February 6 – 7, 2013

Surprisingly, the bus to Dalat went smooth. We followed the travel agent over to the bus terminal, and he made sure the bikes got on the bus no problem. The bus even left on time!  We were on a sleeper bus which has two levels of beds, or more like really reclined seat instead of regular bus seats. They were pretty comfortable and we ended up in the back row on the upper lever next to a Dutch girl traveling alone.

Down the aisle

The ride was uneventful but relaxing. We snoozed, read and listened to music. The bus didn’t go too fast, so it took 9 hours plus 4 stops to get to Dalat, which was only about 200 miles from HCMC. When we got to town around 6pm, it was dark and chilly. I actually had to put on a sweater!  We were planning on walking to the hotels with our new Dutch friend, but they were all several kilometers away, so I gave her a ride instead.

My new passenger

We found a room with three beds and invited Leonie to share a room with us. The next day, I discovered I had left my shoes at our hotel in Saigon. I immediately called the hotel and explained the situation. Luckily, they agreed to send them by bus to Dalat that day, so we could pick them up at the bus station later.

The three of us decided to check out the Crazy House. The “house” was more of complex of concrete structures connected with elaborate suspended staircases and walkways. It exhibited a strange flavor of architecture drawing on fairy tales and maybe Dr. Seuss but with a 1970’s sci-fi movie set feel. There were several “themed” rooms such as the “Termite Room” or the “Bear Room” that apparently could be rented for the night. The whole thing was a bit odd, and parts of the suspended walkways were straight up dangerous, but it was an excellent way to kill and hour or so.

Leonie and me

Walkway around the roof

Do you see the face?

We spent the next couple of hours wandering around town. Dalat is very hilly and a number of the streets were quite steep. We followed a few narrow alleys which led to neighborhoods perched on the sides of steep hills. The topography combined with the quaint French influenced architecture made the place feel a little european, in contrast to the rest we have seen of Vietnam.

At the bottom of the hills, there is a reservoir which we wandered around. For some reason, neither Chandler nor Leonie wanted to go on the romantic swan boat ride with me. They both claimed that the comb on the swans head actually made them romantic chicken boats, but I wasn’t convinced.

Market

Swan princess

Before dinner, I called the hotel to get info on my shoes. Turned out, they sent the wrong shoes by mistake. However, the owner of the wrong shoes coincidentally lives in Dalat and would bring my shoes with her on the bus that night. I needed to pick up her shoes and meet up with her in the morning for a swap. Some things just can’t be easy.

February 2 – 5, 2013

Saigon was intense. The heat was almost unbearable which made it difficult to be outside in the middle of the day. All the concrete did a good job retaining and radiating heat. The traffic was congested, endless and aggressive. It wasn’t that hard to ride in, but it was physically and mentally exhausting. Walking meant literally walking in traffic as the sidewalks were taken over by parked motos and people selling things. Our hotel was right in the middle of the “backpacker” area which was a snarl of bars, hotels, restaurants and kitsch shops. All of this energy was a little more than we could handle, especially after the last week of lazy meandering in the Mekong Delta.

That looks safe

But it wasn’t all just hiding out in the hotel, sulking from the heat. One day, we visited the Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine, which was housed in a beautiful building constructed with antique carved panels from around Vietnam. The museum had many artifacts and tools on display. An English speaking guide showed us some of the plants used to treat various ailments, and the tools used to prepare them, such as crushing wheels and kettles. We watched a brief video that discussed the modern industrial production of traditional medicines. We finished up the tour with some funky mushroom tea. Chan bought a bottle of natural cough remedy to see if it worked any better than the regular drugs he was taking (it didn’t, unfortunately).

Acupuncture?

Dragon vase

Lime jars

Prescriptions

During the hottest part of the day we went to an arcade. It was so much fun to spend an hour shooting bad guys, racing cars or snowboarding through an obstacle course.

Chan gives up skiing

Next Indy500 winner

The next day we went to the War Remnants Museum which was surprisingly well done and only a dollar or two to get in. In the courtyard of the museum were a number of US tanks, airplanes (including a jet), helicopters and other captured weapons on display, which were interesting to see up close. Inside the museum were tons of interpretive panels about different aspects of the war, including a section on the improved relations between Vietnam and the United States following visits by Presidents Clinton and Bush. There was a moving exhibit on influential war photographers, many of whom lost their lives in the conflict. A whole section of one floor of the museum was dedicated to the display of captured small arms, everything from M-16s to Bazookas and Uzis. It was remarkable how old most of the war implements looked. Finally, there was a large exhibit that consisted of photographs of severely deformed children and adults from several generations of Americans and Vietnamese, who were affected by Agent Orange exposure. The museum was well organized, informative and surprisingly lacked an air of hit you over the head jingoism we had expected.

