4 March / It is gray and cloudy
Mai Chau - Cam Thuy 110 km.
10am. - I have decided to move on and hope the weather will clear up and the sun will emerge during the day. But the longer I get up in the mountains the more foggy it gets, so it becomes more difficult to orient. But since there is not so much traffic, it's OK.
Morning mist goes and turns into drizzle. So I have to find my rain gear and the waterproof protective sleeve for my luggage.
Morning mist goes and turns into drizzle. So I have to find my rain gear and the waterproof protective sleeve for my luggage.
The roads are sometimes very bumpy, so it's a little hard for the arms with the many tremors. This lighter model MC lacks a little weight and is therefore not as stable on the road. Sore ass I get after 30 km.The troubling one for a while and then you have become accustomed to this. The same applies to my arms and hands. Especially right hand as I throttle up and down. Sometimes I have to shake the arm and hand vigorously. My legs and knees do not like this unfamiliar locked position, so I have while driving occasionally to stretch my legs.
It took a few days for my brain and body, to practice and adjust the reverse gear shift. I still comes occasionally to switch from 5 gear up in neutral and then to 1 gear. As a result the MC engine brakes sharply up. My left foot I change gear with is a bit injured when I the first few days made many shift errors.
It automatically builds tension when sitting stuck in the same position for too long on a motorbike. But my body will slowly get used to these new physical requirements.
Although I do daily Yoga with various stretching and agility exercises, it is not enough. It helps a lot that I occasionally stops MC to take the photo. It relieves some of my physical tension.
I am an elderly gentleman, who no longer has youth full strength, but still a lot of youth willpower and readiness to accustom the body to these new physical challenges.
It took a few days for my brain and body, to practice and adjust the reverse gear shift. I still comes occasionally to switch from 5 gear up in neutral and then to 1 gear. As a result the MC engine brakes sharply up. My left foot I change gear with is a bit injured when I the first few days made many shift errors.
It automatically builds tension when sitting stuck in the same position for too long on a motorbike. But my body will slowly get used to these new physical requirements.
Although I do daily Yoga with various stretching and agility exercises, it is not enough. It helps a lot that I occasionally stops MC to take the photo. It relieves some of my physical tension.
I am an elderly gentleman, who no longer has youth full strength, but still a lot of youth willpower and readiness to accustom the body to these new physical challenges.
Hard to be a vegetarian in Vietnam
I'm lucky to find a hotel, a room with a balcony facing the rice fields.
In the evening I try to find a slightly larger restaurant where they have vegetarian dishes on their menu. In the smaller cities, I have given up the locals. All Vietnamese dishes, like in Indonesia have meat or fish as part of the law. If the meat or fish is not directly added, the added power from these to give the dishes taste. In a big city like Hanoi, it was easy to find a restaurant with a few special vegetarian dishes.
In this city, I managed to find a restaurant that could offer me cabbage and rice. So I got a great deal of cooked cabbage, rice and the force of the water in which the cabbage is cooked as the soup.
My MC has gone dead
When I try to start, there iwas no power on the MC. It was completely dead. I'm trying to kick start it. However, this is impossible. There are no people on the road there can help give me a push.
Since it is a little lighter type MC I managed to use the small slope that is on the path to push it so it get started. It is not the first time that the starter does not work, even though I just got a new battery. Incredibly many times the last few days, when I stopped to take photos, I had to kick-start it. Very strenuous, since this type MC is not that easy to kick start.
The problems with my Honda is now beginning to show.
Since it is a little lighter type MC I managed to use the small slope that is on the path to push it so it get started. It is not the first time that the starter does not work, even though I just got a new battery. Incredibly many times the last few days, when I stopped to take photos, I had to kick-start it. Very strenuous, since this type MC is not that easy to kick start.
The problems with my Honda is now beginning to show.
Farmers and school children disappear behind sugar cane fields
The bright green Binh Minh Hotel
From the balcony facing the rice fields where I sit and write, pass the farmers and school children on the road that runs across the rice fields and then they are suddenly gone behind the tall sugar cane fields. I decided the next day to see where the road ends.
I drove out of the rice fields. I encounter this very long bamboo bridge where all the bamboo are located across, is quite loose, so you just run on rolling noisy bamboo, which also gives way. A little disturbing. But when the locals can drive on them, I can well too. Halfway I got stopped by a guard who must have 20 cent In charge, probably to keep the bridge at right.
I drive around in some small villages with very little visual experience
After my last vegetarian experience, I tried on my Hotel to ask the hostess using Google translater on my mobile in Vietnamese: 'Can I eat here tonight. I am a vegetarian'. It worked fine even though they do not usually cook. She served a little more variety cooked vegetables, tofu and rice.
6 March / Driving on to see Citadel of Ho Dynasty
Cam Thuy – Yen Cat 130 km.
On my route ahead, I drove past the fortification 'Nha Ho Citadel' is put on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list. Right historically it is an interesting place to visit, but for a visual person, there was not much to see. This citadel was built in 1397 by Ho Dynasty, regarded as the only stone citadel back in Southeast Asia and is one of the few remnants of the world. Visually there is not much more than this and two other entrances.
