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This has to be the best day; heading up to the mountains we stop to watch the harvesting of the watermelon crop. Lisa is the centre of attention - not because of her hair being red, which is much admired everywhere but, rolling a cigarette she draws a crowd of men all fascinated and wanting to try her English tobacco. We loved riding along the Ho Chi Minh trail. Our guide Hai knows a lot about the war which is fascinating. His own father shot himself through the leg to avoid fighting. All the Hollywood films give the picture but riding along the route through dense jungle you can really imagine what it was like. It is incredibly beautiful weaving our way up through the mountains through the clouds. We see a lot of Bana tribe people, living in wooden huts and working the land, cutting down the forest for planting crops. The children are quite shy of us but easily persuaded to giggle by showing them photos of themselves. One of the things that shocked me is the poor quality of education. Children only get free schooling from the age of 6 to 11 (mostly half a day in rural areas) and then parents pay monthly. There is a lot of talk about inequalities and corruption in the government. It is forbidden to take photos of any policemen or government buildings however big the zoom lens and our guides were very nervous of us contravening the rules. Finding accommodation in Kham Duc is a struggle for our two guys as all the hotels are full of people working at the nearby gold mines. It is too far to go and see as they are deep in the mountains and I suspect that all the riders doing motorbike trips have a permitted route. At every hotel our passport numbers are recorded electronically so foreigners are effectively tracked. Maybe it's a good idea in case one of us gets lost and needs returning.
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