Cessna

Torture chamber

60mm mortar

While in Saigon, we had some supremely mediocre western food, a couple solid Indian meals and a mixed bag of Vietnamese food. Chan obviously was able to try a greater variety of local food, including: Bun Thit Nuong which was grilled marinated pork served over noodles and Goi Du Du Bo which was sweet and salty beef jerky served over a shredded papaya salad with a crazy spicy sauce. He also braved a strange drink they served him called Che Thap Cam which was an odd variety of cooked beans and jello things served with ice and a bunch of coconut milk. We had a great midmorning fruit salad in an alley one day, which came as a pile of diced fruit served in a big bowl with a serving of yogurt and crushed ice – you mix it all together into a yogurt fruit soup thing and, well, eat it!

BBQ pork

Delicious fruit salad

Not my favorite jello bean drink

We spent a while looking at the map and came to the conclusion that Vietnam is a very long country. We decided to cheat a bit to spread out our sightseeing, and picked Dalat as our next stop. It was a bit tricky to sort out the bus situation, since we were in the days leading up to Tet where everyone was traveling by bus, train or plane somewhere to celebrate. We finally found a travel agent who was willing to call more than one bus company and we were assured that we had ticket on a “sleeper bus” to Dalat.

February 1, 2013

We had packed everything the night before and woke up at 530am. Chandler had the bright idea of buying yogurt, bananas, mangosteen and granola bars the night before so we could have breakfast before we left the hotel. Usually we waste around a half hour or hour of prime riding time to track down identifiable vegetarian breakfast. We were on the road at 6am, hoping to beat the morning rush into Saigon.

The first hour was quiet and we saw very little traffic as we biked past people up early exercising in town. Soon My Tho faded into rice paddy farmland and the road got a bit narrower. We said hello to lots of students on their way to school. We watched the intense orange sun come up over some coconut trees lining one of the rice fields. The early morning is probably my favorite time to ride.

Sunrise

Some sort of crop

Rooster crowing a little late

The countryside soon diminished into suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC aka Saigon), the largest city in Vietnam. The traffic increased the closer we got to the city, but it wasn’t too bad. The road was divided and had two lanes in either direction plus a wide shoulder. The cars, trucks and buses stayed in the inside lane with motorbikes in the outside lane.

For some reason, once we hit the highway, we were on fire. There was no wind and the pavement was great. Our average speed was around 15mph and neither of us was the least bit tired.

Castle of Saigon?

In an admiral effort to avoid highways, the GPS took us on a bizarre little tour of some intensely smelling vegetable, fish and meat markets on the edge of the urban area of HCMC. We popped out on main road leading to the city center and suddenly we were in the thick of the most maddening traffic we had ever “participated” in. It didn’t feel particularly dangerous- there was such a density of motorbikes that no one could really go very fast- but it was intense on the senses. It felt about 10 degrees warmer amidst the thousands of motorbikes puttering, revving and honking. We tried unsuccessfully to limit breathing in the hazy air which smelled obviously of exhaust from the bikes mixed with sooty diesel plumes from the spare bus or truck.

It was around 10:30 at this point and starting to really heat up. We spent a while riding in circles trying to find a hotel that someone had recommended, but we couldn’t find it and settled on the Lonely Planet backup Chan had stored in the GPS. The Madame Cuc 184 turned out to be a nice small hotel off on a small alley (away from the NOISE!!!), and suited us perfectly. We took obligatory post ride showers, then found a place to eat a pile of pasta, that may or may not have been kind of nasty but tasted amazing at the time.

January 30 – 31, 2013

The day started on a rough note. Chandler’s cough and headcold were worse and we had trouble finding breakfast. We would also be riding on the main road, so no quiet canal paths today. I could tell right away it was going to be a tough day.

We had two ferry crossings, each costing a whopping 20 cents for both of us. At the second ferry, we met a man from California who was home for Tet. He said that we would like Saigon, because there is a Pizza Hut and a Burger King. We thought his comment was funny because we don’t eat that kind of food at home, why would we want to eat it while trying to experience another country?

