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