CROSSING CENTRAL VIETNAM BY MOTORBIKE...
Trip Start
Jan 12, 2003
1
9
20
Trip End
Dec 20, 2003
Hoi An, Vietnam
Saturday, April 19, 2003
So, yes, it did sound crazy at first, but then the idea of crossing the Central Highlands of Vietnam on the back of a motorbike began to shape into something akin to a wonderful idea. From using them as a city taxi to using them as the "family car", they are the most common way of getting around in Southeast Asia. They are much more affordable for the local people to own, and are much more practical in the small geographical areas where automobiles would cause traffic gridlock and parking nightmares. To put it mildly, picture the LA freeway at 5pm on its worst day, and multiply it by 6. Best of all, motorbikes allow for that wind in your face, almost unobstructed 360-degree view that you just can't get in a bus or a train. They allow you to get to places that other forms of transport could never go, and they give you a closer feeling to the outside world as you make your way along. And, in this case, we would also have drivers who served as guides, taking us places that few tourists currently go. In fact, they could have been the best part about the trip. Ah, yes, we can't forget about Loc and Thai...
To have found them was just a stroke of luck. At each city we visit, there are always many people competing for your "tourist dollar". Tourist companies, private individuals, hotels, and restaurants practically beg for you to take their tour, stay in their rooms, or eat their meals. Most of the time you kindly refuse, sometimes you firmly refuse, and occasionally you, how should we say it, VERY firmly refuse. So it was not unusual for these two gentlemen to approach us touting their day tour of Dalat. At first we declined their offer, but they persisted just enough and had an air about them that finally made us reconsider. After a day with them, there was no doubt that 6 more just had to be done. They had two very different personalities: Thai, a taller, lean man in his early 40's was soft-spoken and calm. He enjoyed talking about such things as the government, religion, and how fate plays into one's life. He loved his family very much, evidenced by his extreme homesickness by the end of the week. Although his family originally lived in the north near Hanoi, they had moved to Dalat when he was young and Thai was somehow lucky enough to avoid fighting for either side during the Vietnam War. Prior to becoming a motorbike guide, he spent many years as a vegetable farmer and his claim to fame is that he is well known in Dalat for being the star goalie for the town football (soccer) team for almost seven years. Loc, on the other hand, was very short in stature and in his early 50's. He can best be described as spunky and full of life, to say the least. He had served with an American army unit during the war, which had gifted him with a very good command of the English language and an endless supply of dirty jokes from the American G.I.'s. He had plenty of stories about the war, some with happy endings and others that were not so happy. He offered up tales of military operations taken through miserable jungle conditions and crazy, wild nights partying on the town with his fellow soldiers. He told stories of friends lost in battle before or lost since, in the communication gaps of a big, wide world. And he asked a lot of questions of what life was like for us back home. What does a TV cost? What are the working conditions like for us? What do we mostly eat in our daily lives?
It all came into focus over 6 days how different life was for them and how few their opportunities could be. You see, if you lived in the South, and especially if you fought for the South or the Americans, you were treated as a second class citizen when the war was over. The jobs went to those connected to the government of the North Vietnamese. Although much has relaxed since then, the stigma still lingers. Business here is tied to the government - period. Tourism is no exception. The government owns tourist companies that compete with people like Loc and Thai. It makes life difficult for them when they have no resources and the government has plenty. Yet, this is their life and they make no excuses for themselves. As Thai says, "The Vietnamese people don't dwell on the past or worry too much about the future - they only worry about today because that is all that is certain." Good words of advice, we suppose.
So, we'll let the pictures alone speak for this part of our journey. Sometimes it is hard to put the great little moments into words, but we don't think we'll ever forget the time spent with these two. We won't easily forget evening meals, swapping stories and drinking beer, when Loc, after his telling of a funny joke and upon the punch line, would slap his hands together and laugh hard enough to force him onto his feet and out of his chair. Or visiting villages where the children have seen so few westerners that they ran in fear into the jungles while Loc translated for us their "challenges" to the other children to leave the jungle and go see us. We'll remember when we came down out of the mountains and towards the coast on day five - the views of the valley before us would rival some of the best scenery we have ever taken in. We could go on, but it would be best told when we can be face to face someday.
And then, all too soon, the week ended. We bid farewell to them in Hoi An, and it seemed strange that it was just the two of us again. Now, as we make our way through northern Vietnam, we continue to find new experiences to fill our days. We'd like to tell you more, but that will have to wait...
Until Next Time,
Jon and Liz
