A bloody orchestra of crowing cocks from 6am woke me, so my favourite pre and post alarm sleep was disrupted. Although, the positive of this premature réveille is the best morning view so far and breakfast on the balcony extended the spectacle. The low lying mist gradually lifts while we eat and the topics of conversion this morning include the 'artistic quality' of Queen album covers and circumcision. Lovely.
The morning's riding included a narrow technical section through fields, leading to a path through thick foliage. Just before we turn right to head uphill, we see a family in the fields threshing rice. The rice is shaken from the bushels by a machine and bagged, while the stalks are neatly piled ready to be used as fuel. The whole extended family have roles and even the kids lend a hand.
We climb the side of a hill, another tight, steep, rocky and muddy trail, very challenging for all of us. Several sharp, near 180 degree, turns require deft throttle and clutch application combined with balance or you end up doing the equivalent of a three point turn. Watch out for the dried up muddy ruts, or you'll come a cropper if you're not careful. At one point Ray decided his bike was 'tired', so allowed it to lie down 'to rest', either that or he was leant over Marquez style! That caused it to trap a cable, resulting in some rather erratic - more than usual - behaviour from his throttle, not what you need on the side of a hill. Mr To was on hand to sort a quick fix with a handy rock. Unlucky Gerard ended up stuck towards the back, and with Ta frequently stopping for pictures, stories were relayed about the sound of incessant cursing that resulted. The climb was physically hard work and most are sweating profusely. Great fun though.
You'd think that villagers would object to a group of hairy, dirty bikers riding en mass through their villages. But no, they genuinely seem to appreciate our presence, waving, even without prompting by our own waving, and smiling in return when we initiate the universal sign language exchange. Kids run out from inside their houses, jumping up and down in excitement at the sound of our engines. The Honda 250 exhaust note is quite muted, but it sounds more purposeful than the average step-through.
Off-road riding sees your mind constantly processing multiple inputs from your senses: eyes seeking out the best line over rocks, through mud and gravel; ears listening to the engine note rising and falling; the feel, of the bars and the seat moving under you; and if you're not riding with mechanical sympathy, even smell, as you burn out your clutch! Fortunately we are not in that category. So that leaves only taste unused, but that gets a good workout in the evenings when we enjoy the excellent Vietnamese cuisine!
Before lunch we stop for coffee and there are a number of karaoke rooms at the back of the cafe. Ray picks up a microphone... but no, he's just teasing us. Is that as close as we can get him to a karaoke session? We'll keep trying.
Lunch, then refuel, and we resume on a tarmac road. We stop just before starting the last off-road section of the day and it's time for a quick 'pit-stop'. Half way through, two young girls on a bicycle appear on what was a deserted road and head our way. On seeing us, they decide to change course and head the opposite way, much to my relief, in both senses of the word.
We then ride 7km off-road, blasting across dusty roads with dips and rocks ready to catch you. Graham and Gerard take the lead behind Ta, with me in hot pursuit. We stop with whoops of delight and Martin is so in the groove, he blasts past us and stops 50m further up the trail. Then it's a road ride to the homestay for the night. A hammock awaits me and I unwind while compiling my notes for the day.
Is that the sound of an animal being tortured filling the air? It's coming from the house opposite; but no, it's someone exercising their vocal chords on a karaoke machine! Fortunately they pack up after a few truly awful Vietnamese songs are massacred.
At dinner, the homestay host brings us some happy water. He seems to be the most enthusiastically 'happy', proposing multiple toasts in the local dialect Vietnamese, while the fish in his pond get to enjoy their fair share of happiness too. A couple from Cape Town, here in Vietnam to teach English, join us at dinner; one wonders what they made of our eclectic bunch. They've been here for a few months and said they saw all kinds of animals butchered on the roadside, including dogs. It's not something we saw, although a few butchers did have pictures of cows, pigs, chickens and dogs.
200km to Hanoi tomorrow - the last day. We plan to wake for an early breakfast so that we can avoid the Hanoi rush hour at around 4pm. Happy riding.
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