Easy Rider Day 1

Crazy House
Pagoda
Terraced Gardens
Flower Greenhouse
Silk Worms
Bamboo basket weaving
Silk Factory
Minority Village
Elephant Falls

What a full day! I will have tons of pictures to share with everyone once I get to someplace that has good internet.

What the hell was I thinking of going on a 7-day moto-bike ride through the hills of Vietnam? It''s been a fun and very tiring day. We started out at 0800 with the sun shining and just a bit of overcast sky's. We have traveled over 150km today. The rain stopped only long enough to provide me a fabulous rainbow and I was soaked and tired to the bone by the time we reached the hotel tonight.

I wont go into details on everything because there is just too much to cover. I think that I have been on edge most of the day. One example would include the trek down to the bottom of Elephant Falls. It was quite treacherous as hopefully you can see by the photos. I was way to chicken to go all the way to see the actual falls from the bottom. I was somewhat intimidated by the rushing waters, slippery rocks, and my lack of coordination. The fact that I was alone down there might have something to do with it too. I just didn't think that a swim sounded like a good idea!!

Another would include simply being on the back of a bike in the hilly roads with all the intermittent downpours that we had. The worst being the last 40km. I was certain that my driver didn't have a headlight as the light from the sun was fading and he still had not turned it on. We were sloping up and down hills with hairpin turns about every 500 feet! Dodging ox-carts, bicycles and pedestrians in the rain. We finally made it to the hotel around 7pm (we were supposed to arrive around 5:30pm). I am exhausted, my ass hurts and my bed-mate is a cicada that I made the hotel guy take away!! My driver is supposed to meet me for dinner at 8pm and it's now a quarter after and I've finished one beer and he has just arrived.

Annoyance: Rain, rain, and RAIN and the hundred times every minute that I have to hear 'America is a very rich country'. I guess by the locals standards, we are all rich. However, I don't feel very rich. I have to work hard every day to have what I have.

One of the highlights was the minority village. The children were so happy. Stephane (my driver) had to point out to me though that the color of their skin is 'darker' than his. I guess prejudice is everywhere....even Vietnam. Sad. We handed out some candy to the children and enjoyed taking their pictures. They laughed and smiled when they saw their pic on the camera. I wanted to give out the stickers (see Mike!) but Stephane had candy instead....next time! The boys were adorable playing on a bicycle that was hanging from the tree..

Life is good.....

ps: Cant post pictures right now, connection isn't good Will try to get up soon!