Wednesday 16 June 2010

The Top Gear Challenge

From Laos we headed to Vietnam and after a brief stopover in Hanoi we found ourselves in Hue (pronounced "h'way"). The two most pronounced changes from previous countries were the manic traffic and the incredible heat of Vietnam, both factors leading us to take the safer option of 'cyclos' around Hue. We explored the incredible Royal Palaces within the citdel of the old city, and then bought Mark another pair of 'genuine' $2 Ray-Bans to replace his previous pair which had broken.


Having promised ourselves (and our parents!) that we definitely wouldn't ride motorbikes in Vietnam, we were presented with an opportunity to ride the 7 hour route from Hue to Hoi An (do all cities in Vietnam start with an 'H'?) taken by the Top Gear team on that memorable episode. We promptly arranged for our bags to be sent separately and got ready for our road trip.


We woke early for a quick breakfast and were on the road by 8 o'clock. By 8.05 we'd noticed that the fuel guage was below empty and made a quick stop to refuel. By 8.10 we'd noticed that the speedometer and odometer weren't working so we had no way of knowing our speed or distance, but by 8.15 the full scale of our situation hit home - another bike cut us up so Mark hit the horn only to hear what sounded like a pathetic sqawking chicken! The horn is without doubt the most important part of any Vietnamese vehicle, and without one we were in trouble!!


Once we had made it off the narrow track leading through tiny villages and onto the main highway the scenery was spectacular, and the mountain pass before getting to Da Nang was a major highlight of the journey (see photos below)

And after 7 hours of silently dodging any form of oncoming traffic imaginable, our sore bums were relieved to arrive into Hoi An and we let off one final chicken squawk 'beep' to celebrate.


The mission now is to enjoy our first beach in a few weeks, have some clothes custom-made, and of course start enjoying the long-awaited World Cup.

2 comments:

  1. Hi
    At least you didn't have to take a painting, galleon ship or statue on the back of your bike! Looks fantastic scenery, only 4 weeks till I'm in Hong Kong - counting down now.
    Mum x

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  2. Haha. True. But the things you seen the locals carrying on their bikes are unbelievable - crates of chickens, garden furniture, long lengths of drain pipes. And it's pretty common to see a family of 5 on one bike - parents with helmets and kids without!

    Thanks for commenting - for a while we were thinking nobody was reading our random ramblings!!

    See you soon

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