Chasing the Horizon: 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.