When a Win doesn't win.

Well, it's been more than two months for Oscar and I so I thought I'd update with a little tally of Oscars short comings.  Partly for my own amusement and also for those thinking of such a trip and wanting to know what they might be getting themselves in for. 

Guilty as charged.  Oscar today in Nha Trang.

We'll start with one '96 Honda Win.  The engine has had a fresh rebuild in Hanoi, it has a new clutch, new rear sprocket and chain, new front tyre and given the odometer doesn't work I'm just going to say it has three million kilometres on the dial.

In a somewhat chronological order here is what's broken/died/disintegrated/dissapeared/jammed or failed at it's intended purpose.

The key barrel jammed.  This was replaced more or less on the spot which was handy because the bike wouldn't have started without it.  Thank God for it failing only a short walk from a mechanic!

The exhaust manifold worked itself loose.... twice!  This caused Oscar to pop, rattle and crackle like a demented rotary powered funny car.

The chain guard/cover came off it's bracket and got eaten by the chain.  I quickly pulled over, yanked it out with a pair of pliers and continued.  It's now been replaced.

The rear brake/hub assembly has been replaced which fixed my throbbing rear brake issue.

The front axle has been replaced... which now keeps the front wheel from wobbling.  Winner!  I did find that somewhat concerning at 80km/h along the Ho Chi Minh Highway!

Oscar now has a new rear tyre to replace the bald one he came with.

The headlight bulb blew.... in the dark and in the rain.

The indicators only work intermittedly... and not in the way indicators should work intermittedly.  This is a work in progress and still not 100% fixed.

My rear indicators have a habit of working themselves loose.  I've had the right side indicator fall of completely twice now.  Each time I realised and was able to turn back and retrieve it.  My left hand side indicator is now being held on by stickytape.

The 'main' engine gasket was replaced (removal of sump. etc etc etc) after it was found that Oscar leaked oil faster than it was pumped out of the middle east.

The brake light fell off.... I've fixed it with sticky tape and yes, it works!  Roadside mechanics 101.

The little black box that has something to do with ignition died and needed to be replaced after it failed at creating a strong spark.

The electronic starter has been replaced.... twice.  I should also mention this is used only very rarely as I always kick start it from a standstill using the electric start only for emergencies... like stalling in the middle of a Hanoi intersection.

The carby has been opened up and blasted out after the bike kept on 'choking' at anything past 1/4 throttle.

The throttle grip slips which makes it incredibly difficult to accelerate as you had to squeeze the throttle incredibly tightly before twisting the throttle open.  Fixed by my good friend Mr. Stickytape.

The fuel tank sprang two holes which have now been welded over... and it's still leaking somewhere.

The cable that controls my speedo has sheared itself off the back of the instrument cluster.  Seems like it didn't like the bumps of Highway 1A.

Oil seals have been replaced after Oscar was putting out more blue smoke than the average Mazda 121.  I told people his 4 stroke engine had been replaced with a 2 stroke.

Oscar at the mechanics.  A familiar sight.

What's still wrong with Oscar?

Well, the oil seals apparantly take a while to 'bed in' so right now I've taken it to calling Oscar 'Puff the magic dragon'.  He blasts out so much blue smoke that I had one man get quite upset after I smoked out his roadside food stall at start up.  Another few hundred kays and it's 'supposed' to get better.  I'm yet to fix my speedo cable and the front brakes need to be adjusted as they are 'barely' working.  That's my job for tomorrow.

So, what would I do differently if I was to do it again?  Well, it depends on what you want from your trip.  Guys and girls, if you want to stick to Highway 1A (the main 'beach' road) and/or the Ho Chi Minh Highway you could do this on a Honda Wave/Dream, a little Nuovo or an Airblade or something.  Coincendentally I rode a Yamaha Airblade a few days back and it's the nicest step through motorbike/scooter I'm yet to ride in Asia. 
If you are intending to go off the beaten track somewhat you'll ideally need something with a bit more ground clearance and suspension travel.  Despite my troubles I'd still recommend a Honda Win.  Why not a Minsk you may ask?  They seem to be the obvious choice for many?  Well, long and short of it they are rusty piles of oil burning crap.  Yes, even more than Oscar.  Everyone I've met on this trip who has one seems to have rebuilt the engine atleast twice already.... and that's only having travelled half of the country!
If I was to do my same trip again?  Honda 'Baja' XR250.  Sure, it might cost close to three times as much but being able to sustain speeds of 100km/h+, tackle the elements of the North East/West loops and handle the general abuse of such a trip it should be viewed as the ultimate contender.  It would probably save days too given that being Japanese built it's going to be far more reliable.  ...also, popping mono's up 'Death Highway' (Highway 1A) should really be on everyones 'to do' list and sadly Oscar just doesn't have the juice for that.

