Day 31 & 32 & 33 & 34: Inclement Weather and The End of The Line

Having well and truly enjoyed my time in Nha Trang, my journey was nearing its close, and there were only 2 more towns to check off my list before reaching Saigon: the mountain retreat town called Dalat, and the once-small fishing village turned action-sports mecca known as Mui Ne. I'd read about a newish road that goes straight from Nha Trang through the beautiful mountainous countryside straight into Dalat, so I packed up and headed out, looking forward to a scenic, hairpin-filled romp through the hills.

The last bit of scenery I actually got to enjoy...

The drive turned out to be anything but a romp. My ability to avoid inclement weather throughout my trip was a stroke of luck I was thankful for, but the trip to Dalat quickly ended that lucky streak. It was rainy and freezing cold, and any hope that I had of enjoying scenic vistas or entertaining roads was quickly shot; all the vistas were covered with mega-lame clouds, and the turns and curves that would have been a blast to drive in good weather were suddenly slick and treacherous.

As I approached one such turn, I applied my breaks in anticipation, and nothing happened... whether I was skidding or the breaks were too cold and wet to accomplish what they were intended for I still don't know, but within seconds I was in the turn and off the road, with only the guardrail and about 3 feet of rocky ground separating me and my bike from a sheer drop off a cliff.... thanks to my expert driving abilities, I was able to save myself from disaster, but a wreck that far from civilization would not have turned out well for our brave hero!

Read on to see how long I stayed in Dalat, plus: my inevitable run-in with The Law.

 

The rainy coldy lameness continued all the way in to Dalat, and persisted the entire time I was there. Because of that, I left as quickly as I could, seeing no sights and getting no joy out of my trip there. While I attempted to make my escape the following day from Dalat's miserable dreariness, this happened:

Notice anything missing?  Why yes, motorcycles DO usually have chains

4 shops and 3 repairs later, I had a new chain that didn't quite fit the rear sprocket, and was just hoping my bike would make it down out of the mountains to Mui Ne. Eventually, the clouds parted and I could see light again, and I got in to Mui Ne as the sun began to set, thankful I was no longer anywhere near the crapiness of Dalat.

Visions of this were the only thing that kept me going through the mountains

Once upon a time, Mui Ne was just a quiet fishing village on the southern coast. But not long ago, backpackers discovered that the windy conditions of the coastline are excellent for surfing, windsurfing, and especially kite surfing, and relatively new craze. The area is now littered with guesthouses, resorts, restaurants, and surf schools (half of which cater almost exclusively to Russians... go figure)

While this is all very exciting, its also all very expensive, and without the budget to enjoy the activities on offer, Mui Ne is just a mediocre, somewhat expensive beach town like so many others. I still enjoyed a couple days of reading, beaching, and seeing sights, the most famous of which is Mui Ne's White Sand Dunes, a topographical oddity which attracts tourists on a daily basis.

Didn't really get any good pictures of the dunes, so here's one of me on my mini-ATV. Cute right?

Sights enjoyed, it was time to make the last 4 hour leg to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon), the End of The Line for me and Sugar. I packed up, this time thoroughly rain-proofing my set up, and headed down the highway one last time. The drive went like most others: Passing trucks on the highway, getting passed by trucks on the highway, avoiding oblivious Vietnamese drivers with their self-absorbed tunnel-vision, and trying to ignore the ever increasing pain from being on the saddle for too long. As I drove, I reflected on the trip, and how pumped I was to be making the final leg of it having not gotten in any accidents or in any trouble with the sporadic, corrupt Vietnamese law enforcement.

Then I got pulled over.

I was soooooo close too, only about 40 Km from Saigon! The cop that flagged me down spoke enough English to communicate that I was driving too fast, 47 kph in a 40 zone (pretty sure I was going faster than that...), and that I needed to pay a fine. However, the cops that were in charge of collectin gsaid fine spoke essentially not a word of English, but i could tell they were trying to charge me 500,000 Dong (about $25). This charge was pretty crazy, especially since the Vietnamese drivers getting pulled over were only paying 200,000. I began acting as confused as possible at every single attempt at communication from the policemen; even when they wrote down 500,000 on paper, and showed me 500,000 in cash, I responded with only pure bafflement. After about 10 minutes of me giving them only furrowed brows, international gestures of confusion, and quizzical grunts, the officers had had enough and told me to just leave. Fine: successfully avoided. (All they had to do was call over the officer that could speak English...)

I made the last hour of driving without further incident, and reunited with Dan on the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City.

Bike trip: complete.

Starting odometer reading: 7500 km

Final odometer reading: 10,750

Total distance traveled with Sugar: 3,250 km.

Wow... no wonder my ass hurts...

Come back next time to read about the only thing I really did in Saigon: Food.