Anton Swanepoel's Blog

Start of trip || < || >

For details of the places I visited in Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, with GPS Coordinates, see my book Vietnam Caves.

For details on motorbiking in Vietnam and Cambodia, from buying and selling a motorbike, to border crossing, see my book Motorbiking Cambodia & Vietnam.

 

Full of energy I drag myself out of bed at 6 am this morning. I have booked 3 days of excursions, and although I know roughly what I will be doing, I am not sure on which day I will be doing what. Kinda exciting. The bus is picking me up somewhere between 7:30 and 8, depending on its routes. Having been in the tourism industry for 7 years, I decide to be ready downstairs for breakfast at 7. This way I should have enough time to eat and be ready before the bus, in case my pickup is the first. Great plan, but like the best plans of mice and men, it does not always work that way. I got up early so I can have a nice soak in the bath. Ha, turn the tap, no water. Mmmm. There goes my bath. I try the tap at the basin, and there is not only water, it is warm. So I shave, then do the basin shower wash. Anyone that has travelled enough will know. Right, pack my backpack with all the goodies, like iPad and external battery charger, sun cap and mozzi repellent. It is exactly 7am, and just as I am about to head out of the door. I hear a noise in the bathroom. Go back and try the bathtub’s tap, Jup there is water, gggrrrrrr. I contemplate if I can do a quick 10 min bath, but decide not to chance it. Run downstairs to get breakfast, and you guessed it. They are closed. Breakfast only opens at 7:15. Could have had the 10 min bath. Right, get an omelette with tea, and today’s fruit is, Jup, watermelon slices, with more seeds in than sand on the beach. You know how long it takes to pick those seeds out. I do a record 5 min breakfast, and is done by 7:30. Crap, now I need the loo. Seeing as my room is 5 or 6 flights up (I have not counted, reception said it is 5 but it feels like there is an added floor every time I go up, this must be a Harry Potter building with secret floors.) Now I feel like one of the many guest I have taken to the boat in the morning. And I wonder what the driver must think if he arrives and finds me having gone to the toilet. I remember the countless times I counted everyone of my guests, only to suddenly find out one is missing. And when you ask where the person is, the answer is almost always, toilet. Now at that point, when the other guests hear someone has gone to the toilet, half of them wants to go as well. Torture. Luckily, they have a toilet downstairs. Right behind the kitchen I may add. Hope no one drops a stink bomb while they prepare my food next time. I try to rush in, but an old (older than elderly Graham) lady is busy washing her hands. No offense, but it was like watching a slow motion movie. Kinda funny actually, and I imagine one day I would be standing there washing my hands, while someone else needs the toilet. Right, coast is clear, i storm in, slam the door, lock it, and half a nano second later someone else desperately tries to open the door. Sucker. But I have no time to waste, and is out of there in a jiffy. Then, like in typical army style, hurry up and wait, I wait for the bus. Now with first time pickups, you never know if you are first on the list, or last. You kinda hope you are first, so you have the pick of the seats available, but you also hope you are last, so you have more time. I ask the hotel clerk at reception what time the bus comes for the tour, and he goes off for 5 min, returns and says nothing, At 7:50 a small minibus pulls up, and is am like yeh. Go over and ask the driver if it is for the tour. He goes $:82)/&’wmanah!/$-?-(-)/$/&/$3$-92’anajakw. Now I am standing not sure what to do. I have no ticket for the tour, that I can give him as the tour operator said all will be booked and they will pick me up no worries. Not my bus, 🙁 Not my bus either. Then the one hotel clerk comes out saying no no no, bus come bus come. 8 to 8:15. Yes I can hear the bath calling me, like chocolate cookies calls one. I see a mobile food stand next to the hotel, and buy two bottles of tea from them, then go sit back down again in the lobby, and wait. I laugh as I remember when I just started at Divetech, and needed to pick up people. I had a party of 3 to pick up at one hotel, and 4 at the other hotel. I got the 4 people, but got lost on the way to the second hotel, so was a bit late. I was so glad to see 3 people waiting for me and they were so glad to see a van to pick them