day 265, Da Nang

Michael dropped me off at Mr Kim’s to pick up Martha, as usual Mr Kim greeted us with a huge smile, then as usual pointed to my bike and shook his head, proceeding to show me a bag of parts that had come out of my bike and telling me that he’s replaced them all and showing me where on the parts they are fucked. The bike was still being worked on so we went off to check out of our hostel and stow away our bags, then the sun came out! Craving a western fix we went to a restaurant and ate outside, had a cracking duck breast in a mushroom and cream sauce with mash, did the job, then back to pick up Martha. She was finally finished and Mr Kim went through all the pricing which took a while, for what was done it was still dirt cheap, almost two days solid labour and loads of parts and didn’t reach sixty quid. Plus it rides like a different beast, it’s ridiculously easy to ride. Went back to the hostel to load our bags and we made our way to Da Nang. We decided to take a smaller coast route rather then the highway 1, the reunification express which is a monster and it was fucking delightful. It was a narrow though semi decent road and we were going through little villages and passing by lakes and the sea, was fantastic. I don’t remember having so much fun and being happier in Vietnam thanks to the weather. At one stage it offered us magic views of a lagoon. Our old map didn’t show that the road we were on would join the highway 1, though google maps was unsure of it so we took the chance, and sure enough a massive bridge connected it to the mainland, and little road connecting QL49b to QL1 was sick, at times less then two metres away from the coast, good surface and really winding, loads of kids who waved and to wave at, I high fived with one ambitious kid in a head to toe Liverpool kit, then joined Highway 1. That road was insane and had the biggest width mountain pass I’ve ever seen, it was a complete u-turn but the road turned into being 6 metres wide on either lane! 52kms out from Da Nang we stopped off at Soi Voi, otherwise known as elephant springs which was really cool, had a dip in the fresh water and a chill out, unfortunately the sun just crept behind some clouds then the mountains. Carrying on, past Long Co, we hit the Hai Van Pass, a coastal road which Jeremy Clarkson described as a “ribbon of perfection”, and he won’t wrong. It was amazing, almost no traffic and the views were out of this world. Once that was finished it was a bit of a miserable traffic ride to Da Nang, we didn’t know where to stay and hadn’t prepped anything, Da Nang is huge and after aimlessly looking for one place found a nice place just off the beach. Both jumped on martin looking for food, had this spicy salad thing with duck which was really good, then moved onto another place for a rice plate with meat and veg of your choice, then some ice cream to finish it (which was a bit bizarre as they had topped it with salt (or salt masquerading as MSG), then back to the hotel completely knackered.

martha all cleaned up!

me with kim and the boys

that is my exhaust

soi voi springs

that's the sea! a cheeky stop on highway 1,

day 264, Hue

First thing to do was to go pick up our bikes. Martin was finished, resplendent in a front faring (which was missing) he was all shiny and ran like a dream. Martha however was still in bits, and more shit had to be done to her. On top of doing what they knew about, they replaced the front rim as half of it had rusted and was in danger of caving in, then after an hour more work they realised that all the oil was being dumped out the exhaust, and not going where it needed to go, so the pump and the cylinder needed to be replaced, so have to pick it up tomorrow morning! Bought a heavy duty poncho in case it rains again and the flimsy shitty ones we’ve been buying are just that, flimsy shit. Went for a walk to the market as Michael only has one pair of shoes and a pair of thongs (flip flops), on the way stopped off at a supermarket and fashioned a sandwich, which I know is a strange thing to do where you’re in the world of cheap decent food though we weren’t feeling too great and wanted the lease interactive eating experience, ie no being fucked about, not knowing what we were eating, knowing the price etc, and shamefully it was amazing. I got semi-nostalgic as did it shit loads round Europe. Went to the market where Michael bought a pair of terrible quality shoes which don’t fit him properly and make it look like he’s about to play netball in the 1950s, there wasn’t a lot of choice, then walked back to the hostel. They have some tombs near Hue which are supposed to be a ‘must-see’, though neither of us could be fucked. Listened to some music, read a little and went back to check on my bike, still being worked on. We went off in search of this dumpling corner which was recommended though couldn’t find it, ended up getting some stuff from a bakery and sitting on a street café having a coffee, Michael previously wasn’t a coffee fan though he thought it was quite agreeable. At 5 we met up with Sunshine, a Vietnamese girl who I met when I was in Hue for three hours at the train station when I first arrived in Vietnam, went off with her friend trung, they took us for coffee then for some traditional Hue food which was amazing. Started out with some sort of jellied stuff with fish in, dipped in chilli garlic fish sauce and was sublime, with a sort of squid covered in battered bits and was really tasty. From there moved onto a market for make your own spring rolls sort of creations and some sort of Bun dish (cold noodles with meat, sauce and herbs) but it was the best bun dish we’ve had, was cracking. From there we went off for a drink on top of a book shop with a roof café and had a chat and a drink. Have a new favourite drink, a sort of yoghurt, milk and ice cream combo which is divine, before saying our thanks and goodbyes, stopping off at the supermarket and walking back to the hostel, planning tomorrow’s route to Da Nang and having an early night.