How much to pay?  Don't pay $400 for your Honda Win like I did.  I was an ignorant goose and I wouldn't want to hear others paying the price I did.  I wouldn't pay ANYMORE than $300 and that should be for a really good one.  A brand new one can be had for not much more (around $400 'local price') and for an average condition one around the $250 mark.  Keep in mind that that's the tourist price.  Locals get theirs from anywhere between $150-$250 but don't expect to get that sort of price unless you look Vietnamese and can speak fluent Viet.  Your other option to get a local price is to buy a Lonely Planet phrase book and head to the 'love, flirting and relationship' section.  Off you go there Casanova.

Oh, and you shouldn't pay anymore than 90k Dong for a simple oil change. 

Hope this may be of some help to someone out there.

Now, back to enjoying paradise....

I think I've found paradise.

I find it somewhat ironic that my last entry finished with me saying it was nice to be moving again.  I’m alive and well in Nha Trang and I have been here for two weeks and to be honest, I’m almost hesitant to ever leave.

Killer bomb to killer whale in Nha Trang.

The trip to Nha Trang was an eventful journey.  I left my hotel in Quy Nhon with clear skies but leaving the town was no easy task.  At first I got a little lost.  Then, Oscar started choking.  I pulled over and got him started again but after a few metres the same thing happened.  It was fortunate that I was travelling uphill as I was able to (reluctantly) roll down the hill to where I was hoping I could find a mechanic.  At the bottom I met a group of guys sitting around on their bikes and after a brief and broken conversation about Oscars short comings they presented a phillips head screw driver and managed to fix my rattly and popping exhaust.  This however raised another concern as although the exhaust was now fixed something else still rattled.  The guys seemed to think it was low on oil but I only had it serviced in Hoi An.  None the less I took their advice (the oil cap was jammed on tight so we weren’t able to get it open to check) and rode all over Quy Nhon looking for a mechanic.  Eventually I found one and what I found incredibly surprising was that Oscar was near dry!  I’m not sure how this happened but I’m starting to conclude that whoever rebuilt this engine is an absolute monkey and should stick to knitting.  The bike started ok and the rattles were gone and I’m hopeful that no ‘serious’ damage has been caused.  So, at midday I FINALLY left Quy Nhon.

The road to Nha Trang was beautiful and for the most part dry.  Infact, it only started raining 30 minutes from Nha Trang.  Bliss!

What's not to love?

Coming into Nha Trang at night is no real easy task.  I would have been arriving in day time had I not had the issues in the morning but riding through peak hour and in the rain in a foreign city was not ideal.  The weather was so not ideal infact that I crashed Oscar as I was slowing down and pulling over to pull out my map.  No damage to me mind (+1 to proper safety gear) but the slide across the road that Oscar endured did leave him a little battered and bruised.  The left side foot peg had been bent (amongst other things) and I was unable to change it out of first or neutral so I pushed him to the nearest hotel and crashed for the night.

So now… it’s been two weeks and I’m still here.  Why?  I love this place.  It’s paradise.  I probably shouldn’t have left this blog entry so late to update because so much has gone on that I almost feel it a chore to write and particularly so when I look out my hotel room and see a bright blue sky.  I guess in short a lot of what makes me love this place are the people.  Sure, the constant touts offering me ‘massage’, cigarettes, sunglasses, ‘boom-boom’, cocaine (yes, that was a new one!) and marijuana was tiring at first but I feel that’s really only a very small part of Nha Trang but for the most part if you only come here for three of four days that’s all you’d see.  The ex-pat crowd here is colourful as are the locals.  People from all walks of life and with all sorts of stories.  Travelling musicians, dive instructors, guys with business back home that they run from Nha Trang, teachers, law clerks, resturant owners, you name it. 

Clearly the coolest Vespa in Vietnam!

A few days ago I was saying I’d leave in a few days.  I’d been saying this for a week but I think I’ll just be honest and say I’ll be here for atleast another week.  Maybe longer.  Maybe I’ll even extend my visa and simply rush down to Saigon just before Christmas.  Thanks to Rainbow Divers I’m now a certified open water (scuba) diver so maybe I’ll spend some more time swimming around looking at fish.  It’s a whole new world down there and it’s by far one of the best things I’ve done on this trip.

Anyway, I need to leave and pick up Oscar from the mechanics.  I had everything from the crash fixed (plus some more) but this time Oscar is leaking fuel.  A whole tank disappeared in less than three days with less than thirty minutes riding.  The staff at my previous hotel (I keep finding better hotels for cheaper so I keep on moving) didn’t like bringing in Oscar to the foyer at night.  Now I know why!  He’s one smelly bike!

Here come the rains again...

