Part One of our 100km Motorbike Trek into the Highlands........



Day One - Nha Trang to Lak Lake in the DAKLAK Highlands - 250km to break us in!



So we had decided against the nightmare of the 12 hour sleeper bus and opted for the 4 day 1000km motorbike trip through the Central Highlands. The basic premise that these two guides and their Honda 100cc bikes would transport us both PLUS our considerable packs (and our guides gear!) all that distance up to Hoi An seemed very daunting as the guides loaded up the bikes. Mr Tien asked Ads several times if we had our passports and if he had got his banana? Dont Ask! The route would see us leave Nha Trang heading north up the coast then inland climbing all the while up to our first stop in the Daklak Highlands. Our first thoughts revolved around the seating position, was the human body designed to sit on a motorbike continuosly for four days and how would our bums survive?!!! After the first couple of hours Ads had definately decided perhaps not!




Saying goodbye to Zach we headed along the coast road finally seeing Nha Trang and the surrounding area in daylight - yes it did have a beach! At the end of the coast we stopped to see the many fishing boats and the locals working also. We had only gone about 5 minutes on the bike and already Ads and I just looked at each other and said...'this is going to be SO cool!'



At first we continued along the main tourist coastal highway (Highway 1) and it was just fantastic, the coastline on your right, descending mountains in the distance on your left, and on the bike you felt so out on the open road and closer to Vietnam and its people than ever before, it was just indescribable! Tien and Phuoc were just fab, always concerned about our safety first ( don't worry mum and Pauline!) and they seemed to have this amazing sense of when our 'asses' needed a break or when coffee was in need.....which was pretty often to say the least!



On our first stop we passed 'Monkey Island', a small isle of 1,000 monkey inhabitants! We then looked upon the beautiful Rotoun Fishing Village on Highway 1, stopped at there Pagoda and Ads and I then wandered through the back streets of the village...not a tourist in sight and most locals seem amused at who were were, they kept shouting hello and 'Chuc Num Manoi' it was just brilliant! We then scambled over the main train line and took our first coffee stop - this consisted of chilling whilst looking over the shrimp farms of Hung Piewn, listening to Tien's and Phuoc's stories.... needless to say an hour into the journey already gave us an insight into the fact that our 'Easy Rider' guides and this trip was going to be just the best decision we had ever made..... Plus one cup of coffee was just 5 pence.....result, this really was Highlands living!

Turning off from the touristic Highway 1, we then headed towards the remote Highlands of the DakLAK province on Highway 26 which heads towards a place called Buon Ma Thout City. We didn't see another tourist all day, it was just wonderful, passing shacks and many minority villages, driving off the beaten track onto dustier less developed roads and really seeing an insight into the real Vietnam.... Tien and Phuoc stopped to tell us more about the way of life and how the villagers earn a living/survive in the Highlands. On route we stopped at a brick farm to see the way in which they were made, the old furnace that looks like it is falling apart and how they dry the clay in the sun before heating.....children were running out to see us and shouting hello and in many places we knew that some had probably never even seen a westerner in their lifetime! I know we can't say that we are the second 'Euan McGregor and Charley Boorman's' of the 21st century but it really gave us an insight into how they must have felt on their journey biking through the remoteness and villages....at times we felt just like celebrities!



On climbing our first main mountain into the Highlands, Tien and Phuoc explained to us why parts of the mountain are less green and forested than the rest due to the 'Agent Orange' dropped by the Americans in the war - it was really quite sad to see the effect still of this on the vegetation and it reminded us also of the villagers we had seen so far with deformations as a result....



After a few more 'bum stops' we stopped for lunch with the locals in a place called Eakar. The food was JUST amazing and some of the best we have had to date...we had read blogs about others who had tried this trip and said they had tasted the best local food in the Highlands, the beef, rice, egg and vegeable soup definately was just that! On agreeing to do the trip I was rather worried that dog would be the main thing on the menu but thankfully this first meal was definately beef!!!



