Viet Road Trip Day 7.1: Plieku to Kham Duc.
This is the second part of a 2 part post. The first part of this post can be found here.
As is true with almost every country that I've visited, there are certain things in Vietnam that are peculiar to Vietnam. As I made my way through Vietnam, I tried to keep track of some of the little things that stand out as "weird" from my western perspective.
One of the first things that I noticed was this:
Kids holding hands on bicycles.
Kids holding hands on bicycles is something that I've only seen in Vietnam, and I never got a clear answer for why they do this. I asked a friend about this and she said that the kids are helping each other get up a hill. I don't know if this is true, or if it makes any sense in an effort vs. distance calculation.
Even if holding hands on bicycles turns out to be less effective than riding by yourself, I think it's adorable. Maybe I'm too much of a sap, but the kids holding hands on bikes indicates to me how important teamwork is in Vietnam. It's all about "us" getting home together, as opposed to "me" getting home first. I love it.
Another thing that I saw a lot, but don't have photos of, is 2 kids riding the same bike, with both of them using the pedals to propel the bike. It's hard to describe, but basically two kids ride the bike, one in front of the other. They fit the right foot from both kids on the right pedal, and both kid's left feet on the left pedal. They both pedal the bike and the person in front steers. Like a tandem bicycle with only 1 crank and 1 set of pedals. It looked "weird" to me, but I wished that I had known about the concept when I was a kid. Giving friends a ride on the handle bars sucked.
Next up is....
Awesome shampoo names.
First off, this isn't a Vietnamese thing. I've seen tons of wonderfully inappropriately named products all over the world, like Germany's "Super Dick Mans" desert food. I have no doubt that there are many American products that are misnamed in different languages. In South East Asia, shampoos seem to get the most weird English names.
"The Man" shampoo was the shampoo that I found on day 7. "Rejoice" was spotted in Laos.
Another thing I love about Vietnam is....
Weird edible plants
OK, this is definitely not specific to Vietnam, and I've seen this green thing in other countries. Almost every place will have something new to offer, but South East Asia and Vietnam in particular had the most plants that I've never even knew existed.
Often, when riding through the country, you'll see people pull over and hop into the jungle to grab a few plants for dinner. It's pretty cool to think that there are people in Vietnam who go for a walk in the jungle when planning a meal, instead of browsing the grocery store.
One thing I dislike about Vietnam is...
DancingDriving like no one is watching
See this truck in the picture? See the downhill, blind curve right behind it? Yeah, thoughts like "I could be killed by a bus if I U-turn here" don't seem to be very common.
I haven't read the law books in Vietnam, but I think there must be a law that forces people to U-turn as soon as the idea pops into their heads. People with 3 babies hanging off their scooter will just pull into the highway without even looking to see if a bus or truck is coming. The one time that I almost crashed my bike was when someone pulled a U-turn right in front of me without looking.
If you drive in Vietnam, expect some strange behavior on the roads. Be very defensive with your driving.
Back to the trip!
My ride into the emerald green on day 7 was a thoroughly enjoyable day. I climbed a pretty big mountain and finally started getting into the lush, vibrant Vietnam that I had seen in so many movies.
On day 7, I spent the night in Kham Duc. It was the smallest town/village in Vietnam that I stayed in so far. After I found a hotel room, I went and got my oil changed. On average, I think oil changes in Vietnam cost me about $3-$5.
Getting my oil changed. My poor abused bike is on the left.
After that I parked my bike and went walking in search of food and beer. I found a small place with a seat out front and I ordered a beer.
Sidewalk restaurant, and the sweet lady who owns it.
I found a place that had food and beer, and I took a seat. The lady who ran the restaurant was really sweet. We couldn't talk with each other, but I could tell that she was cracking jokes and being warm and friendly. I drank a few beers as the sun set. Lots of neighbors stopped by for some food. Some people stopped by just to comment on the white guy sitting out font. One person went and found their friend who spoke English and brought him out to socialize with me. Old ladies flirted and cracked jokes about me. It was all very friendly and jovial.
I don't recall what kind of food I had there. I know that the husband spent most of the evening mashing up chili peppers and I wanted whatever those chilis were going to be used on. I tried to explain that to the lady, but I ended up with some meat and noodles which were pretty good.
Here's a not very interesting look at the street, from where I spent the evening. Most towns have those loudspeaker announcements going on. Every time I heard the announcements, it made me feel like I was in the beginning of Half-Life 2.
Eventually I made it back to my hotel. In the hotel I looked and my GoPro footage and found out that my camera was tilted too far down for half of the day. So all of the super awesome, beautiful, exciting footage of my favorite part of the day is just footage of the road. I was disappointed. And it wouldn't be the last time that I would disappoint myself by not using my camera properly. All you can do is live and learn, and buckle up for the next ride.
Day 7 was a great one, and Kham Duc was a very enjoyable place. It felt like I was the only person in the whole town who spoke English, but it didn't stop me from getting a room, oil change, food, beer, and a social evening with strangers. When inexperienced travelers ask me if they should learn German before going to Germany, or Spanish, or French, I usually tell a version of this story. You don't need a shared language to survive. You don't need a shared language to have fun and meet people. Just be friendly and eventually people will be friendly back. Beer is a great tool to help you with this.