Oscar in Hoi An

Well, it’s pelting down with rain outside but I’m no longer in HoiAn.  I really liked the place and as a richer, older traveller it’s probably a place I’d revisit but it was too expensive for me on my budget and being there for nearly a week and a half I’d stayed there long enough anyway.

I am now in Quy Nhon which is around 270 kilometres south of HoiAn.  I should start by saying that this was not my intended stop between HoiAn and Nha Trang.  I was intending to stay in another town roughly 170 kilometres further north but when I drove through this town at a little past 12 yesterday and well ahead of schedule I thought it be best to push on.  What I didn’t know was that those dark clouds on the horizon was one MONSTER of a storm.  It started off light.  So light in fact that I thought it was just a passing shower and didn’t worry about pulling over to put on my rain jacket and rain proof pants.  When the heavens truly opened though and by the time I’d pulled over I was already so drenched that there was no point putting on rain gear at all… so I just rode on.  At first I thought it was hail as the rain hitting my legs stung….and that’s through Kevlar jeans but nope, that was just tropical rain sized rain drops!  The wind was so strong and at one point I was leaning into the wind just to keep the bike upright.  On three separate occasions I past a truck coming in the opposite direction which happened to drive through a massive puddle JUST as I rode past which then sent a wall of water in my direction! 

Not that this image really fits into this blog entry but I had to
post it somewhere because it is so damn insane!  Possibly the
fattest dog in Vietnam.  No, scratch that.  The world!

I always wondered how the locals handled this sort of weather and I now know.  They simply don’t.  They all turn into roadside restaurants for a beer or twenty and wait for the storm to pass over.  I didn’t know this… and besides I was drenched already and you can’t drown a rat twice.   What I did find… enjoyable (because at this point I was beyond the point of caring being now hilariously wet) was crossing under a bridge that had flooded.  I had no idea how deep that water was.  There was no traffic at this point of the journey (unusual for Hwy 1A but everyone on the road vanishes when it gets this wet) which would have been handy to gauge the waters depth by seeing others go first so after a slight pause and enjoying the shelter of the overhead bridge and absence of rain drops falling on my helmet I thought I’d just jump into the deep end so to speak and get stuck into it.  So I chuck the bike in first and ride on in.  At first the water reaches the foot pegs… then over my ankles… then halfway up my legs… Oh crap!  Thankfully it didn’t get too much deeper as I’m pretty sure Oscar would have choked up if it had.  Already the exhaust was making bubbles under the water!

I pulled into Quy Nhon a little past 4 and a little bit wet. 

On the road between Hoi An and Quy Nhon... before the rains.

Despite me spending a small fortune on Oscar in HoiAn I wasn’t rewarded for it.  I went to a second mechanic in HoiAn to fix my still existing issues and my carby was pulled apart and cleaned out (it runs MUCH better now) and the idle was fixed.  I also had the front axle replaced which I knew was making the front wheel rattle quite badly but the other mechanic refused to acknowledge.  So what’s wrong now?  Well, this time it’s the exhaust and Oscar crackles and pops more than a pig on a spit.  What’s incredibly more frustrating is that the grip on the throttle now slips so if I go to open the throttle up it just moves the grip rather than the actual throttle.  Some glue outta fix that and when the rain subsides I’m off to do some shopping.  Oh, and the brake light fell off.  Yes, another case of something just falling off the bike.  Thankfully it was caught by a few loose bungee cords that I’d used to tie my bag to the back of the bike so I still have it.  Sticky tape will fix it!  Oscar sure is a quality bike.

Hopefully I get a break tomorrow  morning and I’ll try and make the last 230 kilometres to Nha Trang.  It’s nice to be moving again.

Jeremy Clarkson does not stretch the truth.

Oh, hello again.  It’s been a while since visits.

I left Hue just over a week ago.  Maybe it was much longer than that as I’ve very much lost track of the days… and weeks.  Hue was nice but the sights of Hue could very much be seen in one day but then, I needed an extra few days to expand my retro Casio watch collection.  History repeated itself and I left Hue in the pouring rain which is now something I’m getting well-adjusted too.  Thankfully it was only a short four hour ride through the Hai Van pass to DaNang.  I did get rather lost coming into DaNang and ending up taking an extra hour and a half riding around the city and up and down the beach strip before an ‘Easy Rider’ helped me to find the guesthouse I had intended to stay.  I guess I’m living up to the blog name! Oh how easy this would have been with a GPS! 

"Handsome man" The spot where the TopGear guys stopped and
commented on Vietnam to a setting sun.  That's the bridge in
the background that leads into the mountain tunnel.

