Hoi An to Hue, Vietnam

The train ride from Nha Trang wasn’t quite as cozy as our previous one.  For some reason, the 14-year-old kid we left in charge to make the reservations for us at our hotel managed to screw it up.  Just as before, we wanted to get a private sleeping car with beds especially since this train left at 10 PM and got in at 11 AM.  In the end, we unfortunately were given normal seats in what they called the “climate controlled car” which meant they turned it into a sauna.  Caleb fell asleep magically in short order however it took me well over an hour to finally become unconscious.  I awoke shortly after 5 AM to use the restroom and as I returned to my seat the gentlemen next to me asked where I was from.  He was a 62-year-old Vietnamese man whose name I unfortunately can’t remember.  He’d grown up since birth in Vietnam and had spent a lengthy career as a schoolteacher.  Upon retiring, him and his wife started a few hotels in Saigon and once a month, he took the train North to Hoi An to spend time with his family there.  Over the course of the next four hours I had an incredible conversation with him ranging from my life up to this point growing up in the United States, to the Vietnam War.  He opened up quite a bit about his time spent fighting for the North against the US (I hadn’t prompted this conversation) and it was really interesting.  His outlook was so positive for the future of Vietnam as he’d been through the absolute worst.  His overall perspective was that the past was important to remember but leave the past to the past and strive to make the future as bright as possible.  I truly cherished the hours we spent together.

Fast asleep on our train ride.

We arrived in the city of Danang, 45 minutes North of our destination of Hoi An, as there weren’t any train stops there.  We walked across the street to grab a much needed bite to eat.  During lunch, another middle-aged Vietnamese man who was sitting nearby approached me and a conversation soon ensued.  He asked what our plans were for the next few days so I told him.  He worked for a chain of motorcycle leasing outfits in Vietnam called Easy Riders and prodded to see if we were interested in not only renting motorcycles but going on a ride taking a different route than our planned direct path along the water from Hoi An to Hue.  After hearing his pitch for what I’d see and how amazing of a ride it would be, I agreed to the deal.  We rented two bikes on the spot and made plans to meet up two days later at my hotel in Hoi An to begin the ride from there. 

Stopping for lunch right after we departed the train, unbeknownst to me at the time, my soon to be tour guide was in the back of the picture!

Caleb and I made the hour-long journey on the motorcycles down the coast till we arrived in the small beachfront community of Hoi An, a place known primarily for its fashion tourism.  We checked into our hotel, took a lengthy nap and headed out for dinner.  As we were walking down the street, we ran into a rowdy, late twenties group of Americans who were on holiday from teaching in South Korea, all from Colorado who were also heading out to grab a bite to eat.  We agreed on a nice sit down rooftop restaurant and had the hostess snag us a big table.  For what I had hoped would be a nice quiet evening turned into an intense late night romp through a plethora of bars.  It was wonderful speaking to them as they had already been to many of the places we were about to head and as always, I love hearing as many reviews about my intended destinations as humanly possible. 

The beginning of a rough night with the Americans!

The next morning, Caleb and I starting moving at a reasonable hour and meandered out to the streets in search of some good tailors to have clothes made.  I hadn’t planned on getting anything but after we starting going to a few places, I couldn’t resist.  The process was fascinating.  We’d walk into these stores filled wall to wall with every kind of quality and color of fabric imaginable.  They could make ANYTHING you wanted.  I flipped through a bunch of magazines and picked out a jacket, a few pairs of dress shorts and a dress shirt.  Once I’d decided on a design, a little Vietnamese man came out of the woodwork, made me take off my shirt and took my measurements.  I was extremely particular in exactly how I wanted each garment to look and fit before I left.  Literally, 3 hours later I returned to collect what turned out to be the best fitting and most comfortable clothes I’ve ever owned.  From a roll a fabric to custom tailored perfectly to my body, these people were magicians.  Not to be outdone once again, Caleb ended up purchasing a jacket, a custom pair of jeans, and 11 dress shirts, some of which I told him while he was ordering he’d never wear to which he replied “They’ll look nice hanging in my closet”.

