::: Western Vietnam weekend short ride

[Viethorse]

Howdy...
I haven't put on my riding gears for quite a long time, might be since Oct2012. Hmmm that's too much!
Actually I had done a quite long trip with my family by my SUV from Hochiminh City to North of Vietnam during Tet holiday (lunar new year Feb2013), the trip took me almost 3 weeks and aprox 3200miles.
Can't wait any longer to be riding my VFR again, so that why I made this trip last weekend.

Departed from HCM City early morning.
Unlike the other trips, I rode further south, to the area called Vietnam western.

See the trip tracklog here if you like: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1173002

 

[Viethorse]

Don't know why but all four riders that day were born in the years of horse!! What a funny thing. Three horses in the same year, and one is 12years older.
Here we are:

A quick rest after the breakfast:

This bad horse was rude to my left saddle bag:

Sign of country side, flat and green:

This is my first trip after replacing my rear tire. Now I am using Avon sport tire. Can't say much as it's new, and I haven't got a single chance for cornering.

A light lunch - fish noodle - a kind of special of the place:

We reached the most south point of the trip:

The signboard teachs people that there are two kinds of seafood, one could be eaten and the other is very dangerous. You can eat, but the toxic inside that thing will kill you right away (tetrotodocine is the name of the toxic, as said by the board - I have no idea about it).

Look at the signboard, I bet you guys can NOT say what are the differences between the one eatable and the poisonous one!!!

 

[jhansen]

Nice pics!

 

[SilverBullet]

...The signboard teachs people that there are two kinds of seafood, one could be eaten and the other is very dangerous. You can eat, but the toxic inside that thing will kill you right away (tetrotodocine is the name of the toxic, as said by the board - I have no idea about it).

Look at the signboard, I bet you guys can NOT say what are the differences between the one eatable and the poisonous one!!!

Having lived in Thailand for 3 years so I know that the eggs carry the poison so I would say one is female and the other is male.

This continues your horse references also as in English these are called horseshoe crabs.

_

 

[cdc]

So it is confirmed... Trung rarely works!

 

[RedPill]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

Never realized horseshoe crab eggs were poisonous. Then again, I never tried to eat one. Not commonly on the menu here.

That fish noodle dish looks great!

 

[Tracker]

Viethorse, you have a beautiful country.

 

[Viethorse]

Thank you guys for your comments.
It's great that you like the thread - which I was unsure before posting those.

Having lived in Thailand for 3 years so I know that the eggs carry the poison so I would say one is female and the other is male.

This continues your horse references also as in English these are called horseshoe crabs.

Oh dear... How in the world... As I said this trip was "accidentally" combined with all four riders who born in the year of Horse. And now the Horse-shoe-crab!! So funny...
Thank Silver Bullet for the clarification. And the tip here is knowing which one is female. And may be knowing when it has eggs inside.

So it is confirmed... Trung rarely works!

Hahah... Camilo, you have very good catch. That why I really like the way Chevron works.

 

[Viethorse]

Further left from that signboard, we went to an estuary.

The river is in front of us. The Vietnam East Sea is on out left.

Can you imagine that there was land until about 200m further on the water now?! Yeah, it was land, was fishing village with people living there.
But due to the waves from sea, the land keep to be collapsed. Then the village soon disappeared. People lost the houses. They have to move further inland to live.

Stopped here for some drinks:

Oldest horse - was coming back from CA. Yeah, he 's living there.

We were super surprised that came so many kids around the bikes just some minutes after we stopped the bike:

Well, this may be their first time seeing such big bikes. At their age, I had no chance.

See how the boys excited and curious:

This big boy was excited with his sugar cane juice. I don't think he can have this in the US:

 

[Tracker]

kids, big and little, are the same the world over. great pics

 

[The Bruce]

Fantastic pics. Thanks

 

[M38A1]

Looks like a great trip!

.

 

[Iceman Jack]

Some things I thought I'd never see in my lifetime. Great pics and glad to see your country has recovered. Sort of makes me want to go back?

 

[Viethorse]

Some things I thought I'd never see in my lifetime. Great pics and glad to see your country has recovered. Sort of makes me want to go back?

That means you have been here sometimes? Why not, come back here and see how different it is.

 

[Viethorse]

We then went to visit a nearby fish port, where is the work-base of all the local fishers.
Here is a typical bridge of this area, small, but high.

There are lots of small small rivers around this area. So they have to build small bridge like that to fit with their budget and also daily needs. They also use small boats for their daily traveling and living, so that why the bridge need to be raised quite high to let the boats can go underneath.

The fish port entrance:

Inside the small local port:

Most of the boats are still out at sea:

That small boat is used for fishing around 150Nm away from land.

They are drying Squid:

Smell here is awesome.. LOL...

Close up:

Which is more Hp??

Now, not only kids:

 

[RedPill]

I realize a lot of Vietnam is flat, but do you get a chance to ride in the more mountainous areas of your country?

 

[focus frenzy]

Some things I thought I'd never see in my lifetime. Great pics and glad to see your country has recovered. Sort of makes me want to go back?

around 43 years ago?