Jeremy Clarkson reported in the ‘Top Gear:  Vietnam Special’ that the Hai Van pass (the road linking Hue to DaNang) was “a deserted ribbon of perfection—one of the best coast roads in the world” and in some way I was expecting that I would be able to call Jeremy Clarkson a liar.  I mean, he doesn’t like Toyota’s and doesn’t like motorbikes so surely his perspective is skewed.  ….well, I was wrong.  The Hai Van pass should be closed permanently to the public and turned into a targa rally course.  Yes, it’s really THAT good.  A few years back the Vietnamese drilled a hole into the side of a mountain and created a tunnel that takes the majority of the traffic that would otherwise travel on the rather dangerous pass.  The only vehicles found on the pass these days are motorbikes (not permitted to ride in the tunnel) and trucks carrying explosive materials or livestock.   Coastal roads and explosive trucks, it doesn’t get any better than that! 

All hairpins should be like this.

If it’s one thing I’ve learnt about myself on this trip is that I hate back tracking.  I hate covering old ground but on the odd occasion it’s worth the trip and this road is worth a thousand back trackings…. So I’ve now done the pass a total of three times.  It’s THAT awesome.

I’m now in Hoi An.  It’s touristy but I really do love this place.  The touts and calls of ‘Easy Rider!’ can get a little tiresome as do the constant calls of tailors calling you into their shops but I adore the place.  I’ve moved to the third hotel now with the first being too expensive which after 3 days prompted a move.  The second I was kicked out of as it was being renovated and the third, being the cheapest is by far the nicest.  Three times the charm.

My Son ruins near Hoi An.

I’ll be here for a few more days… as I’m waiting on two suits being created.  Saves me buying suits once I get home which is something I’ll need to do anyway and these are much, much nicer than what I'd be willing to pay for back home. 

Oscar is now wearing a new tyre and has a full set of indicators.  The leaky sump has also been fixed…. The clutch is now slipping (it wasn’t prior to its service) although I’m going to get the clutch adjusted elsewhere as I’m pretty confident I was blatantly ripped off by the mechanic here in Hoi An. BUT…. Oscars running well and the push start is also now working which is something that had bugged me since it broke back in Dong Hoi.

So, from here I’ll head south.  Planning on taking my time and I’ll probably head back up to DaNang to chill out on the beach for a day or two while I’m at it.  Hey, it’s a tough gig I’m running here!

Every shoe can be made to fit in any colour or material.  The mens shoes only made up 20% of the store.... and there was still another wall of mens shoes more than this!  I'll generalize in saying but this town is a womans greatest fantasy.

Hoi An

Oscar a lemon?

I put on my armour, mount my noble steed and slam down the visor on my helmet ready for the challenge before me.  …the medieval analogies end there.  Sorry, that’s all I got.

So I think Oscar is a lemon. 

Replacing the jammed key barrel

When I was in Son La I noticed a small pool of oil in the hotel lobby underneath Oscar’s heart.  I thought nothing of it… but I’ve noticed now a common trend of when the bike is warmed up it tends to drip oil somewhat steadily.  I’d guess it would happen all the time whilst I’m riding I just don’t see it but when I stop every few hours to let Oscar cool down I usually leave ten minutes later a few mil of oil down on what I had before I stopped.  This has now resulted in two rather unplanned ‘services’ when I’ve realized the oil level is down to dangerous levels.  Oscars fuel cap doesn’t screw on tight which means with anything above half a tank I can’t put the bike down into a corner without getting fuel sloshing out over the tank.  Same applies with sudden braking and my Kevlar jeans often smell of petrol.  My right-rear indicator dropped off yesterday… yes, it just dropped off.  I somehow need to work out a way with my very basic tools how to bolt and wire it back on.

On top of that I’ve started noticing other Honda Wins…. And most of them look remarkably nicer than Oscar. This pains me somewhat and the last few days I’ve had strange urges to wash him.  Just so he fits in…. because currently he’s covered in a thousand or so kilometres of the remotest Vietnamese dirt and parked next to one of the cleanest Honda Wins I’m yet to see on this trip.  

Fixing the exhaust, tightening the chain, fresh oil, putting air in
the rear tyre and of course, ammending the seat.

I’ve had Oscar fail on me a few times… but then that’s half the fun.  I mean, without I would never have met Vietnams youngest mechanic.  I'm not sure what was wrong with the seat and what he managed to do with a pair of pliers but whatever it was I’m sure it’s now much, much better.

I’ve moved on from Rug ‘n Tug town and am now residing in Hue (pronounced Hwey) where the streets now resemble that of Venice, Italy.  Turns out their drainage system isn’t that great and with 30 minutes of torrential rain the roads really do turn into rivers.  I’ve been here for a few days and I expect to move on in a few more.  Hopefully when things get drier as I’m not liking the whole riding in the rain thing.  I stayed in Dong Hoi for a few days checking out some caves and some tunnels built during the war although riding through the DMZ (the war front) was surprisingly anti-climatic.  I really expected a line painted across the road to show what was South Vietnam and North Vietnam or something.  Instead it’s just an unassuming river and an ordinary looking bridge.  As an unrelated sidenote here is my no.1 tip for single male travellers in Vietnam.  When asked about your relationship status…. Lie.  I had been doing this but today I slipped up and when my motorbike taxi rider asked (in general conversation) if I had a girl back home and when I truthfully answered "no" he then proceeded to introduce me to every eligible (albeit beautiful) girl in Hue.   I won’t let you know how that ends… just because your imaginations will probably be more creative than my real world reactions.

