3rd May 2010 We began our morning with a breakfast of eggs overlooking the beach and watching the local vilagers collect seaweed on the incoming tide. It was then back on the bikes for the next leg of our trip. We started through similar scenery to yesterday, rice paddies on all sides, busy with the harvest followed by forested areas and rubber plantations. ...
2nd May 2010 The best and perhaps only way to get off the tourist trail and see the real Vietnam is by motorbike. This morning we met up with Quy and Tam, our Hue Riders who quickly secured our big packs to the backs of their bikes. We took the “Horrible Highway 1” from Hue to a place called Quang Tri. Quite a lot of the roadside here is just scrub, nothing really growing. This area was heavily bombed during the war and some of the most fierce battles occured here. As a result there are still quite a few areas with unexploded bombs and landmines. ...
30th April 2010 Reunification Day is a public holiday in Vietnam that marks the occasion the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon on April 30, 1975. This signalled the end of the Vietnam War and was the start of the transition period toward reunification, which occurred on July 2, 1976. Also, tomorrow, 1st May is Labour Day so the Vietnamese have a rare long weekend. Consequently, today the city and its sights were really busy with Vietnamese tourists. ...
29th April 2010 Our first job today was to contact Hue Riders. These are the local version of the Easy Riders we used in Dalat a few weeks ago to do a day tour into the countryside. This time we’re keen to travel down the coast but this time going over the Hai Van pass that we came under in the tunnel yesterday. Viewers of Top Gear may recall this pass from the Top Gear in Vietnam episode they did a couple of years ago. We were also interested in continuing our journey by bike on down to Nha Trang, but we didn’t really know how long it would take or what our options are. A quick phone call to a helpful Australian lady resulted in a Hue Rider arriving at our hotel some ten minutes later. ...