The old capital and the tourist Mecca of Vietnam

After the turbulence of the typhoon and to be stuck in the middle of nowhere for 3 days, we were happy to move on. The next destination was Hue, the old capital of Vietnam. We visited the forbidden city, it is the little brother of the one in Beijing. Took a ride with a rickshaw through the old town and visited museums. We spent the evenings with 2 guys from Britain (we already met them in Phong Nha, they are also on a motorbike tour through Vietnam) drank beer for free in their hostel and were eating delicious burgers while playing billiard.

It was not far from Hue to Hoi An but it took quiet a long time to go there. The road goes a long the coast and is really hilly. It rained like fuck and the wind was blowing hard. Unfortunately we were only equipped with a rain poncho and plastic bags, not like the Britain s ;)with their hightec gear. At this moment we were so jalouse about their equipment. But thankfully we arrived Hoi An save but totally wet.

Hoi An has an ancient habour and it is known for its custom made clothes and shoes. It is full with restaurants and Bars, little bridges and cloth/food market. The architecture is influenced by the french (Vietnam was a french colony). It just looks beautiful. In the eve we met again the Britains and some other people from the farmstay, it was like a reunion. We went altogether for some beer and an awesome dinner in a quiet chic restaurant. The next day we rented a bicycle and drove to the beach unfortunately we could not use it because the typhoon let its marks. We also let some custom made shoes done for us. Jeff has now custom made Flip Flops :). 

The flood

Making it to Phong Nha, a day later though, was nice. Also because of the warning for typhoon Nari, which should hit the coast that day. We checked in the Phong Nha farmstay - run by a Vietnamese Australian couple. 2 weeks ago another typhoon hit the Hotel, they had to shut down for a while. Still there were some after effects of this typhoon, like no electricity and hot water. We didn’t mind because the staff was really nice and the rooms were so comfortable. The next day we did a tour to the paradise cave (the biggest dry cave in Asia)and the jungle around the cave (has a lot of war history). It was raining really hard so we couldn’t do a hike in the forest. After all it was really interesting and beautiful to watch.

On the way back to the farmstay we noticed that the river became a lot bigger and some streets were flooded. A bit scared to see that, we hoped that the farmstay is far enough away to not be flooded.

In the night the wind was getting so strong and it rained heavily that we could hardly sleep.We woke up the following morning and found the entire area under about 2-3 meters of water. “luckily” the farmstay was on a little hill so the water only reached the entrance. During the day the water was rising and we started to move all the bikes on higher ground and shifted beds, generator, fridges and documents from the farmstay to the first floor.

As there was nothing to do anymore then watch the water rising, we opened some beers and had some nice chats with the other guests. In the eve the water stopped rising (a few centimeters from the ground floor, which still meant a rise of 1,5 meter from the moment we woke up that morning) and retreated the rest of the day.  

Going off-road

Day plan: make it to Phong nha Nationalpark, 380 km away. A long day driving but with good roads it should be possible. If we would have stayed on the good roads and kept the tasks separated, Jeff is the driver and Caro the navigator, it would have worked out. But Jeff trusting Google maps' suggestion led us to a road with tire tracks till half a meter deep and parts where Betsy couldn't made it up in first gear. This set us back 2 hours. It was exciting and we managed to do it but our time plan was totally gone. Being on tarmac again we went full throttle and still drove 240 km that day.

We reached Pho Chau (a shithole) and  found a "Hotel". Now we think that it would have been better to sleep on a field or in the woods. We tried to avoid our room as much as possible, so we walked around the town looking for food. It was hard to find anything (unusual for Asian countries), after a while we found a shabby street food stand. We went for the save option, fried rice and Pho (noodle soup). Next to us were some drunk guys sitting and off course they started to talk to us. It would not have been bad if we would not have been so grumpy and pissed of by the hotel. We got strong alcohol from them and to be polite we drank the first few ones. After 4 glasses of rice wine (more Schnaps then wine) we tried to refuse. I can only tell that this escalated a bit. 

Betsy's breakdown

The road away from Mai Chau is really exciting. Full of curves, paved and right true a lot of really small villages. After Betsy's rest day we expected to have her healthy back, till after 5km we got a flat tire. OK, a flat tire can happen to the best of us. A very kind young man called a repair man for us and 45 min later we were on our way again. During the waiting we learned the Vietnamese national anthem from a drunk guy that couldn't stop singing (he couldn't stand still either).

