Day 7 Vietnam Motorbike Tour

Good morning Vietnam! I stayed in a hotel in the village of Duc Tai and my guide made me eggs for breakfast. He turned them over using chop sticks. How do you do that! I met some very nice folks from the Netherlands at breakfast. We packed up and as the day unfolded the scenery was spectacular. I really can’t even put it in words other than the Rocky Mountains on steriods.

More on this subject in a bit but first some interesting facts about Vietnam. We now are checked into a hotel in Dong Van town, Ha Giang province. There is a city square where they have a big city market. The country folks walk up to around 3 mile to bring a goat, chicken or whatever they want to sell in this market. This is a social event whereby the men get drunk. They then proceed to walk back home and if they pass out their wives will sit down and wait on them untill they recover and then help them get back home. The women many times will buy ice cream for $.10. The men are the boss of the family however they respect their very hard working wives.

As I am typing this blog, there is a loud speaker going with propoganda and news being delivered to the locals. It is very annoying! There are no newspapers. In most areas there is good phone reception and there is wifi all over the place in the villages. The government has run optic cable all over the country except in the poor areas.

In the north parts of Vietnam there are 53 minority ethnic groups that all speak different languages. I have no idea how they communicate with one another. I think it is a bit like the Amish in that each has there own little designated areas. Out in these areas the people are very poor and really just live off the land. I feel for the children born in these areas as there is really no way out. There is no internet or computers so they really don’t even know what else is in the world. There were farmers plowing their fields with a cow and a small plow. They hang on the mountains that are to steep to ride a motorcycle up.

Vietnam has the largest cave in the world. It is called Hang Son Doong . In order to go through it you must get a ticket a year in advance and pay $3,000 dollars. I am told that you could set a 20 story building up in it and there would be room leftover. It has its own river, jungle and climate. (Next years super bowl)? Vietnam also has the second largest cave in the world which you can enter for $400. In total – in this area, there are over 1,000 caves.

In Vietnam all businesses must pay around a 10 or 15 percent tax. This money goes to build roads, bridges and other various government controlled projects. The people are not really fond of the government but no one says much. There are no demonstrations. In the poor areas there are no taxes collected. These people are on there own and sometimes build their own roads. As we drove by these very small villages, I could see Pepsi & Coke in the small open front stores. It goes to show the power of these franchises even suppling remote Vietnam.

In Vietnam you are only allowed to have two children. If you have a third you are fined. If it is twins you are ok.

We stopped for lunch and I met 12 older guys from the UK that were on a motorbike tour as well. The oldest was 79 years old and they were doing some off-roading and were beat up and tired. Made me feel good as these guys were much older than I and apparently have nice wives like mine that allow them to be gone for around 21 days. It was funny as they kept looking over my way knowing I was from US. I finally approached them and they were glad I did. We had a nice chat.

One of the roads around the mountain was carved out of rock by locals. They started this project in 1959 and it took them untill 1964 to complete 11 miles. Many were killed in the process. They used hammers, chisels and TNT. I felt like I was going through Rocky Mountain National Park. Again – the views were breath taking. The river that runs through this area is used in numerous place to provide hydroelectricity. They had a new plant going in and we could see where they re-routed the river to build it. Very impressive. The river originates up in China and I guess that have done the same. All of a sudden we came to the end of the road where they had this large tower with the Vietnam flag flying. We climbed the tower and could see China. We couldn’t go any further. As beautiful as this drive was – I am told tomorrow is even going to be better. We drove around 70 miles today at around 20 miles per hour. There was so much beauty there was no need to hurry. Once in a while you would meet trucks coming around the sharp corners and it was obvious they had the right of way as they would leave you around 3 feet to sneak through. There were a couple of times I swore my mirror just about hit the side of the truck. A bit nerve racking!

It is now 8:00 PM and the propaganda speaker is still going full bore. Good Lord. Lights out!