up, that they just jumped in. I was about 2 miles down the road when we discover that they are actually supposed to go with another dive operator. I just picked up the competition’s guests, ha ha ha. Drive back, and there is the bus for the other tour operator, with my guests. Hey, the numbers matched. The minibus turns out to be a taxi service for another guest, oops, I almost went to the airport. Then, another bus pulls up and picks up some guest at the hotel. My name is not in the list. 5 more busses stop and pick up people or just drive by. So I just wait. 8:20 and a guy strolls in, speaks to the hotel clerk, then address me and asks if I am going to Ha Long bay. Uuhhh, I don’t know where I am going today mate, but yes yes yes I am going where ever it is you wanna go. 🙂 hotel clerk goes to his dad next door, and confirms I am booked for Ha Long bay today. So off I go. Ha Long Bay, or the Bay of descending dragons, is considered the eight natural wonder of the world. It is 1600 square kilometers of coastline with 2000 limestone islands in various shapes. From the air it looks like the body of a dragon, hence the name, descending dragon. Ha Long Bay is not just famous for the rock formations. Close by at the Đằng River, the Battle of Bạch Đằng River was fought in 938 where the Vietnamese forces, led by Ngô Quyền, defeated the invading forces of the Southern Han state of China and put an end to centuries of Chinese imperial domination in Vietnam. The tactic would be repeated by Trần Hưng Đạo in a battle at the same river against the Mongols in 1288. Up to that time, Vietnam had no king, and was ruled by China. Vietnam had no regular army, and all the people came together to fight. General Ngô Quyền led the army, and devised a brilliant plan. He waited until it was low tide, then planted hundreds of stakes in the ground. When the water level rose, the stakes where just below the water line. He then attacked the Chinese fleet with small vessels, luring them to the trap, where he held them there with fierce fighting, until the tide went down. The Chinese ships got punctured and sank. Thus the Vietnamese won their independence. The trip is 4 hours by bus to there from the hotel, then tour the islands by private boat while having lunch on the boat, followed by visits to two famous caves, Thien Cung Cave (haven grotto) and Dau Go Cave (Hidden Wooden stake cave). Followed by a 30 min canoe ride, then a 4 hour bus ride back to the hotel. All in all a cool day. Half way we stop for a 30 min break, at a tourist trap. Where else? I get a roll with beef and onion on, and stare at the goods for sale. As I sit on the bus, I realize how different and funny it is that things can changes so drastically in minutes, for almost 5 months I have been without time. I get up and leave when I want and I go where I want. Being delayed by a day, okay what can we see around here. Now for the next 5 days (3 days touring and then a train ride), I am on a fixed schedule and the bus being 15 min late matters, ha ha ha. (Having been a tour guide myself for 7 years, I know from experience that sometimes bookings are not made, and pickups get screwed up.) Our tour guide’s name is Hai, that means ocean. Fung is the driver. The tour guide tells us that driving in Hanoi is very difficult and if anyone does not believe him, they can rent a motorbike from him and try riding in the city. Nervous laughter comes from some of the guests. I am surrounded by people that flew in and took taxis from the airport to the hotel. Suddenly I feel like a roughneck having done 2000km on a bike to get here. Ha ha ha. The driver then calls out people’s names as we wrote it on a list, and amazingly, he gets my name right, wicked I like this guy. Last night a friend send me a link to a guy that motorbiked like 36 countries in over 600 days. I check out the guys website and YouTube videos, and it looks awesome. As I sit on the bus going to another awesome place, I realize, that once you start backpacking and touring the world, it is hard to stop. For once it gets into your blood, you are not happy unless you are moving. I realize that it has been there all along, it has just been fully awoken now. Being a South African I have trekking blood, but the way you are brought up determines also strongly if you have the need to travel. As a kid we did a lot of holidays to far places, driving 22 hours or so to get there. Many in remote places. That sense of adventure fills you if you are that young. And when fully awoken, it is like a fire burning in you that can never be put out. A travel writer is what I am, and