Part 75: Spiritual, agricultural, and historical tour.....
There I was sitting by the side of the road, wondering what we were going to do; slightly concerned, although not quite in panic mode just yet - even if no cars, or other bikes had passed us for a while now, bringing into reality how far we were from the nearest town. My guide appeared visibly stressed out, and who could blame him. He explained to me that this was his only source of income, and without his motorbike, he wouldn't be able to earn and feed his family, so for their sake I hoped there was not too much damage done. The others didn't notice we had broken down yet and seemed to just carry on ahead. So he was trying his best to call them on his mobile phone to let them know the situation. But just as I was beginning to think they had completely forgotten about us, I spotted Jack and his guide in the distance coming back for us.
It was a relief of course, but there was still the problem of what we were going to do with the bike. The two guides where conversing in Vietnamese and started figuring out a plan. One of them found a couple of sticks on the floor and pulled the broken chain away from the rear cog, then the third guide showed up, minus Corina, leaving me and Jack wondering were she was exactly. Turns out he left her by a random road side house a few miles down the road, we were relieved to hear!
Whilst Jack calmly lit a cigarette, they tied a dodgy looking rope to the broken down bike and began slowly towing it.
Then both myself and Jack went three's up on the remaining bike with the other guide, which was a bit uncomfortable to say the least, and sped back to the road side house where Corina was waiting, playing with a couple of cute kids.
The house belonged to a blacksmith who's son, by a stroke of good fortune, happened to be a mechanic, and even had a spare chain. So a potentially complicated situation was flipped on its head by our three quick thinking guides.
Whilst they all chatted and made the necessary repairs we played with these two adorable kids and watched the blacksmith work.
It could have been a whole lot worse, but after just over an hour or so, we were back on the road heading for Da Lat.
The clouds looked really dramatic against the mountains as the sun came down and the temperature dropped quite a bit too as we rode through the green pine tree hills, then passing a huge lake and fresh flower filled parks into the city center.
This was quite different to anything I had seen so far in Vietnam and nicknamed the 'honeymoon town'. Almost looking like it belonged more in the alps with its distinctive colonial architecture. Apparently locals from the coastline flock here in the summer to escape the humidity due to its high altitude (2000 meters above seal level) and its easy to see why. The climate is often referred to as ‘Eternal Spring’ for its pleasantly warm temperature during the day and coolness at night.
We soon arrived at the hotel and the guides explained the evening was free for us to do our own thing, but to be ready for 7.30am to get back on the road early, so after a good shower to wash off all the dust, I was eager to take a good look around the city - even though we'd been on the road for nearly 11 hours!
Luckily our hotel was right in the heart of Da Lat and close to a good strip of restaurants, which meant we didn't have far to walk for a decent evening meal.
I hadn't seen a tourist since we left Nha Trang, and there were none here either, which we agreed was a good thing compared to the floods of tourists on the coastline.
After strolling the city that night, which did indeed have a distinct romantic kitsch feel to it with the lights, flowers and fountains we wandered through the busy main market that was more European than Asian.
But not long after, we were almost ready for bed and slowly walked back to the hotel; stopping only for chocolate cake to satisfy Corina's insatiable craving!
The following day we were ready for our next leg of the motorbike adventure, and after a hearty baguette breakfast, we hit the road early on another beautiful bright morning. It would have been nice to explore a bit more of Da Lat but we had a stacked day ahead the guides explained, that today would be even more off the beaten track than yesterday.
First stop was a magnificent view point over looking the the city framed by all its surrounding mountains; and what a great way to start the day. My guide began explaining the huge French influence here that remains untouched to this day from the late 19th century. I managed to capture a few wide panoramic shots of the view with my phone just before we were back on the road, only for another 30 more minutes or so until we reached the Quang Trung Reservoir; an artificial lake created by a dam back in 1980 and has since become a famous landmark here. It was a spectacular sight with the hills around the reservoir covered in more pine trees.
We climbed off the bikes to walk along the river side and take a closer look, absorbing the views for nearly an hour before we continued the journey.
