Saddle Up and Ride!
Posted: November 30th, 2012 by Scott
As you’ve seen from our previous posts, the favorite mode of transportation in Vietnam is the motorbike. No matter what city you go to, there are heaps of motorbikes everywhere and they vastly outnumber cars.
Vietnamese love their motorbikes
So we decided to get the real Vietnam experience, we were going to have to see the country by motorbike ourselves and after renting the motorbike for the day in Hue to check out the tombs I was feeling inspired and a bit more refreshed on my riding skills.
We booked a tour which would take us from Hue to Hoi An which was our next destination. Promptly at 9am our guide Top arrived at our hotel and started loading up our luggage on the bikes. Courtney would be riding with him on the lead bike and I would be on my own.
We were unsure if the amount of luggage we had would be a problem, but he assured us it would be fine. And sure enough, he strapped both our bags (12-15kg each) on the back of the bikes and said, “Let’s rock and roll!”
Top, Courtney and luggage all loaded up!
First we headed down the coast to meet up with Highway 1. The ride was great, going through small villages dotted between rice fields along the waterfront. We then made our way onto highway 1 and up the mountains for a midday swim at Elephant Waterfall.
You can see why they call it Elephant Waterfall
After a great seafood lunch right on the bay, we continued through the mountains to Hai Van pass which was a critical military outpost for both the French and Americans in their time in Vietnam.
A view of the way we rode up to Hai Van Pass
From the pass you could see Da Nang and Hoi An across the bay, however, we weren’t going there today.
A view of the bay with Hoi An and Da Nang on the far side.
We instead, met up with another group doing the trip in the opposite direction and cut inland into yet more mountains to the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the town where we were to spend the night.
The whole gang of riders. I was actually the only one who rode by themselves.
We shared dinner with the guides and the other group, a family from Australia, and were again treated to some great food and great hospitality. It’s apparently a custom for the hosts to put a few pieces of food in the guests’ bowls at the beginning of the meal. Well our guides did that, and then some, it was impossible to tell them that we were full and couldn’t eat anymore. Every time we looked down there was more food in our bowls.
It was great sitting around afterwards chatting with the guides and the other family over some Vietnamese tea, but we were all pretty exhausted from a long day of riding so everyone turned in pretty early.
The following day we parted ways with the other group and headed south and east through the mountains. We stopped along the way at a pineapple plantation where we got to sample the goods.
Plant one of those tops on the ground and 3 months later you’ll too have a delicious pineapple.
Later we ended up at the ancient Cham temple ruins at My Son. The temples are Hindu and consist of buildings and towers expertly crafted in brick. They were constructed without the use of mortar and many are still intact hundreds of years later, though, some were damaged heavily during the war.
The temples were impressive, but the heat was oppressive.
We finished off the day riding into Hoi An where we said goodbye to Top and thanked him for a great experience.
It really was a great adventure.
Check out all our motorbike trip photos here.