After a quality night’s rest in Hue, we met Mr. Hai out in front of the hotel to begin our grand road trip. Mr. Hai was recommended by a friend, and he lived up to all our expectations. Our plan was to take the long way from Hue down to Hoi An, making a trip that usually takes only a few hours into an epic three-day escapade.
Even though I love riding my motorbike around Ho Chi Minh City, I was a bit anxious about driving the motorbike for three days. But my dad seemed unconcerned, even though his first few moments with Mr. Hai went something like this:
Mr. Hai: “Oh, welcome to Vietnam! Have you driven a motorbike before?”
Dad: “Yeah, yeah, no problem!”
Mr. Hai: “Oh... have you driven in Vietnam?”
Dad: “No, well... No, actually I haven’t driven a motorcycle in a while.”
Mr. Hai: “When did you drive last?”
Dad: “1975.”
Mr. Hai: “Hmmm.”
But, Vietnam is Vietnam, and driving experience is not necessary for driving. Mr. Hai sent Dad off on a “test run” that involved Dad chugging the bike down the road to the corner, turning around and riding back. Satisfied that Dad wouldn’t lay the bike out, Mr. Hai packed our bags onto the back of the bikes and we set off!
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| Mr. Hai gives a driving lesson |
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| Locked and loaded |
Our first stop was a military cemetery in Huong Dien, just north of Hue. The cemetery is dedicated to men who were killed during the Vietnam War. There were many tombstones without names, and several that had been “claimed” by families and bore hand-written names and dates.
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| Military Cemetery |
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| Military cemetery in Huong Dien |
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| Unknown soldiers |
The next stop was the ruins of Long Hung Church in Quang Tri, which sustained eighty-one days of bombing during the War.
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| Long Hung Church |
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| Bullet holes |
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| Shrapnel holes in the tile work |
Dodging busses and doing our best to steer our bikes ‘safely’ within the minuscule shoulder of famed Highway 1, we made our way up the coast to Cua Viet Bridge. Here we happily dismounted the bikes and soaked in the ocean breeze blowing in from the South China Sea.
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| Breezy driving break |
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| South China Sea from Cua Viet |
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| Fishing nets |
Back on the road, we turned off Highway 1 and skirted the coast road up to Vinh Moc. Quickly the terrain changed from beaches to thick woods and hills, winding along one-lane roads, until we took a seemingly-unmarked turn and arrived at the Vinh Moc tunnels.
During the Vietnam War, over 90 families sought refuge from the constant bombing by burrowing into the ground. The North Vietnamese villagers constructed a system of tunnels nearly 2km long, in three levels. The families lived and worked in the tunnels for years, and the documentary that preceded the tour painted a grisly picture of life underground.
The tunnels are now open to visitors and are rigged with electric lights and some signs explaining the different rooms. While the tour was impressive, seeing family rooms, toilets, meeting rooms, kitchens, school rooms, and even a make-shift hospital (children were born down there!), getting a glimpse into the reality of these people’s lives was sobering.
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| Bombshells |
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| Tunnel entrance |
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| Tunnel down to the second level |
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| Model of a family room in the tunnels |
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| Dad crouching in one of the family rooms |
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| Leaving the tunnels |
Exiting the tunnels, we came out into the daylight and to a beautiful ocean view.
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| Vinh Moc Beach |
The final pit stop was the Ben Hai River and the 17th Parallel. This is the sight of the Demilitarized Zone. The DMZ was the dividing line between North and South Vietnam during the War. Now the line is marked with a small museum and the old French bridge still stands.
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Bridge over Ben Hai River, marking the
division between North and South Vietnam |
Our first day of travel was nearly finished, but not before a drive over the river, through the woods, and across the Truong Son Mountains.
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| Roadside friend |
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| Rice farmers |
We arrived late that night in Huong Hoa, also known as Khe Sanh Town. After a quick shower, we joined Mr. Hai in the restaurant next door to the hotel for one of the stranger Vietnamese dishes: a whole chicken deep fried in sticky rice!
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| Mr. Hai carves the chicken |
The next morning, we downed our breakfast and an extra shot of ca phe sua da and set off for Khe Sanh Military Base. Khe Sanh is the sight of the most famous siege of the War. The difference in the number of soldiers and civilians killed varies greatly depending on which source you trust. While the base was the sight of an incredibly bloody battle, it’s now very quiet.
