Day 4: Ride from Dalat to Nha Trang

in #travel8 years ago

Day 4: Ride from Dalat to Nha Trang

Day 4 would be a day with lots of mountain riding.

I got out of Dalat without issue. I thought morning traffic could be a problem, but getting out of town was pretty painless. Immediately outside of town I started to hit some mountains. The interesting thing to me was that on one side of the mountain the trees were mostly evergreen trees. On the other side of the mountain the vegetation was more of what I expected of Vietnam, more jungle type plants.

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I came across this couple on their way to work. It looks like they use the commute as an opportunity to exercise their dogs.

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One of the towns close to Dalat. I stopped for a rest and took a couple of pictures.

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The kids were always yelling out "HELLO!" when I rode around Vietnam. I think these guys were going to, or leaving, school.

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A quick pic while riding. Lots of evergreen plants.

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The other side of the mountain, with more "jungle" type plants.

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I'm still amazed by how much stuff people are able to transport on their scooters.

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All the kids getting out of school.

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A quick rest stop.

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This stuff was awesome. I don't like sweet foods and drinks, and this drink was not sweet at all. It was kind of like a salted 7UP or something. This was the only bottle of Recover that I saw in Vietnam, even though I kept looking for it. I have no idea why it has the Chrome logo on it.

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On the left of this picture is something that you'll see all over South East Asia. It's a sugar cane press, and a barrel full of sugar cane. They press the cane to get juice to drink. Some places will throw in an orange slice or lemon slice to flavor the drink a little. It's good stuff and only costs a few cents for a glass.

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I finally made it to Nha Trang. This was another city where someone talked to me while I was riding, and lead me to a hotel room for a commission from the hotel owner.

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I didn't do a whole lot in Nha Trang, just went for a ride. I did find a REALLY good Mexican restaurant, which was a huge bonus. I know that other travelers have their "thing" that they do in every place. Usually it's something stupid like slapping their GoPro or dancing. My "thing" is finding, and eating Mexican food all over the world. I had been living outside of the US for 9 years at this point, and Mexican food is what I missed the most about America. So I search for Mexican places and usually end the night on the toilet, full of disappointment. America and Mexico are the only countries that reliably produce good Mexican food, so I've eaten tons of horrible Mexican food around the globe. Nha Trang was a pleasant surprise. The Mexican food was on point.

In Day 5 I finally started using my GoPro. So if anyone makes it this far down the page, expect some videos in the next post.

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Haha Mate I´m the same with Mexican food! There is a great Mexican restaurant in Siem Reap Cambodia in case that you ever will be there. The 1,50$ frozen Margaritas in the burning heat are so good!

I´m assuming you bought the bike? How much was it and how long did it take you to find? I´m actually planning on doing this as well next year. Vietnam is one of the few places in SE-Asia I haven´t seen yet. And I want to see it soo bad! :-D

Following you now, to not miss any of the coming story’s!

I found the bike on my second or third day in Ho Chi Minh City. I mostly only checked craigslist. I didn't want a Honda Win so there weren't a lot of options online. Eventually I bought my bike from http://www.tigitmotorbikes.com/ after seeing their reviews on tripadvisor. They were great.

I bought my bike in HCMC for about $350 (including helmet). I probably spent about $150 on repairs and oil changes. One repair required a complete tear down of the engine and cost $90, most repairs are cheap.

I had the bike for about 4 months. I went almost to the border with China, then to Vientien Laos for a new visa. Then to Danang where I spent about 3 months. Then to HCMC for a visa extension. While back in HCMC I called Tigit up because they said that they wanted their helmet back if possible. They bought the helmet and the bike back, no questions asked. I think I got over $200 back for the bike and helmet. The bike was on its last leg and I had considered abandoning it several times, so that money was pure bonus.

Siem Reap was one of my favorite places. My original plan was to buy a bike in Vietnam then return to Cambodia by bike. But I fell in love with Vietnam and spent most of 4 months there. I don't recall if I got Mexican food there or not. They had so many great food options I was going nuts trying to decide where to eat.

Wow thank you so much for the effort you put in that reply! I can definitely use that information for my plans.

And yeah Siem Reap was one of my favorite places in Asia too. So chilled and beautiful. And the temples of course...

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