Caleb getting measured for some shirts!

We had run into our New York friends Aman and Angela earlier in the day and had already been planning since the last city to have dinner together once again as we really enjoyed their company.  Aman had asked us to meet at an upscale riverfront restaurant for a greatly anticipated fancy dinner.  Dinner began at 8:00 PM and lasted for over two hours.  Aman and Angela are such incredible people and our conversations are always entertaining.  After dinner, I was hoping to head in for the night as I needed to meet my tour guide, Minh, at 8:30 AM sharp at my hotel lobby to begin our 2-day motorcycle trek.  Aman, a master of persuasion, convinced me to go out to a bar with him and Angela (a real battle as I’m sure you’d imagine).  Already a little loose from the cocktails at the restaurant, we waved down a couple mopeds, Aman and Angela on the back of one, Caleb and I awkwardly close together (I was on the very back), and headed to a hotspot in Hoi An bobbing and weaving through the alleyways on the way there.  The next 7 hours became a music infused blur as we mingled with other travelers, danced on the pool table and watch Aman try to buy the bar out of Vodka before I forced myself to leave at 4:30 AM as I knew I’d have to be ready for the motorcycle ride at the crack of dawn.

Enjoying a drink with Aman and Angela!

I awoke to a loud banging on the door at 10:15 AM.  Startled, dazed and confused, I opened the door to the face of the front desk lady telling me there was a guy downstairs that’d been waiting for me for nearly two hours.  I quickly packed my bag and made a huge pile on my bed of items to ship back to the states.  Caleb had decided against the motorcycle tour so we had agreed to meet up in Hue the next day.  I left him in charge of taking care of shipping and reiterated the he needed to get this done.  As I left, looking back on his body positioned perpendicular across the bed above a puddle of saliva, I was skeptical at best that my belongings would ever touch US soil.

Minh wrapping up my backpack in plastic, ready to go!!

I made my way to the lobby and expressed my deepest apologies to my tour guide as one of the things I pride my self most on is being punctual.  Our route to Hue was along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.  The trail was constructed as a supply route for the North Vietnamese to get their equipment to the southern regions to fight the Southern Vietnamese and US forces.  The road was constructed through untouched mountainous regions in order to avoid sighting from reconnaissance aircraft.  The first leg of the trip was roughly 100 miles and took nearly 7 hours including stops meandering through uninhabited highways, literally sometimes over an hour without seeing another human being.   Minh had joked that prior to our adventure starting he’d contacted the Vietnamese government and paid them to shutoff the roads so we’d enjoy them ourselves.  We pulled over at a variety of historical locations where Minh would explain their individual significance.  The highlight of first day however was when Minh asked if I wanted to stop at a small village to which I excitedly agreed.  We pulled off the main road and traveled down a dirt path for nearly half a mile before seeing a collection of no more than 5 small shacks.  As we got off our bikes, a small crowd of villages began curiously stepping out from their homes. 

I wonder where he's going?

Fresh Pineapple near a field along the way!

Water buffalo make quite the road hazard!

The village consisted of no more than 15 people, all from what I learned later, made their extremely meager living by farming a small field of rice nearby.  The villagers surrounded me and began vigorously asking Minh questions in Vietnamese as they spoke no English.  Minh acted as the translator as the people just stared at me with large smiles on their face, the small children grabbing my legs and wanting to touch my hair.  Through Minh’s translation, they asked if I was a giant as I stood nearly a foot over everyone and outweighed all of them by a solid 100 pounds.  They were curious because my eyes were bright blue, my hair a light color, and asked Minh I was a movie star.  At one point, Minh had me put my arm against a building while 4 small children hung from it, which simply amazed the locals who responded with laughter and cheer.  At one point, one of the elders returned with a rope and Minh said they wanted to play a game of Tug-O-War, me, against the entire village!!  On one particular question, I noticed Minh blushing and shaking his head so I asked him what they were saying.  They were curious if I was married, I said no and allowed him to go forward.  They then asked him if I was a good man to which he replied yes.  Then they called for what I soon found out was their daughter and suggested we meet!  Oddly enough, the girl was probably early twenties and surprisingly stunning!  Minh kept fielding more questions about the topic and I asked him if the child she was holding was hers.  Indeed it was, along with FIVE OTHERS standing around me.  Unfortunately, I had to tell Minh that had she only had five children, we would’ve been walking down the aisle in short order, however the sixth was a deal breaker.

