The next morning we went to explore the local market. This one did not hold anything back.
People just laid their goods on a blanket in the street. If it was a high end seller you might have a table. Here is a shot of the basic cutting/chopping tool in Vietnam.
Much like the machete is in Latin America, this little baby is the all-purpose tool. Everything from chopping through pig bones to slashing a path through a rice paddy. We picked up 2 for home use when the lawn gets a little unruly or a stray dog wanders onto your property. Speaking of dog, we came across this little guy
Everything had a section of the market: intestines, worms, pigs, fish etc
We ran into this friendly fellow who was bending our ear while bleeding a chicken out. All in a day’s work
Some of the people were a bit more tame and easy on our stomachs
It was right about this point where our first motorcycle crash happened. Fortunately neither of us was involved. Two ladies on scooters plowed into each other. One bike was pretty banged up and the driver’s hand was gushing blood. We really had nothing to offer here but to try and get bike working and a pat on the shoulder. There was no trading of insurance, calling the cops, or complaining about deductibles.
We hit the road after breakfast (where I tried to add milk to my coffee but it came out of the container with the consistency off egg yolk – I passed). Today we were headed through the Mu Cang Chai massif, almost as high as the Fansipan. Ending the day with an overnight in Than Uyen.
I break my riding focus into phases, similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
At the base of my motorcycle pyramid is survival. I do not care if Joe is about to get hit by a truck or if I make a move that is rude towards others or causes them to stop to save from crashing. Yesterday was a very selfish day. Today I enter phase 2. This involves using turn signals and trying to indicate where I am going. As Joe would remind me frequently I would not turn off my signals, but I considered that ancillary to my goal. Phase 3 was looking out for other riders, pointing to pot holes or waving them off from an oncoming truck. Phase 4 was engaging in more exciting riding (wheelies, skids, etc). I had very little plans to reach phase 4 on this trip.
Today we got a little taste of the side roads. Up till now we were riding on 2 lane winding paved roads. We would be out in the country and every 20 km we would buzz through a village with a few repair stores, restaurants, and bars. Now we took some turn-offs on the road to check out some rural villages. I am sure they loved having these Americans come barreling through on their fancy bikes.
Actually, they were all friendly and waved. We handed out candy and friendship bracelets, which the kids appreciated and put in their pockets so they could use both hands to play Candy Crush on their iPhone.
We came to a cool overlook and a view of the rice paddies in various stages of harvesting
I never did fully understand the complete growing/harvesting process but it was definitely organized as you would release water from an upper terrace to a lower one in a prescribed manner. All of these fields were yellow in the fall season.
We stopped to give Kim some time to work on repairs to his bike. It was struggling uphill. Joe and him talked about it but I had not a clue what it all meant
The people out here were working too hard. 7 days a week they were out in the fields breaking their backs, carrying heavy loads. It felt like things had not changed here for 100 years. Occasionally you did see a power tiller but if someone dropped me here and took away some power lines and scooters I would not be able to tell you if it was 1900 or 2000. That being said, they all had a smile on their face and did not seem to mind the work, or have any real ambition to increase their leisure time through efficiency.
I did not get good pictures, but at one point we were riding through the mountains when fog rolled in. It was dark, cold and a bunch of fires were burning along the road. It looked like some Apocalypse Now scene. At this point we also saw a pig with a wooden neck collar you might see in the Saw movie franchise. Kim said this was so they could not get far as the yok contraption would get caught in the trees. We then saw a bus plow passed us that was about half empty, but had a live goat tied to the roof. Not tied like pinned down but tied like you would have a dog in the yard so it could meander about on the roof of this bus as it swerved down these hairpin turns.
Another stop for lunch
You can’t tell by below pictures but the angle is pretty steep on these mountains and they are still farming it. They use all available soil.
We did a little more offroad today. I stalled quite a few times trying to start on an uphill. I told Joe that something was wrong with my bike but he determined it was operator error. That uphill with a clutch always gave me problems when learning to drive the jeep as a teenager. Especially when you don’t have the ability to roll back a bit for a little grace period.
It was pretty steep and we had to ask Kim to give us a heads up when we were about to get into some nasty rocks on steep declines. Joe fell, unfortunately I did not get to see it. I was busy doing a controlled slide down the hill and was still not in phase 3 where I cared about his well-being.
We drove along the main river and saw power dams every few miles so the river ended up in a trickle by the end.
We learned 2 words at this point:
Thank you: Cam On
Hello: Xin Chao
It took me 30 seconds to remember how to say it so by the time I said it the opportunity was passed. And I often said hello when being served food and thank you upon meeting someone.
Just outside of Than Uyen we stopped because some guys were chasing something through the rice paddies below us. It turned out to be a fox that we can only assume had been pilfering their hen house. One guy was throwing rocks at it and when he finally hit it, the two sons came up with these wood oars and beat it till it was dead, and then some. Joe was a bit disturbed but I am sure if I lived so close to poverty and an animal was eating my food I would be plenty tired of it as well. And without guns at their disposal I don’t know what else you could do. It was a bit barbaric though.
We Arrived in Than Uyen and again parked our bikes in the lobby of the hotel
This hotel was a bit sketchier than last night so we did not spend anytime in the room when not sleeping. Unfortunately we were both suffering from jet lag still and could not sleep passed 2 am.
We walked the town and had a few beers
One guy stopped us and asked if we wanted food. I did not know how to say that we had to head back for our dinner so I just made a motion like I was stuffing food in my mouth, but I get a weird look as it appeared I was intimating Joe and I had to go back to hotel so I could stuff something else in my mouth.
In the last town I bought a water bong. It looked cool and thought I could mount it on the wall back home. In each town there are several tobacco water bongs that are for community use. They sit in a 5 gallon bucket and locals spend the day smoking out of them. The owner of the restaurant fired it up and tried to show me how to use it. It did not go so well for me as I got light headed quick and had to lay down on the pavement. All the locals appeared with iphones to video it and post it on their Instagram page
Here is the video
The next morning the guy sold me his bong that was bamboo with a nice hand carved spout or whatever on it.
Big tree fall hard.
Until Tomorrow
Darren
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