Arrival in Nha Trang

Like all good things, I didn't want it to end. 5 days on a motorcycle combing the Central Highlands region of Vietnam is something you don't want to take for granted, even though the steamy beaches and the beautiful sunset of Nha Trang, which lies directly in front of you, looks like a very welcome haven for your numb buttocks. The trip was a trip inside an adventure. First of all, I don't ride motorcycles. I have been on scooters and the occasional dirt bike before, but taking a trip across a whole region of a very different country with very different traffic rules (going the wrong way on the major highway is perfectly acceptable here, to give you an idea) is like dropping an indigenous south american tribe into Manhattan rush hour and giving them an Russian language map to navigate. With this said, luckily I have no rational thinking left in my head and a perfect ability to say 'Yes' to anything remotely risky but calculated and fun. That and we had a guide. A good guide. You met him briefly in my previous post; his name is River to remind you and we had known little about him at that point. Now, at the end of the trip, we are sad to loose such a wacky person, great english speaker, excellent vietnamese cultural teacher and supreme ladies man. Yup. We met just about all of his 34 girlfriends, mistresses, etc. etc. etc. A lesson in Vietnamese culture. Apparently he has been on these backroads a few times before. A few times. There is so much to say. Our days were filled with eating incredible, REAL vietnamese food, adjusted to the particular region for normally less than two dollars a meal. There was the sauteed goat, the picnic lunch of spring rolls, the endless pho (noodles) and com (rice) dishes with mystery meats we were glad to take part in. By the 2nd day, we were so enamered with the food that we ignored that part of our minds that asks the question "Where is the water that washed this lettuce" or internal inquires into when we saw anything resembling soap in the past few days. We didn't care, we didn't want to care, we were there, and that roasted duck and cheap beer being offered to us by drunk teenage boys hanging out by a waterfall never tasted so damn good. Don't even get me started on the coffee and sweet milk. Espresso Europeans have been getting it wrong the whole time. The food was just the fuel for the experiences. Those who have a motorcycle or done just a few hours in the active zen of motorcycling through beautiful landscapes know the trance. Its a beautiful connection, much like the bicycle, but a bit more intense as you must admire beauty all around you and dodge cows, potholes, other bikes, non working brake lights, and trucks determined to give you a Game Over. And the rain. It rains in Vietnam. It didnt rain too much on our little adventure, but it does rain the sideways rain acurately depicted in Forest Gump. We got wet, but $0.30 raincoats became our savior many times over. We rode on elephants through rice paddies and Lak lake. We talked with young villagers who had never seen a tourist. We swam in waterfalls that only a few Vietnamese had been lucky enough to see. I sang "When a Man Loves a Woman" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in a karoke bar in the middle of the day while sipping on green tea (it was the only two english song they had - ok?). We played pool with the Vietnamese mafia in Da Lat. We did a lot in a little amount of time. I also met a young girl in a coffee shack yesterday... The rain was coming down with a vengance so we decided to take refuge in a small coffee shack that River had been talking up the whole trip. There we were introduced to this gorgeus 16 year old girl who was very soft in her actions and very inquisitive about these white guys on motorcycles. After nonsence pen and pad drawings, finally our guide, River, aiding in translation, she told me about how she cannot go to university because she is too poor and must take care of her older brother and younger sister who are both mentally retarded from the American Agent Orange which was dropped nearby her home. I met her younger sister and the realities of destructive war were seen first hand. But that was the thing, no one was sad. The 16 year old girl wasn't the least bit sad or mad, but intrigued by the fact that I had come from so far away. The vietnamese dont hold grudges, even for such atrocities as chemical warfare. The sister was so beautiful, so content with a constant smile on her face and a giggle in her voice while I played with her. It was an amazing experience that makes me glad to be on this earth, to see the neverending display of compassion, and encouragement to further peace in myself and society. Now we are in Nha Trang to spend a little beach vacation to rest up for further travels. I am planning on going to a secluded hippesqe resort called Jungle Beach tomorrow while Ricky stays and gets his open water SCUBA certification, only to reunite Thursday for diving and a meet up with Natasha and Daf who so graciously hosted us on Ho Chi Minh City. OK OK OK, I will make my best attempt to upload my awesome self on a motorbike as soon as possible. beach time - Taylor