my rim, there's supposed to be the metal (look at the bottom right part) that goes all the way round, it didn't

day 263, Huế

Didn’t sleep great thanks to the beer and the heat of the room. After a few cups of delightful Nescafe 3 in 1 coffee (it really tastes proper wank compared to the proper coffee they have in Vietnam, on a ridiculous level) me and Michael went in search of Kim Thiens, a mechanic recommended to get our bikes fixed. Of course Martha still sounded awful, I had to do a dignified running start in front of our hostel though nailed it first time, then a group of Vietnamese people came over and started telling me how bad my bike was. We found kim thiens really easy and he had the same opinion of my bike as his countrymen. After a test drive he started listing and pricing what needed doing to my bike, ranging from repairing the front suspension (which had completely broken), fixing the foot brake (which had completely broken) replacing the clutch cable (which had almost completely broken), sorting out the chain (which always fucking loosens), sorting out the electronics (mr Kim speaks good broken English, on his business card it says he is a profectional mechanican, after riding my bike for three minutes says his best English sentence so far, “Electrically it’s fucked”). Oh, and the kick start is being fixed. There were eight things in all he was doing to it, most importantly was fixing the horn (which never worked). So… left my bike there, martin is also getting some work done (front suspension, chain, starter motor…) and walked back and into the citadel, the central complex of all the old shit of the emperors. When we got there couldn’t be arsed to go in, so went in search of the blind massage place though couldn’t quite find it. On the way back got a shave and a face massage, walking back to the hostel walked past a school girl’s football game which was hilarious, it was played in mud and the worst standard I’ve ever seen with a huge number of hysteric supporters, we watched the whole of it as it was just bizarre, back to the hostel to read a bit then out to dinner. It was the best meal we’ve had in a restaurant, we ordered a feast, dipped beef in a hot pot thing which was so tender, stuffed squid with pork and herbs which was insane, mixed pigs tongue which was really tasty, mixed veg, morning glory with garlic, a large plate of spring rolls, rice and lemon juice, was a banquet and divine. Stuffed we went back to the hostel for a couple of beers and chatting away to some other people and bedding early as knackered.

the flag tower at the front of the citidel

martha semi naked being worked on

the citadel is surrounded by a moat, so has these bridges and arches to get in

day 262, Huế

I left Michael to go and sort Martha out early-ish in the morning. Went to a mechanic and pointed to the bolt that is broken, he immediately looked at it, nodded, then unscrewed two bolts and beneath a cover pointed to another screw that wasn’t there, so my engine was being held in place by two big screws, one was broken and the other didn’t exist. He popped off on his bike and came back with two new screws and put them in, sorted my chain out (again), tightened up my foot brake and I was on my way with a semi-healthy bike! Met up with Michael, got another poncho as it was once again raining and set off for the last remainder of the bit to Hue. We stopped off for petrol where my bloody kick-starter broke (again) so had to do the dignified running start method and kick it into second and hope for the best. Were making decent progress in the clear roads, stopped off for some lunch and Michael got his chain tightened, then my bike started making weird noises, the throttle felt loose and the clutch was doing silly things, particularly when I was stopped, in first but with the clutch in, taking off, not what you needed at traffic lights and within traffic, especially with no kick start. Somehow I kept it going and it kept itself going, we arrived in Hue cold and wet and fucking glad to be here. Checked into a hostel and stripped off and jumped in the shower. Had a pizza as it was happy hour and just wanted something quick and warm with a coffee, then had a couple of beers with this Bristolian girl Bronwen who was really cool, that turned into a quite a few beers in the dorm just chatting, had a lovely evening and went to bed surprisingly merry. On a sad note I had missed my friends from Laos by a day and two days, Andy, Mia and Rohan, would have been awesome to meet up but ah well.

