Now you have seen the traffic in Saigon, the bedlam, the mêlée that occurs on the road. Here's a dinner conversation I had with Mrs SB last night. Remembering that Mrs SB has only had her bike license for just less than a year.

SB: Do you know I think you ride better in Vietnam than you do at home. When I was riding behind you through that rough section coming up the mountain there was not a line that you took that I wouldn't have taken myself.

Mrs SB: It's because I feel safe riding here.

SB: What!? (choking on the Cab merlot)

Mrs SB: Well here they don't rely on road rules or the police to keep them safe, so they think about their own safety on the road. They use common-sense and there is hyper-vigilance in their riding. It may look mad but there is an order to the chaos. You know that guy on the round about will steer around you and not run into your side. Because they have been on bikes from a very young age, the bike is almost an extension of themselves.

Mrs SB: I don't trust the cars and busses - at all!

SB: I hadn't thought of it like that.

I do have to say Mrs SB is riding like a champ. Her cornering (on a bike with a slightly bent frame) is brilliant. If I decide to have a bit of fun on some corners, I look in the mirror and Mrs SB is close behind. She has my utter admiration for the way she tackles the rides - whatever the traffic, road conditions or weather.

So, the moral of the story is, come to Vietnam to hone your riding skills.

Cheers, SB

 

It was quite simple actually, I KNEW I've seen those rear door kick panels before, ar fist I mistook it for an old Morris but all moggies have a fold between the rear window and the boot lid, then I thought would it be a Skoda or a Moskvitsh but they both have front fender ornaments, then I looked at the straight non split windshield which lead me to the mid europe and the suicide door hinges was a dead giveaway

Been into and around different vintage cars all my childhood so have learnt to look for minute details.

Gonna PM the address a bit later, gotta check the new one. Don't you get taken by the Hurricane, You already got one

 

I have to ask……….


What is this? It was in our room and I’m very suspicious we may be set up for some kind of a bust!

I was going to start “It was a lazy day in Da Lat” but it wasn’t. We walked around for most of the morning after breakfast revelling in the warmth (and no rain).
We had a couple of quests to attend to: change some USD into Dong, get some moisturiser for those of us with more delicate skin and find a ‘multi-tool’ for the bike journey.

Walking around the market and banking areas the first two quests were dispatched easily and I’ll get to the third shortly.
We visited all kinds of interesting shops and markets. It is a very big thing throughout most of Vietnam to have some sort of bird in your house or shop. Split bamboo cages can hold some of the most beautiful birds I have seen short of a rain forest. One shop we visited in the morning had thousands of birds packed into large cages – and they were all incredibly well looked after. Fresh water and every type of food imaginable was also prepared in the shop, from seeds to wireworms, to crickets to fruit mixes to…………..


There were many, many types of finches.

A little further down the road we came across this!


We watched him wobble precariously down the road at a slow speed toward the flower pot’s destination. It took two men two attempts to lift the heavy concrete pot onto the back of the bike - we wondered if it got to where it was intended!

Da Lat is quite a hilly town and the photo below is looking down to the main market place.


The industry that goes on in Vietnam is astounding. The items and goods being manufactured at street level is mind blowing. Let alone the factories. One thing they do reasonably well –exceptionally in some cases - is the roads.


However they don’t always get it right.

And footpaths are another thing all together.


The footpaths are an adventure on their own. Uneven, unmarked holes, loose sewer cappings, poles and wires everywhere, low signs and awnings and often no lighting at all. Most people just walk on the roads.

We then visited a multi-story shopping centre with the wet market on the bottom floor. Amazing array of foods and barely a fly to be seen.


A butchery section where you can also get your………


Toads or…………


Roasted pupal casings of some insect (probably moth).


Fish ball preparation.


Fish and other sea-based delicacies and………


Naked poultry.

On the search to fulfil quest 3 (more later ) we came across this little laneway where the local people live. Very small houses with quite rudimentary facilities.


The narrow laneway going down the hill.

And what about a fully equipped machine shop!


We had watched them load two huge springs onto the back of a Honda Cub. The springs had had their eye ends re-bushed. Industry at its best.

Now to return to a motorcycling flavour. A lot of the younger blokes in Da Lat hot up the older Honda 100 cc motorcycles (as opposed to scooters). And a dandy job they do too.


The blue devil (note trick swing-arm and high pipe) and……….


The post apocalypse bike. I got ‘talking’ to this guy and told him I really liked his bike. His face lit up when I asked if I could take a photo. Bikes are an international language.

Ok to quest number 3. How hard do you think it would be to get a Leatherman copy in Vietnam? In Australia I have an old Leatherman and a Leatherman Wave. I NEVER go anywhere without one or the other hanging from my belt. Being so near to China (on Vietnam’s northern border) and with everyone doing ‘things’ to stuff, you’d think they would be sold by the truck load. We have scoured markets, hardware stores by the street and have found none.
I feel naked without the Leatherman – mainly as something to use in the unlikely event the Hondas fail to proceed. So for the rest of the journey I felt I had to tool up – even in the most basic way.

So……..


$2.50 well spent. I am now a man again!

Off to Buon Ma Thuot in the Dak Lak province tomorrow early - we'll see what the weather does after tomorrow with respect to the Typhoon.

Cheers, The Travelling ‘Bears

 

Loved "Pot Plant Man", makes me realize how soft I am.

