Day 23

13 May 2013

Quy Nhon to Hue

Did something against my principles and got lucky more than once.



Now that got your attention, I guess. It all started this morning. I had loaded up the bike and pushed the bike over to the service station right next door to the hotel I was staying in. During the filling up stage a lady walked over, looked at me and pointed to the ground. Petrol was pouring out of the bike. I hastily turned off the petrol tap and looked were the petrol was coming from. The rubber hose connecting the tank with the carburetor had been ripped off and was hanging on the side. Obviously the bike had been milked during the night. The rubber hose was a bit frayed so whoever did it had been unable to refit the hose. If the hotel had been remote from a service station I would have been in trouble. Lucky that the servo was right next door and also lucky that repair shop was right across the street. As it is, in the bigger towns and cities repair shop appear every few hundred meters. While the mechanic replaced the hose I had some excellent toasted, egg and vegetable filled bread rolls. Two of them in fact with a bottle of water all for just 1 dollar.

On my way north I activated my spot device as I had noticed that for some reason the signal was not sent last night. Perhaps I removed the gadget indoors to soon. The landscape today changed to jungle vegetation, the road mostly followed the coast. Over 400 km to Hue kept me busy again most of the day. Around lunch I pulled off the road for a drink and something to eat but found they only had diffah daffah snacks. (a term I use for **** food) Near major roundabouts there are nearly always some kind of eateries, often with comfy chairs. Mini busses drop people off at a roundabout where connecting busses pass, so what do people do while waiting- yes have a drink and some food.

Vietnamese people are very friendly; as soon as you sit down they come over and talk to you. You are never alone for long. Like tonight when I visited the night market along the Perfume river in Hue. First a male student approached me just for a chat while asked me to correct his English. Asked lots of questions and told me about himself and Hue city. Later I sat down on the concrete wall along the river near the end of the market. Hundreds of people were sitting on the ground, wall or chairs enjoying their food they just bought at the food stalls. I just sat down for a rest. 2 meters on, two young girls of 21 where sitting by themselves. I hadn't really noticed them until one reached over and offered me some fruit. Then in broken English asked where I was from and if I like Vietnam, Hue etc.

Anyway back to lunch time. The stop near the roundabout: I parked the bike under the overhang and sat down after opening a cool box to get a drink. A young couple who ran the show started to talk to me. Later an older man cam over to talk to me also. No one spoke a word of English. Conversation went like this:

Me: Xin chao (sin jow) meaning Hello. They: Xin chow jing yang,jing yang, jing yang, ting tong yang Jin.

Me:Toi khong hiue (doy kwam hee-oo) meaning I don’t understand. Now here comes the problem. When you look at Vietnamese writing it has dozens of little ticks, dots etc above the letters. This shows the intonation of the letters. One word may have 4 different meanings depending on the tone you give the individual letters. Most of the time when I say Toi Khong Hieu it is met with laughter. I know what I am saying is right the way it is written. But what I may say may as well be something like: I **** in my pants today. They really laugh and of course this is followed by more yang,jing yang, jing yang, ting tong yang Jin. However in the end they know where I am from, that I have children and am a granddad. Were I have come from that day and whereI am heading. And I know their names, where they live and what they do. Meanwhile we have a lot some fun with it all.

Now what did I do against my principles.

Well I love riding mountain roads and have travelled to several countries just to ride some of them like the Stelvio Pass in Austria-Italy, and the Tranfagarasgan in Romania.

Between Danang and Hue there is a most beautiful pass, fairly steep, lots of bends and magnificent views. While stopping for fuel I studied the map and I uttered the words I heard Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear say when they were riding Vietnam "we are not going to make it" He meant that they needed to be in Halong Bay at a certain day and with the low average speed experienced in Vietnam they wouldn’t be able to get there in time. I checked my watch and could work out that I was not going to make Hue before dark and I did not want to go back to Danang. There was another way to get to the other side of the mountain range and that is to use the tunnel. Here I was doing the unthinkable, using a tunnel instead of riding the pass I had come to ride. Suffering from a slight tooth ache does not help matter either. I took a left hander and headed for the tunnel. I passed several signs starting with the word Xe , which I now know has something to do with bikes. A few km down the road I was stopped at the toll gate and advised to go back and turn left. Motorcycles and scooters are driven on to a ramp and end up on a platform level with a special truck where the motorcycle is left to be loaded. The riders go by bus. The tunnel ride incl bike transport coast only $1,50 and take 20 minutes to complete including loading and unloading.

When we reached the end of the tunnel the truck pulled up in a similar site and the bikes were loaded onto the platform ready for collection. I had a quick look at the bike and notice that the number plate had lost its mounting bolt and nut; the plate just hung on with one little screw. A further inspection revealed that the chrome rear mudguard was just about to break of. The many potholes had done their work. I made an emergency repair with a rubber strap to prevent the whole thing to brake off and possibly jam the wheel. This could have caused some major issue if it would have broken off while riding the pass. 2 km down the road I found a repair shop. The man of the shop looked for a screw and nut straightaway and also noted that the rear mudguard was about the sheer off. He said Ying Yang , yang yang yang yang tink tonk. Meaning I have a welder and can fix. He pointed to his welder so that is what I presumed he said. Ok Go for it I said and wondered over to next door to buy a bottle of water.

When I returned he had removed the mudguard and was busy welding. As I had nothing to do I decided to check to oil level of the engine only to find…. Nothing on the dipstick. If I had taken the pass road I would have certainly blown up the engine. Lucky I checked this while waiting for the welding to be finished. After I had some fun with his kids and taken a family picture I arrived in Hue around 6.30.Meanwhile it had gone dark by the time I arrived in Hue. I was tired and had it for today. Stopped at the first hotel in site and now have a very good hotel for $8.00 a night.

Oh I did mean was lucky instead of got lucky of course.