Sean has big balls, or, why I'm gonna get a Vespa.

I hate to say it, but Dennis was right.  And, to a certain extent, Paul.

Yesterday I did one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life.  Having never driven a motorbike/motorcycle/scooter before, I rented one, and with a guide, Megan and I rode for 6 hours (with stops) from Hoi An to Hue, over the Hai Van Pass, and around the coast of Vietnam.

Wow.

So, after a bit of a miscommunication trying to get the trip organized (the tourist agency thought a bit differently than we were, but we pressed firm and got what we wanted... you need to be really really clear, and have everything in writing here.  They will try and screw you any way they can...), and a bit of practice on the automatic (thank god) 50cc (maybe?) bikes they gave us, off we went.

First of all, if you come to Vietnam, seeing it by bike is the way to go.  It's not a fast paced way to see it, and as everyone has them, it's affords you access to many more places than just being on foot/tour bus.  Riding around, wind blowing in your face, watching rice paddies being harvested, you get this feeling as if you're actually in Vietnam, and not just seeing it from a bus.

And then we rode through Danang.  The driver tried to take us the path of least resistance, but remember all the talking I was doing about crazy drivers in the cities?  We had to learn fast.  Merging onto roundabouts, passing other people (Our guide wasn't a slow mover), avoiding head-on collisions, and actually avoiding people crossing the street (the shoe is on the other foot!) were all lessons that were taught at the beginning of our trip.

After Danang, we stopped on the outskirts, had some sugar cane drink of some sort.  A lady with a cart passed sugar cane through a grinder, and a frothy white beverage came out.  Delicious!  You could see the mountains ahead of us, and the whole mountain in the clouds really lives up to it's name. 

We then headed up the pass, with steep uphills, windy roads, and not a whole lot of traffic (blessedly).  It was good that it wasn't crowded, because it was hard to keep your eyes on the road.  I haven't seen this Top Gear episode, but I will as soon as I get back.  It is mind-blowingly beautiful.  Stunning, Amazing, whatever superfluous adjectives you want to apply, and then some.  Kind of like the Great Ocean Road in Australia, but a few notches above it for a certain je ne sais quoi.  The temperature dropped, we rode through the clouds, and going around these curves on a motorbike (for the first time ever) added an amazing sense of wonder/awe.  I think it's what freedom feels like, as corny as it sounds.

We stopped almost at the top of the pass to take pictures.  There were a bunch of little memorials on the side of the road for everyone that had died on the pass (and, while in Danang, we passed two bikes that had gotten into an accident in a roundabout.  Don't worry, not foreshadowing, but a bit freaky), and amazing views of the ocean (Pacific?).  Our driver drove fast, and didn't like to stop that much, but he was understanding when we wanted to take pictures, or stay a bit longer in one place.

Up and over the other side, we were weaving in between trucks, around hairpin curves, getting passed by/passing everything on the road.  We passed a city built on an island, with an amazing beach (views of those mountains we just rode through!), and then, before getting to Hue, we stopped at a place called Suoi Voi (Elephant Springs), on the recommendation of our guide.  Look it up on google image search now.  A bit in the middle of nowhere, with a 10 minute hike from the parking lot (if you can call it that), you get these crystal clear waters flowing down a big rocky gorge, with these mountains all around you.  A fair amount of Vietnamese were there (no tourists), and our guide immediately stripped down and got in the water.  When in Rome, right?  So refreshing, cold, and after a hot day of driving, exactly what we needed.  It was a stunning place I could have spent all day hanging out in, even with the things in the water (A leech attached itself onto my leg, that was fun).

Then, a haul to Hue.  Someone compared Hue to Hoi An, and riding in, it was nothing of the sort.  We went through traffic like Saigon, and it was freaky, especially at the end of our trip.  We were tired, and then we had to weave in and out of traffic in an attempt to follow our guide, who didn't know exactly where he was going... We got to the hotel alright though, and the lady at the counter knew exactly who I was.  Crazy good service.

All in all, an amazing trip, one that I would repeat again in a heartbeat, or even extend to do most of the country (or a similar one)... Who's with me?

I will say though, it was kind of weird driving through the small villages on the way to some of the sights.  A lot of the children will smile and say "Hello!" as loud as they can when you pass, but the second English word they seemed to learn was "Money?"  It was kind of a shame to see that even at a young age, they were bred to be this way towards tourists.  Not all of them were like that, but it was shocking to see. 

The lifestyle differences are also shocking.  We saw a little girl holding her baby sister on a bicycle with one hand and steering it with the other.  Neither of them had helmets, and they were going down a busy street.  In any western society, child protection services would have been called.  It's just a different feeling, and depending on your outlook in life, you'll either get freaked out or just accept it as cultural differences.  In a way, I kind of think this is what the US was like as it was developing (Maybe during the industrial revolution), except this is a more modern lifestyle (in a sense, with internet/telephones/motorbikes)...