Hue And On To The Beaches

Hue is the most beautiful city I have seen in Vietnam, it was the old imperial capital, and it still shows. It’s also a place for artists, and education is highly valued here. As I head south, the food gets better. One can only eat so much noodle soup!

I had a great lunch with a couple of local specialties and a beer for under $3 bucks.

In Hue, I went on my first guided tour in Vietnam and got on my first bus in this country. Considering that I had a small hangover from two happy hours from the night before, it was an outstanding choice, we visited some of the emperors’ tombs, a pagoda, and the Citadel. Our tour guide was outstanding, and the tour included a buffet lunch and a boat ride. It was a great way to spend the day and interesting to see the country from a nonmotorcycle perspective.

Hoi An is just south of Da Nang, it’s a sleepy little beach town with great food and an unending supply of touts. I spent a day at the beach and got a bit of a burn, so no beach for me today. I’ve spent most of the day so far catching up with my writing dear readers. The hostel I stayed at here has a pool! The heat was almost unbearable on my ride down, especially with all the safety gear I wore. Thank science for evaporative cooling.

It’s 500 km from Hoi An to Nha Trang, so I stopped in a nontouristy place for the night, Quy Nhon, there’s a guest house in a village just outside of town that I really wanted to stay at but they were booked up for several weeks. I stayed at a hotel with a welcoming and friendly staff. It’s one of the few places I’ve been that have no touts and where no one tried to rip me off or quote a tourist price. I went 36 hours without having any hassles with the price of anything.

I took the road that the Top Gear folks raved about during their motorcycle ride in Vietnam. It’s a nice road, but the claim that it is one of the best coastal roads in the world is not true. Apparently, these guys have not ridden on the east or west coast in the US.

Then I arrived in Nha Trang, it is over touristed, the beach is not that great, and it is full of Russians. From what I understand, from here south, it is Russian Central. I took a day to chill and took a day to go to an amusement park. You must take the world’s longest tramway to the park. The park was a bit of a letdown. I went for the water park, but if you have been to a half-decent water park in the US, it just doesn’t compare. However, the tram ride was quite good. On the upside, I had and good cheeseburger and some excellent Indian food!

Lake Ba Be, Hanoi and Headed South

My last stop before Hanoi was Ba Be lake, a national park with three interconnected lakes. I did a homestay in a village on the lake and stayed for two nights at a place called Duy Tho. It was beautiful and affordable. I rented a boat for a day, which was expensive and loud, but I got to see the lake. It is well worth stopping by the lake for the homestay, but I would skip the boat trip unless you are with a group and have not spent much time on the water. I would have been happy with spending an hour in a small part of the lake in a dugout canoe.

Ba Be is quite beautiful. It was stunning on the water in the early morning. There are all sorts of exciting animals living around the lake, but they’re shy. The boat ride includes a stop by a small waterfall that feeds a hydroelectric plant and a short trek through a big cave. We stopped for lunch near the waterfall.

My host helped me find a faster and less trafficked road to get back to Hanoi, saving countless encounters with trucks and buses and saving me a couple of hours of driving. I was back in Hanoi in the early afternoon. Then it was time to get my bike serviced. It had some issues with shifting in 1st, 2nd and neutral

One of the great things about Hanoi is Bia Hoi. It’s a freshly brewed keg beer with a shelf life of a day. In the Old Quarter, you can pick up a glass for 5000 Dong (25 cents). It’s tasty, cold, and refreshing. On my last night in Hanoi, I went for Indian food at Tamarind. It was pricey but perfect. I was pleasantly surprised. I found a great place for a massage about 5km from the Old Quarter and walked over. For 450,000 dong ($22.50), I got a 90-minute massage preceded by a soak in a barrel, a soak in a jacuzzi, and a steam. Pure bliss.

I ended up in this tiny nowhere town my first night heading south, as my scheduled stop did not feel very friendly. The place I ened up in was very friendly!

I checked in to the only place to stay in town, which had two rooms. the next morning I went for a walk. As I passed by an elementary school, a couple of kids said, “Hello!” and I responded. Within 2 minutes, the entire school emptied out, and I was mobbed by kids saying hello, asking me my name, how old I was, where I was from, and on and on. They wanted to shake hands and were fascinated by my tattoos. I tried to get them out of the road and used taking a picture as a motivator. As you can see from the picture, they never really stopped vibrating.

