I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the desert's bare, man
I've breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I've a-had my share, man
I've been everywhere
Now that song has been on my mind on this trip, made famous by Johnny cash and myself ( lol)
We have both been finding this part in Vietnam difficult, the driving, the food sometimes, and a feeling of being exhausted all the time. I think the vaccinations that Fiona is getting has been taking its toll on her and as a supportive husband me too. After riding 3 /4 of our way through Vietnam we thought it would get easier but it's not. Vietnam is an incredible country with loads to see and if you can be arsed loads to do but we are both feeling tired. OK during our last big trip from Argentina to Alaska and beyond we had some days when we were down but not weeks.
Sorry about moaning about doing a trip most people could only dream off but that's the way it is which is why that song resonates in my mind.
Anyhow, we are OK and continuing on the task in had, Loads of laughs apart from the tiredness, we even had a full day of torrential rain which soaked us to the skin, 5 hours solid at speeds under 35mph only stopping for fuel twice and nothing to eat all day, my god this is supposed to be fun and it is sometimes but don't kid yourself that this is motorcycling, it's a war of attrition.
We have a day off today in a fancy Hotel Woo Hoo, but no time to rest, need to get the blog done so here it is, slightly different today..
We headed to Quan Ngai, a slightly down at heel place that suited us and managed to get a pizza, result. The hotel had a sauna in our room and a massive bath tub but no hot water and a balcony that looked into a industrial building next door but it was clean and cheap!
The further up the road to Hoi An, a place full of tourists, we had to fight our way through them to get to our hotel only to find we got the wrong one, another mile and we got the right one. This is where the top gear crew got suits made, unfortunately I had no room but made do with a shirt and Fi got a made to measure shirts and top for £35 delivered to our hotel by 10am the next morning.
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| Made to measure |
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| Tourist hell |
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| Me, tourist hell |
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| Busy |
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| Me getting my inside leg measured for a shirt |
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| I really wanted this jacket but no room |
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| It rained heavily walking back to our digs |
We then headed up the coast to Da nang, stayed in a nice place away from the tourists and after some food and beer in a roadside cafe we were walking back to our digs and got invited to join a group of ladies celebrating international women's day, I don't think they noticed my moustache, they even got us to sing on the Karaoke to flower of Scotland!
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| Funny boat |
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| Stopped for a break once we got free of the City |
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| Evening meal in a roadside cafe, the chairs are like kids chairs |
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| But the beer is good |
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| Busy cafe |
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| Our new singing friends |
The next day over the Hai vang pass to Hue , a short pass but worth the effort. We stayed in a hotel which seems to have a lot of Europeans and Koreans on bus tours.
Of course it was the day for Fiona's latest vaccination which is always a pain. Nice town though and we even went to see the imperial City, a rest day was well earned.
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| Mighty Hondas on the pass |
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| Nice but the view coming down the bealach is better |
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Always looking for the rain
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| Our nice bus tour Hotel, staff were very nice |
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| Imperial Palace |
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| The locals like posing |
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| So do we |
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| All taking selfies |
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| Rain coming in |
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| Traffic, crazy as always |
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| And a meal opposite the clinic where Fiona got her latest Injection in the Morning |
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| Really |
Then to Dong Hai all the way up the coast, quiet road but jesus, biblical rain, we arrived wet and slightly not amused but the plus side the road was good, we must of passed hundreds of cemeteries, we didn't stop though
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| They like their decorations |
The rain stopped the following morning and we rode into the mountains again, a short ride but enjoyable to the backpacker hell town of Phong Nha. We had lunch in the town and got another oil change and the chains oiled for £8 including oil, not too shabby, at night we went to a restaurant where we had to suffer the local news playing at full volume for 3/4 of an hour, so happy when it stopped. We met a fellow tally Cammila and she joined us for a blether, good laugh but although she could understand Fi, she struggled to understand me, nothing new there then.
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| Bonnie |
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| Our digs |
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| New church getting built, loads of churches which was a surprise |
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| Fi and Cammila |
And then a long rode along part of the Ho Chi Min road towards Vinh where it rained on and of but really enjoyed the first 3/4 of the ride but the last bit was not as good and here we are, Friday the 13th, avoiding traffic today and just relaxing in our posh hotel
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| Ho Chi Min Trail |
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| The kids who are usually polite kept giving us the finger so Fiona was practicing |
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| Nice Cafe for lunch, |
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| Posh digs, cable cars taking people out to the island but not a change i'm going on it |
