Easy Riders - Day One

So, after shopping heaven in Hoi An, we leave super early on Tuesday morning and take a car to the Da Nang airport. From there, we took a short flight to Nha Trang, a beach city known for partying it up. It's supposed to be super resorty too. We don't stay in Nha Trang, but we booked an Easy Riders tour and they pick us up from the airport. There are severaly of them, but we went with this website: www.easy-riders.net

Our guides are Tuy (pronounced "Twee") and Hung. They immediately start packing our bags onto their motorcycles. I only had my backpack and my messenger bag (as I shipped all the stuff I had bought thus far in Hoi An...BTW, it was super expeno, almost $100...but I had no choice as I'm headed on to Thailand after 'Nam). I guess it was quite a sight, as all the other drivers were standing around us watching Tuy and Hung pack up our belongings. At least it wasn't raining and I wasn't sick, these were our two biggest worries.

We set out on the road, both Lily and I are anxious, as we've never really been on motorcycles before (we rode some in Hoi An to get to the hotel, but that's about it). Tuy and Hung are suuuuper nice, and we stop a few times and they point stuff out to us. I am immediately glad we did this trip, as we get out of tourist hell.

On the road up to Dalat (where we are sleeping the first night), Tuy and I get a flat tire!!! Unfortunately, they didn't have the proper materials to fix it, so Tuy had to go down the big hill to get it fixed. It was taking a while, so Hung put us on a bus that will take us to Dalat. Quite the first day, but glad we ended up taking the bus because it was starting to get dark, and it gets really foggy up there (Dalat is high up on a mountain). It was a little nerve-racking, as no one on the bus spoke English, and they made us transfer to another bus...we had no idea if we were going to make it to Dalat. Alas, we did make it ok, and our accomodations were ok. Tuy finally made it several hours later....poor guy!

Dalat - it is suuuuper pretty and clean. I'm glad we stopped hear. We weren't originally going to go, but glad we did. I guess it's considered a "Little Paris," since there are tons of coffee shops, flower vendors, and a tower that resembles some what of an Eiffel Tower. We were pooped when we got to Dalat. It has a pretty lake in the center of town too, and as we drove in, we see all the green houses for the flower farms all lit up along the moutain. GORGEOUS. Hung pointed us in the direction of a good restaurant, and we ate soooo much. It was delicious though. Hung is from Dalat, and is married with a young daughter. We told him to get home and visit his family. During tourist season, the easy riders don't get much time at home and drive all over Vietnam...sometimes for month long trips.

We stayed at a hotel that's connected to the bar called The Hangout Bar, which is also their easy riders office. I ended the night with a Saigon beer with Tuan, the manager, and Tuy (once he finally makes it in from the flat tire!).