I walked them all back to the school, some of the teachers were giving me the stink eye, and some were caught up in the kid’s excitement. When we returned to the school grounds, some of the kids were dragged off by teachers, but about 20 of them decided they would show me around town. We went to an outdoor market and the local hospital. I think they were introducing me to their parents, but who knows? One little girl gave me a flower, and that started a trend. After an hour or so of being dragged hither and yon, I escaped.

When I returned to the guest house, the second room had been rented to 4 engineers, and they invited me to eat dinner with them. Of course, out came the local hooch and a bunch of food I did not recognize, but they schooled me and approved of my use of chopsticks. When the bill came, they would not take my money. Of course, the woman who owned the restaurant tried to get me to pay for the whole bill. Unfortunately, if you are a westerner traveling here, you are a dollar sign to some people in SEA. Luckily that unpleasantness is offset by people like the four lovely gentlemen that bought me dinner.

Vietnam Makes Me Smile

I am so happy to be in Vietnam! Hanoi is a great city for tourists, the food is great, there is no shortage of things to do, and the scenery is fantastic. After the bland food in the Philippines, I was ready for Vietnamese food!

Being in the Philippines is like living in a black-and-white world, and Vietnam is in full color. Other than almost everyone speaking English in the Philippines, Vietnam is better in every way.

I was in Hanoi in 2009, traveling with my girlfriend. We loved Vietnam, and I am happy to be back. Last time I was here for less than ten days, and this time I will be in Vietnam for a month minimum. I was still sick when I arrived and took it easy for the first few days, and then I finally went to see a doctor. He said my ear was still infected and gave me some antibiotics.

A cousin of a friend, of a friend, of a friend, took me around to look at motorbikes, but since I didn’t know what I wanted, I have no Vietnamese, and he had no English, not much was accomplished. I was invited back to meet the family and was surprised with lunch. I a couple of his sisters spoke English and we had a great afternoon. It’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had while traveling. The food was unfamiliar and intimidating, but it was all tasty. They even broke out the dried squid, which I understand is quite expensive. I’ve always been afraid to try it because of the strong fishy smell. It was tasty as hell.

On The Road in Manila

Prior to World War II, Manila was known as the “Pearl of the Orient,” now, it is just an overcrowded asian city with as much smog as Beijing and the smell of Calcutta. I did not find much about Manila to make me like it. It’s worth maybe a day or two at most, perhaps a few days longer if you use it as a base for day trips. I’ve ruled it out as a place I might want to live in. I did encounter the best scam I’ve ever come across there. Perhaps I’ll write about that later.

There were about 10 people at the guest house in Manila that would hang out from time to time for dinner and adventures. One of them had a friend of a friend in Manila, and she invited some of us to a friend’s house for drinks. For 5 hours, we drank Philippines style. One person had a glass, ice, and the beer and would serve it round-robin to the rest of us. Our hostess, who was pregnant, was not drinking. It was a great way to drink, and it was more social. I’ve seldom drank for so long without getting drunk.

My timing in Manila was almost always wrong. I’d either get lousy information about when something started or would just happen to be there when things were closed. Intramuros the old part of the city, was not as beautiful as I’d hoped. The cathedral was closed for repairs, and the monastery was closed for lunch. A bunch of us went over to China Town the day after Chinese New Year’s. We were given wrong info on which day was the big day, but we had a nice dinner.

On my last day in Manila, three of us went on a day trip to the Taal Volcano, which took about 3 hours of transport each way. There is a lake inside the volcano, which itself is in a lake which is in a huge volcano. It was fun climbing up to the top and enjoying the view. To get there, it’s a 2-hour bus ride, a half-hour on a tricycle, and a half-hour boat ride.

The food. There is nothing wrong with the food in the Philippines. There is also nothing to get excited about. I’ve not seen a single dish that makes my taste buds stand up and shout. The best thing about this country is its people. They are outgoing, happy, friendly, and courteous. I’ve never met and interacted with so many locals before.