This summer Asia Tour Specialist, Lindsay, helped her friends and neighbors Stephen Schuit and Marsha Greenberg find and plan a bike tour in Vietnam. Schuit and Greenberg are American expats living and teaching English in South Korea. They chose to do the guided Dragon’s Tail Tour starting in Dalat and going north to Hoi-An. Both Schuit and Greenberg have traveled extensively in Asia, but this was their first tour by bike. Both wrote about their experience. Here is a he said/she said travel log of their tour.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="440"]
Scenes from Vietnam. Photo credit: Steve Schuit[/caption]
Day 5-Departing: PleiKan Destination: Kham Duc
Steve
We were driven about 40 miles or so out of PleiKan on the Ho Chi Minh highway. This took us up and over
steep and nearly unbikeable terrain in Vietnam’s mountainous jungle region in the middle of the country. Once on the eastern side, we were able to bike on some of the best built and less frequented roads on the trip. The few villages and remote homesteads we passed were populated by Vietnam’s minority tribal people—dark skinned and speaking distinct dialects. A young boy we passed yelled “awesome” and gave us a “thumbs up.” Wow, I thought, how cool. Seconds later, two teenage girls coming in the opposite direction on a motor scooter yelled a much less friendly English phrase involving a certain four-letter word, but laughing as they passed. We biked part of the day along rapidly flowing red-colored muddy rivers adorned with bridges. An old man walked effortlessly across a rickety wooden foot bridge that had huge gaps in its planking. The bridge looked as if it was built a hundred years ago. The man said it was actually just five-years old. Moments and images from our last full-day on the road. Tomorrow afternoon we arrive in Hoi-An, our final destination. A pool and the honeymoon suite (to celebrate our 30th anniversary) await our sore rear-ends.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="475"]
Lunch stop.[/caption]
Marsha
I awoke ready for a big day of biking on the Ho Chi Minh trail, well more like a major road. I imagine that 45 years ago this road was unpaved and dangerous. Today all the people we passed in every small village greeted us. Children came running out yelling hello and many gave us a thumbs up and shouted “awesome”. My confidence on the bike and my ability have improved so much in just the passed 4 days. I was riding along like an experienced biker dreaming of where we would bike next.
We biked all day and my body was feeling great as was my spirit. There is no other way to see a country so up close an personal then on a bike. Life is good. Maybe I was dreaming about the 5 star hotel we booked in Hoi An or maybe just the amazing feeling of biking on this open road with very few cars. Whatever it was I loved the moment we were in. We finished our day exhausted and had a wonderful celebratory dinner with Vinh and Minh and reminisced about our time together as if it was weeks not days. I am looking forward to a true anniversary celebration in Hoi An.
----
See tips for traveling in Asia >
Leave a Comment
