I arrived in Hoi An early New Year’s morning, operating off about 2 hours of sleep. I had thought riding an overnight bus was genius since it allowed me to use sleeping hours as travel hours. Unfortunately I barely slept at all, which took me completely by surprise. In the very recent past I’ve slept sitting upright on a motorcycle, I’ve slept in a hammock next to chickens and pigs. I have slept on virtually every bus, train and plane I have been on in the last 6 months – but I could not sleep lying down on this bus. Instead I spent most of the night shifting around in my “bed”, New Year’s texting, and staring off into the dark, being vaguely reflective in honor of New Year’s. I had a pretty fantastic second half of 2012 – exploring and seeing the world the way I had always dreamt of seeing it. And I was ringing in 2013 literally en route to my next destination. Setting goals and making New Year’s resolutions felt out of place, but I knew lurking somewhere in my future…… I would be back home thinking about my priorities and where I want to take my life. Maybe it was that last thought that finally put me to sleep…..

I rolled off the bus at the station, and checked into the hotel that my Easy Rider guide booked for me. For $15 a night I had a huge room in a basic but brand new hotel, with a balcony, king size bed, and jet stream bathtub. Way to go Mr. Water!! I ate breakfast, showered, slept, read and didn’t leave my room until the next day.

At least in all that time I managed to read up on my latest location. Hoi An is a small city off the coast of central Vietnam. At one time it was the most important trading ports on the South China Sea, but in
the late 18th century the river mouth silted up, and another nearby city took over as the main port. Hoi An was left quiet and alone for the next 200 years (leaving most of the buildings and city layout
 untouched), until it was “rediscovered” as a tourist destination, and named an UNESCO world heritage site.

I spent the next couple days eating, reading, and wandering around the town. The food was outrageously good!!! When I wasn’t eating I shopped and roamed the streets on either side of the river. The buildings in Old Town are all below 3 stories, painted gold and beautifully weathered with age. If it weren’t 
for all the tourists, made-to-order tailors and souvenir shops, you could almost imagine you’d gone back in time. My favorite was just after sunset when all the lamps were lit, and the streets were still busy with people. I read that on the 14th of every lunar month there is a full moon festival where the old town is only accessible by foot, electric lights are cut off, the streets are lit by lamps and people send paper lanterns floating down the river for luck. It sounded incredible, but I missed it!

My last day in Hoi An I went on yet another bicycle tour. I really can’t help myself at this point. It’s the most fun way to explore outside the cities, while also getting exercise. (Which is important because my clothes barely fit anymore.) The tour took us on an hour ferry ride to some islands outside of Hoi An.
 We spent the morning riding on dirt roads in between rice paddies, and going from island to island via bamboo bridges.

We stopped for lunch at the owner of the tour company’s grandmother’s house. While we were there we watched her weaving sleeping mats. (Note the slight red around the older lady’s mouth in the pic below? From chewing betel nut/leaf).

We saw how round boats were made, and our guide explained how they came about. She said that during the French occupation they charged taxes on boats, so in order to avoid paying tax the Vietnamese invented these boats that they could pass off as baskets. (I haven’t been able to confirm this
 online, but it sounded credible).

A lady “planting” rice, and a guy fixing some kind of tractor to prep the fields for planting.

I left the next day to catch a flight back to Ho Chi Minh City. One of the Australians I met in Mui Ne (Chuong) was there visiting with friends and family, and he invited me to come hang out until I flew home two weeks later. Sounded good to me!! Hopping from town to town had lost its appeal, and I loved Saigon when I was there before. Now I had the opportunity to experience it with someone who could speak Vietnamese, and knew their way around!

I can honestly say that in the following 2 weeks I didn’t visit one tourist site. What I did a lot of was eat!! Chuong introduced me to every kind of Vietnamese fruit imaginable – mangosteens, rambutans, milk fruit, jackfruit, sapodilla. We got egg sandwiches from street carts for breakfast, and I got Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk every chance I could. We met up a couple times with the South Africans who were in town for a couple of days before flying home. (The fabulous couple from Mui Ne).

We alternated between hanging out with Chuong’s cousin, and his friend, who showed us two very different versions of Saigon. His cousin was born and raised in Vietnam, and he brought us to places that appealed more to Vietnamese than to Westerners in some ways. He was married with two kids, but got a free pass away from the family to spend quality time with Chuong while he was in town. He brought us out for dinner a couple nights, and had us over to his house for his daughter’s birthday. They served mountains of fresh boiled crayfish and crabs.

