Da Lat to Hoi An by motor bike

I decided to take a 5 day trip from Da Lat to Hoi An (on the coast about half way up Viet Nam) on the back of a motorbike. My driver, Mui, also acted as a guide. This was a fantastic experience as I got to see the Viet Nam that sometimes gets missed by travellers. We met all sorts of people, including many from the hill tribes who still live a traditional life. I did not see another westerner for the whole trip.

Here are some photos from those 5 days, in no particular order.

The Mynong people still live a traditional lifestyle. Houses are built off the ground so animals can sleep below:

Mynong house under construction. Traditional methods and design are still used, even if the materials are modern (concrete and sheet iron are common):

The Mynong use long boats to travers the lake and get to fishing spots. This one had seen better days:

Rice drying on the road:

Farmer's house:

Road works:

Main street of a rural town:

My guide, Mui, with a rice wine distiller:

Me with traditional basket and blade. There are many hundreds of different hill tribes, but they all use the same basic tool. Their skill was used by the North during the war - it was this simple blade that was used to cut much of the Ho Chi Minh trail:

Elephant falls (named because the rocks look like elephant skin)

Labour intensive silk factory:

Da Lat

Da Lat is in the central highlands of Viet Nam - north of Saigon and in the middle (but a bit closer to Laos). It is pretty much the swiss alps of Viet Nam. Many of the buildings are French (from when they were here), and it was complelty avoided by both sides in the war. It was pretty cold up in the hills, and I was forced to wear jeans and a hoodie for the first time in 3 weeks. I took a one day motorbike tour of Dalat and the surrounds:

Some waterfall:


Choice pagoda where monks still live:

Incects in Viet Nam are enormous. Don't get one of these in your pants:

Hard yakka. Show your gran next time she complains about having to work...

'Crazy house'. When the North took over, the new community party leader's daughter fell in love with an American. This was not a good look for the party, and so she was sent away to Russia to study. Pans out being away from her love drove her a bit mad. When she got back to Viet Nam, she moved to Da Lat and built a wacko guest house called 'Crazy House'. The place is a maze of walkways and corridors, and each room has a different theme (the eagle room, bear room, crocodile room etc):

Da Lat is the vegetable basket of Viet Nam. Traditionally food is sent south to the Saigon to be traded for rice (from the mekong). Much of the land has been given out in small blocks by the government to families from the north, hence the patchwork effect:

The Vietnamese believe that they decend from the phoenix and the dragon. The tortise and the unicorn are also important, but I did not get good photos of them...

Mekong Delta

From Saigon I did a one day tour of the Mekong Delta. The delta is in south Viet Nam and produces most of the country's rice. Trip was a tad boring, and it pissed with rain. Class. Did meet some nice French people though, and bought some coconut candy (a speciality of Ben Tre, one of the provinces in the Mekong).

Passed out french person:

Awesome Japanese garden:

Canals near Ben Tre. The palm fronds cover the canal completely:

Honey tea on Tortise island. Chin chin.

Our boat...

One hour north west from Saigon are the Cu Chi tunnels. These are a vaste tunnel system (some 200km of tunnels were built) in Cu Chi province. First developed by the locals in the war with the French, they were re-vamped for the American war. The Ch Chi tunnels were the southern most point of the Ho Chi Minh trail (the trail used by the north to move men and supplies, it wove through mountains, jungle, Laos, and otherwise impassible terratory). Cu Chi was also used as the jump off point for the North's major I(and final) offensive against the South.

The tunnels have three levels, going as deep at 10m. There are whole rooms underground, including cooking and medical facilities. Underground wells supply the residents and tapioca was the major source of food.

The tunnels themselves are really small. I had a hell of a time wedging myself into this one. The Vietcong (VC, North Viet Nam) were great at disguising the entrances. I was not:


This American tank was stopped by the credit crunch. And mines.

The tunnels needed breathing holes, and were usually disguised as termite mounds. The gap (bottom right) is the air hole. These would be invisible if a path had not been swept around it:

The VC man traps were deadly and ingenious. It also meant that VC long drops were the most dangerous in the land.

I managed to catch these two unawares

People in Viet Nam love two things. Motorbikes:



And suspicious wiring jobs:

Viet Nam

Reunification Palace (orginally called something else) was built in 1966 to work as South Viet Nam's Presidential Palace. It has rooms for the President and his or her family, meeting rooms and a cabinet room for the government. On 30 April 1975, North Viet Nam tanks (pictured below) crashed through the gates and Saigon surrendered. The building was renamed 'Reunification Palace', to represent the reunification of Viet Nam. Nothing has been changed since 1975, although the building is still used by the government for official meetings on occasion.


Me and 'Uncle Ho':

Replica of the President's escape helicoper. On the fateful day, someone else buggered off with it, and it has never been recovered. The red circles in the foreground are when North Viet Nam bombs landed during the assault.

Replicas of the actual tanks that burst through the gates. The real ones are usually housed in an Hanoi museum, but often go on tours of the counrty.

The management team at Cambodia Water Inc water were pleased with their branding efforts. 'Steve' water was now only second to 'Nigel' in the market.

Great for a growing family. Features river side views and excelent ventilation. A handyman's dream.

I took a quick boat trip on Cambodia's main lake, Tonle Sap. My guides were pretty lax, making me do all the work until the police boat went by...


It's free to live on the water, but conditions are rough...

There is even a school on the water:

I'm going to pull this one out when my kids complain about having to walk to school:

Back to school! I bought the kids some supplies from the local shop. They let me sit in for a bit to learn english as a reward.