yes if I have to stop and get a fixed job to top up the funds, I will do it again, but I will long for the road every day. Today, I made peace with myself, who I am, and who and what I am not. Today, I found a goal that is unobtainable, yet worth doing. Seeing the world. So, it does not matter where I go next, what matters is that I travel, see places, meet people, and be happy. Wow, that’s sounds like a Padi add. Okay, enough day dreaming. We finally make it to our drop off point. Hai goes to buy tickets for the boat that we will be using, then it is off to get onto our boat. Captain of the boat. first the mandatory try to sell you stuff. We get lunch, and it is basically platters of food they put on the table, and you help yourself. Snails, squid, some fish I do not know, some other stuff I do not know. I am surrounded by Asians on my table and they dig in. A guy asks me if I am not eating, and I just wave my hand as he slurps up a squid tentacle. My stomach turns. Then they bring a plate with chicken on, and o boy, am I happy. Next is a plate with rice, and I am in heaven. The others on the table basically avoid the chicken and rice, only taking a little bit. I am not sure if it is because they have better delicacies like snails and squid, or they feel sorry for me and leave the chicken and rice for me. Either way, I dig in. Then, we go up on the deck to take some pictures as we make our way through the rock formations towards a floating village. The village has been there for over 150 years, and have just over 400 people living there. Apparently at first they lived by means of fishing, but with the tourist that started coming from the late 1950s apparently, they have now changed to cater for tourists. We pass by a few boats that are the houses of the local floating village, and moor up on a platform. There we have the opportunity to canoe around. As in Cambodia, tour companies have taken much of the trade, and some people booked a canoe that belongs to the tour company in advance. However, the rest of us can rent a small boat with guide, that belongs to the village. The boat can take four passengers, and cost 130K each. Very expensive if you take that it is a small tub, with one person rowing for about 45 min, and he gets 520k. When I was at the other caves, I rented a large diesel boat, that can take 16 passengers, runs for four hours with two crew, and it cost 240K. Anyway, off we go, ain’t gonna be standing on the dock. Docking. Tubs for rent. Life jackets are mandatory, just in case the boat sinks or tips over. I am like, drowning is the least of my worries, my iPad and iPod mate, they are going to be toast. The Captain of the tub is smoking as I get in, and I ask him to put the cigarette out. He looks a bit annoyed, but decide that it is in his best tipping interest to put it out. I smile, no, for the price of the boat, you ain’t getting a tip in any case. Then we are off and make our way between some of the rock formations, go through two openings to get to secluded spots on the others side, and work our way back to our big boat. step in the middle and get in slowly please. Two ladies basically jump into the boat, and with its nutshell like bottom, the boat dangerously dips, but luckily does not flip over. A boat goes around with crew with nets, and picks up any floating trash in the water. Even if you booked a canoe, you still have to share, money money money, makes the world go around. the boats are held up by polystyrene blocks, that actually make a mess when they get old. Here is a very short video of some of the other guest being rowed past us. Cool, now it is back on our big boat, to make our way over to a cave not to far away. This cave is also called Paradise cave, but should not be confused with the real Paradise cave. So this is where some of the dive boat captains learned to skip. After making our way from the boat to the ticket office, we stare at the stairs we have to climb as Hai buys our tickets. Then it is off to the cave. pity the iPad have no flash as it struggles with contrasting illumination. We come out on the other side of the cave, and make our way down steps to a different dock, where we get back onto our boat for the ride back to our bus. When we get back to the main terminal dock, out bus is not there. Hai calls, but get no answer. So we hop over the roa to where a restaurant is, and find the driver happily listing to music, his cell phone in the bus, ha ha ha. The sun slowly sets as we make out way back, and I can only feel privileged to be able to have experienced what I have today, and the past weeks.