He brought us to a night club that was unreal. There was probably as many staff as there were customers. Security, waiters – there was even a man whose sole job seemed to be to add more ice to our cups. The music was…..let’s say classic (a couple of years old), and blaring. There was also “classic” lighting going with lasers. It was ah-mazing!!

He even invited us to the wedding of his work colleague’s sister. Apparently weddings are more of a social event than an intimate affair, and it’s not that unusual to bring a couple guests. (As long as you have enough class to leave an envelope with a monetary gift for the newlyweds). We drove an hour or two out of the city, to the home of the couple where the reception was being held. As we walked up they were waiting to greet us at the entrance. I don’t know what they said, but they seemed happy to welcome complete strangers to their reception. We sat down at a big round table, were served course after course of home cooked food. Plastic bottles of rice wine were in constant circulation. The bride and groom and their family came by to take pictures, and thank us for coming. I have no idea what the average Vietnamese wedding was like – but this one was a party! The guests were taking turns singing at the mic, and they put their heart into it! The men were boozing and dancing. Talk about a change of pace – you can barely get a guy on the dance floor at an American wedding, but here the dance floor was man’s territory. The older guy below was king of the karaoke. And also a master rice wine maker.
His friend Jason on the other hand grew up in Saigon, but lived in Australia for several years. He was young, cool and single, and showed us the hip international side of Saigon. We went to see him DJ one night, and hung out with the “downtown” crowd. He gave me shopping suggestions for where to find gifts that people would actually want to keep. He brought us to the best hole in the wall seafood restaurant, the all you can eat oyster nights, the best Indian, and he invited us for brunch with his friends. My last night in Saigon we went to dinner, played darts, and finished in the wee hours with some more amazing seafood from a street cafe.

So my last two weeks of travel – I stayed in one place. I had no place I wanted to visit, no flight or bus to catch, no new neighborhood to learn. I unpacked my bag and relaxed. I had an incredible time just hanging out with a great new friend, who shared his friends and family with me. The time went by too fast, and it seemed like all of a sudden I was at the airport again. This time to fly back to the US. It didn’t seem real. I was sad to leave, but it also felt like I was just hopping on my next flight to somewhere – not ending my 7 months of travel. It didn’t feel that long ago that I was just starting out with all this time ahead of me, excited and curious about what I would find. I didn’t really know how to feel…..

Will write some deep thoughts later!

I met my Easy Rider guide in front of the hotel in the morning. As I mentioned, the idea behind Easy Riders is to see a less touristy side of Vietnam, and to see it from the back of a motorcycle. To see the countryside, stop at roadside stands and restaurants, visit waterfalls and farms. The whole concept is flexible – there is no minimum group size, or set departure date, and you can tailor your trip however you want. You can ride on the back of your guide’s bike, or on your own bike following behind; do a day trip, or use it as a mode of transportation between destinations.

During my time in Vietnam so far I’ve pretty much only visited places that are geared towards tourists. On the one hand it makes traveling easier since people speak at least a little English. But on the other hand, your perception of the culture becomes so filtered, it ends up nowhere near reality. A balance of both would be ideal, but can be hard to find….. Which brings me to my 2 day Easy Rider trip. It seemed like a great way to get that kind of balance, experience a less watered down version of Vietnam AND get from Mui Ne, inland to Dalat (all while avoiding yet another bus ride).

Back to my trip – after some small talk, my guide Mr. Water covered my bags with plastic, and strapped them to the back of the bike seat. Which left a space less than a foot between him and my bags for me to sit. It was a little awkward at first (squeezed right up behind him with my legs wrapped around) but I told myself he does this all the time, and has probably had younger and cuter than me, so I got over it.

We set off, and after not too long were in the country side headed away from the beach. As we got further into the country it was nothing but roads, farm fields and mountains. Hours went by just watching what was flying by as we drove. Kids walking to school in their uniforms of blue pants, white button down shirt and red tie. Restaurants on the side of the road, with hammocks just in case you need a nap (completely normal). Small houses, mostly with flat roofs and a veggie garden or paved area out front (instead of a yard). Lemon grass and cassava root drying on the side of the road.

People driving by with their bikes overloaded with anything you can think of.

Guys driving tractor-like things.

We stopped a couple of times – for lunch, to visit a market, stretch our legs. By late afternoon I was completely zoned out with drooping eyelids on the back of Mr. Water’s bike. I had been battling to stay awake, when out of nowhere my helmet bounced off the back of Mr. Water’s helmet. He shouted “Are you sleeping??”. “No!!!” I shouted back, kind of incredulous. Then I thought about it…..I must have dozed for a second, and my head must’ve dropped forward. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.”.