I actually cant recall ever having spent an early morning like this before, but cruising through the Lang Biang Mountain range and the surrounding landscapes, on the back of a motorbike, in the central highlands of Vietnam was certainly up there!
Legend says that the name 'Lang Biang' was derived from the name of a couple who were deeply in love with each other who both committed suicide in the mountains. Yet another of the stories recited to me by my informative guide!
The roads started to descend now, meaning we would gradually get hotter the lower we were and by late morning we reached a red dusty track leading down a quarry where local manual workers were making stone bricks using just a chisel and rock hammer - in the scorching sun!
We were given thin plastic waterproof macs to shield us from the dust as we ascended further down the steep, pot-hole ridden quarry track; stopping briefly to meet some of the workers.
How on earth they could stand, let alone work in sweltering conditions like this I don't know, but they get paid by the load, so its full on for them all day.
The track continued like this for an hour then the surrounding scenery quickly changed to rolling hills; rugged and jungle like, not to high but they were very steep and covered with dense vegetation till we reached a small town, stopping here only for an ice cold drink but the next port of call was at a small coffee plantation a few kilometres away.
Many argue that Vietnamese coffee is among the worlds finest and after seeing a rustic production line and sampling some, we witnessed the stuff of legends apparently, and a coffee so rare its almost worth its weight in gold; weasel coffee!
Basically its firstly eaten and then excreted by rare Vietnamese weasels! honestly!
We were told that this radically alters the taste, and the result is a stronger, smoother, delicious flavour that will appeal to the all serious coffee connoisseurs. It was too expensive to try but we got to see some of the weasel's up close.
Next up on our cultural tour, we stopped at a rice wine fermenting factory which was another interesting experience; although I'm not exactly sure what possessed Jack at this stage, but he asked the proprietor if he had any snake bile to which of course it just had to be yes.
For those that don't know its venomous dead snakes, scorpions and other reptiles placed in a large glass jar topped up with strong rice wine with various herbs and left for many months to mature.
It mixes with the bodily fluids of the reptiles, and then drunk for its sexual healing purposes; or so they say!
They proudly brought out a huge jar full of of dead snakes and lizards then filled up two shot glasses for me and Jack.
There was no way we were getting out of this, and in view of everyone, we both downed the yellowy/brown fluid in one gulp!!!
I was keen to get straight back onto the bikes just in case I threw up - but at least we did it.
Next we stopped for lunch at the famous 'Elephant water falls' near Nam Ban town and carefully climbed down a set of really dodgy steep wooden steps, between two giant rocks to see the thundering waterfall as it sprayed up ice like water into the air.
This was a really impressive display of mother nature, and a truly epic sight to behold, even if we did get soaked. There were a few caves to explore before we climbed back up the steps to a temple and a giant laughing buddha statue, surrounded by quaint gardens, and finally the first tourist we'd seen since Nha Trang!
Lunch was being served in a road side canteen back towards the bikes, and a delicious meat feast of locally prepared dishes of stewed rabbit, wild boar, chicken and fish awaited us. There was stacks of food on the table, but this time, me Jack and Corina were happy for our hungry guides to get stuck in and not politely wait for us to finish first.
After an amazing first part of the day we were eager to see what else the guides had in store for us, so we got back on the bikes with even more anticipation.
That afternoon we stopped at a old silk mill, visited a minority family who bred silk worms in their home, a brick kiln, an amazing furniture sculpture, and the old traditional long houses of the elders, not to mention even more idyllic landscapes in-between. This was an unbelievable full value for money day so far, and yet there was still more to see.
Me, Jack and Corina attentively listened to all the information and absorbed all we had learned from the guides so far on this growing spiritual, industrial, agricultural, culinary and historical tour of the central highlands in this magnificent region. Another 11 hour day had passed and it was approaching nightfall once more as we pulled into a stunning family run villa on the outskirts of Di Linh - a small secluded town amongst green mountains where we would be staying for the night!
Our friendly host and his lovely wife showed us to our rooms explaining that all their facilities where now ours to use as we wished - including the outdoor pool! Plus a barbecued meat feast would be served shortly.
Seriously there could not have been a more beautiful place to rest up.
Life doesn't get any better than this.....