I drive across rice fields, to take photos of this beautiful visual burial by mountainside. Had to push the motorbike all the way back to the main road, when I again could not kick-start it. There was a steep descent to the mark I use as the starting ramp
The dead carried in procession through the city
Buddhists, Taoists and Konfucianister have formed a trinity that undoubtedly characterize the visual design and symbolism of the graves. In Vietnam 9% Buddhists.
I reach the Yen Cat at 5 pm.
I accommodate me in a large dilapidated Hotel.
For dinner, I was referred to the head road 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' I had come from. There were some big restaurants that were quite empty. In one place, they were ready to make special vegetarian food now that there were no customers. So I got again a kind of boiled cabbage, tofu and rice and soup of cabbagewater. It was the third day in a row I file cabbage and rice with a little variety and taste.
For dinner, I was referred to the head road 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' I had come from. There were some big restaurants that were quite empty. In one place, they were ready to make special vegetarian food now that there were no customers. So I got again a kind of boiled cabbage, tofu and rice and soup of cabbagewater. It was the third day in a row I file cabbage and rice with a little variety and taste.
7 March / ’Ho Chi Minh Trail’
Yen Cat – Huong Khe 230 km.
Again, I can not kick-started it. 3-4 Vietnamese People trying to help me. They look at the ignition coil and the ignition and try to see if it sparks. Finally, after various attempts on their part to solve my problem, I got one to try to push me going. After a few attempts managed to get the engine.
I drive immediately to a repair shop and got them to replace the cylinder head to the spark plug, hoping to solve my initial problem. I got also oil change to be on the safe side.
I have chosen to drive much further today. Utilizing the Ho Chi Minh road is in such fine condition.
During the war, Ho Chi Minh Trail was only a very narrow passage route with fragile flimsy bridges as communist troops use when they moved from North Vietnam to Saigon.
Therefore lead the way not naturally through many small village. There are so big distance between major cities where you can find a hotel. Here in Vietnam there are several hotels in the slightly smaller cities than I have experienced in my MC. traveling in Indonesia and India.
I drive immediately to a repair shop and got them to replace the cylinder head to the spark plug, hoping to solve my initial problem. I got also oil change to be on the safe side.
I have chosen to drive much further today. Utilizing the Ho Chi Minh road is in such fine condition.
During the war, Ho Chi Minh Trail was only a very narrow passage route with fragile flimsy bridges as communist troops use when they moved from North Vietnam to Saigon.
Therefore lead the way not naturally through many small village. There are so big distance between major cities where you can find a hotel. Here in Vietnam there are several hotels in the slightly smaller cities than I have experienced in my MC. traveling in Indonesia and India.
Catholic Churches and cemeteries
First now in the middle of Vietnam I encounter Catholic cemeteries and many Catholic churches. 7% of Vietnamese are Catholics
Gas Station hotel with a balcony overlooking a highway
Nature has been in top, but the weather has all day been very foggy and disset with fog rain. So the trip has been long and arduous.
The sun has only been promoting a few days during the two weeks I have been in Vietnam. Otherwise, gray, gray and foggy.
I chose to stop at this 'Tank Station Hotel' which is 5 km before the town of Huong Khe. I thought that this hotel might have views over the fields. It had it too, but then the sun would shine directly into the window, a large part of the afternoon.
I had more need to hand in a little shadow with a balcony door open. So for a little more money, I got a room with a balcony overlooking the Ho Chi Minh Trail. There are not violent traffic on this, so the engine noise I can live with. At night I sleep with earplugs. Sometimes the noise of a highway with large trucks different horns would otherwise be unbearable.
I have moved me more than 600 kilometers south of Hanoi. Today March 8 the sun shines. I can feel that I have come into a warmer more fertile altitudes. Yesterday the sun shone part of the day, giving nature and one's own mood more color and zest to life.
The sun has only been promoting a few days during the two weeks I have been in Vietnam. Otherwise, gray, gray and foggy.
I chose to stop at this 'Tank Station Hotel' which is 5 km before the town of Huong Khe. I thought that this hotel might have views over the fields. It had it too, but then the sun would shine directly into the window, a large part of the afternoon.
I had more need to hand in a little shadow with a balcony door open. So for a little more money, I got a room with a balcony overlooking the Ho Chi Minh Trail. There are not violent traffic on this, so the engine noise I can live with. At night I sleep with earplugs. Sometimes the noise of a highway with large trucks different horns would otherwise be unbearable.
I have moved me more than 600 kilometers south of Hanoi. Today March 8 the sun shines. I can feel that I have come into a warmer more fertile altitudes. Yesterday the sun shone part of the day, giving nature and one's own mood more color and zest to life.
Next day the weather was spot on, so I went on a sightseeing off a little road passing some graves I photographed. They had another simpler visual total look.
A small ceremonial procession passes by while I enjoy my lunch at the roadside
Loving thoughts here from Vietnam
Bjarne v.H.H.Solberg
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