists in the rain!



The resilience of the Vietnamese people astounds. If it floods, they get the boats and life continues as normal (ish)

We ate dinner at the hotel rather than going out into the wet again, and retired after deep discussion with others about the ills of the world, and what would cure them

We woke at 3 am to a loud noise as my phone charger, and the capacitor for SB’s computer charger blew up in spectacular fashion after a lightning strike. And then the lights began to systematically pop. But there were also sound of much industry outside and investigation showed a hive of activity with staff sweeping mud and water and cleaning everything as the flood waters receded.

The Vietnamese are such a gentle, gracious people in many ways, and cleaned up all the mess uncomplainingly, knowing that they might well have to do it all again tomorrow.

Many of them looked so tired, but their efforts were applauded and appreciated.

Cheers, The Travelling ‘Bears

 

About 140 km or so........

Morning on Day 17 in Hoi An dawned with no rain and the floods had mostly disappeared from the road in front of the hotel.
Overnight we had had lightning strikes one of which destroyed our chargers for phone and computer and shortly after that an army of staff descended onto the hotel grounds to clean it up so the guests would have lovely surroundings again.

On the street activity was frenetic as well, to rid the town of the last of the floodwaters and debris left behind by the receding waters.


The Hoi An clean-up crew.

We had put a deposit on a lovely silk needlework art-piece, but the old quarter was still flood bound and we had no way of getting to the shop, which was closed anyway, so the hotel refunded our deposit! Absolutely amazing service.

The time had come to park our behinds on the bikes again, although as the Internet provider was also flooded, we had not been able to book a Hotel in Hue (it’s pronounced Hway). Nor had I been able to ‘map’ my way out of town.

We packed our bags, loaded up the bikes, farewelled our new found friends and hit the road for Hue. The weather looked odd, with very dark clouds in some directions (ours mainly ) and blue sky in other quarters.

We knew we had to go north, so just zig-zagged in a north easterly direction through town until we found a road sign pointing to Da Nang which we had to pass through on the way to Hue.

About 5 km from Da Nang the heavens opened in what we hoped would be the last great Hurrah of the weather for the day. Within a minute of the sky dumping moisture we were soaked, our Kevlar jeans yet again just a puddle of water and the rain had been so heavy it poured in any gap between our helmets and jackets. Ho Hum. At least it wasn’t too cold.


We crossed the Dragon Bridge in Da Nang and followed the road to the Hai Van pass. Now this ribbon of road in near perfect for fun on a bike in the dry. It winds over a range to fishing village of Lang Co on the other side. If you’ve watched the Top Gear Vietnam special, it’s where Jeremy Clarkson had an epiphany on his scooter.


The start of the Hai Van pass.

Trucks and most cars and busses are re-routed through a tunnel before getting to the pass, so you know it is going to be (relatively) safe.


It’s still looking wet and foggy towards the top of the pass.

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Here are a few minutes of the pass. It was still great fun in the wet – and it didn’t rain any more.


The bridge to Lang Co on the northern side of the Hai Van pass.

The rest of the journey on Highway A1 to Hue was uneventful, with no rain and surprisingly little traffic.

As we had not booked a hotel Mrs SB consulted the oracle - her iPhone - as to who we had stayed with last year and as we remembered where that hotel was, we rode straight to it (almost ) and walked in to book. They could not have been friendlier to the wet, bedraggled tourists on motorcycles and found us a room for the night.

We both wamed up with a shower or bath, put on dry clothes, put our Kevlar jeans and t-shirts into the laundry so we can at least start with dry clothes tomorrow, and then went for a walk.

The Cau Truong Tien bridge was undergoing repairs. This is a bike and pedestrian only bridge and is always full of, ummmmm, scooters and pedestrians. They were repainting and checking the structure and there was scaffolding and tarpaulins everywhere. But the traffic was just the same.


Duck your head!


A tourist boat plying the Song Huong – or it’s much prettier western name – the Perfume River.

We spent an hour or so walking through the large market areawhere anything and everything was sold.


Huge banana bunches


Grains of all types,


Glorious sprays of fresh flowers and…………….


Hordes of Japanese Tourists

We found a dining place where we had eaten last year and settled into eating some great food with a couple of bottles of Saigon beer.


Mrs SB: This little petal was the daughter of the people running the eatery where we had dinner.

The children, particularly the daughters, are expected to be independent very young, and amuse themselves.

The girl decided that we were interesting and began to run past us calling out and giggling. Gradually we engaged her and at first she was hitting and smacking us, but at on stage I put up my hands and began counting and found that she could count quite well to 5 five in English. We applauded her and then she sat for ages playing rock, paper, scissors alternatively with SB and myself. Then she tried to teach me a game, which I was able to work out, and we played for quite a while.

