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.

 

Last night it rained a lot, and I was hoping that I would get no rain today. The skies were good when I got up, so I head down for breakfast. Mmm, off cause they serve no breakfast there. I think it is lucky that my patience was improved by teaching diving.

Last night I tried to use the internet, and discovered that the internet in the lobby is private, and that floor one to three had their own router, but my floor (4) had no router. So I had to sit on the stairs between floor 3 and 4 to do some work and Skype.

So I decide to check out. Here we have a problem. As when I booked online, it said they accept master card and visa, and it asked how it am paying, where I selected by card. When I checked into the hotel last night I showed my card and asked if I can pay with it and the lady assured me it is okay. This morning they are refusing to accept anything but cash. However, that is only the start of it, for now we argue over how much I owe. I show them my email booking confirmation stating the price as $14.50. Eventually they accept, but now we argue over the conversion rate as they want to charge me more than even the banks charge or the going rate on the street. To top it off, the two girls behind the reception themselves cannot even agree on the conversion rate.

I pay the one with the lower amount, which is close to what I figured, and also because she has my passport. She is happy, and gives my passport to me, but the other one still wants more money, but hey, I got my passport. So she gives in as the first girls says good good.

So with that I grab my bags and leave, just wanting to get out of the town and on the open road. When I get outside, someone moved my bike. Why they just cannot leave it where it was, I do not know, as it is in a row of other bikes. There is a black mark on the ground as they dragged the bike with the back wheel locked up from the chain I put around it. Just to put the bike two steps closer to the door. Now I really just want to get out of town.

My bike was where the red one is that is facing the camera, now it is two bikes up, next to the door.

Drag marks as they dragged the bike, saw only later the fairing is scratched and cracked as they struggled to move the bike.

However, I am hungry and look around for the familiar mobile food stands with the bread rolls. I spot one, but she has no eggs. A few minutes later, I spot one with eggs. So I stop and indicate two eggs, on a roll. Then wave my hands over all the other strange stuff going no no no, shaking my head. The lady pulls out a clean pan, and starts cooking my eggs, then points to me to take a seat at a table. Just as I sit down, she starts to throw all kinds of shit in that I have no idea what it is. I jump up to stop her, and run into the low roof of her mobile stand, almost knocking myself out. What a great start to the day.

Lady cooking my food. almost knocked my lights out against her roof.

I go no no no and wave my hands over the stuff she puts in, shaking my head. The lady looks very disappointed, but removes most off the stuff. As I go sit down, she brings the two eggs, with still some strange stuff in the pan with it. The yokes glare at me, all runny, some of the white next to it is not even cooked. I indicate I want it turned over, and she thinks I want it scrambled, which is okay as long as it is cooked. Her child brings me a cup of hot tea and puts it on my table. I take a sip, then go stand behind the lady without her knowing. She mumbles something, then throws all the stuff she just took out back in, and scramble it all up.

I just gave up there, thinking okay I will take it to go and either donate it, or throw it away. The lady puts all the crap in a roll, then demand I go sit down and eat it. I indicate I want it to go, but she refuses and indicates I must sit down. Now I have managed to gather about 20 onlookers. For those that do not know, when a tourist comes into some of the far out of places, locals will just come and sit next to you, watching you eat, write emails or what ever. It is like a tv show for them. So I go sit down, take a sip of my hot tea, and take a bite of the roll. It tastes like crap. The lady sees the half full glass of tea, and takes it away. I think, okay, she is filling it up. Well kinda, as she brings me tea with ice cubes in, ice tea. Huh, hello, never mind.

My hot tea replaced with ice tea.
My stomach already not in a good mood, complains about the roll, but I close my eyes and just go for it, having no idea what I am eating. I eat as quickly as I can, then pay her and get out of town. Half an hour later, I want to throw up, but I keep going. 10 min later, and my stomach is turning and about boiling, but I hold out, hoping it would get better. Luckily it did.

The road for the first 100 km is mostly road works, with gravel or dirt roads, and the sections that is tarred is not so good. But still better than yesterday with some okay sections.

I run around 60 to 80 km/h when out of towns, and experiment on an idea I have, proofing it right 3 times when cops just ignore me in a town. They have radar guns to check your speed, and are perfectly hidden away, however I know now to look for the trucks. Each time I hold the bike at 45km/h, and they do not even bother with me. Cool, that is the perfect town speed.

On my way I come across this pagoda, and had to go in and have a look. They have some cool scrolls, that I think depicts stories, check it out.