By the time we got to Dalat the temperature had dropped 15+ degrees. We drove through the city, rode up to our hotel just before dark and arrived at about the same time as another Easy Rider duo. The hotel manager greeted our guides with familiarity and respect. And come to think of it, so had every restaurant and stop along the way. What I began to realize is that while the Easy Rider trips are off the usual tourist circuit, they have created their own “beaten path” of restaurants and hotels they all stop at the pre-set trips. Which kind of burst my bubble about having a unique experience. But having the built in network of other people to socialize with on the road helped make up for it.

We showered (separately), and went to dinner where I learned two important things. 1) Mr. Water taught me the Vietnamese toast “Mot, Hai, Ba – Vo!”, which as I understand it means “1, 2, 3 – in!”. As in – “in the mouth” I guess… 2) Vietnamese men really like to drink. They don’t seem to have any issues with public intoxication. (Note that I only said men. The ladies don’t drink much, if at all. Same thing goes for smoking.)

Throughout the day Mr. Water periodically gave me the hard sell to get me to extend my ride by a couple of days. He said I’d be able to see a lot more of the countryside and listed off the various places we could stop. He suggested a 4 day 3 night trip to Nha Trang, then I could catch an overnight bus from Nha Trang headed north to Hoi An. Hmmm….. A couple extra days of people watching and driving around the countryside did sound more appealing than site-seeing in another touristy city.

By the next morning I made up my mind to extend. Mr. Water placed some calls, and in under an hour booked our accommodation for the next 2 nights, booked my bus from Nha Trang, and reserved a hotel room and pick up for me in Hoi An. Impressive.

The next two days went pretty much like the first – long stretches of riding broken up by visits to some restaurant, or plantation. We stopped for some locally grown “weasel coffee”. They feed the weasel coffee beans, he poops them out, the beans are roasted, and then someone makes coffee out of it. It was just okay.

Visited a small silk factory.

Stopped at several street markets where Mr. Water would wait by the bike, and send me off to wander around while he chain smoked. At one market I came back to Mr. Water, followed by this guy. He talked to Mr. Water in Vietnamese, and next thing I knew Mr. Water was instructing me to go have a drink with him. The guy held my hand as we walked past all the locals watching and giggling. He didn’t speak any English, so we sat there for a while, drank our drinks, looked around – until Mr. Water drove up and said it was time to leave. But before he let me leave, my date turned his cheek to me and pointed. Huh. I gave him a kiss on the cheek, jumped on the bike, and drove off.

Visited this guy’s house. He has a couple huge pythons and scorpions, and he’ll let you hold them for a fee. Wonder how he came up with this idea?

Ate a lot. Mr. Water claimed his goal was to have me gain 10 kilos. I tried weasel and deer, but my favorite was regular old BBQ pork, rice vermicelli, and fish sauce. Pic from dinner one night with another Easy Rider duo. You can’t tell, but the shrimp had been skewered alive, and their legs were still moving on the grill.

Stopped for some boiled corn on the side of the road.

Helped some local ladies chop and strip sugar cane. I felt a little awkward, and the ladies seemed confused, but Mr. Water thought it was hysterical. After some thought, he may not have really expected me to do it….. (pardon the helmet hair)

Couple more pics from the road

We drove into Nha Trang late afternoon New Year’s Eve. Mr. Water and I said our goodbyes, and I wandered around for 3 hours killing time before my overnight bus left. Nha Trang was similar to Mui Ne in the sense that it was a tourist city on the beach, but it was much more crowded with people and high rise buildings than Mui Ne. I was only there for a couple of hours, so it’s probably not fair to have an opinion, but based on what I saw I didn’t regret my decision to skip it.

I boarded my overnight sleeper bus at about 7pm. My first sleeper bus of my trip, and where I would be ringing in the New Year, since it was New Year’s Eve. It was odd, but perfectly fine. Instead of seats there are 3 rows of narrow bunk beds – one row along each window, and another row down the center aisle. I fit in there pretty comfortably, and was able to stretch out, but anyone taller than 5′ 5″ would have to bend their legs. And if you’re even modestly overweight you’re out of luck because, you just won’t fit. I had hoped to sleep the whole 12 hour ride, and arrive at the end well rested, ready to enjoy my day. That was wishful thinking.