Motorcycle Diaries, Vina-style

HELLO from life on the Easy Rider road!!! Today is the end of day 2 of my 5-day tour through the Vietnamese countryside. So far, the trip has been incredible. It is such a difference to go up the country on the back of a bike, rather than on a bus filled with other backpackers. Our drivers names are Dinh and Hung, Dinh is 26, and Hung is 30. They're great guys, very funny, and they take care of Zack and me to the fullest. Yesterday we set off from Dalat (with all of our bags) and headed to a coffee farm, then hiked to a waterfall, then we drove on and visited a silk factory to see how silk is made from silkworms (very amazing process), then we carried on to Lak Lake where we had a delicious Vietnamese dinner and lots of rice alcohol to wash it all down. (Cheers in Vietnamese is "YO" - I like it.) Zack and I talked to Dinh and Hung about life as a Vietnamese citizen. Yesterday was the national "elections" (in quotes because there's only 1 party). Both Dinh and Hung are not in favor of their country's government. Dinh's father and grandfather fought with the South & the USA during the War, and therefore has lots of prejudice against the North/current government/Ho Chi Minh. It was interesting to hear their views on Americans (they love them), and what it's like to live in this country.

Today we rode an elephant across Lak Lake (my 2nd elephant riding experience, and honestly, not as fun as the first. The elephants looked pretty ragged and they didn't seem to be as treated as when Aly and I rode ours in Chiang Mai. They didn't even let us feed the elephants bananas this time!!! Outrageous!) After the elephants, we visited a brick factory to see how bricks are made. The Central Highlands of Vietnam has abundant clay in its topsoil, so bricks are a large commodity. Basically, they push clay through a press (kinda like when you push play-doh through that toy to make it into "food", then they cut it into rectangular form, let it dry, then cook it in an oven until it gets the reddish color. Interesting process. Then we arrived at our current location, Buon Ma Thuon, where we dropped off our bags and grabbed lunch - Vietnamese Spring Rolls. Authentic with a capital A. (We roll them ourselves with rice paper...yummmmmmy) After lunch we drove to see some waterfalls, which were pretty spectacular. HUGE, stretching wide across the cliffs. Today's highlight was swimming in a river at the bottom of a waterfall as the rain was pouring down. It was pretty special - it definitely felt like I was in Vietnam.

The best part of motorbiking up the country is the scenery. Everywhere you look, you can see mountains, farms, small towns - it's all breathtaking. The sky in Vietnam is stunning. The clouds are unlike anything I've seen before...it looks computer generated. I feel lucky to be here and to see this country. We have another 3 days - tomorrow should be a tough one as we have 230 km to cover in 1 day. Our fourth day takes us along the Ho Chi Minh Trail which should have some amazing views. I'll give you guys another update when I can.

Lots of love always!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS - Vina means VIetNAm, in case you were wondering. :-)