We spent nearly an hour there as these people pushed my self-esteem to the moon before we finally said our goodbyes and headed on our way.  If you ever find yourself at a bar, hitting on a girl back in the US and she completely shuts you down, jump on the next flight to Vietnam (real practical) and have a guide take you to a small village, it’ll make you feel like a million bucks!!!

The villagers!

After a few more stops, Minh and I arrived to a small, small town in the middle of the Vietnamese highlands around 6:00 PM.  Minh instructed me to my room and ordered me to sleep until he woke me up at 8:00 PM for dinner, I happily obliged.  I came downstairs, showered and well rested to a table FULL of food.  A large assortment of beef, chicken, and fish with a variety of vegetables made for an incredible 2 hour-long dinner and a delightful conversation.  During our meal, I had heard but not looked at a group behind me participating in the age-old tradition of drinking.  After dinner, Minh was heading to bed so I decided to join the energetic group. 

Daniel and Michael were on holiday from their university studies in Munich and had ventured out on a similar motorcycle trip that I had done.  Their tour guide, Mr. Chow, called them both and their other friend his sons.  Mr. Chow was a character, a beer drinking, chain smoking, loud and laughing middle-aged Vietnamese man.  He soon adopted me amongst his other children and we spent the next few hours laughing and completing challenging engineering tasks Mr. Chow assigned us. 

The Germans and Mr. Chow

The next morning I met my tour guide Minh at 8:30 AM for breakfast before heading out for the remainder of our ride.  Minh had asked before we left if I’d be interested in visiting another few villages and a children’s schoolhouse to which I of course obliged.  We had stopped by a small store in the town we slept in and he said they’d love it if I bought some candy to hand out.  I bought the place almost completely out of these giant variety packs and stuffed them in our backpacks and motorbikes before heading to the countryside.  Roughly an hour into our ride, Minh led me off the main road and down another dirt path where we came upon the schoolhouse.  It was a small, two-room school for children with ages ranging from 5-10 years old.  Both the teacher and the 20 or so kids were excited to see Minh as they knew exactly why he’d stopped by.  The teacher let the kids have a ten-minute break as they surrounded Minh and I in anticipation for some candy.  We spent the next few minutes letting the children grab a handful of treats each before I sat down to listen in on a lesson for a bit.  Beautiful experience.

The kids loved us after all that candy!

Back to basics!

The trek home was nothing short of breathtaking.  The road sat above expansive, lush-green views over the Vietnamese and Laotian mountain ranges without a human in sight.  We got to ride through some dense fog at the highest point of elevation throughout our journey, which made it almost seem mystical.  The only people we ended up seeing throughout the remainder of the trek home was my German friends, Daniel and Michael, before finally pulling into the city of Hue around 5:00PM.

The picture doesn't do it justice how thick the fog actually was.

Sap leaking from a rubber tree.

The bark of a cinnamon tree drying out on the walkway in one of the villages we stopped at.  The place smelled incredible!

A little forest rodent that was caught at one of the villages, Minh said they'd surely be eating it for dinner.

                                      

Minh and I after we finished our ride!

I met up with Caleb at a hotel he had pre-booked and the rest of the evening was spent catching up on each others stories over the past 36 hours and relaxing in anticipation for what lay ahead the following day after we flew to the capitol city of Hanoi……