Viet Road Trip Day 13

Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Viet Nam. This is day 13. Day 12 can be found here.

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n Day 13, I left town early. This was to be my longest scheduled ride. I had been told to bring 2 extra liters of fuel which I kept in water bottles under my seat. I wanted to make sure I arrived at Dong Hoi before nightfall, so I left Khe Sahn earlier than usual.

Early in the morning, It felt like I had the whole Ho Chi Minh Trail to myself.

Jus' Coolin' on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Good morning Vietnam! A beautiful day for a ride. (This is also my 100th video uploaded to Youtube, WOOT!).

A lovely morning on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

One of the few horses that I saw in Vietnam. I didn't want to spook it, so I didn't get very close. It looked like it was out by itself.

Anything is plenty, man

A lot of the day's ride was through valleys like this one.

A little house on the side of the road.

A farm at the foot of a mountain.

A nice ride on the Trail.

t some point during the ride, my motorbike started making a strange noise. The noise persisted with the engine off, so I figured it wasn't an engine problem. I pulled over and experienced a well-known and well-documented phenomenon in Vietnam.

I'd driven a fair distance on this road without passing any vehicles, homes, or people. Yet within 3 minutes of stopping, someone was walking up to see what was wrong with my bike. The chainguard had broken and was rubbing against the chain. I have no idea where he came from.

The guy that appeared wasn't much help, but the moral support was appreciated. He tried to bend the guard away from the chain without any success. After that, he did what men have done all over the world for ages. He just kind of stood around the broken machine while I tried to get it working. He'd nod when I gestured for his opinion. I eventually found a stick and pried the guard away from the chain. I said my goodbyes and went on my way.

This experience answered an ancient philosophical question for me; "If a machine breaks alone in the woods, will men still gather to fix it?" The answer is always yes.

An interesting billboard what seems to promote industry and logging.

Fishing boats in Dong Hoi.

ong Hoi was a fun and friendly city. After I checked into my hotel, I found a Honda shop to fix my chainguard, and change my oil. One of the ladies that worked at the Honda repair place spoke some English and kept me occupied.

After "What's your name?" and "Where are you from?", "Are you married?" is easily the third most popular question I get out here. The Honda lady was nice and asked her questions. She recommended some restaurants to me and told me about her family. She also fed me some snacks while I waited for my bike to get fixed. She gave me some small fruits which I believe we're baby mangos, plus some chili salt to dip them in. Another lady kept pouring tea for me even though the pitcher and glasses were right there on the table in front of me. It was a sweet gesture.

One of the mechanics tried my electronic cigarette and coughed his ass off. He also said I looked pregnant because of my beer belly. The whole shop was watching and got a laugh out of that. A different lady employee walked up to where we were all gathered. The mechanic said something about her in Vietnamese while looking at me and she slapped him in the face. Hardish, but still in a joking way. The people are funny out here, I don't know if jocular is the right word, but it seems like everyone is always cracking jokes. They crack jokes with each other too, not just about me or my bike.

My bike was fixed, after a while, and I went out to see some of the city.

Some of my drive-by photos of a market in Dong Hoi.

Plenty of fruit.

A normal scene on a normal day.

An old French church.

An old French church.

A new Vietnamese church. Looks like they need a bigger building.

The view from my hotel.

hen I got back to my hotel several of the staff girls were at a table close to the elevator. While I waited for the elevator, one of the girls asked how I was. I said I was good and asked how she was. She replied with, "I don't know, maybe I missed you." Taken aback, I said that I missed her too and would see her soon.

Earlier, at a restaurant, a lady said "You're single, I'm single. I love you." after she asked the standard questions. It was hard to tell if these were legitimate advances or if this is just Vietnamese humor. Either way, I enjoyed it. Funny, flirty interactions with strange women are part of what makes Vietnam so much fun. They are also why I have very little interest in traveling to India and most Islamic countries. Such interactions with women are likely to be few and far between.

After I got to my room, I posted on Facebook and went to sleep. The next day of riding would take me to Vinh. Until then, ride safe!

Sunset in Dong Hoi.

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Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Vietnam. Read about days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7.1, 8, 8.1, 9, 9.1, 10, 11, and 12 here.