A bridge across Perfume River in Hue.  At peak hour this is handle bar to handle bar.  I know, I rode it!

A random street scene in Hue

Ah, Venice.



Rain enroute to Dong Hoi

 

I've hit the coast.

Spot the truck

I left Dien Bien Phu around midday enroute to Son La.  The ride was relatively uneventful with the exception of Oscar starting to play-up.  I’m not sure what was causing it but the engine seem to bog down whenever I opened the throttle more than halfway.  I put some fresh fuel in the tank thinking I may have got some dirty fuel and/or was running low and the engine was sucking up sediments in the bottom of the tank.  Either way, it didn’t fix it so I swapped the spark plug over thinking maybe I had a weak spark…. this didn’t fix it.  A young local guy came up on his bike through and helped me out and got Oscar going smooth again. He checked the spark plug, the leads, the fuel flow and then he revved the crap out of it.  Whatever was wrong with Oscar taking it past it’s un-marked redline seem to fix it.  I'll store this tip for later.  Once Oscar was running smoothly again the young guy got back on his bike, gave me a wave and was off.  I have to say, so far that’s the nicest display from the locals I’ve got with a lot of those in the more rural areas wanting nothing to do with me and for the most part ignore my existence.  A bit strange but then when I speak no Vietnamese and they speak no English I guess they avoid the hassle of trying to communicate.  I don’t mind the ‘hassle’.

Son La is a pretty small place.  I’m pretty sure I was the only westerner in town.  Although I tried my best in Vietnamese to order food given that my tones are no doubt incorrect and the older lady at the ‘restaurant’ not familiar with an english’ified version of Vietnamese it made getting a meal an interesting experience.  With no menu’s to point at, no pictures and no-one else eating of which I could simply point at and say ‘same, same’ it meant a game of charades was in order.  I think I asked for beef… I think I got beef initially but after a little while I was convinced it was pork.  Once finished though I had no idea what it was.  I’m trying not to dwell on it too much.  It was food and given that when I’m on the road I only seem to be getting one meal a day (simply because going hungry is easier  when I’m so remote) I don’t see it as too much of an issue.  As long as it’s food.

I climbed into the mountains from Son La and after an epic road that just seemed to keep going higher and higher I eventually got an awesome down hill where I could throw the bike into neutral and coast down at 80 clicks with the engine off.  I then stayed in a stilt house in Mai Chau for a few days for a much deserved break.   Coincidentally I was able to have my first conversation in English for three days here.

My lodging in Mai Chau

I’m now at Cua Lo beach just north of Vinh.  I was meant to get Vinh by nightfall from Mai Chau (an 8 hour ride) but got completely lost which tacked on a few hours to my trip.  Coming down death highway at night I decided to pull over 16 kays short and find a hotel here for a few nights before making my way to Hue.  I’ve since learnt this seems to be a bit of a ‘rub ‘n tug’ town and most hotels offer ‘massage’ as well.  I’ve opted for a more expensive government hotel at $20 a night but it means I won’t get any knocks on the door come late at night.  Ordering food at the restaurant next door was amusing though.  I sat down and was asked what I wanted to order… in Vietnamese.  I stare at the waitress blankly.  She laughs “silly me!” she must have said in Vietnamese and promptly brings me over a menu… which is also in Vietnamese.  I stare at it blankly and point out some words at total random.  She then continues to talk to me in Vietnamese most likely telling me that what I had ordered was just an appetizer.  I shrug my shoulders and she went and got me my food.  A short time later my small fish cakes had been devoured and I was still hungry.  Someone else had come in at this point so I pointed to the fried noodles they had on their table.  This led to me being handed the napkins from that table… then the box of chopsticks, then a beer… then finally they went out the back to fry up some more noodles.

Rice paddies in Mai Chau

I walked around the place this morning and there’s not much to see.  The beach looks ordinary and the roads are pretty void of cars, motorbikes and people.  It’s a bit of a ghost town.  I guess it must really pick up during the summer months but this must be a destination for Vietnamese tourists from Hanoi as I can see no real drawcard for internationals.  I will happily leave tomorrow morning.  Hopefully I’ll make it over the DMZ and into Hue without too many hassles.

Cua Lo beach... ordinary.

Riding through the remote north.