If anyone know what these say, please let me know.

Right, back on the road. But not long after i spot a large statue on a hill and had to go look.

Later i find a guy that put the pot totally mis.

I come across a small open museum.

Now and again, it starts to rain, so I keep my rain suit on. I fill up at 110km, then open it up from there. Now I am hitting good roads, and also some mountain passes. I am having loads of fun. I record a video, check it out here. I record while riding with one hand, ha ha ha, going through a turn at 50 or 60km/h on a scooter is not like a 1000cc race bike. I come across a local minibuses. However, they annoy me as they go to slow for me, so I pass them with one hand driving, filming them. You should have seen their faces ha ha ha. Lead, follow, or get out of the way mate.

Then, i come across a bridge, over the river, a real river. I had to challenge myself to cross. Not for being a dare devil, but i do not like heights. Okay, I used to be very afraid of it, but now i am better. by pushing myself to face my fears, I managed to go many places I have only dreamed of going. The bridge swayed a lot, so i did not film when i was in the middle, as most of the planks were loose, and I was afraid of slipping through, or miss stepping, or worse, dropping my iPhone. Check out the video here.

Half way across, following a little girl.

Looking back once i crossed over, now i got to do it again.
Right, I wait until my pants stop shaking, get on the bike, and move on. Then come across a burned out bus, and locals washing a truck in the middle of the road, on a turn.

I snap some pictures as i go along, and move my small backpack to the front for the rain.

Later I come across a fellow backpacker standing along the road in the rain.

I stop and ask if I can help. The guy says he is okay, but he is soaking wet and cold. He had his wheel fixed the night before, and the mechanic must have set the chain to loose, as it keeps falling off. I actually had the same problem on one of my bikes, and it is a pain. I ask him if he needs tools, seeing a local busy with the back wheel. The backpackers says he has no tools, but that the locals busy farming came to help him. No tools, not wise on long bike trips mate.

Then ask him where he is going. He says Hoi An. I am like, bro, we are 30km from the town I am going to, Hoi An is another like 130 or so after that. That is 4 hours hard drive (mountain passes), and in this weather probably more like 5 or so, it is already after 2pm, you not going to make it safely. Those Honda win bikes have crap lights, a candle blown out puts out more light than those bikes’s lights. I offer to wait until the bike is repaired, then drive with him to the next town at least. He declines, saying that his buddy is somewhere up ahead. I am like, your buddy just left you, Jup.

So I shake my head and move on.

These run ups are for trucks to use if their brakes fail. Hope the truck stops before it goes over the edge. The run up normally have loose gravel that the truck bogs down in. Stops you going over the edge, but it a pain to get the truck out again.

About 5 km later I do however see his buddy frantically racing back, looking for his mate. Relieved, I have some fun with the road. Soon I come to my next point, and see a guest house just out of town. Very nice view of the mountain, but they want 200k (US$10) for a night without wifi, and there is nothing near them. So I move on, then find a guest house with a room and wifi for 150k. Warm water, and clean, so cool.

I put my stuff down, and go look for a place to eat. Find one, and they have no menu. The lady only knows cow, so I go with it. I get beef soup with a lot of onions and so on it. Very nice. Then I head back to the hotel, and find two other backpackers have checked in. They just came from Hoi Ann. They bought the bikes there, and are driving down to Saigon. We chat and I give them advice on the road and where to stay, including details of the people I know in Saigon to help them sell their bikes.

Been a few hours now, so I take a shower and head out to find dinner. Pass the place I ate at, and find another nice place down the road. The lady does not speak English, but I have an app with a few word on. You click on the word in english, and the program pronounces the word in Vietnamese, and shows the Vietnamese spelling for it. I press beef and rice, and she shakes her head yes. This is easy ordering, however I have no idea what I am going to get. The food is actually very nice. She only however have either beer, coca cola, or salty lemon drink. Interesting drink, and not to bad.

Right, off to bed.

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.

 

Motorbiking for hours on end in the day, taking pictures and notes, then blogging at night takes a bit of a toll. So i decide i am not going to set an alarm, as according to Jon’s route, it is only 200km to the next point. Thus i snuggle up in my comfy bed.

I love this soft cover, just wanted to take it with.

However, at 1:30 in the morning, I awake with a terrible stomach ache, and desperately need a toilet. I spend the next two hours, making friends with the toilet. At the second go, I run out of toilet paper from what the hotel provided as they only left about 1/8 of a small roll in the room. Luckily i always take a full roll with me on travels.