In the mountains Betsy struggled and it was getting worse. First climbing in 3^rd gear, the next mountain in 2^nd till after a few mountains we got to a complete standstill. After some attempts we got her running again and hurried to the nearest town to let the experts take a look. The engine gave up. It looks like a not so healthy engine with two people and our luggage driving in the mountains was too much.

Some calls to the guys we bought the bike from made them promise to give a refund for the repair costs. 4 hours, a new cylinder head, a nap in someones living room, and a good lunch (plus exciting journey to get it) later we could resume our trip to only the nearest big city before nightfall. We ended it up in Thanh Hoa.

Back to the main land

Leaving early for a 325 km trip to Mai Chau. It doesn't sound that far, but in Vietnam you need two days for it. You can not really leave the island in a rush 'cause the ferry only goes when there are enough people to make a profit. Waiting a little bit less than an hour for the first one and about half that time for the second we made it to the mainland in three hours. Heading for Ninh Binh, where we plan to stay for the night. We took the smaller roads to see more of the country side, which is really nice in this area. The roads here are all paved (read as: easy to drive) and the only real obstacle was a floating pontoon bridge which was fun to drive. We made it there in the afternoon.

The next day we discovered the fun of driving on unpaved roads. In Europe these roads would be designated as “off road” but here they're the only connection between the villages. It's good that we got more comfortable on the bike on these roads, well only the driving skills our asses still don't like the seat. We spent hours driving over sand, mud and gravel till Betsy gave up. We were really beaten her, even when all the oil came out of the front suspension we kept on going, but finally she made us stop.

Our luggage was sitting a full 10 cm lower than before. The luggage rack was bend down and resting on the taillight. Jeff's attempt to bent it back broke it :( Helpful locals pointed us the way to a welding shop. Happy to have customers three guys started to fix the bike right away. An hour later and only 50000 dong lighter (which is 1,75 euro)we hit the road again. What a wonderful country.
 

At the end of the day we reached our goal, Mai Chau. Mai Chau is a lovely little village surrounded by mountains and paddy fields. We gave Betsy a day off and let the suspension fix and went ourselves for a hike around the fields guided by a local dog.  

The beauty

Halong Bay is THE must see in Vietnam with Halong city as it’s closed place to stay, that’s why this city is overcrowded and the Vietnamese who live there are pros in ripping people off. We got the tip to not go to Halong city but instead to a little island next to it. 5 hours bike ride and 2 mini ferries later we arrived at Cat Ba. And really it is breath taking, beautiful nature, traditional fisher boats and friendly (not ripping off) Vietnamese people. We explored the little island with Betsy (our motorcycle) and of course we got lost. Suddenly we were standing between mountains, rice fields and cows. It was so wonderful; it’s hard to put into words.  We walked around and ended up at a little cottage made out of bamboo. A woman was trying to get away with her scooter, but she was a bit struggling, Jeff the hero helped her. We got invited to their house- the bamboo cottage, a simple bed in one corner and the big flat screen TV in the other corner.

While riding back to the village where we had our Hotel, we came along a sign for a cave. We stopped and there came already a guy and helped us parking the bike. He introduced himself as the security guy of the secluded village and the hospital cave. The cave we found out is actually a bunker from the war 40 years ago. The guy showed us around and told us that he was working and living in the cave when he was in the army. And of course we ended up at his house drinking tea and hard liquor with this really interesting persons, telling us about the war and Vietnams history. He also introduced us to his wife and daughter and his 10 dogs.

The following day we did a boat tour through the bays. We visited a fishing village with floating houses; even the dogs have their own floating hut. With a kayak we explored caves and beaches.

Good morning Vietnam

We left on the 3^rd of October China by bus. As soon as we walked over the border we felt the change and were happy to experience a new country. And yes, we had to walk over the border, get out of the bus, walk over the border, and get in another bus.

In our new, not that fancy, Vietnamese bus we could watch the beautiful scenery of Vietnam, people working on rice fields, water buffalo standing on the side of the street and the different architecture of Vietnamese houses.

The bus driver kicked us out in the middle of Hanoi. Traffic in Hanoi is crazy, 10 mio scooters, 5 mio cars, a few mio bikes; tons of smog and all of them are selfish. We survived getting to our hostel, where we found out that we booked the wrong date, shit. Unfortunately they were also fully booked for that night. So they brought us to a different hotel. Holy shit, it was the worst of the worst …. Molt really everywhere, sealing is coming down and bathroom was so dirty. We were asking around in Hotel/Hostels if they have a room for us but we were really unlucky and couldn’t find anything. Then next day we checked immediately out and got a room somewhere else.