Leaving in the clouds

I have left SaPa…. And it’s about time too as I was going quite mad.  Oh, I liked the place but with so much else of the country to discover the fact that I was stuck there for over a week was really eating me.  I was meant to leave Friday… but the weather forecast was gloomy (as it turned out it was one of the nicest days spent in Sapa) so I didn’t go.  Saturday I was packed with a full tank of fuel in Oscar… but I woke to heavy rain.  This morning?  SaPa was in the clouds and things for the time being were dry.  I was on my noble steed by 7:30 with the plan to make Muong Lay by mid-afternoon, a 5 ½ hour ride.  I set off into the clouds with high hopes.… an hour later and the heavens opened on the roughest patch of the Tram Ton pass.  Roads turned into rivers and what was once dry dirt was now half a foot deep mud.  The bike stalled crossing a stream that was gushing across the road.  I got off the bike with the water halfway up my knee I pushed Oscar through and thankfully he started up first go.  I pressed on.

I didn’t pull over to take photos of the muddy roads.  I was eager to keep going and get on to something dry. Eventually the rain subsided and as the kilometres passed the road began to dry.  I passed so many towns that weren’t on the map.  I don’t know what’s going on there.  Either the maps only recognize large towns or they all sprang up over night.  Infact, some of those towns weren’t that small at all!    

As I approached Muong Lay I hit a snag. There had been a landslide the week prior and the road I was meant to ride on had slid down the mountain and into the river that runs parallel below.  I back tracked and found some small boats that were ferrying passengers (off buses) up the river and to what I assumed to be the other side of the landslide.  I negotiated a fee and for $7 Oscar was lifted up onto a small dinghy and we floated down the river to the designated drop off, then Oscar was lifted off the dinghy, ridden up the hill and then lifted (thanks to 5 Viet chaps) over the guardrail.

For mum.



I should note the comically large backpack is a result of a buying frenzy in Sapa followed by boxing it all up to post home... and then missing the post office.



After 7 hours  I reached Muong Lay*  ...and clearly they don’t care too much for the place.  The roads weren’t sealed and like a lot of roads I’d already ridden through they were streets of mud.  I’m not talking about big puddles with some dry patches mind.  I’m talking about half a foot deep across the entire street.  Footpath to footpath.  It was nearly comical watching all the bikes and cars slip and slide down those streets.  I decided not to stay there and instead ride on to the Laos border point Dien Bien Phu.  I mean, it’s only 3 hours right?   

The roads improved remarkably after Muong Lay with only a short stint of roadworks that claimed the poor scooter in front of me that slipped on to it side and sent its two ‘occupants’ into the mud.  Despite the rear tyre on Oscar looking a bit bald we got through upright despite slipping and sliding for the whole duration.  It’s sounds fun… but it’s more fun in a car.

Chasing the last of the sunlight I came into the valley where Dien Bien Phu City resides at around 6pm.  At 6:30 I had navigated into town and found some accommodation.  Close to 4 hours on the dot.



Coming into Dien Bien Phu



I just got back from a street stall downstairs… Pho Ga (chicken soup) with the oddest cuts of chicken I’ve ever seen.  I need to increase my vocabulary so I can ask for more than soup.

Todays tally.

Dogs narrowly avoided: 12

Horses narrowly avoided: 1 (since when is a road a suitable place to send your horse for feeding? !)

Dogs seen procreating: 4 (two to tango)

Buffalo’s ridden around at speed: 32

Goats narrowly avoided: 2

Buses narrowly avoided: 1

Live Cobra’s seen slithering across the road: 1 (slowed down for a better look and it raised its head and flattened it’s neck.  Eek!)

Presumed average daily speed: 40 kp/h

Top speed: 85 kp/h (VERY briefly)

Times that I nearly wet my pants at a close call: 2 (excluding the cobra)

Un-named villages past: lost count!

Kids seen playing half naked on the dusty roadside: Too many. 

In some regard I considered Vietnam to be a rather developed country but the poor… really are poor.  This isn’t Kansas anymore and it makes you appreciate the benefits of a rich western homeland.

*This town is due to be flooded (dam project) in 2012

My motorcycle diaries

I’m pacing the room again.  I’ve been in Sapa now for a little over a week and most of that time I feel I’ve spent looking out of the window.  It’s been raining now for days and it’s only just starting to clear up.  Looking out through the window of my room now I can see the highest mountain in Vietnam, Fansipan… well, the base of it anyway.  The rest of the mount is shielded by cloud although for the last half an hour its peak has pushed through the clouds.  I want to climb it.  I don’t think that’s going to be possible though unless I stay here for another week as the weather forecast is gloomy.  On top of that I’m nursing the tail end of a chest infection.

