We're the Easy Riders!

Should we? Shouldn't we?

Within minutes of stepping out of our hotel in Dalat we were accosted by two 'Easy Riders'. They are a self-regulated group of private tour guides, based in Dalat, who ride large, old motorbikes and show tourists the 'real' Vietnam.

We were far from convinced about spending a few days on the back of a bike (knowing that our parents would kill us, if the motorbikes didn't), especially at 50USD a day, per person. We also didn't have much time. The best route is into the central highlands and down to Saigon over four days but we wanted to go to Mui Ne and only had a maximum of two days so we could fit everything in Saigon.

After some soul searching over some Dalat coffee (delicious stuff) we decided against it...went outside and five minutes later had studied the testimonial books of a couple of riders and signed up on the dotted line. Doh!

The trip didn't start well when the guides we had signed up with didn't show. In their place were two other bikers who swore that the other guides had gone on a different tour but had asked them to take us instead. They knew all our details so seemed legit and we decided to go ahead.

It was totally worth it.

Our guides were wonderful: Mui, whose family fought for the southern Vietnamese army in the war and so can't get any other job and Sinh, an ex-professional footballer who had to stop playing after a nightmare tackle destroyed his knee and dreams of meeting Beckham. Mui had a dodgy joke for every occasion and Sinh was full of stories and sayings from Vietnam's history. They taught us so much about Vietnam and their people as well as making us laugh, lots. If anyone wants some good motorbike guides, let us know and we'll put you in touch.

They took us to so many amazing places off the tourist trail. We sat with tobacco farmers drinking (or in Mark's case, pretending to drink) Vietnamese tea; joked with the family of a minority village who gave us a present as we left of a pumpkin gourd they use to store a variety of liquids; saw silk worms munching on mulberry leaves; visited coffee and tea plantations; drank more tea at a tea factory; chatted to granite miners; saw a local brick factory; watched rice paper being made; harvested rice with some local women. Plus, all the natural beauty of the route from waterfalls to mountains to man-made lakes and islands, without another tourist in site.

Farmer Mark


For breakfast and lunch we went to small cafes and our guides ordered us some amazing feasts, usually for about 20,000 dong each: just over 1USD. We had prawns, squid, beef, pork, all deliciously marinated with a few chillies thrown in for good measure!



Mui Ne now beckons for a bit of R&R.