 

Start of trip || < || >

For details of the places I visited in Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, with GPS Coordinates, see my book Vietnam Caves.

For details on motorbiking in Vietnam and Cambodia, from buying and selling a motorbike, to border crossing, see my book Motorbiking Cambodia & Vietnam.

 

5 am, noise from outside awakes me. It is the chain smoking gang heading out. Annoyed, i try to go back to sleep. I have a long day ahead of me, how long, I would soon find out, as someone added a lot more hours to my day since last time i looked.

I arranged with the hotel owner that i could get breakfast at 6:30, not 7 as normal. So, after a quick breakfast, i settle my bill and hit the road. The road at this point is still cement, and the view is still spectacular. The mountains may be behind you, but there are still a few uphills and downhills, with a bend or two.

I come to a fork in the road, and no, not the kind you eat with. The GPS says go left, so I go left. The traffic is suddenly zero. (may be a reason for that). Then, i come to the end of the world. So it is flat after all, NASA, you lied, o no, my mistake, it is just the end of the road, sorry NASA (you may still have lied :-)).

You know those stories of people following their GPS and driving off a cliff, I can so see that happening.

I look under me, and yes, skid marks as other GPS followers realized something is wrong with the road. Then I look behind me, and decide that maybe I should slowly back away from the edge.

I am standing right on the edge, where one side of the road has already fallen away, no idea how much support is still under me. Good thing I had a light breakfast.

I guess that maybe i should go right at the fork. Going back, and around, this is the view looking at the broken road.

No, there were no signs, no warning nothing. Another reason not to drive at night in Asia.

The going is okay, and I manage around 80km on the straights, not wanting to run it flat out and risk getting an issue. I Come to yet another long uphil, this one steeper than the others, and as the bike falls below 60 km, i decide to hold the throttle full open for a little to maintain speed. Then, brrr……brrrr…..puff puff………dead silence except for the birds and other nature sounds. Well, at least no stupid music like what they played going up to the caves. I enjoy the nature sounds for a full nano second,before trying to start the bike again. Normally, she starts up after a few turns, and then I just go slower. This time, …………..

Mmmmmm, well at the mechanic shop in Hoi An, the bike also refused to start, and we played with the wires to the coil under the left side panel of the bike, and it worked. So i pull my gear off, get my tools out and strip the panel off. I pull some wires :-), and try starting the bike. nada. Keep going, and i start to smell gasoline. Smelling gasoline is always a good sign that the bike is getting fuel, and probably no spark and is now flooding. So I decide to call it a day. I am now just over 20 km out of the town I slept in, and about 5 km from a smaller town i passed that may awake once a year for half a day.

The first part of going back, is easy. For it is a steep downhill, and i manage around 60km/h. Then it levels out a bit for about 300m, that i push the bike, and then get a smaller downhill. All in all, i cover just under 2km before i come to a flat section. About 200m up ahead is a military checkpoint found outside all towns, that i passed by earlier. At the boom, a guard is lying in a hammock, reading a paper. He looks up at me pushing the bike, looks down, reads a bit, looks up, squints his eyes, reads some more, then looks carefully at me, jup i am not a mirage or last nights drinking, he decides, so he lazily comes up to me as I push the bike off the road by their main office. I already saw a military truck under a port at the back, and a nice Suzuki bike in front. I imagine i can bribe then to give me either a lift or a town back to town here i will have a go at the mechanic. Okay, maybe at the hotel owner and she can translate.

They at first think I am lost, (no english).(Right, I will just push my bike so that I do not get lost to fast. I explain by cranking the bike, that it does not want to start, nada, shoe, would have felt a fool pushing (okay half riding) the bike about 2 ks just for it to start up again.

Now they think I am out of fuel. (Right, I will just push my bike, after running out of fuel, while i have 5L spare fuel). they indicate i must put the fuel in the can i have in the bike.

There are 4 guards now, each wanting to have a go at trying to start the bike. They say a fool does the same thing over and over again and expects a different result. I smell gas, o well, they flooded it, nothing new i did the same. Then an officer points out that gasoline is coming from the right side at the back of the bike when we crank it. He then exclaims, town, 3km, while pointing down the road. I give a glance at the truck, no hope, I comment nice bike and point at their bike. The officer replies, town, 3km, while pointing down the road.

I decide to have a look myself, so i push the bike next to the boom office, and get my tools out. Rip the right fairing off, and mmm.

I am no expert, but i do think it is a good idea if the fuel line is attacked to the fuel tank.