Things are not looking so good for continuing my travels the next day. Eventually at about 3am, i fall asleep and luckily sleep till 7:30, where I get up, feeling crap, but okay for travel.

I take a shower, and discover that the water now has only two settings, ice cube cold or mountain cold. This annoys me a bit as i love to take a warm shower, especially when i pay for it. This adds to the lack of toilet paper, and also that last night when i went out for a snack and to fill the bike with gas, someone came into my room and switched the aircon off. This peed me off a bit, as one i switched all the lights off, and set the aircon to 24 so that it just cools the room for when i get back, mean i pay for it, and then I like to think no one goes snooping around when i am not there. Added that the next morning I see that someone tried to move my bike. I do not think it is the owner. For when I arrived at the hotel, i parked in front of the door. The owner moved my bike to the side. Later the night when I returned from filling the gas tank on the bike, I parked in the same spot as what the owner put it in, and he stood watching me chain the bike up. The chain was pulled inside the swing arm as someone tried to push it away. This is inside their closed property. Not looking good for a 5 star review, but i hold off because maybe they want to save electricity, as i am the only one in the hotel.

I go downstairs, and ask for food. The lady does not understand, so i quickly search on google and translate breakfast into vietnamese. Thanks Google. The lady shakes her head and says it is closed. Now i am getting even more annoyed, as i selected this hotel as it said on bookings.com that it has a restaurant on site. Also, she does not want to accept my master or Visa card, so i am forced to pay cash. the room was 250K, apparently 10K below their normal rate because i booked it though the web. However, last night i took a ice tea, that i know normally goes for 10K, and i get charged 20K for it, so she made her 10K up. O well, move on.

I walk outside, as i saw the restaurant when i came in, and discover that it is from a era gone by. It is a shame, as the place has so much potential. The restaurant has glass floors with fish in a pond beneath them.

The once maybe swimming pool, is now a fish pond.

My room had a balcony, with a view of a large tree,ha ha ha.

I realize that this hotel may just be on its last legs. The tour-guide i met the day before with the two girls suggested a hotel to me, no doubt the one he takes all his customers to. However, that hotel was more than double what i paid.

I walk back, get my bags, pack my bike, and head out to the next large town.

I rely heavily on my iPhone and iPad for driving directions, email, blogging and so on, so i have two external batteries that each can charge the iPad and two iPhones fully up. Each night, I make sure I charge all.

Just as i head out of town, I spot one of the mobile food stalls, so I stop and ask the lady (by pointing) that i want a bread roll, cucumber, and two fried eggs on it. She nods then proceed to do the Subway, the works thing. She basically puts all kinds of strange things on that I have no idea what it is. I am like, no no no, shaking my head and waving my arms. the lady just gives me a strange look, then continues to stuff the roll with everything she has. Again I go no no no, shaking my head and waving my arms. This time, she looks at me for a moment, then smiles, points at the bread roll, then points at another customer sitting behind her at a table, who is hosing himself for my consternation.

I just go stand by my bike and wait for my roll. She calls me over when she makes my roll, and point to all kinds of strange stuff, and I just shake my head. So i get my cucumber and egg roll, for 10K (US 50 cent)

I have no idea what those things in those jars are.

Next door is a place making cool stuff, so i head over to have a look while eating.

Having had some kind of breakfast, I head out, to what turns out to be 200 km of utter boredom, frustration and annoyance. The road is mostly miles on miles of roadworks, and the sections that are tarred, is mostly pothole ridden, or so pressed out by trucks, that it is bone jarring. Even at 20km/h, I hit potholes that bottom the suspension out and i can hear the piston rods in the front suspension slam against the stoppers. the problem is that there are trucks and busses that either push you off the road, or you need to stay with them. And the problem of riding behind a truck or bus on bad roads, are that you do not have enough time to swerve for a pothole. Even riding behind the wheels do not help as many times a truck’s wheels will go over the pothole, where a bike’s one goes in, especially if the truck has double wheels on an axle. the scenery is also mostly either flat lands, or small towns, or not impressive hills.