 

[Viethorse]

I realize a lot of Vietnam is flat, but do you get a chance to ride in the more mountainous areas of your country?

Actually highland/mountains accounting 3/4 of total Vietnam land.
I myself prefer to ride on mountain roads more than city or country roads like this.
I joined this trip because of my oversea friend came back and ask for. Otherwise, I normally avoid riding this area, crowded, not good roads, no chance for cornering, many po-po as well.

 

[Viethorse]

Then we were invited to have lunch with buddy's relative there.

Kidding me!? Gotta cross this bridge!??

Nah... that's not a good idea:

But the dishes were tempting...

Done the dinner, we head backward for around 30km to the town.
Dark came very fast as there is no lights on the road, no vehicle on the road as well.

There came to the local ferry lucky us - it was still working whilst we came - it's smallest ferry I've ever seen. Look like it's family owned ferry.
We all got on the ferry deck and made so much surprise to the ferry owner. They asked us lots of question and make the ferry went really slow.
Finally, we got to the other side of the river. Here you can see the ferry:

The GS was too big so take a little more time to make a return:

It was really nice experience.

We reached Bac Lieu town by around 19hrs. Just nice. Checked in the hotel then we went for some more beers, and chit chat until mid-night.

 

[M38A1]

On trips like these, do you see with any frequency artifacts of the Vietnam War? Like buildings which have not been demolished, reports of unexploded ordnance? Contaminated areas or old military installations, specifically air bases?

My Father-In-Law was asking me about Vietnam a while back and had an interest to go back for a visit under different circumstances this time.

 

[achesley]

Thanks for posting and looking forward to the rest of the story and pictures.

 

[cdc]

Great pictures, the dish above (squid ceviche?) looks good, but I would be very afraid to cross the bridge...

 

[rob-houston]

Another great thread, Viethorse! I knew when I saw your name I wouldn't have to say "Didn't happen without pictures".

Great looking VFR!

Nice mix of bikes and food. I like Pho.

 

[Viethorse]

On trips like these, do you see with any frequency artifacts of the Vietnam War? Like buildings which have not been demolished, reports of unexploded ordnance? Contaminated areas or old military installations, specifically air bases?

My Father-In-Law was asking me about Vietnam a while back and had an interest to go back for a visit under different circumstances this time.

Thanks for asking, Scott.
There are still a lot of things which are showing that the war has just passed by.
Here and there still having some explosions coz of remaining ordnance, people are kept being hurt, or died.
There are lands where people are not allowed to live due to contaminated or bombs underneath.
Orange Agent keeps killing people. Thousands of people who are crazy, defects, memory loss, birth defects, disabilities due to that **** Orange Agent. Can you imagine there are some villages where all of them lost their lives day by day unstopable due to cancer, and the root cause is Orange Agent!?
I lost two of my Uncles during the latest war ('60s-'70s) and has not found their tombs until now.
I have quite numbers of photos showing those kind of memory, but I think it's not a good idea to keep showing that to the world.
We will never forget, will keep our next generation to be aware and remember, and to the world, we will put those memory aside and move forward.
Welcome and welcome back everyone. You can see how beautiful our Country is, how we survive and live our lives, how friendly we are.

Thanks for posting and looking forward to the rest of the story and pictures.

It's coming, and as the title, it's just a Short ride.

Great pictures, the dish above (squid ceviche?) looks good, but I would be very afraid to cross the bridge...

And I don't think the bridge SWL can cope your K1600 or FJR.
(What is squid ceviche? I don't understand)

Another great thread, Viethorse! I knew when I saw your name I wouldn't have to say "Didn't happen without pictures".

Great looking VFR!

Nice mix of bikes and food. I like Pho.

Hahaha.. thank you for your comment.
I just afraid that forum Administrators may be don't like much as my pix make the forum slow down.
About the VFR, it was Candy Red originally. It has been repainted by Vietnamese painter to become RWB - limited, 25th anniversary version.
Btw, sorry for having no photo of Phở in this thread.

 

[Viethorse]

Sunday morning, after a morning coffee session, we wrapped up and headed home.
We soon got to visit the castle of one of the most famous rich young man during 19th century.
A bit brief about those people, they were the richest people of the area that time, extravagant, generous... Lots of anecdotal about them which being kept telling until now.
For example, they bought the most expensive cars, buy jetplane to go gambling, paying money to become the King for a week, burnt money (cash) to cook meals, renting several cars just to carry his bag, his glasses, his hat, his pet, etc... for his trip to visit the City.... etc...

Well, and how his castle looks like now:

This was built in 1919. Designed by a French architect and constructed with many imported materials:

Now the castle has been restored to be come a 10 room hotel, however, people say that it still as the original construction.

It's built in 1919 and still much bigger than what I dream for my house now!!

We did a quick stop on Can Tho Bridge:

Another stop for drink:

I then bought these bringing home as gift of this beautiful western.

It's short trip, but fun and really meaningful.