The end of the fuel line is cracked and split, and one can see it was pulled off, put back on and the clip not pushed back, causing the line too fall off. The split section would also cause the line to draw air in. This may be the cause of the bike running out of fuel when having the throttle full open. I cut the line, and reattach it. The line is now short, and i have to stretch it. I fear that it may either pull off at any time, or continue to suck air. After a few turns, the engine fires, and all good. I refill the gas tank from the can i have, replacing the gas I lost with the disconnected hose. Now that the engine starts, each one of them just have to have a go at starting and stopping the engine, just to give his approval, thanks guys for making sure it starts.

I now know there is no hope of me reaching Hanoi today, so i decide i will just go as far as i can and pick a town when it starts to get dark. The road is getting more populated now, and you can basically stop in any town around the main road and get a hotel. I however decide to stay on the scenic road, instead of taking the highway.

I find a bull in the road, and play chicken with him, he flinches.

Then I find two bulls in the road, no bull shit.

I play chicken with one, and at the last second, we both give a foot, and scrape past each other. I call it a draw, and tip my helmet at the bull, mutual respect, he tips his horns, and we move on.

I pass a gas station and decide to fill the gas can I have with me, even though gas stations are becoming more frequent. Having my own reserve gas, allows me not to worry about running out of gas or needing to stop sooner than is needed for fear of the next gas station being to far. At the gas station I spot some biscuits, oo, lunch., Wow, today i actually get lunch on the road.

The biscuits had some green stuff in, and i wonder if it is not “Natural Organic” biscuits. I think it was rice biscuits, with herbs. (thats what i am sticking with.)

Three military personal pull up. The first guy on a scooter towing a trailer. I have seen this kind of towing many times. The trailer has a bar or rope in front, that they place on the back seat and either hold it with one hand or sit on it. After refueling, his mates help him place the trailer on the back of the bike again.

I move on and find a guy that decided that if he is going to have a flat tire, he is fixing it on the spot.

I also pass what i can only describe a gross.

I pass some trees that they harvest that sap.

I pass a box guy.

The locals dry rice and other stuff in the road, and constantly have to rake it smooth after cars and trucks passed over it. Be careful not to hit a thick patch with the bike at high speed.

I am now running at about 80km on the flats, and about 70km on the uphills, any more, and the bike sputters and runs out of fuel. when that happens, I back off the throttle for a few seconds, the go again. However, when i go over a bump or hit an impression in the road and the bike bounces, she sputters.So it is annoying trying to pass trucks on uphills or bumpy sections. there is also the fear that juts as you pass the truck, she dies. So i pass then and keep in the center for some distance until i am well in front, then go back to my lane.

I pass what looks like tea fields, very cool.

I find a wedding dress shop all by itself in the middle of nowhere.

If you want a wedding dress around here, these guys are the okes to go to. Because they are the only ones.

I stop in a small town and have the rest of my biscuits, then refuel the gas tank on the bike from the can I have. When next i see a gas station i will just refuel the can. Much easier than taking the luggage off the bike again to refuel the bike

I start counting the miles go by, and at 70 to 80km, I calculate that i may actually make Hanoi today. I feel very hopeful. Soon I spot another backpacker biker up front, stranded alongside the road. I stop and check his bike out, one of the sorriest fake Honda Wins i have seen. He paid $275 for it, and i cannot help but tell him he has been ripped off. Any way, he has run out of fuel. Now i am thinking that is stupid. He is on a bike with a 300km range, with gas stations at least every 20 km or so, and he ran out of fuel. I have about 1/2L of gas left in the can, and give that to him. the dude is in shorts and a t-shirt, with the sun eating him up. He has no food or water, so i give him some of my water. Apparently his mate went ahead to find gas, and as this guy desperately tries to start his bike, his mate arrives.

Now, i just cannot help myself at this point. the mate arrives after going to find gas for his friend that ran out of gas, with a half filled 1.5L bottle. Dude, if your mate ran out of fuel, 750ml is not much, why not bring a full bottle? Then the dude says he is running low as well. I thinking, wow, you just went to a gas station for your friend on the same type of bike that ran out of fuel, and you did not think about filling your tank up, wow. As they try to get the bike started, i see the minutes tick by, and decide good buy hanoi. They are going to Ninh Binh, large town just over 110km from Hanoi. I calculate it is 193km from where i am now, and can make it by about 5pm.