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| Khe Sanh Town |
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| Helicopter |
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| Khe Sanh Military Base |
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| Runway |
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| Propellors |
It was only 10am, but the sun was blazing and the heat was scorching as we crossed over the Dakrong Bridge outside of Khe Sanh. We spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon sweating and burning in the wind as we zoomed through the mountain pass.
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| View from Dakrong Bridge |
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| Water break |
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| Hard to beat the views |
On the other side of the ridge, the weather turned cooler, but a storm was brewing. In a matter of minutes, we went from this:
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| Fun and sun |
....to this:
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| Ready for rain |
For the next hour or two, we drove white-knuckled over the mountains through intense fog and pouring rain. The roads were narrow and winding, and I had to ask Mr. Hai to drive slower so that I could follow close enough behind to see his taillights. The fog was so thick, I could barely make out the white line marking the division between the road and the shear drop off the side of the mountain.
And suddenly there were cows in the road! Out of nowhere, herds of cattle would appear, chilling in the middle of the road, on top of a mountain, in a downpour, completely hidden by the soupy fog. Whatever.
When we finally came out of the fog and the rain let up, the views were amazing. Straight out of Fern Gully!
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| Fog lifting over the mountains |
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| After the rain |
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| Mountain in the mist |
Because we’d been slowed down by the rain and fog, we had to drive an hour or so in the dark to arrive at our destination for the night, P’Rao. Driving in the dark on mountain roads in Vietnam was an adventure I might not want to relive, if I’d survive it a second time anyway!
The last day of our journey started off on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. We made a quick stop at the Duong Ho Chi Minh sign for good luck!
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| Ho Chi Minh "Street" |
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| Cheeeeeese! |
Our final day did not disappoint, in terms of views or adventures, either one. We wandered most of the day down one-lane backroads full of pot holes, through villages that rarely have foreign visitors, judging by the villagers’ reactions as we scooted past.
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| Rural life |
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| One-lane road |
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| Valley |
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| Rush hour traffic |
Mr. Hai took us into one minority village and let us explore a bit on our own. We crossed from the main road over a bridge into the village. As we walked down a dirt road, we came up to a small school, and the children went wild waving and saying “Hello!” to us.
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| Bridge |
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| Stilt house |
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| School children |
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They loved looking at the camera to see
themselves in the pictures |
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| I couldn't get enough of these guys! |
We’d been pretty lucky up to this point, mechanically speaking. But just to add to the adventure, Dad got a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere. Mr. Hai made a solid attempt to fix the flat.
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| Mr. Hai at work |
But before too long, the patch let go, and we had to make a real pit stop at a conveniently-located motorbike shop for a new tube.
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| AAA doesn't come out here |
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| Waiting for the mechanic |
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| Kids walking home from school |
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| These boys found our flat tire hilarious |
Back on the road, we made our way east to Da Nang. We drove from the mountains, down into the foothills, past tea plantations, and finally back to the coast!
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| More mountain views |
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| Dad and Mr. Hai at the tea plantation |
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| Downhill |
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| Foothills |
From Da Nang, we hooked a right and headed back down Highway 1 to Hoi An. Before we arrived in Hoi An, we made one more tourist stop at Marble Mountain. Atop the large outcroppings are natural caves and several pagodas. A little old lady made many attempts to be our personal tour guide, but we resisted, giving tired smiles and exhausted waves. We gathered up every last bit of energy we had to climb up the thousands of stone steps to visit the sights.
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| The first of THOUSANDS of steps |
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| Marble Mountain |
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| Dad converts to Buddhism |
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| Marble Mountain |
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| Cave |
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| Pagoda |
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| Marble Mountain |
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| View of Da Nang from Marble Mountain |
The sky was growing dark, and we had long-since grown weary. As we mounted our bikes for the last leg down to Hoi An, I couldn’t help but think back over the last 72 hours. The sights alone would make for some lasting memories, but sharing the adventure with my Dad and Lisa guaranteed an unforgettable experience!
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Dad, me, Mr. Hai, Lisa
Finally arrived in Hoi An! |
