In Hoi An, I had done the bike tour and city tour with a six month old company owned by a young entrepreneur (Rachel's age) named Thinh. He is very proud that he has the best bicycles in Hoi An: fifteen Specialized mountain bikes with gears. He is working hard on building his little empire. I also wanted to go to My Son, the site of Champa ruins from the 4th to 15th century. It is about fifty kilometers so Thinh has a one way ride there with transport back, but he suggested that I do a motorbike tour there. I tried to sign up, but the motorbike company had no trip to My Son on the only day I could go, so Thinh said he would take me. His price was very reasonable but he misunderstood that I wanted to drive myself, not sit on the back of his bike. For my own bike, he had to charge another $7.
When I went to his shop in the morning, Thinh took me on his motorbike (with both of us wearing bicycle helmets) to a local shop where we picked up my motorbike and I insisted on a real helmet. It turns out that the fine for not wearing a helmet is $10, so if you can buy one for $5, you are way ahead. Who cares about your head? Anyway, I got on and we drove off. No paperwork, no nothing. For my weeklong tour with a real company, I signed a long release form, and the lawyer in me wondered if it was worth the paper it was printed on. Are they liable for their own negligence? Would I be able to sue someone without a release. I know a little about American tort law, but I have no idea how this would work in Vietnam. I have been told that there are a lot of traffic accidents in Vietnam but everyone gets up and drives away before the police come because the police are scarier than the consequences of an accident.
Anyway, back to the ride to My Son. Like the bike ride the day before, we drove on back roads and alleys. It turns out that there is a network of these roads that are about the width of the bike path behind my house. They go through the fields and villages, along rivers and canals, and they seem to be just for bikes, although there is an occasional car or truck since this is Vietnam and no traffic rules are absolute. I don't think I realized before I came here how big Vietnam is and that there are rice paddies everywhere, from the Mekong Delta to Hanoi. I also didn't realize how beautiful the rice paddies are. They are bright green dotted with white ibisis. The fields we passed yesterday had been planted only a couple of weeks ago. The farmers were pulling some plants and transplanting them so the spacing would be proper. One farmer wanted me to take a picture of him. Notice the muddy legs. That is how deep the paddies are.
My Son was underwhelming, in large part because US bombs destroyed most of the temple. Also, riding for hours in the cold and damp was not nearly as much fun or as scenic as my ride last week. I had signed up to drive from Hoi An to Hue today because it is supposed to be a beautiful drive, but I was starting to think that I should grow up, act my age, and hire a car.
I woke up this morning at 6, looked outside and saw that it was gray and rainy. I was pretty sure I would blow off the drive, but I had packed the night before, so I took all of my stuff and went to the motorbike office just in case ... The rain let up and I thought, maybe. They took us to their garage where, unlike Thinh the day before, they have proper rain weather gear. Then I found out the bikes are semi-automatic (which does sound like a dangerous weapon). Gears. I have to shift. I was about to give up again, but it turns out semi-automatic means clutchless. You have to shift, but it is very forgiving and you can't stall. Once you get to fourth gear, you can leave it there and ride like it is automatic.
So there I am, once again driving myself, and you know what? It wasn't so bad. It drizzled a few times, but it was not cold and the rain gear helped.
The road goes along the beach that the GI's called China Beach, through Danang, and up the coast to Hue. The high point of the drive, literally and figuratively, is the Hai Van Pass. You have to cross the mountains as you drive the north-south route and this used to be the most dangerous stretch of road in Vietnam. Now there is a tunnel so the road is a perfect Sunday drive, except for dealing with the fuel and livestock trucks that are not allowed in the tunnel. The views are beautiful. Then we continued on those narrow bike lanes along the beaches and lagoons. Sometimes you see some pretty incongruous things. These are burial sites.
Our guide kept up a fast pace so that we could get to Hue in a reasonable amount of time. It was faster than I wanted to be driving, so I had to concentrate more on driving and had less time to sightsee. Ya think it is time to grow up, act my age, and take a car? Well, maybe if it is raining. Meanwhile, I signed up for a private tour of Hue tomorrow ... on the back of a motorbike.
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