Motorcycle Diaries

After a quick one day visit in Natrang, where we cycled out to mud baths in the pouring rain! We headed for Dalat. I beautiful town at the top of the central highlands...up in the mountains it's so cold people were wearing toques? Yes, in Vietnam, in the middle of the summer. We were glad we finally didn't have sweat pouring out of our skin, and all of the locals were bundled up.

In Dalat we arranged a 3-day motorcycle 'tour' with 2 Easy Riders. Mom, I hope I didn't freak you out too much when I told you this!?!?

It turned out to be a fantastic (although a little wet) trip. We sped through the central highlands on the back of motorcycles seeing some BEAUTIFUL scenery!! We saw minority tribes, silk worms, waterfalls, the HO Chi Mihn Trail, and a diversity of the agirculture crops they grow here (rubber trees, coffee!!, pineapples, tapioca, pepper, rice-dry&wet, etc.). As we made our way from Dalat to Saigon, we would pull off to the side of the road every 1/2-1hour and our guides would tell us about the spot. It was a great way to see another side of Vietnam, which was way different from the North (yay!). There are so many stories to tell, which will have to wait until I get back with pictures...& videos! But I can now leave Vietnam with a good impression, and a couple good Easy Rider friends left behind.

Random story - we had stopped along the road yesterday for a rest. They have these fantastic road side 'cafes' where you can have some drinks/food & lay in hammocks! We were hanging out for a while when another two guys with their 'Easy Rider' guides pull in. We started chatting, and asked where each was from, and guess...one of the guys was from Penticton!! And knows Mike Harris (they studied together at OUC Penticton, his name's Aaron), craazzzy eh. AND, the other guy is from Calgary, but is half-cousins with the Bells (Sheena). AND, today at the Cu Chi tunnels (which, although already widdened for tourists, were incredibly narrow), we were waiting outside and a guys comes up to me and says, "you're from B.C." yes, "you're from Summerland" yes, "your brother's Jeremy Kwok!" WHAT!?!? And then he just walked away without telling me his name. I recognized his face from high school. But this world is WAY too small!

Now we're in Saigon, but hoping to head to Cambodia tomorrow to meet up with Natascha's friend who's been waiting for us for a couple days, oops!! The motorbikes could not be missed though!

xoxoxo.