Arrrr, we just found this internet place and i was planning on just sending a heap of photos and saying, 'check these out', as i figured a picture is worth a thousand words and there is no way i could do Norther Vietnam justice by trying to explain how beautiful it is. So instead i won't tell you how beautiful it is and i'll just tell you what we've been up to.
The day before we rented the Honda 125 motorbikes we met a couple, our age, doing the same thing. We hung out with them that evening and went out to dinner and they turned out to be much like us. We decided to meat up in the morning and head out together for the first day on the motorbikes and see how it went. Now 13 days later we just split up. They are heading back to Hanio as their visas are about to expire and we are continuing the adventure for a few more days.
Let me just say, if you are ever looking for an amazing adventure go to Vietnam, rent a motorbike and head out into the mountains. It is like no where else! Every road, every mountain, every rice paddy, every turn is unbelievable.
In the past two weeks we havn't come across a single person who can speak a single word of english. We've tried our best to learn what Vietnamese we can but it is damn near impossible. Some one will tell you a word, we repeat it back to them and they just start laughing. Then we try it on someone else and they look totally dumfounded like we are just foaming at the mouth.
Like i said in the last email this we creating real problems when we went to resturants (none have menus, they don't exist here). For the first few days we just ate what they brought us which was usually those not so spectular tripple fried minoes. Then we started pointing at what other had and saying, 'same same' which for some bizare reason everyone understands, and they would bring us the duplicate dish, only this only worked if there were other people eating at the resturants, if not what were we supposed to point at. Now we just walk in, go to the kitchen, pull out the foods we want, mime how we want them cooked and it works perfectly. Last night the four of us went out for dinner, granted we only ate stirfried greens, eggs and rice, but the total bill was only 5 dollars.
We've named our biking possie the OREO's which stands for, Original Riders and Eaters Orginization, as all we do is Ride around on our bikes and eat when every we stop which is a lot as the bum gets quite sore and needs constant stretching.
Every day has been an adventure for the OREO's but i think today would be up there with any the rest. This morning we woke up in Mao Vac, it is in the very northermost part of the country, a place where you still have to get a special permit to visit. We had been in the restricted zone for 3 days and today we were going to make the 50km trek out as our permits were up. The road we proposed to take is said to be un passable in all the guide books as up until a few months ago it was some sort of military zone. Just very reciently they have started allowing civillians to use it.
Up at 6:30 and leave by 7am, as the locals told us it would take 5 hours, was the plan. When we awoke it was raining harder then we could imagine, an hour later the rain had let up a bit and so we decided to go for it dispite rumors the road had multiple water crossings.
The first 20km we easy, the road was paved and besides the rain nothing was slowing us down. The second 20km were a bit different. Can you say clay! It was so slippery it was almost impossible to stand let alone ride a motorcycle. Rachael and i tipped over once, Will and Rhian managed to make it crash free but we both had to stop multiple times just to clear the clay and rocks out from our wheels as they actually wouldn't spin. Just wait until you see the pictures!!! You are probably thinking, dirt bike, think more like moped. So yes we did get into a slight argument with some locals about the price to use their bridge and it almost turned into a fight but in the end we all shook hands and made peace.
OOOO i think i figured out how to attach some photos...
Until next time
Love Us
The day before we rented the Honda 125 motorbikes we met a couple, our age, doing the same thing. We hung out with them that evening and went out to dinner and they turned out to be much like us. We decided to meat up in the morning and head out together for the first day on the motorbikes and see how it went. Now 13 days later we just split up. They are heading back to Hanio as their visas are about to expire and we are continuing the adventure for a few more days.
Let me just say, if you are ever looking for an amazing adventure go to Vietnam, rent a motorbike and head out into the mountains. It is like no where else! Every road, every mountain, every rice paddy, every turn is unbelievable.
In the past two weeks we havn't come across a single person who can speak a single word of english. We've tried our best to learn what Vietnamese we can but it is damn near impossible. Some one will tell you a word, we repeat it back to them and they just start laughing. Then we try it on someone else and they look totally dumfounded like we are just foaming at the mouth.
Like i said in the last email this we creating real problems when we went to resturants (none have menus, they don't exist here). For the first few days we just ate what they brought us which was usually those not so spectular tripple fried minoes. Then we started pointing at what other had and saying, 'same same' which for some bizare reason everyone understands, and they would bring us the duplicate dish, only this only worked if there were other people eating at the resturants, if not what were we supposed to point at. Now we just walk in, go to the kitchen, pull out the foods we want, mime how we want them cooked and it works perfectly. Last night the four of us went out for dinner, granted we only ate stirfried greens, eggs and rice, but the total bill was only 5 dollars.
We've named our biking possie the OREO's which stands for, Original Riders and Eaters Orginization, as all we do is Ride around on our bikes and eat when every we stop which is a lot as the bum gets quite sore and needs constant stretching.
Every day has been an adventure for the OREO's but i think today would be up there with any the rest. This morning we woke up in Mao Vac, it is in the very northermost part of the country, a place where you still have to get a special permit to visit. We had been in the restricted zone for 3 days and today we were going to make the 50km trek out as our permits were up. The road we proposed to take is said to be un passable in all the guide books as up until a few months ago it was some sort of military zone. Just very reciently they have started allowing civillians to use it.
Up at 6:30 and leave by 7am, as the locals told us it would take 5 hours, was the plan. When we awoke it was raining harder then we could imagine, an hour later the rain had let up a bit and so we decided to go for it dispite rumors the road had multiple water crossings.
The first 20km we easy, the road was paved and besides the rain nothing was slowing us down. The second 20km were a bit different. Can you say clay! It was so slippery it was almost impossible to stand let alone ride a motorcycle. Rachael and i tipped over once, Will and Rhian managed to make it crash free but we both had to stop multiple times just to clear the clay and rocks out from our wheels as they actually wouldn't spin. Just wait until you see the pictures!!! You are probably thinking, dirt bike, think more like moped. So yes we did get into a slight argument with some locals about the price to use their bridge and it almost turned into a fight but in the end we all shook hands and made peace.
OOOO i think i figured out how to attach some photos...
Until next time
Love Us
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