If I bought a pot plant that size; I would simply whistle up one of the Mitre 10 forklifts and have it delivered.

The thought of trying to get it home on a bike simply wouldn't occur to me.

 

I don't like them chikkins giving me the evil eye

That suspicious bag of black swirls is most probably a local snack, they are, to my knowledge, dried squid tentacles or some other parts of aquatic critters. IF you decide to open the bag I'd advise NOT to take a whiff out of it, the odour can be a little...challenging.

 

"Off to Buon Ma Thuot in the Dak Lak province tomorrow early - we'll see what the weather does after tomorrow with respect to the Typhoon."

That just reminded me of a silly game we played yesterday at morning smoko (prompted by an ODT Quick Quiz question).

We were trying to come up with the best ever homophone sentence.

Winning submission in the 15 minutes of smoko was:

I wonder whether this weather will affect the wethers?

Sigh, sad old git, it amused me. Try running that through your iPhone translate program mate.

 

Latest reports have Super Typhoon Haiyan - interestingly renamed Typhoon Yolanda making landfall at Hue about 5-600 km north of us.

So we're doing what any self respecting Aussie Moto tourists would do and getting 200 km closer to the action by heading north to Buon Ma Thuot.



I found this map on another travel site and it gives elevations as well. The guy who did that trip tried to take a short-cut (in brown) at the bottom of the map and got into all sorts of trouble so we will be sticking to road DT725 until it intersects QL27 then swinging north. It adds about 30 km to the journey but we are less likely to get lost.

The blue line in the inset graph are his average speeds mostly around 40 km/h. Another note is he did it on a scooter! No matter what it will be about 6 hours on the road minimum. We're set to leave at 8 am.

It's cool outside and overcast but we are hoping for a rain-free ride. Thunderstorms are forecast for this evening in Buon Ma Thuot.

Can't believe it's 9 days already!

Cheers, The Travelling 'Bears

 

The maps and Google maps said 207 to 212 km. The bikes said 203 km.

We managed to do the ride including stops in 6 hours. And a beautiful day on the bikes it was.


We had a lovely chat with the Manager of the Sammy Hotel who was interested in our trip – and also he warned us of the Typhoon. The young lad in the photo was the Doorman of the hotel who helped us during our stay. Also note the Peugeot all dressed up due to a wedding due to happen at the Hotel late in the day.

You Tube

A 7 minute section of the ride. I’m still having fogging problems with the video camera in its housing. I think it is from having the camera in an air-conditioned room, putting it in its waterproof housing while still in the room and then when outside in the heat and humidity the remnant moisture in the camera fogs. It’s giving me the irates!


Mrs SB and one of the greatest ‘vegetables’ grown by man –the coffee bean – which is produced by this bush.


Part of a floating fishing village on Lak lake south of Buon Ma Thuot.


I just love those long shaft motors, although here they tend to use the smaller Honda motors rather than the 4 cylinder car engines they use in Thailand.

I was looking for a place to stop about 30 km before Buon Ma Thuot and off to the right saw this ruin.




We had to negotiate a muddy trail to get in but it was superb. What appeared to be an old Catholic Church gone to wrack and ruin with cows now grazing in it.

The final run into Buon Ma Thuot was quite simple. For once I had actually used the ‘get directions’ on Google maps and followed them!
We chose a nice simple 4 star Pub right in the centre of the City and booked a ‘Superior Room’ ….


All for $55 USD



Smack in the centre of town, right outside our hotel door, this monument commemorates the events of 10 March 1975 when VC and North Vietnamese troops liberated the city. It’s an interesting piece of socialist realist sculpture, consisting of a column supporting a central group of figures holding a flag, with a modernist arch forming a rainbow over a concrete replica tank.

After we settled into the Pub, we went for a walk around town looking for some of the local food for an early dinner. Each town has its own ‘feel’ and slightly different foods and delicacies.


A market street just behind the hotel.


Where again you can get just about any type of food to satisfy your hunger.

We found a nice outdoor Café and indulged in roast pork, rice, fried eggs and stuffed bitter melon.


Opposite where we ate we watched this lady sell these little donut sized ‘fritters’ by the bucket load. Despite the fact that we were both full (me resembling Mr Creosote from Monty Python) we decided to share one. They are rice-based with a vegetable fill in the centre. Kind of like a big crunchy Dim Sim. And they were nice.

Walking home, all the night sellers were setting up. Who needs a store when you have a…….


Nice wide footpath to display your wares.

We were going to head to Pleiku – 200km further north tomorrow, but studying the weather reports and the fact that rain was forecast all day in Pleiku, we wimped out and chose to stay one more day in Buon Ma Thuot.

Cheers, The Travelling ‘Bears

 

I noticed in that video large amounts of rubbish along the roads, I had not seen that much rubbish or dogs on the road since I last visited Bamaga on Cape York.

 

Yes Jarvid, a lot of rubbish around the place. Some villages still have open sewers.

And the biggest hazard on the road is the dogs, chooks, geese, pigs, cows and people that just stroll across in front of you.

The road is also used as the perfect way to dry your grains or coffee beans - spread out over half the road - so that makes passing oncoming traffic fun.

Mrs SB had a chook run across in front of her, which then changed its mind and ran back the other way - straight under the wheels of a car. I'm sure it would have hit the cooking pot a short time later as 'tenderized' chicken

Cheers, SB