Tomorrow, we are off to Khe Sanh. If we stick to highway A1 and then go inland from Dong Ha it’s only 148 km. If we head straight inland from Hue on the Ho Chi Minh trail it’s much windier and much longer at nearly 200km. We’re going the long way!

Cheers, The Travelling ‘Bears

 

About 180 km of which one 25 km section was pure mud!

Let me preface this report with the statement that any day riding a motorcycle is better than walking and that some destinations have to be endured to get to your ultimate goal.

We were headed to Khe Sanh, a place dear to any Aussies' heart due to the Cold Chisel song which if royalties were paid on the number of times it was sung by drunk students, Chisel band members would be wealthier than Bill Gates!

However, Khe Sanh is a stop-over, a place you only go to, to get somewhere else.

Mrs SB: Last year we travelled to Khe Sanh for two reasons:

1) because we had to stop there on our trip between A'Loui and Phong Nha.

2) because we were both interested in the siege and battle that occurred there, especially having grown up with the song about Khe Sanh.

We were told that people only go through Khe Sanh on their way to somewhere else. And this year for us, this is true.

Both last year, and this, with the exception of the actual battlefield, we have found Khe Sanh to be bleak, cold, dirty, and many of the locals unkind. As for the hotel - perhaps the less said about the staff the better. Needless to say we found our own room, let ourselves in, and pretty much were ignored.

We went to the bank to change some US Dollars, and the bank staff passed the money around, with 4 people commenting and sniffing and checking the money. Then we had to produce passports and sign in triplicate a document of receipt. With money in hand we had hardly left the bank and not only were the doors locked behind us, but the shutters were also pulled down. 10 minutes later when we ambled past on the return from our walk, the doors were open , the shutters up and it was business as usual. To say we feel unwanted would be an understatement.

We did however visit the little street cafe where we ate last year and the welcome was warm, the food amazing and the cook's three young children beautiful. They were all entranced by us, and giggled and whispered in each other's ears. One gets the feeling they don't see many foreigners here. Certainly we didn't see any.

The ride in to Khe Sanh was beautiful, and in spite of dark threatening clouds, rain free until about 2 minutes after we got to the hotel.

The foliage and green of the jungle just astounded me - how any troops, regardless of nationality, managed to get through is amazing. Of course we are now well and truly on the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Tomorrow we have 230 kms to the home stay at Phong Nha and the forecast is for rain and lots of it. The only way to get there is to start.

The Day 18 trip itself proved difficult with large sections of the road dug up for widening and with the recent rains made it like riding in Flanders during WW1. Then we also had some problems with the bikes. The first in two trips and about 5,000 km of riding in Vietnam.

The day however started well. The sun was not quite shining but threatening to do so in Hue, so after a breakfast on the 11th floor of the Camellia Hotel, we packed, and left filling the bikes with fuel on the way out of town.

The first stop was the Tomb of the last Emperor of Hue.



We didn’t go in as talking to some EZRider Tour guides they said the road we were headed out on was severely dug up and they were only going as far as A’Loui that day. We had another 115 km to do after that town so decided we had better keep moving.



Travelling as a pillion (for me) would be about as exciting as having hang nail surgery.

The roads to A’Loui initially were good and the scenery stunning with tall forests lining the roads.



A drink stop in the forest.


However, the road then deteriorated quickly into a quagmire.

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The start of the muddy section – it got MUCH worse.



Mrs SB coming out of a muddy section.

Following Mrs SB at one stage I thought her tyre looked a little soft and I couldn’t take my eyes off it trying to see if it was going down, so I rode ahead fast for a few km and waited for Mrs SB to turn up so that I could then look at the tyre to see how much further it had gone down. It had deflated about 50% more than when I last saw it, so I estimated that we had about 10-15 minutes before it was flat. So we swapped bikes and I took off for A’Loui which was about 11 km distant. Luckily the mud road finished and we returned to tar and I picked up the pace again and made a tyre repair shop before the tyre deflated completely.



The tyre had a thin piece of wire through the carcass into the tube – like a bristle from a wire brush. 20,000 Vietnamese Dong ($1 USD) and 10 minutes later we were on our way again. Lucky!

The roads again were good and the scenery spectacular……



Although the rain kept threatening. We kept on coming across very, very wet roads, but always seem to miss the showers. I was not complaining.



The sun when it did come out made the wet foliage light up beautifully



Wet roads and hazy, dappled light.