Hanoi is so different then all the cities we have been to so far. It’s so crowded (Yes Chinese cities are crowded too, but not like this), so many tourists, everyone is trying to rip you off, the architecture is so different and so beautiful, food and night life are fantastic.

On the second day in Hanoi we tried to buy a motorbike for our journey through Vietnam. We talked to a few local garages and to private persons who want to sell their motorbike. We choose for some English guys who opened their Motorcycle business 2 years ago. We fell in love with a bike and bought it, a Forelli. ( it’s a fake Honda win). We paid deposit and would pick it up 2 Days later.

After 2 days we came there with packed bags and ready to go on the road. BUT the Forelli was gone, they guy who sold it to us was also gone…. They mate of the guy who sold us the bike was really embarrassed and tried to help us as good as possible. We made a compromise and choose for another fake Honda Win. It is a bike that’s not sure yet if it is motocross or a normal motorbike or a scooter…. It looks funny, but it will do the job, we are sure about that J

Bye Bye China

Nanning was more necessity than chosen for its highlights as our last stop in China. It has a Vietnamese embassy which we needed to arrange our visas. Nanning is a crowded city. All business during the day but really comes alive in the evening. Just around the corner of the hotel there is a wonderful food market. Around five they close the street for traffic and food stands pop-up. Vegetables, fish and all kinds of meat, everything was there and all super fresh. For example the fish stand. They displayed there freshly cut off fish heads on a table while the gill where still moving for oxygen. Some would think it’s cruel, for Chinese this is the only way to sell fish, seafood and meat (also in the normal supermarket fish are alive and wait for their new owner)

On the other side of the hotel is the Yong River that flows through the heart of Nanning. On the side they made a boulevard with the width of a six lane road (it’s build above the road) and it’s THE place to be in the evening. Every club or sub-culture gathers here. Dozens of dance groups (from line dance till break dance), tai chi, skate boarders, bikers and open air karaoke it’s all there. It’s wonderful to see everybody is doing their sports and hobbies out in the open. Caro was also trying some line dancing, but we found out very fast that she doesn't have any skills; also a personal coach didn't help J

Just outside the city is a popular beach resort, Beihai. A bus takes you there in “only” 3 hours. On a perfectly sunny day we discovered this almost empty Chinese beach. We enjoyed summer, sun, cold drinks, some nice chats and delicious shrimps.

After 5 days we had our visas. We could move on to Vietnam.

Xingping

After a 25 hour train ride and sitting 2 hours in the bus we made it to Yangshuo. Out of the bus we got attacked by taxi drivers who knew the way to our hostel for only 150 rmb (about 17 euro). Till know, our most expensive ride was about 20 and took about half an hour. We had booked a hostel just outside of this city in a village called Xingping, or that’s what we thought. Tired from travelling and the taxi drivers we found out it’s 30km away and we just missed the last bus.

Back to the taxi drivers the prices already dropped a bit. A young guy who’s English was decent would take us for 70 rmb by motorbike. We went for it and 5 minutes later we were on our way with 3 people on his bike, one backpack sideways over the gas tank and the other on Jeff’s back. He was sitting behind the seat on a metal frame. Driving on sand roads in the dark with potholes the size of the bike we were happy to make it in little over an hour.

The next few days we discovered Xingping and surrounding, mostly by rain. Hoping for better weather and our planned hike we came for. This area is famous for her karst mountains. Scenery so beautiful they put it on their 20 RMB billet.

Waiting for hiking weather we went to a market. Not our first market experience but definitely the most impressive. The first shock was a calf on the back of a motor bike that was delivered to one of the butchers. In only a few minutes only the skin was left. The rest was put in sellable pieces of meat. The real shock was yet to come. A dog, frozen in running position and stripped from his fur was laying around for sale. We arrived in the area where dog is on the menu.

After a few days we finally had good weather for our hike. Our plan was to take a bamboo (the local form of transportation; boats that were originally made of bamboo) to a village a few km upstream and walk back. Although we were bothered every day we got out of the hostel by women saying “bamboo, bamboo”, this day it seemed impossible to get one. As determined as we were, we inverted the route and started walking in absolute beautiful nature. Surrounded by Pomelo trees, Orange trees and Karst Mountains we are inhaling the silence and awesome atmosphere. A good 5 hours and 16km further we discovered that a bamboo for the way back was also hard to get. Apparently the river was closed for bamboos due to a government tour on the Li River. We had to wait an hour to finally take a bamboo that would take us secretly over the river till only 4 km away from our hostel. It was almost perfect and so much better than walking 16km back. It was a long day but the scenes were stunning and definitely worth it.