After lunch we rode further and further into the Highlands and it started to become more remote, we passed smaller villages seeing locals working in the beautiful lush green rice fields and experiencing what Tien called a 'Highlands Taxi', basically a cart attached to a 3 wheel contraption dragging locals piled high on it - mad! We passed more coffee plantations and then headed off onto a part dirt track/part road that is Route 27 which takes you to Lak Lake, our destination for the night! The coffee stop on route was an experience, basically as tonight is New Years Eve for the locals, the minority of villagers were in preperation for New Year, overloading their bikes and mopeds with not only 4-5 people but flowers too to celebrate & anything else needed to party - kids were playing 'vietnamese pool' and staring at us quite strangely as if we were from outer space! One young child kept shouting hello to which when we replied, he ran off giggling, then came back again to repeat the same......for about an hour!!! We found all the villagers so so friendly and if I could, I could easily have stayed in one of these villages and taught in the local school -the kids were just beautiful and so loving life even though all they have is mud and each other to amuse them!! The local traffic jams were also amusing and quite different to the city...basically they consisted of cows!



At times, Tien and Phuoc would stop and suggest to me and Ads we walk for a while to ease our legs and say that they would pick us up on route, this was good with us, although Phuoc saying 'see ypu tommorrow' everytime made us slightly nervous.... thank god he never meant it! About 45 minutes from our destination, Ads bottom was suffering quite badly to say the least so Tien stopped to give him a massage on the side of the road.....on his back thankfully! We then walked for abit through a tiny row of shacks, passing old ladies picking rice, seeing volleyball nets made out of two twigs and string, passing local lads taking their cows for a walk - the usual traffic jam culprit of the Highlands!

After about 8 hours plus of riding, we arived at the Zung minority village of the 'Manong' people near Lak Lake. Originally Tien and Phuoc said that we normally would have done a homestay in the village, but because it was new year, they were worried that we wouldn't have got any sleep due to the New Year parties and goat, dogs, cows, pigs, chickens, you name it sleeping with us and waking us up at 4am! I would have actually loved this experience and Ithink deep down it was them that fancied their sleep more!! Anyway, they left us to walk around the village and said for us to walk into houses, take pictures and get a feel within village life....on our first arrival at a local home, we saw a few doors close and people turning way and felt quite quickly that perhaps the eve of New Year was not when the Manong people wanted visitors, so we chickened out basically and just walked through the village....It was amazing to see the 'Long Houses' (as they are termed) that they live in with about 25 others and also see the people working on the river.... we witnessed 5 year old girls carrying firewood in baskets on their backs out of the river, 75 year old ladies doing the same, teenagers 'cycling' their boats for miles and the fattest pigs ever slobbering in the mud .....it really is a harsh life they lead in many of the minority villages and brought back memories of Africa and Cambodia for both of us... We then sat by the lake and watched the sunset, it was just beautiful and a symbol of an experience of a lifetime...with much more instore.




From here we jumped back on the bikes and headed towards our sleeping destination for the night-the Lak Lake Resort..... and a resort indeed it was, we were blown over! This whole trip was costing us just TWENTY pounds a day for guide, bike, fuel and accomodation and we in no way expected what we arrived too, it was just beautiful! We had our own bungalow and balcony on the lake and it was the best place we had stayed to date, Tien had this huge grin on his face when we told him and he seemed so pleased to say the least! Plus we were one of only 3 staying there!






The locals were desperate to get to their families for the New Years' celebrations so we ate straight away and had delicious beef in ginger and garlic, rice, egg, soup.... you name it, they really know how to prepare a good meal! Tien and Phuoc brought out the rice wine which Ads managed to down with them (after much holding of the nose!)with us all shouting 'Happy New Yok'!Apparently that is what you have to say pre new year!They were both such funny characters and we had such fun with them....that night we retired to bed pretty knackered but smiling from ear to ear and couldn't wait for day 2! But could our bums.......