As I pull away, no power, crap. Now i am running at 65km/h flat out on the straights, and about 40 to 50 uphill. I am still on the Ho Chi Min trail, that is longer than the A1 highway running parallel to it. Checking the gps, I can cut about 20km off the trip if i go across and link up with the highway. Right.

The linkup road is at points okay, but most of the time a mess with potholes, dirt that locals spray water over for the dust, creating a mud mess that trucks just decimate. Lovely. The scenery at points are cool though, stay positive.

Finally i get to the highway, and it it is easy going from there, passing through some towns.

But then, disaster, mile upon miles of roadworks and traffic jams. As i see the sun set, even Ninh Binh looks out. I have to do some South African driving just to keep moving, here is a short video of it.

As darkness falls, I am about 111km from Hanoi, a two hour ride still to there. i decide, F… this, i have done hundreds of thousands of miles on bikes, many of those at night, at around 200 miles/hour, so I go for Hanoi.

Soon I come to a fork, with both roads leading to Hanoi. I stop and double check the GPS, yes, both going to Hanoi, how strange. Then i notice one is passing all the towns, while the other goes through some small towns. I have to chose, more speed and less risk of running into a crazy local walking or riding a bike on the highway without lights (and trucks with no lights), but if i break down, no help. Or easy help if i break down, but more chance of people running across the road, walking and riding a bicycle with out lights, coming up the wrong way because they do not want to go 1km along until a turn around point. Right, speed and safety. I will push her if she breaks down.

The road loops on itself and then goes parallel with the other road. As soon as i get onto the big highway, there are cops. They give me a look and one looks like he wants to stop me, but a truck is coming, so they leave me. I soon realize i am the only bike on this road. I am not sure if i am allowed here, as it is dark and i saw no boards. There are two lanes. The right lane is supposed to be min 60km with max 80. The left lane is min 80km/h with max 100km/h. Great, the only road i can burn it up on, i can manage 65km/h. (GPS, the speedo pulled out again about 200 km back).

I pull into the outskirts of Hanoi at just after 8, with the center still like 12 km to go. At first i want to take any hotel, but decide that i will stop at a place that has food and wifi, and use my bookings app to book. At 8:30 i pull into, yes, KFC. Get a quick bite to eat, and now realize all the hotels that i looked at does not accept late check in. None of the guest houses or backpacker places comes up now. Expedia has a few, and i select one for $10 a night as they say online that they can do tour and train bookings. Hopefully they can help me get train tickets for the bike.

I have decided to ship the bike back to Saigon, then take the train back myself. I will then try and take the bike over the border to Cambodia, and first complete some books and hopefully get my sales up, as my cash is getting low. Then I will later try and enter Laos from the Cambodia side, and do a trip there. I can also get more for the bike and sell it easier in Cambodia than in Vietnam.

After making my booking, i plot a route to the hotel, and brave the evening mad rush of bikes. The hotel is nice and clean, with wifi in my room! Funny, i am on the 3rd floor as per room number, but as the rooms are stacked one on a floor, i am actually on like the fifth or six floor.

So, this ride from Saigon to Hanoi took 2 weeks, but it is not over yet. For I still have to get the bike back on the train, myself on a train, and try and cross the border. With unreliable information, saying it takes either 1, 3 or 6 days to send the bike down, and the ride yourself, who knows when i will get back to Saigon. At least I have friends that say call me when you get to the train station and we will translate for you into Vietnamese to help you buy the right ticket.

My room has a bath, wow, so i soak my acing body, 14 hours constant in the seat, just over 530km today alone. all in 2 weeks, around 2000km, (will later tally it up from the GPS). Not bad for an automatic scooter. 🙂 And not once stranded alongside the road. (The loose fuel line does not count as it was not the bike breaking down, and was fixed easily without new parts.)

As a side note. All the hotels that I stayed in over the more than two weeks (3 days in Saigon plus 14 on the road), I have basically used online bookings through apps on my phone. Every one of them, has a cheaper rate online than a walk in rate. The hotel I am in now for instance, is online for $10 @ Expedia. Walk in it is $15. And many times you can find great hotels online for cheaper than guest houses or backpacker places.