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.