The confluence of two rivers of different coloured waters.

With the sky more and more threatening, we hastened for Khe Sanh and our arrival was timed to about 2 minutes before it bucketed down.

Khe Sanh was as welcoming as last year – i.e. not at all. They don’t ‘do’ tourism very well in this part of the Central Highlands.

This sign amused me though



Well…………………..Drink Huda Gold

Having had the puncture, and Mrs SB said her bike was wobbling badly on corners, I had a good look over the bikes. Mrs SB’s front wheel bearing had begun to collapse with the rim wobbling about 5mm. There was a bike shop (!) opposite the hotel, so with pointing, wobbling of rims, and the translator program we managed to indicate that we would like both rear tyres replaced and the front wheel bearings on Mrs SB’s bike renewed.



This and the chains oiled again for the princely sum of $45 USD. At least I won’t worry on the 250km leg to Phong Nha tomorrow as there is NO facilities on that road.

So now being well dark we found a great place for dinner and had one of the best beef Phó meals on the trip.



I always say the best view of Melbourne is in the rear view mirror, and I’ll be saying the same of Khe Sanh tomorrow.

The song for Khe Sanh


Cheers, The Travelling ‘Bears.

 

About 250 km.

Here's a video of two sections of the trip.

It rained almost all the way so the view was not as spectacular.


Still beautiful though.

This was the route...



Going through the Phong Nha National park at the top of the map. We were travelling north all day.



The confluence of two rivers - simply stunning.

As we got further north in the Central Highlands the density of the rain forest increased and little waterfalls were every where.



This looking down......



And this up the hill



Rivers were around every third bend.



Traditional houses now abounded in the sparse villages we passed through. Some of them had satellite dishes!



Every time we dropped down to the valley floor we were surrounded by the Karst mountains

After a seeming interminable drop down the last escarpment where I did not think it was possible to be that cold in Vietnam, severely shivering Mrs SB and I found the Phong Nha Farmstay where were were hastily shown our rooms and we showered until we were warm again.

Aussies will appreciate that I had a Pie and Chips with copious amounts of sauce for afternoon tea.

The Farmstay is run by expat Ben and his Vietnamese wife Bich and it is just superb. And there are an assortment of bikes at the residence.





A Chinese BMW WWII copy side car



Have I said how fond I have become of these tiny Hondas??



And a CB400 Honda. Nice. There are two of these at the Farmstay.

We kept the heater on 30 C all night in the room and with all our wet gear it turned into a sauna!

Weather reports for the rest of the week show rain and drizzle until Sunday so no matter when we leave it will be a wet trip.............again.

Cheers, The Travelling 'Bears

 

It didn't rain today so Mrs SB and I rode two up to the Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park to look at the mountains, insects and birds.


I tried the handlebar mount for the vid.

More later.

Cheers, SB

 

We watched the weather closely in the morning, rain wasn't forecast until later in the afternoon, so we decided to do a two-up ride on the red Honda to Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park.

This is still part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail but is astounding in its beauty with dense rain forests and karst mountains jutting skyward everywhere. The ride is about 30 minutes from the Phong Nha Farmstay.

I have a return video as well from the camera mounted on the handlebar and if I get some time will edit a short section showing the little Honda valve bouncing along the main highway at a spine tingling 90 km/h two-up. It is going to breathe a big sigh of relief when it finally gets back to Hanoi.

Some photographs from the day.



My very attentive breakfast friends.



The Buffalo Fergussons are out very early earning their food.



Just the cutest....................the puppy that is!

The ride to the National park involves entering through an 'out' road and it is entirely up to the Police Guard on the gate as to whether you get in or not. We were lucky and got straight in - as can be seen on the video above.



The river with river traffic and mountains.



The density of the rain forest is stupefying. How troops got through this must have involved a degree of difficulty that is beyond me.



A delicate sundew type of flower



People pay big money for this type of growth



An epiphyte (?) growing directly on the rock face



A water strider the size of my palm. It was huge just gliding against the current on top of the fast flowing creek we stopped at.



Gorgeous butterflies were everywhere, but my ability to capture them on the camera proved fruitless. I will get more of a chance shortly but more on that in the next post.

We returned to the Farmstay greatly pleased to have had a ride and finished still dry!

Cheers, The Travelling 'Bears

 

Mrs SB: As you know we dripped our way into the home stay here with some relief, and have readily become part of the furniture, parents to the puppy, friends with Ben's (the owner) mum Veronica who is an Aussie who lives in France part of the year and part of the year here. She is a former counsellor and I relate to her very well, and enjoy her company.





Heading home with the Buffalo Fergusson after ploughing.