The weather cleared up yesterday for a bit so I decided to ride through the Tram Ton pass… and back again.  Due to the weather I was debating (reluctantly) to put Oscar back on the train to Hanoi and with that in mind I really wanted to ride the mountain pass before having to head back south.  Many consider Tram Ton to be one of the greatest roads (for views) in Vietnam and I’m thankful I took the gamble and rode off into the grey sky.  Fortunately the weather held out for the first few hours and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a countryside so beautiful.  Stunning and I know that even with my l33t photography skills not even I could give those mountains justice.  For now I’m only going to upload a few photo’s from my point and shoot anyway. 



Oscar and friend.



The good news however is that Friday is looking to be a great day so looks like I’ll be riding Oscar with all my gear strapped on the back out of Sapa as originally intended.  I’ll be headed west and I’ll be flipping a coin as to whether to head into Laos or keep travelling south through Vietnam.

Tomorrow I’m planning on dropping in on some hilltribe villages.  Hopefully the weather holds up.



I shall call him Oscar

On the night train to Sapa I met a young Italian couple.  We spoke about their travel itinerary first and when it came to asking where I was headed I just had to shrug my shoulders. 

“I don’t know.  I’ll flip a coin I guess.  Heads for right, tails for left” I laughed .

“Now, that is real freedom”

I don’t even know if freedom actually exists in this world as there are always restraints but in some respects this as free as I can get.  The freedom only brought to you by a bike.

His name is Oscar.  No real reason in particular other than Oscar Wilde being a rather amusing chap and… I thought the name worked.  I prefer Mark Twain for inspiring travel quotes but a bike named Twain just didn’t have the same ring to it.

It’s a ’96 110cc Honda Win although I’ve been told by local Honda Win enthusiasts here in Sapa that it’s made in China.  It’s four-stroke, manual and I’ve been told it can only sustain its top speed of 75km/h for an hour before it’s recommended I pull over for a five to ten minute breather to let Oscar have a little rest.  Oscar has a new clutch, new piston rings and a new piston so really, he’s like a new one and all things going well I shouldn’t have too many issues… although I am expecting a few but that’s part of the experience.  I will however probably need to ensure Oscar gets a service before I travel too far given the fact the engine hasn’t yet been run in. I’ve been loaded up with a few rare spare parts on the off chance they fail and been given a crash course in motorcycle mechanics.  I’m just glad I’m already familiar and relatively competent with how an engine works.

I rode Oscar back from the shop to my hotel at midday as to avoid the hectic Hanoi peak hour traffic that picks up around 4pm.  From there he sat patiently on the curb for a few days before being ridden rather nervously at night through Hanoi to the train station.  Here Oscar was drained of its fuel (a fire hazard allegedly but it felt like a scam to steal my full tank of fuel) loaded up on to a train to Lao Cai where the following morning I pushed it through town until I found a fuel station and then rode from the Chinese border up the mountain pass to the gloriously cold but beautiful Sapa.

Yesterday some newly made friends hired some automatic scooters and I took Oscar to go see some waterfalls about 15km’s out of Sapa.  Oscar behaved wonderfully with the exception of really, really struggling up some of those hills but in his defence he was carrying both myself, a pillion and I just couldn’t shift down the gears fast enough to maintain momentum.  That said, when leading the pack it was no problems to maintain a steady 50-60km/s speed.  I’m amazed at the positive attention Oscar has been getting from locals though.  I thought the red star to be a bit corny but I’ve had locals offer to buy it and one young guy at a restaurant yesterday was really interested in it.  At my suggestion he wore my armour which then prompted all of his friends to start punching him to see if it hurt.  Hilarious!  He was very appreciative of the experience but I think I enjoyed it more than he did!

Not sure how long I’ll be in Sapa but it will be atleast a week. The town is very touristy but there is more to see outside of the town.   Accommodation is cheap at $7 twin share which I’m splitting with another Australian guy and although the food is (surprisingly) more expensive than Hanoi it’s still quite easy to feed oneself three times a day for less than $8.  I’ll use Sapa as a bit of a base to explore the north and return every day or two.  From here I’m thinking to head west before looping wide and around back to Hanoi.  I’m considering bypassing Laos and instead heading south through the entire length of Vietnam before potentially going to Cambodia where Oscar is supposedly worth more to westerners (Vietnamese registered bikes can cross borders whereas Cambodian bikes cannot) OR sell Oscar in Saigon and look at a cheap flight to Chang Mai for a few weeks… the downside to that is that it will be coming in to their tourist season.

Time will tell.

Just one week down...

What day is today?  Monday?… this week has kind of flown!

I’m still Hanoi and it’s incredibly wet.

I’ve just returned from a two day, one night Ha Long Bay trip… a tourist trap but despite the horror stories I’ve heard I had no such experience.  The weather wasn’t too hot  or humid and the nice breeze was refreshing.  My room smelt like diesel and although the A/C worked at the beginning I originally thought I could make it ‘better’ by turning up the fan and lowering the temperature.  Turns out I can’t decipher the Chinese characters on the A/C remote control and turned it off.  I could only get it to turn on again for 30 minute intervals so I was waking up every 40 minutes or so in the heat to push buttons at random to turn it back on!

