Marble Mountains

Rented a motorbike and drove out to the Marble Mountains for the morning. They were pretty interesting - looked a bit like the Glasshouse Mountains near Brisbane, but made of marble. So not really I suppose. Here's PD trying to look as fat as Buddha...I think he failed.


The five mountains are said to represent natural elements - water, wood, fire, metal or gold, and earth. We climbed up Thuy Son (water) which is the largest one, and has numerous natural caves inside. There are pagodas scattered about, and the carved statues of buddha are quite impressive...also had a nice view over the South China Sea from the top.








This is the main pagoda, with surrounding walls full of marble carvings.

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Hoi An

Really enjoyed the few days we've spent in Hoi An, it's a beautiful city. Set on the river, the side streets are full of cafes, art galleries, museums and old houses...it definitely has a "French" feel to it. There's an interesting mixture of Japanese, Chinese, French and Vietnamese influence.





Hoi An is famous for its tailor shops - they are everywhere, very cheap, and you can get pretty much any clothes you want made up. They have international catalogues and magazines in each shop (I was searching through Next!)...so you pick something you like, choose the fabric (just have to make sure it's decent silk), get measurements taken, and about four hours later - Voila! you have a new wardrobe! Loads of fun, but it's dangerous and addictive... :)






The Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so being true tourists we followed the Culture & Heritage trail around some of the historical buildings. The Japanese Covered Bridge was first constructed in 1593, but its been restored several times since then. I found the Cantonese Chinese Assembly Hall interesting, and Tan Ky Old House (built two centuries ago) has been well preserve with a mix of Japanese and Chinese architecture. The same family has lived in the house for seven generations!


We watched a short cultural performance at the handicraft workshop & museum which was really cool! The instruments were funky, and the costumes hilarious...really enjoyed it.
Patrick had actually kept in touch via e-mail with someone he met at this same place 3 years ago...and we met up with her and her husband (Chi & Quoc) for a meal at a great restaurant on the riverfront called Cafe Des Amis. Afterwards they introduced us to this random game being played nearby, called Bai Choi - seemed a bit like a form of bingo, but with singing involved. Anyway, PD did a great job as one of the referees - handing out yellow flags to those who's card came up :)

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Easy Rider - Day 5

Our last day on the motorbikes :) ...it's been tons of fun.

We finished driving through the Central Highlands jungle, and out to the coast. The scenery was beautiful, although there were several 'slips' to look out for on the road! We stopped at another minority home...most of the people were out hunting or gathering food while the older generation were at home sewing and cooking. The whole family live in this small but really cosy little hut!





We had a short stop at a rice paper factory, and a Cham Tower - King's residence during former times of Chinese influnce. The school kids in the town were keen to practise "hello-hello, whats-your-name?, where-you-from?" :)


The highlight of the day (and possibly the trip) has to be our entrance into Hoi An. The city is prone to flooding during heavy rain, and the main road into Hoi An was totally submerged.
To our amusement, there were a few rickety old boats waiting at the start of the flooded section, to carry passengers and their vehicles to the other side. They motioned for us to get off, and the boat people heaved both bikes, with bags still attached, onto two boats! We climbed in, and the lady started rowing down the road in the wake of a large truck...it was hilarious!!

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Easy Rider - Day 4

History lessons today...learned loads about the war from Loc, who served in the American Special Forces so is really knowledgable. The Kon Tum area was a major battlefield during the Vietnamese War. Went to Charlie Hill - a huge South Vietnamese stronghold before the VC conquered it. The air strip there is now used by locals to dry tapioca collected from the fields! They wouldn't let me go for a run...apparently there's still loads of mines in the area.





Stopped for snacks at this shed - fried bananas, apparently very common but I wasn't that keen. The custard apple was fantastic though. Locals that can avoid the mines still collect everything from around here to sell...sheds are filled with corrugated iron, fence parts, exploded bombs, barbed wire, bullets, bits of helmet, dog tags - everything!

Next we drove through "big jungle", where many of the soldiers lived and fought for days, weeks, and months on end. I think we would have been lost in about 10 minutes. Parts of the old Ho Chi Minh trail still exist - a track leading through the jungle used for many years by the North Vietnamese, and never discovered by the Americans until after the war. Pretty fascinating stuff.



The mountain/jungle scenery is fantastic. Unfortunately its started to rain so the views weren't as great, but it kind of added to the atmosphere, and reinforced how miserable it must have been to hide in the jungle.


We stopped at these 'modern bridges' (I wouldn't want to try an old-fashioned one), which locals still use to carry the tapioca they've collected back to the village. We walked gingerly over, trying to avoid all the gaps and holding the side rail whenever it existed...then we watched the kids racing back and forth chasing each other :)

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Easy Rider - Day 3

We covered quite a big distance on the bikes today, from Buon Ma Thuot to Kon Tum.

Unfortunately just before we left, Hung had an accident while he & Loc were messing about with the plastic wraps for our backpacks. He got hit in the eye by the rubber tie and had to go to hospital because someting shattered in his eye (either a glass eye, or contact lens)...very unlucky.

Loc had to quickly find another motorbike driver (and one that he trusted) for us to take Hung's place. Our new guy, Man, couldn't speak a word of English...a bit annoying but nothing we could do.





We stopped at various war memorials, and saw some Russian tanks. This area was heavily bombed by American B-52 raids during the war. At another plantation, 'funny-man Loc' made us try a "different type of coffee bean"...turned out to be a peppercorn! Rubber trees are planted over much of the area as well, and the sap is collected in small bowls hanging from the tree every month or so. They put coloured strips around the tree to mark when the sap has been taken....kind of interesting.



On arrival in Kom Tum, we went briefly to another minority village, and saw the Communal rong house - a tall thatched-roof buildings on stilts used as a meeting house. There was also a wooden Catholic church (built by the local people) nearby.

For dinner we all ate at a wild foods restaurant - it was excellent (again!)...wild boar & deer which we cooked on the table in front of us. All for about $1 each :)

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Easy Rider - Day 2

I had a run around part of Lak Lake in the morning, much to the amusement of several locals - probably thinking "Who is this western weirdo that refuses the offer of moto ride?!"

We set off towards the capital of the Central Highlands (Buon Ma Thuot) - check out the sun protection! A stone mason was hard at work chipping large boulders into small segments, and at a pottery factory we watched people shaping cement into large plant pots. Everything was done by hand - mixing the cement, packing the sand, and shaping the bowls...so much slower than production would be with modern machinery!






After checking into the hotel, we went out to Dray Sap Falls on the bikes, and had a short walk into the waterfalls with Hung. We had an 'interesting' lunch we'd picked up from a local bakery - which vaguely resembled pizza bread and cake. Sort of... :) PD & I then walked through some "small jungle" and bean plantations for a few kilometres to another waterfall, where Loc & Hung picked us up.





In the evening we were left to eat dinner by ourselves - feeling adventurous we ordered something from a street vendour...had absoloutely no idea what we got but it was really pretty good! Some kind of noodle soup with meat, spring onion and mint leaves, and some chicken with rice...only bad thing is we don't know what its called to order it again!

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