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

majestic mountains and motorcycle madness

I could go into a lengthy description of sitting under the full moon in Mui Ne, Vietnam. I could just type the words I scribbled to represent the feelings, the air, the touch, the soft sounds and the sight of myself smiling on the beach. But I won't. Id rather tell you about the decision and aftermath of taking the plunge off the tourist trail and riding motorcycles to the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Upon arrival to Mui Ne, fate decided that I needed to check my email. I walked into the crowded internet cafe and sat next to a genteman who had just helped a lost german lady find a taxi, using impressive English. After helping me figure out how to use a computer in Vietnamese, the kind gentleman, named River, told me to check out his motorcycle tour guiding business, based just down the street. After a great banana/pinapple/chocolate pancake, 7up and a few shots of Rice/Honey wine, River engulfed Ricky and I in stories about other travellers ready to see the real Vietnam through backroads travel and an accomplished tour guide. Sold by the first few words, we drooled over pictures of raging waterfalls, minority villiagers, repeating blue mountains, giant red sand dunes and all in between. We were set, and he even threw in an extra day to tag along with some fell Holland travellers to a buddist pagoda accessable only be cable car. By the time I set my eyes on the giant buddha made of stone and in a laying down position, I knew this was a perfect choice to spend my next few days and way better than taking the bus to Nha Trang where we are to meet up with our hosts in HCMC and new couchsurfing friends. Today we started the full fledged trip from Mui Ne and arrived in Da Lat this afternoon with stories of sliding down massive white sand dunes (that one would think would be better situated in Saudi Arabia than near the coast of Mui Ne), motorcycle near misses (Sorry Mom), eating incredible food for $1.50 (which contained meat with some kind of fingernail I bit into - but was amazingly good), talking to locals about their mushroom farming and being in constant awe as we rode into the green hills that are backed up by numerous blue waves of distant ascents eagerly waiting for us to show their treasures. Many may think we are crazy, and while wedging between an 18 wheeler and a pothole the size of Nebraska on my 125cc motorcycle using all its full throttle might, I would have to agree. But if its worth a little bit of uncomfortability, its definitely an adventure... pictures and more from the ridiculously weary roads of Central vietnam to come! Tee "Easy Rider" Pee

(street bike shop in Saigon. Reminds me of the early days of The Bike Cave. Ive been there brother, ive been there)

(old vespas, not ours)

You know your getting used to Vietnam when you don't clutch the seat of the motorbike you are sitting on anymore. Instead you lift your arms with abandon, sit comfortably on the seat and just take in the overstimulation and you are thank for that you are not navigating for once. You look around, with the wind in your hair, thank the nighttime for the absence of the sun's beating heat, smile at the family of four on a motorcycle half the size of the one you are on. You wonder what the quiet motorbike driver in front of you thinks of you - the 23 white male foreigner - and hope he has change for the 100,000 vietnamese dong in your pocket. You understand the lady you saw yesterday reading a book on her motorbike while waiting in rush hour traffic. The perplexity and fear of the worlds most insane traffic jam turns into just another night in Ho Chi Minh.

(myself and My at french designed central post office)

Upon arriving in this crazy, crazy, no... really, crazy city, the usual fear/excitement mix of the unknown was in full effect especially when meeting up with My, our couchsurfing friend that was helping us to adjust to HCMC. Within an hour after landing, Ricky and I were doing what we internally vowed to never do - renting motorbikes in the worst place to rent motorbikes. A Lonely Planet described it quite well "The quickest way to see the city, and the quickest way to the hospital". Why common sense didn't kick in when were in the taxi on the way to rent them? Was it the excitement? Was it the lack of sleep? I dont think any of these explanations fit - and I dont think any explanation will ever fit.

(thought your rush hour was bad?)

The traffic is absolute chaos. It makes Mexico City traffic look like a safe Disneyland. Its just stupid. Its millions of people, billions of motorcycles, a couple of cars, a lot of delivery trucks and just madness.

But it works.

Its a disaster but a well tuned orchestra at the same time - minus the director. It takes an instinct that we dont use in the States too often. The instinct of a fighter without hesitation. Accelerate, brake, accelerate, pedestrian, motorbikemotorbikemotorbikemotorbikemotorbike, roundabout, motorbike with 3 people going directly at you, swerve, outofplace Mercedes, cop - look other way, motorbike, speed bump, bridge, where is Ricky?, there he is, duck - there is a 9 foot pole jetting out of that bicycle, is this the right turn? accelerate, brake. (all in 5 seconds). Its really actually pretty fun. Sorry mom.

(temple outside of HCMC)

The days have been exhausting. Visiting temples (vietnamese religion is mix of buddism, confucianism, taoism = very interesting), eating local food, seeing American/Vietnam war relics (I don't really see the appeal - its a horrible thing on both sides, yet they are the biggest tourist attractions here), drinking dodgy juice with local ice in it, meeting tons of new friends and going to Oktoberfest. Yea, Oktoberfest in Vietnam. An awakening in globalization.

(post traditional meal, cost = $1)

I could type a good bit about Oktoberfest but its pretty blurry after a point and I want to save some stories for in person. Basically it was a whole 5 star hotel floor packed with German expats, vietnamese businessmen, and our entourage of couchsurfing friends from all over with all you can drink german beer and food. And dancing. And chanting vietnamese/german drinking chants on tables with the said vietnamese businessmen - at least I think we were singing chants in vietnamese, could of been russian, not sure. Anyways....

(other Seattle couchsurfers/now friends at oktoberfest with Ricky and I)

We will break our addiction to Saigon stimulation soon, pay our $6 a day motorbike rental fee, and head to Muy Ne, a quiet beach town 4 hours away. Otherwise we would probably get jobs teaching English and end up staying months here - we have met quite a few who fell into the trap - which wouldnt be that bad.

TP

Sitting in Singapore

This is increasingly becoming a game of Where in the World Is Taylor Powell... Well to answer that, I am at Changi Airport in Singapore waiting on a flight to Ho Chi Minh City departing in about an hour. I "slept" 3 of the 4 hours from Darwin, Australia to here, but now I am wide awake. Maybe its the delirium, maybe its the excitement, (its probably the delirium, I shouldn't be typing at a computer) but just the general atmosphere of hearing all flights departing to Asian cities - Ghangzhou, China; Bangkok, Thailand; Manila, Indonesia - is enough to make my head spin and give me that stupid gleeful smile on my face while walking down the terminal. The Ho Chi Minh Couchsurfing community is hosting me the first few days Ricky and I are here and I am extremely thankful. My hosts and friends are already going out of their way to have me and they may even pick us up from the airport. It makes me fall in love with Couchsurfing all over again and remember how many wonderful people there are in the world. I encourage the great karma and experience that comes with it - if you haven't checked it out, go to couchsurfing.com! OK, just a few thoughts of positivity and sleeplessness from abroad. I am sure I will have a bit more interesting stories in a few short hours. Love from the last remaining City-State, Taylor