Day 261, Dong Hoi

Alarm went off at six though was still dark outside so stole another half hour, filled up with petrol and on our bikes. It was another grey miserable day, and it didn’t stop raining from seven in the morning till nine at night when we finished dinner and turned in. I fashioned a poncho suit, using a poncho as a skirt thing and another poncho the standard way, though with the riding clothes still wet it didn’t make a lot of difference. About two hours in we stopped for a break, were making good distance through the rain, and I noticed my chain was lose, (again, it has a habit of doing this), so stopped off at a repair shop and got it tightened, then going along I lose Michael and he returns the favour of scooping up a bit of my bike that fell off (I picked up his license plate which came off coming back from Ninh Binh), so again we stop to get that re-affixed. Carry on riding through the rain and the cold, stop for a bit and first thing Michael says is “I’ve been warmer and dryer whilst swimming”, and he laughed at my poncho suit! Back on the road till lunch, stop for a bowl of Pho which was really good and back on the bike. Realise we’re not going to make it to Hue which is a shame. I was miserable, cold, wet and not having fun. Didn’t even have the effort or will to sing myself through. Though we turned a corner and the scenery picked right up, big karsts emerged out of no-where, turquoise rivers appeared, I looked around me and thought fuck yeah. It was amazing. It was also this moment I started to watch Forrest Gump in my head, inspired by him being in ‘Nam and how it kept on raining, listing all the fucking rain there is. As my mood improved Martha didn’t, she started emitting a rattle that would come and go, that go worse. We set our revised sight on Dong Hui, 67kms from where we were and it was coming and going, then got worse. As we reached Dong Hui it was getting awful and my engine was rattling and moving around and making a dreadful noise. As my kick starter had broken earlier I’ve had to running start it and a mechanic who was closing beckoned me in to sort it. Michael went off to sort a hotel and the guy set to work. He and his mate soon fixed the kick start though my engine was still moving around, they then spent about an hour doing different things, thinking they fixed it and then not. Turns out the main bolt holding my engine into the frame of my bike is broken and I need a new one. They don’t have the bolt so they patch me up and I go with Michael to the hotel, my bike sounding worse and worse. After peeling off the wet clothes and having a shower we go off for dinner, have some really nice noodles on the street, got some snacks from the market and chilling out watching the god-awful though mesmerising film He’s such a girl…

day 260, Yen Cat

Had a marvellous sleep before I was alarmed and up for a last breakfast, pack my bags and leave the hostel to get on the bike by eight thirty. We found our way out of Hanoi pretty easily this time thanks to some more in depth planning, and were on our way! We elected to go down the Ho Chi Minh highway as it has just been newly laid, less trafficy and better scenery, though first we had to get there. We missed our turning but it didn’t really matter (we thought) and just kept on going and meet the HCMH (Ho Chi Minh Highway) later. All was going to plan till we reached the road 12b, and again it just disintegrated, had to drop it down into second gear and just coast through playing buckaroo which was a pain in the arse, plus got wet and muddy. We stopped for lunch and to get a few things tightened and adjusted on our bikes, then carried on. We at last joined HCMH and it was bliss, big wide road going through valleys and amazing scenery, if you took the bit where Neo first see what’s earth is like from the Matrix, but replace all the human eggs with green rice paddies and the sentinels with huge karsts that’s pretty much it, the scale is massive and it’s soo easy on the eye. We were cruising around 80, nothing much around and was enjoying myself so much. Then it started pissing it down and things got miserable. Soon was soaked through, really cold and that road had held us up. We were aiming to get as far south as possible to Hue, which is 757kms away from Hanoi, we didn’t even make it to Vinh for fucks sake. We ended up in Yen Cat, it was half five and we were really cold and wet. For dinner we went wandering around, there wasn’t a lot around and it was raining, though we found this place with four businessman in eating some squid dish which looked really good so we pointed to that and it was pretty damn good, before retiring to our damp room (with the most elaborate tree trunk carved out as a desk you've ever seen!)  and reading, started on the Tiger’s Wife, then bed early for a six o’clock start and ambitious target of Hue.

Day 259, Hanoi

Woke as late as possible for breakfast, showered, split up from Michael as he had to cancel a flight, I computered and went and finished Lord of the Flies, which was really good, then met up with Michael for lunch. We opted for Bun Cha as it is a Hanoi speciality, found the place recommended and it was fantastic. Was really tasty and plentiful. Finished it off with a cheeky bit of cheese cake then set about getting some jobs done. Bought postcards and stamps, tried to find some tools though no luck, looked at a t shirt though couldn’t find one I liked as I’ve lost one, got a bit fed up with Hanoi so went back to the hostel to watch a film, watched the beginning of Tron Legacy, though despite a good start I got bored so we played a couple games of pool and went out to dinner. As it was our last night in Hanoi we went out for what is widely known as the best pizza in Vietnam, and it was bloody good. After that got some more socks, some lip balm and back to the hostel. Didn’t want to watch a film so went for a walk by myself round the lake listening to some music, swapped my book and went to bed early as going to Hue tomorrow.