February 8, 2013

We got up at 630 so we could have breakfast and be ready to get my shoes early. The girl who was bringing them, Cana, was supposed to arrive at 730. I called her at 730 and she said she would meet me at the bus station that had her shoes. She didn’t sound very happy about the situation and I was a little nervous about meeting her. We said goodbye to Leonie, promising to email when we get to Amsterdam and headed out.

When we got to the station there were a lot of people vying for the single attendant’s attention. Somehow, I manage to stand out and got helped pretty quickly. The guy called the hotel and figured out the situation and told me to come back in 15 minutes. After 40 minutes, still no shoes and no Cana. We were beginning to feel that we might end up spending another night in Dalat. Then suddenly, I was given her shoes, she showed up on her motorbike and we made the swap. Success!

She gave us directions to a couple stores where we could pick up packaged goods as we were planning on camping that night. After making a few purchases, she showed up at the store and invited us to lunch. At this point, it had been a while since we had breakfast, so we decided it would be a good idea to refuel. Cana ended up being totally cool and we had a pleasant meal with her.

Despite such a late start, we decided to see how far we could bike. The biking out of town was a bit painful, hot and hilly with lots of traffic but we found ourselves on a newly paved quite road pretty quickly. The day turned out to be very nice. There was a constant breeze which was cool, I never had a chance to overheat. We were feeling strong and had no problem with the hills we encountered.

Cemetery hill

Coffee beans to be roasted

House

A pretty big pass that topped out at 1600m was coming up, but at 330pm we decided to set up camp and conquer the pass the next day. We turned onto a dirt road and found a cleared area in the woods. It was a perfect camping spot with big trees for Chan’s hammock and far enough from the road that it was very quiet. We set up the tent, I blew up the sleeping mats and we settled in to read.

Campsite #1

About an hour later, I heard a noise that was familiar enough that I got a little alarmed.

“Chandler, what’s that sound?”
“Uhh, sounds like a fire”
“Doesn’t it seem a little loud?”

So, we walked down the hill looking into the valley where the noise we coming from. Sure enough, we saw a huge billow of smoke and the noise got even louder. We discussed our options for about two minutes before realizing the wind was blowing towards us. In that short period the whole valley had filled with smoke. Time to pack up.

Bikes looking good

At this point, it was 500pm and the sun would be setting soon. We went around a few more bends in the road and found a hill with road on three sides. We figured this would be a good buffer against any fire danger. We hustled to set up camp as the sun was starting to set. We now had a good view of the fire we had just left behind and the fire on the other of the valley ahead of us.

Fire behind us

Fire in front of us

Chandler set up his hammock again and I blew up the sleeping pads again. We both laid down to read when we heard a new noise. A motorbike coming up the hill towards us. Two boys had come to enjoy a bottle of something.

We hoped they would drink their something and leave. No such luck. They came over and asked for a lighter, then decided to bring the party over to us. They lit a fire with the dry grass on the ground and insisted Chandler take sips of their drink, which turned out to be rice liquor. We figured we would be friendly and just let the fire go out and they would leave. Nope. They started it back up. One of the boys was entertaining and very nice, we learned some Vietnamese and taught him some English. The other boy was stupid and had too much to drink. He would wander off to pee or puke and end up falling into the brush. At one point, he grabbed some flaming grass and began running around with it near our tent. Our tent is made of nylon and would melt in an instant if he caught it on fire. I ended up following him around stomping out sparks.

Chandler kept asking them where they were going and when, trying to get them to leave but they didn’t get the hint.

After they finished their booze, they finally left with the drunker of the two driving. While we were happy to see them go, we hoped they made it home safely and also didn’t come back. We put out the fire and got into the tent to read. We kept imagining that any noise we heard was the boys coming back to “hang out” again.

Eventually, we fell asleep. What a wonderfully, cold night it was too. We had to get out our down jackets.

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.