Overall I have to say the bay was much nicer than I had expected.  The water was beautiful and the limestone karsts are as beautiful as the pictures.  My only disappointment was the lack of sunset thanks to the hazy clouds/smog which really killed some of my photo idea’s and I would have appreciated the lack of 5kg camera gear packed into my small backpack.  Still, I fired off a few shots with the new SLR so I look forward to having a good play around with them once I get home.  Hopefully I have something worthwhile.

I’ve seen everything I wanted to see in Hanoi.  I’ve enjoyed walking around the town, eating in street stalls and the night market that I stumbled on last night.  I’ve seen Ho Chi Minh, his house and his cars.  I’ve walked around the lake numerous times, bought a non-touristy T-shirt at a store where not a word of English was known or spoken.  I’ve screamed all over the city on the back of a motorbike and I’ve also been to the university built eons ago as a temple to honour the teachings of Confucius. .. as well as a few museums.  They seem to have a museum for everything.

I was planning on heading up north to Sapa tomorrow but with the rain killing all motivation today I’ll most likely now depart the day after tomorrow.  From there I expect to use Sapa as a base and take a week to explore the surrounding area before heading into Laos.  Not sure how long I’ll be in Laos and I’ve had an idea to head into Northern Thailand via the golden triangle however I haven’t yet decided as to whether this is a viable idea given I’ll be then having to apply for a second Laos visa to come back into Vietnam and of course, a Thailand visa.  I’ll make that decision on the way I suppose.

Getting lost in Hanoi

Taking a shower.  One really has to wonder whether it’s even worth the hassle.  I take 5 minutes getting what I need from the locker and storing away what I don’t need.  Then (and assuming that none of the other 8 in this shared dorm room are using the one shower) I cram into it’s cozy unlockable stall.  There’s no racks or hooks to put my clothes on so on the floor they go and I just have to hope that I direct the water flow so that it DOESN’T spray all over my already semi-damp dirty clothes.  So far on all attempts I have failed miserably and everything I have worn and intend to wear has got a good spraying.  Not that it matters mind as it only takes another ten minutes and I’m already glistening with sweat.  The word ‘glistening’ conjures up a far nicer image than ‘sweating like a pig’.  So, I glisten.  I glisten like a diamond.  Not that I’m complaining mind, I love Hanoi.  I really should buy the T-shirt.

The flight was uneventful.  That’s how I like my flights.  Leaving the airport at Bangkok for my changeover the humid heat really brought back memories and although I thought I missed it I’m now not sure I do.  Hanoi is not what I expected although that’s not to say it’s bad.  It’s not like Cambodia where everyone is pushy to sell and in nearly all instances an apologetic ‘no’ in the only language I know is enough for them to move on with a smile.  Further to that it took half a day before someone offered me the green stuff and a little over a day before being offered a dodgy massage.  I don’t think there was a ten minute interval in Cambodia where I wasn’t offered both.  That said I suppose I don’t recall ever being offered opium before.  ….so I bought a kilo and sent it home*.      

Crossing the road is an adventure and if I only had a second to describe this city I would have to say it’s a maze.  I’m lost multiple times everyday and I’m starting to realize just how much I’ve come to rely on technology over the simple map.  It’s crammed, a swarming hive of motorcycles that travel so close they could almost pass for being one very unusual looking machine.  It’s dusty, hot, humid, dirty and very noisy but so far I’m loving it…. and am being incredibly envious of some of the locals who are walking around in jeans and aren’t breaking a sweat. 

Tomorrow I’m moving hostel to the newer and better equipped ‘sister’ lodge that also shares the same name as this one, ‘Hanoi Backpackers Hostel’.  The new one supposedly has power points in the lockers which although might sound weird it’s nice to be able to charge something up while you’re out getting lost.  The down side for me is that everyone in there looks to be the  crew that just got off the plane from Bali.  It has a big party vibe but it’s bigger, cleaner and also has an offsite and secure parking area… may come in handy.   It appears to be in a bigger ‘tourist’ area with an obligatory ‘Reggae Bar’ and a place across the road that sells mixed drinks by the bucket and advertises that it only closes when the last patron can no longer stand.   It does however seem to have more food stalls a greater variety of stores and streets to explore.   

Things are cheaper than I thought for a large city.   Currently my daily expenses including my accommodation would not exceed $25.   

Chicken and mushroom soup, noodles with seasonal vegetables and... I think it was beef.  $3.50  Loving street stalls.

I have no plans to leave Hanoi just yet although the tourist trap that is Ha Long bay does call.

*sarcasm. Recognize