While the neighbour was still going.

The home stay itself is a bustling and busy place with people coming and going all the time.

Today was interesting as we lost all power early, so SB and I had a lazy day, drinking tea and coffee and reading our books, and he beat me at a very tightly fought game of Scrabble.



Here’s a panorama out the front door of the Farmstay

And I was outside when the people called in their water buffalo, all of which came running in from the fields where they were grazing and walked single file past the homestead. I raced out and took a video but didn't realize that, in my haste, my finger was blocking the lens. Will try again tomorrow as it is a great sight.

Perhaps most interesting was a conversation we had with Ben. Last night we had heard that they like to run the place with 4 westerners in the office to facilitate ease of bookings etc. (all the cleaning, laundry, cooking and housekeeping is done by the local Viet people) but they were down to 2 and one was due to go on holidays tomorrow. So......... You guessed it. We are now employees of Phong Nha home stay for the next week, working for our food and accommodation, with a view to seeing if we would like to come back and work here for 3 months next year.

SB will go out on the tour tomorrow and learn the ropes with a view to doing it himself with the Vietnamese guide the next day (tourists can't tour the national park without a tour guide here - it is not allowed).

All part of the fun, and we have a few days up our sleeves, so, in for a penny in for a pound.

Will let you know how it goes. Don't know that I'm the best person to have in the office, but hey - what could possibly go wrong?!?!?!



Perhaps this??? The BIGGEST wasp I have ever seen. It’s seeing insect life like this that ensures I will ride with my visor down

The local army officials were here this morning - the bribery that occurs at every level is amazing. And if you don't pay what and when they like, they just shut you down. So there was about 4 hours of negotiations and much drinking of rice wine or similar before they tottered off on their bike.

You know how I have grown to love the little Hondas………



Well this is Bich’s brother and his bike which he allowed me to ride.

So look at this……..



Then watch this

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A little too similar for my liking

After dinner, Ben, the owner dragged out the sidecar



And we went for a spin in the dark – me in the chair. Hoo boy! If I come back here I will be buying one of those.

Cheers, The Travelling ‘Bears

 

"The density of the rain forest is stupefying. How troops got through this must have involved a degree of difficulty that is beyond me."

Could be why they built tunnels and went under it. lol

 

The tunnels were generally built where the VC could mount attacks from. Some of the larger ones has 100s of kms of tunnels with galleries, meeting rooms, hospitals, kitchens , weapons storage etc.



That photo was on the trail to get there.

The large mountain opposite to the right in that photo had a large cave at the bottom which was utilised extensively on the HCMT and suffered numerous B-52 bombing attack which can still be seen at the top. The aim of the bombing was to cause rockfall to block the cave.

Cheers, SB

 

Ok so I'm a tour guide in Vietnam....................



Outside the Farmstay in my 'official' shirt

My first day was assistant to 'Multi' (name is a long story as they all are!) with 22 tourists from all over the world.



Just before I left for official duties on the bus we farewelled BA and Amanda who were motorcycling North to South. BA has previously ridden a Kawasaki KLR650 from Vancouver (home town) to the Darian Gap on the isthmus between the two American continents via the Baja Peninsula - with a surfboard strapped the the right side of his bike. Sterling stuff. I read his trip story on ADV rider and it was enthralling.

So it was off with the tourists to do the tour that Mrs SB and I did on the other side of the fence.



A stop to discuss the significance of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the 'American War'.



The Temple at the 8 lady cave. A sad story of collateral damage where 7 young villagers with a chaperone were trapped in a cave after a B-52 bombing raid and starved to death despite water and soup being poured down the cracks in the rock above the cave.



Raindrops on a very large leaf.



You walk up 524 steps to get to the entrance to Paradise Cave, then you walk down a few hundred more to get to the Cavern floor.





Formations in the cave.



The view from the mouth of the cave



Beautiful flowers





Stunning fungi varieties and........



Vines that boggle the mind.

You may notice the almost total lack of insects in the photographs which is like being a mechanic with no cars to work on. The cooler, wet weather had lessened the numbers of insects significantly. When you consider the difference in weather from this year to last when we had mostly sunny, warm or hot days and thousands of insects, it is almost depressing.

Tomorrow I get a bus of my own to lead so we'll see how that goes.

Mrs SB: Greetings from the Phong Nha office!

Today I waved SB off at 8 am as he set out as an assistant tour leader to learn the ropes. He made a triumphant return at just after 5pm glowing from the rum which was generously dispensed (for medicinal purposes) after the swim through the Dark Cave.

Cheers, The Travelling 'Bears