Adios Saigon

We have our last two days in Saigon before we have to deal with our 30 hours of travel back to the states. Time for some fun, drinking, and generally relaxing after our brutal tour. This is just an amazing city to hang out in. The people, the place and the atmosphere just make you feel so welcome. It’s organized chaos, but it’s somehow become normal to us.

We had to go and pick up our suits that we had made for us last week before we had headed north. They fit like a glove. I wasn’t expecting much to be honest, we did it more for the experience, but I’m impressed. The amount of money you save having them made here, almost makes it worth coming here once a year just to get suited and booted. After the suits, we decided to just get lost in the city and see where that takes us. It was a hot and humid 95 degrees, so we had to make sure we stayed hydrated, unfortunately the first bar we went in to fill up on fluids, somehow trapped us there for 7 hours. It was a well deserved, and well need wind down, but it made for a messy afternoon.

We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning to jump on a tourist bus and head 2 hours to the Cu Chi tunnels. These are the tunnels the Viet Kong lived in when they were fighting the Americans during the war. It was crazy to see how basic these guys lived, and how they managed to beat the mighty American super power with not much more than an AK47 and some sharpened bamboo. It literally was as simple as that. We saw the crude “tiger traps” (that were pits hidden by leaves and filled with these sharpened bamboo that would impale the enemy), and we crawled through the tunnels where these people lived for a decade during the war. It was so basic, yet so complex. It was basic to the local people that knew how to navigate these dark, tiny tunnels, yet a dangerous maze for the enemy. No high tech gadgets here, just old fashioned jungle fighting skills. It was an interesting day.

We picked up a few more gifts to take back to the states, grabbed a beer and a massage from some random off the street (whilst we were enjoying the beer), a bite to eat and then went to pack.

It’s been a great trip and south east Asia will see me again soon.

The fun continues

Day 5 & 6:

Yesterday was the first day I didn't mind waking up and showering in the cold, it's just become the norm now. People think I'm fast at getting my clothes off, well you want to see me get dressed in 40 degree heat after a shower ...... I'm lightening quick at getting them back on.

We had breakfast overlooking the river and then set on our way north into the mountains. The next two days were pretty much offroad, which means that we are cold (what's new), muddy and you end up getting pretty beat up, but man it was fun. If there were any points were we were on some sort of road, it was in such bad condition it might as well been a track. Our destination today is Coa Bang, 100 miles away.

We experienced a few first in terms of cuisine. Fried bees was definitely a strange one (I just find it amazing what they eat here). If it wasn't for the tons of rice, I would have dropped 50 lbs for sure, and I've found myself slipping slowly into a vegetarian state ...... which is very strange seeing as I'm such a big meat eater normally. There's just something about the way animals are treated here and the look of it on your plate (I’m not talking chicken breast, I’m talking about hr head, brains and feet). Could it be Vietnam is turning me into a vegetarian hippy?

On day 6 we finally hit the Chinese boarder. It was kind of cool to be sat one side of the river in Vietnam, and look at the people in china only 10 meters away. I was surprised at the slack security between the two, but then again with both countries being communists, it's not like you would escape one if you were to flee to the other. The waterfall that separates the two countries made the journey well worth it. Now we had 40 miles over wet, slippery, muddy mountain passes until we get back to the hut that will be home for tonight. A tough 120 miles was covered today over about 8 hours of riding. Some of these mountain roads you struggle to even hit 15 mph without running a great risk of slipping off the edge. Being cautious is the key to survival here.

The hut was cold and the beds on the floor were hard, but we had beer, a fire (made in a pan) and a stereo, so we had our own little party. We also had a cooking class with the local family in the kitchen of their house, and we were made to eat our own creations........ luckily they were throwing around rice wine shots like there were going out of fashion, so if the food was no good, I would never had known anyway ....... but it all tasted fantastic to me. It's been a fun couple of days.

We are heading off now for our 120 mile journey, in the direction of Hanoi. The actual destination ....... who knows?

Day 7

Woke up to other wet day (you can see a pattern here). This time we were slightly more prepared. Waterproofs, poncho, 6 t-shirts, a riding jacket, jeans, waterproof pants, 2 pairs of socks, 2 plastic bags on my feet, boots and then boot covers. That should keep me warm and dry right? Wishful thinking. Rain is evil, no matter what you try, you can't beat it. After about an hour it was the same story. Wet again. Who cares anyway, it was still a great day riding ...... that was until I had my first crash. Well it was not so much a crash, but more of a skid. Luckily I avoided falling under the wheels of the 16 wheeler truck I was trying to pass on a muddy mountain pass, and the most damage I had was a broken clutch lever, a busted knee ....... and my hurt pride (Cameron picked it up on the head cam, so I’m sure I will be forced to relive it once or twice). Our guide had a spare clutch lever, not the correct one for my bike, but we made it work. Now I was cold, wet, covered in mud and riding with a busted knee. Not ideal, but it's all part of the experience. It's experiences like this that build your character ....... or that's what I was telling myself anyway.

Tomorrow we ride back to Hanoi and board our flight to Saigon. We are going to play tourist for a few days in the sun, then it's our 27 hour journey home,

Offorad Vietnam ......... DONE