I come to yet another town, and do about 50km/h. Suddenly a traffic cop jumps out and shows i must pull over and ride up onto the curb to some other officers. I tell you, these guys are like ninjas how they appear out of nowhere. Having learned in Cambodia, once you are on the curb, things go downhill. So I stay in the road next to the sidewalk, bike idling. The keys on this bike is by my knee, so it is difficult for them to just pull it out. I open my visor, as the visor is tinted, and one cannot see my face. One of the officers on the curb walks over, and on seeing i am a tourist, throws the other officer that pulled me over a nastily glance, probably because he has no have to deal with the tourist. He tells me to slow down in english (I was hoping he could not speak English), and tells me the speed limit is 40km/h for bikes. Cars can do 60. Actually big bikes can do 50, but they do not see my bike as a big one. i replay in Afrikaans, and the guy takes a step back. then i start telling him Jonny yokes in Afrikaans. the guy scratches his head, then shows with his hands to slow down, shows 4 fingers while saying 40, then tells me go go go, while showing me to go. with that i floor the scooter and is out of there. However, soon down the road the road gets so bad that i can barely do 20km/h.

Since i have no mountain passes, I amuse myself as to the other riders on the road. Finding a wooden guy.

And three mobile shops.

Not long after i spot a vase guy.

This guy, just as i get close to take the picture, he suddenly slams on the brakes for no reason. I almost rear end him and actually take the picture as a swerve and pass him. As i ride away, i check back and he just stands in the middle of the road, wondering out loud.

Then the town i want to be in appears in the distance.

I look around for a spot that sells food and have wifi, and as i slow down, people from a shop call me. I ask if they have wifi, and they say yes. So i go in. It turns out it is another coffee shop. what is it with these people and coffee. i mean, okay i like it now and again, but they sell no food at all, just coffee and some drinks. so i get an ice tea and go online to check for hotels.

Again Expedia have nothing, getting useless Expedia, and bookings.com have 3 hotels. There are more according to my map application, but i have now learned that these places are so far out, that there are about no backpacker places, just hotels, and all are in the $12 or more range. So i find one for $14.50, the cheapest and book it online.

turns out they have 3 hotels in town, mine is number one. I go to where i think the hotel is, but do not find it. I ask a local, showing him the booking confirmation email with the hotels name on, and he points across the road, to a large building visible in the next road. I go there, and find out it is hotel number 2. The lady directs me to the other hotel, and it is actually a very nice hotel for the money.

They have a large restaurant next door, that only sells coffee, of course. So i sight see a bit, seeing these strange statues.

I find nothing that interests me, and go to the hotel, then see a place across the road. they sell food, but cannot speak english, and have no english menu. No worries, they have wifi, so Google translate the menu. Some of the menu items comes out weird, so i select the one that says chicken wings,. Actually very nice.

I barely sits down, and it begins raining, actually pouring rain.

I laugh as i think about booking the hotel, actually the past two, as they require a phone number, and i do not know my Vietnam one. So i just put down Simon’s from Saigon Minks. I figure that Simon would give them my number if they did actually call. Unless he thinks it is the cops and deny my total existence. 🙂

Tomorrow is another 200km ride, and again Jon’s plan is about 7 hours, so i wonder if i am in for another long ass bone jarring crap ride. Good thing though, stomach is better, may have been the KFC as it was a bit on the spicy side.

Wow, this post took like 3 hours to write, i see another restaurant on the corner. Think i am going to take a shower, change, then see what they have to offer. Till tomorrow.

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.

 

Having looked at the map last night, I knew it was going to be a long drive, as there are not really nice towns to stay in, for the next 200km or so, and it is mostly mountain passes now. So i get up early (6:30am) :-), shower, and then head downstairs for breakfast.

I thought I am going to have one up one them, and ask my eggs scrambled. This way no runny yoke, well, they bring me an omelette, which is funny, bit i do not complain as i like omelettes, and the yoke is not runny.

I have decided to do the route that Jon have mapped out, as it looks as good as any to get to where i want to be. However, to get to the road, i have a choice. I can take a 30km or so small road, that joins up with the main road later, or a can backtrack about 50km, then join the main road. I decide to go for the smaller and shorter route, rather than go backwards.

Te first few minutes is basically just town, then a small road, but mainly flat. Although soon it starts to go a bit uphill.

Yes, mountain pass, twist and turns, here we come.
Not.
Just as i was beginning to enjoy the twists, I come to a section of the road where a few guys are playing with rocks in the road.

The guys dig them up with power tools.

Then they hammer pegs into the rocks by hand, and break them up.

They keep on breaking them down until they are small pebbles, then haul them away. I mean, why dig them up, they did not bother anyone? 🙂

Soon, it starts to rain, and the road gets a bit sandy.

I come across two other backpackers, and leave them behind. As they where having a smoke break, and I know from experaince in Cambodia, when it starts raining, get out of the sandy bits.

Playing chicken with a grader, he flinched.

