Celebrations in Hue

Today was a day to relax. With the bikes still in the shop we were taking it off. Our hostel (Amazing Home stay. 4$ a night including breakfast)  was celebrating its 1 year anniversary. Johnny and his family made a massive feast and we all ate and drank all afternoon. We picked up the bikes later that night, all repaired up. Got two new mirrors, quick start fixed, they fixed my front break, a new horn, and I got the front calibrated up. In total it costed me 480,000 dong (about 25$). Tomorrow we leave to tp. Dong Hoi. After Dong Hoi we plan on getting back on the Ho Chi Minh trail and riding North to hanoi.

The Hai Van pass.

We got to experience a pretty special ride from Da Nang to Hue today. The Hai Van pass. A beautiful ride through the mountains on some of the steepest roads yet. We road it for a good hour, which in my opinion wasn't enough. I could have spent the full day there climbing this beautiful pass. Not heavy traffic, but enough to be on alert. Many tight turns. We saw a man and women crash while taking a turn to fast, so youv gotta take this pass slowly. Once out, we had our normal daily problems. Lucas got a flat tire. After 4 hours of driving through some short rain we arrived in Hue. When we got there we found a cheap hostel, and while planning on going to a mechanic that some friends referred us to that we met in Nha Trang, our hostel owner Johnny knew a better guy. We followed  him to his mechanic and he is fixing our bikes up for the night. We got back to our hostel looking for a place to eat and ran into some friends from Hoi An. Hue is nice. Very beautiful city. We're taking the day to relax tomorrow and then we're continuing North. HANOI HERE WE COME.

Hoi An to Da Nang

The drive from Hoi An to Da Nang was short, less than an hour drive. We found an amazing Buddhist minestary on the way. There were 5 mountains. Earth, metal, Fire, wood, and water mountain. We climbed water, and the experience was like no other yet. There were so any stairs my legs were getting wobbly. We spent a couple hours taking it all in and made our way to Da Nang. While looking for a place to sleep we run into a friend from Winnipeg, Phil. We spent the night telling stories, eating good food and drinking beer. Before the night was finished we went and saw the amazing dragon bridge (which spits fire on Saturday and Sunday.... Just missed it).

Hoi an. Day 13

I like it here. Hoi An is full of shops and wonderful restaurants. It's full of tourists also, but after not seeing any tourist areas for the last week it's nice. The one thing to do in Hoi An is get clothes made. It's incredibly cheap. Lucas has really taken advantage of that. Two pairs of shoes, a blazer, three shirts, a suit, and a pair of pants. All tailored and not cheap fabric. I got a dress shirt, and I ordered some pants.

The mountains. The harsh, beautiful mountains.

The day started off as beautiful and sunny, but we could see heavy clouds hugging the mountains we needed to pass through. Not much of a choice but to suite up and drive straight for it. We left by 9:00am. It wasn't long until we were in the heart of the mountain clouds, not being able to see 5 feet in front of us, and rain. Lots of non stop rain. It was a tough ride. Usually the day starts off as easy and gets tougher near the end, but today got tough within the first hour. What we saw up there was beautiful, but we didn't have much time to stop and take it all in. The rain wasn't stopping and we knew we needed to make it to Hoi An. At about half way through the ride, while coming around a hard corner a truck came flying  through at high speed, and in our lane. Lucas had a close call, but I was right behind him. With the high speed of the truck and the rainy roads I hit the breaks. My back wheel skid towards the truck, and I had to force myself into the ditch. A couple scratches on the arms and knee, but nothing serious. We continued on and made it to Hoi An by 3:30pm.

Pleiku to The Ho Chi Minh trail.

Wake up, eat, and see some of Pleiku before we leave on the road to Kon Tom. The road to Kon Tom was horrible. Worst road we've been on yet. Construction with heavy traffic. We arrived in Kon Tom and bought a lot of fruit, extra water, and extra gas not knowing if there would be anyone on the Ho Chi in trail. We made sure we were ready for whatever hit us since each day seems to being it's own problems. As we get closer to the trail we decide to stop im a small town for some Pho, and realize that Lucas 's key has fallen out, again. We tried looking for it for a short period of time, but it could have been anywhere in the last 50 kilometers. Needle in a hay stack. We decide to go to a mechanic instead. Easily he rigs us up a new one and we're back on the road. Once we reached the Ho Chi Minh trail we picked up speed. Competed over 260Km today. Tomorrow we head to Hoi An.

The road to Pleiku.

We arrived in Pleiku. 7 hour drive with it not going as planned, as always. Got another flat tire, which wasn't too much of a surprise. The roads were full of potholes. Luckily in Vietnam everyone in the country that we've come across have been incredibly nice, giving us smiles and helping in any way they can. After I got the tire fixed we continued into the mountains. The air was bitter and cold, much colder than we expected. About 15km from Pleiku we got pulled over in a town called Dak Doa. We played it off dumb, as though we couldn't understand his English, which was remarkable good, and he let us go. Taking the Ho Chi Minh trail tomorrow, through Kom Tom.