Ferry

Ferry line

The road wasn’t too bad, but there was more traffic than we would have liked. I could tell Chan was having trouble, so I suggested we take a break. We had picked up a watermelon the day before and it seemed like the perfect time to eat it.

Watermelon

Unfortunately, Chandler dropped his half after only a few bites. I think that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We decided to stop today’s ride early in My Tho, instead of trying to get closer to Saigon. We rode along a new 10 mile long gravel road that was both a blessing and a curse- there was very little traffic, but when a truck did pass by we were lost in a cloud of dust. We finally reached the main road to My Tho (pronounced Mee Taow, we learned with much laughter from the Vietmanese-Californian on the ferry). The final stretch led us across a pretty massive cable stay suspension bridge across a portion of the Mekong that had been built around 2008. There was actually a really nice shoulder so we were able to stop near the top and look out across the river, and down on the small city of My Tho.

Dusty road

Orange bridge

We were able to find a really nice hotel (Minh Thai) near the center of town. It looked like it had recently been remodeled. We were in one of three rooms on the 4th floor which was well above the street noise.

Street view

With Chandler feeling poorly and both Chinese and American embassies closed the next day, we decided to stay another day in My Tho. We were able to Skype with Chan’s family and my best friend, Lindsey and her husband, Nick.

We spent the next two days relaxing and walking around town.

Bridge we came in on

Darth Vader's Vietnamese hotel

We had a couple meals of vegetarian soup for me and Chandler tried Hu Tieu which is noodle soup that My Tho is apparently famous for. He thought it tasted pretty similar to regular Pho. Tomorrow we ride into Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon.

Chandler's Hu Tieu

January 29, 2013

There was no discussion this morning about whether or not we would take the canal roads again. We both agreed the previous day’s ride was one of our favorites of the entire trip so far. First, we found some sudaphed for Chan’s headcold- medicines are insanely cheap here: there was some serious confusion when Chan tried to pay the lady at the pharmacy ten times what the pills cost, 20 of them ended up costing only about 60 cents. Next we had a quick ferry ride across one of the many branches of the Mekong river (10 cents each).

Crowded ferry

The canal roads are so peaceful that Chandler and I didn’t care if it took longer or added more miles. The day’s ride was possibly even better than the day before. About ten minutes after turning from the main road, we saw two women working on something. We immediately stopped and I went back for a photo. They were a little shy, but luckily agreed to letting me snap a picture.

Weaving a floor mat

When I returned to Chan and the bikes, another lady motioned me over to a metal shack. Inside, a woman was sewing the trim onto the edge of a mat.

Finishing touch

We continued to see different aspects of the floor mats creation for the rest of our time along the canals. At one point, Chandler and I were carefully trying to avoid riding on top of mats laid out on the path when along comes a truck. The truck just drove right over the mats, like they weren’t there.

Purple!

Drying dyed material

Machine weaving

Almost finished product

I wish we had room for one of the beautiful mats, but we didn’t think it would fit in our panniers. Unfortunately, we never discovered what the mats are made of or how the material is dyed.

We also passed by a group of men drying some herbs. When Chandler motioned to take a photo, one of the guys pointed at the herbs and then pantomimed smoking a cigarette. Not sure what that meant.

Drying herbs

The canal roads are generally in pretty good condition. They varied between concrete panel roads wide enough to get a small truck down, to straight up single track narrow enough that our panniers hit vegetation on either side as we rode through. It wasn’t all bliss, we did end up hitting a little construction and a bridge or two that should have been rebuilt a few patch ups ago.

Narrow path

Beginning of a new road

Maybe time for a new bridge

At that point, we had to join the main highway to get to Vinh Long. We were able to blast through the miles and were averaging 15 mph.

Welcome to Vinh Long

Vinh Long was pretty big and not very touristy. We had trouble finding a cheap decent hotel on our own as we searched near the waterfront so we resorted to the Lonely Planet recommendations which steered us to a dark narrow side street. We ended up in a hotel that seemed nice, if you didn’t look too close. First, there was the ridiculous giant picture of a lion and boy reading a book, then we noticed the tiles in the bathroom had 80’s girls in bikinis all over the walls. The hot water was broken. What was really bad was the hair all over the bed. We slept in our sleeping bags. Certainly not the worst place we’ve stayed, but we would be getting a nice early start the next day!