Just as i think this mountain pass is going to be a duzy, the roadworks ends, and i start to get some twists and turns, but not that cool. I come to a small village, and encounter a pig of a road user.

The pig actually waited on the side of the road as I approached, then seeing me stop, it continued lazily across the road, amazing. Either it knows to look before crossing, or it had to finish farting before crossing.
Just a bit further, i encounter a large number of cars and bikes, all in what i think is a funeral line. They played music and most had white bands around their heads. Will ask a local what it was. You can see a short video of it here.

The road carries on, bit unimpressive, then i get to the main road, and the first section is basically towns and flat roads.

I Stop for a quick snack. I like these stands, as the bread is fresh, i can choose what I want on it, and they are cheap. Around 50c to $1 depending on what you put on it.

At this point i am starting to desperately look for a toilet, but see no restaurant or so to stop at. At one section out of a town, I pass a small cafe like store on the side, with three backpacker bikes parked on the opposite side. I am desperate for a toilet, and decide if other backpackers stopped there maybe there is one there.

It turns out to be two girls with a local guide. He invites me to sit down and chat. Not wanting to be unfriendly (have not had the chance to chat with any other backpackers on the road yet), I grab an ice tea and sit town. There is no toilet that i can see, and the tea have a struggle finding a space. I babble along, while trying hard not to let them know I am struggling not to wet my pants. Luckily they were about done with their coffee, and we quickly part our ways. I only managed to give my business card to them, but did not manage to get any of their names or email addresses, nor did i get a picture of them. (If you guys read this, sorry, please send me a picture of you guys and email addresses.) I hop on my bike and nail the thing, the girls must have thought i am trying to impress them, but honestly, I was now in Code red. About a minute down the road i see a spot next to the river and slam on the brakes. As i relieve myself, a small village downriver suddenly have a unexpected flash flood.

I take on the road again, and then the pass starts. I took a video going up, but as i took pictures, my iPod said it was full. 32GB of stuff, so i delete a game or two, but not enough for videos, so i delete some old videos, and accidentally delete the video going up. Will get a nice one on the next pass. However, did get a video going down. Check it out here.

Suddenly i come to a split in the road. the GPS says go right, but that road looks like a backroad, yet the map shows the road going forward as missing the next town totally, so i turn right.

The road turns out to be, well, not much of a road. And not much of it left.

However, some sections are very nice, and i have some fun in the small road. You can see a short video here.

Soon the road goes downhill, then on the flatlands again, very nice area.

I don’t think this road is made for busses.

I cross over a small bridge and river, then come to a town where i meet a banana man.

I pass local farm tractors, these things are cool. They are lighter and cheaper than normal tractors, and can go in deep mud. The motor can also be used to pull a veriaty of trailers if you change the wheels.

The road goes by quickly, and soon I am in the start of the town i want to be in, not to soon as I am starving, being past 3 and I have only had two bread rolls and two eggs all day. Shame poor me.

Suddenly the bike’s brakes lock up, and at first i am baffled as to why. Then I spot what the bike saw.

I am in heaven. They speak english, and have wifi.
Actually the KFC is in a large mall. As i have my food, I quickly go online and use bookings.com to find a reasonable hotel as both Expedia and my hostel app have no listings in the town. Find one for about $12, and make a booking, then use the map application of the booking to plot me a course. I am at the start of the town, and the hotel is 6km away, wow, big town. Finish my food, then head over to the hotel. They are clean and neat, got wifi and aircon, and hot water, so i am happy. Rest a bit, then go out to find a gas station to fill up the bike for the next morning.

Funny how you drive out about 1/4 of a tank of gas to find a gas station, ha ha ha. That done, i feel a bit peckish, and stop at a small eating place, get myself a roll with veggies on, and a ice tea.

I pour most of the tea into my glass, then review my pictures of the day, and the videos i still have. A child comes sneakily up as i watch a video, thinking i do not see him in the corner of my eye. I am from S.A. kid, but i ignore him to see what he is up to. Slowly he reaches out and takes my tea bottle, just as he wants to take a sip, i look at him. Quickly he puts the bottle down, and makes as if he is watching the video with me. I laugh at him, then continue to watch the video. Just as he thinks i am not seeing him anymore, I watch him sneakily take the tea bottle, drink the last bit, then puts it back on the table and run away.

I just ignore him and finish my snack, then head back to the hotel. By now it is dark, so i use my iPhone and the map application to get back to the hotel. I just love the instrument panel on the bike.