20 Nov – 21 Nov - Nha Trang to Dalat
Weather – Rain, Wind, Fog, Cold

“EASY RIDER ADVENTURE TOUR – f***ING COOL”
I met Eddie Murphy in a Vietnamese café in Nha Trang, 5 minutes after booking a bus ticket to Saigon for that same evening. Within 30mins the nutter had talked me into ‘Easy Riding’on the back of his 125cc Honda motorbike (which had EDDIE MURPHY NHA TRANG, EASY RIDER ADVENTURE TOUR – f***ING COOL on the front) and travelling to Dalat for the night to see the ‘Really Vietnam.’ I succumbed to the mans charm and 30mins later we were weaving our way through trucks, mopeds and pedestrians on the way out of the city. He suggested we take his “shortcut” so we could get to Dalat in 5hrs or so. Within an hour we hit a dirt track which turned into a mud track due to recent rains. It took us 2.5hours to cover 10km - pushing the bike, cleaning the bike to get the wheels moving again and wading through mud up to our knees!!! “Its really Vietnam hey my friend?!” says Eddie. Once we cleared that we were on our way only to encounter thick fog (visbility about 20feet), heavy rain and strong winds – We were both wearing shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops! “Its really Vietnam hey my friend?!” shouts Eddie. Last but not least the chain on the bike started to slip so we had to stop to repair it in a small village en route whilst I freezed my ass off!! You know what Eddie said….We arrived in Dalat after 8.5hours in the end, and drank a lot of Rice Wine in celebration! The man is a legend.

This morning we headed out again on his bike and saw some superb views as we snaked around the mountains. Easy Riding is certainly the best way to see Vietnam, and I wish I had more time to do more of it! We saw the Crazy House, which is likened to Alice in Wonderland, mushroom farms, coffee and tea plantations, a silk factory where you see them using the silk worm cocoons to pull out the silk – pretty cool, a happy buddha, chicken village (a minority people village) and the oldest train station in Vietnam…Phew!!

19 Nov – 20 Nov – Hoi An to Nha Trang
NHA TRANG
The journey to Nha Trang from Hoi An was horrible. Its likened to ‘prison’ or ‘hell’ and for me it was exactly that. An overnight sleeper bus on bumpy roads sandwiched between two fat German guys is not my cup of tea!! I had to drop him the peoples elbow a couple of times when he encroached on my space, but other than that I kept the pain to myself…
Nha Trang is on the coast so I took a party boat trip aroud the islands. It started slowly, but the crew played us some songs which livened the party. The drummer was playing on barrels! When we eventually reached the land I was a little merry and decided to go for a haircut. I don’t think she understood anything I said and I have a feeling she was a trainee so it ended up lopsided!! (Note – don’t go to the hairdressers after beers).

All the best back home….

Will