Vietnam: Part Three (Nha Trang to Hoi An)

The distance from Nha Trang to Qui Nhon was over 230 km, but it was a pretty straight shot up the coast. We used our online guide (The Vietnam Coracle) to stay off some of the busier roads, which added extra time but also included better scenery, and less stress. The sights along the way included bright green rice paddies full of ladies in rice hats working, and cliffs hugging coast looking out onto the ocean. We had to, at one point, stop for a train. While this would not be odd back home, there are actually relatively few trains that pass through Vietnam. We attempted to stop for lunch at a cool spot in one of the beach towns, that had a floating restaurant at the end of a floating bridge. However, the prices here were crazy (like $10-12 per plate when we had been paying ~$1.50) so we moved on. We found a much cheaper meal later on.

On our way into Qui Nhon, the roads got busier and busier. One other thing we noticed was that they got louder and louder, but not just with traffic noise. We started to hear singers belting out their tune a top volume at little shops, even though it was the middle of the day. Although we had been seeing karaoke places in every city thus far, this experience finally cemented in the fact that Vietnamese people just love to sing karaoke. There are karaoke bars on every corner, and they sing morning, noon, and night. It doesn't matter if it's just a solo person, a couple of friends, or a large crowd, they just keep on crooning. The speakers are always set to max, and they autotune everything. Karaoke is the entertainment choice at most big gatherings, and weddings even include karaoke by random family members after the hired singers are done....which is maybe something we'll include at our wedding too :)

Qui Nhon didn't have much going on, and it was really just a waypoint for us anyway. We stayed at another homestay/hotel hybrid with a really helpful host. We were ready for our first oil changes on the bikes at this point, and our host was able to take us to a local place where we wouldn't have to pay tourist rates. She was also able to help us translate as, in addition to the oil changes, we wanted the bikes to have a general inspection as well. At this point, both bikes were having a few issues while idling (the engines cutting out) and we wanted to see if there was anything they could do. Unfortunately, though, they kind of just gave us blank stares. In Vietnam, if your bike is still running then they consider it in good shape. It needs to actually be broken down for them to fix anything, and preventative maintenance isn't really a thing. After our oil change we stopped at a smoothie place. There were little tables outside where EVERYONE had a smoothie, but when we pointed at fruits in their cart....they just cut them up and served them as is in our smoothie cups. We had to point to everyone's drinks, as well as their lineup of 4 blenders, to get them to blend the fruit up. We have no idea what got lost in translation here!

In Qui Nhon we also heard about a place where blind masseuses perform massages for cheap. They have learned that this is a good revenue stream as there aren't a lot of opportunities for the blind elsewhere. So at 8pm, we headed to a little place with $8 each in hand. The experience was very odd, to say the least. We were put in separate rooms, each with multiple people getting massages. The masseuses were, indeed, blind and it was kind of a fumbling experience for them to get started. It wasn't very clear how you were supposed to lay, what you were supposed to do with your clothes, and how long the massage would last. On top of that, the English wasn't so great, and we obviously couldn't use hand signals to supplement the communication. Other than that, though, the massages were pretty great and relaxing...until Kyle, somehow, accidently added "cupping" onto his. His masseuse attached two dozen suction cups (via fumbling around and feel only because he was blind) to Kyle's back and left him laying there in pain for 15 minutes before taking them off. The welts lasted for almost a week afterwards!

With both our bikes and bodies newly maintained, we headed out the next morning for Kon Tum. This portion was 211 km, and it was probably our least favorite of the whole journey. The road was very rough, with loose gravel and construction most of the way. It definitely had some scenic sections, especially as we got up into the mountains, but we had to concentrate on the road so much it made enjoying them difficult. When we stopped for lunch we must have looked exhausted because the owner repeatedly pointed us to two hammocks that she had set up for weary travelers to rest on. The rises the rest of the way were steep and here Nicole's bike, Nash, finally had it's first issue. The bike had no power going up the hills (they were low-cc automatic scooters, so it went from LITTLE power to NO power, but it was very noticeable). When we stopped at the nearest town to get it checked, it turned out she had blown a gasket somewhere in the fuel system. The mechanic was extremely apologetic that he could not fix the torn rubber gasket and that he had to, instead, replace it. In Vietnam they try to fix things first and always. We saw cheap plastic chairs that had the legs or backs zip-tied or even riveted back together, for example. The replaced gasket was 200,000 VND (~$8) and took about an hour, but Nash was running very well when we left.

On the last 25km into Kon Tum we broke off onto a brand new highway with almost no traffic. It went through scenery alternating between highland plains and newly-planted forests. It was certainly a nice transition from the terrible road we had been on. In Kon Tum we stayed at a homestay just outside of town. When we got there we received a bottle of homemade pineapple wine as a welcome gift....which promptly exploded all over the room when Kyle opened it. We actually loved the town itself. The surrounding area had a large ethnic minority population and the kids would wave and shout hello as you rode by. We were now up in Vietnam's coffee region (they are one of the largest producers of coffee in the world) and there were a ton of cool cafes in town (we tried several). They also had a couple of market streets with great street-side food stalls, and we had some delicious dry-pho bowls while the Vietnamese national soccer team played on the rigged up TV in the background. We honestly wished we could have stayed a couple of more days, but the next morning we hit the road again.

Our ride from Kon Tum to Hoi An was our longest at a whopping 302 km. We left just after 6am to make sure we could make it before dark. The biggest issue for time, though, was all of the stops we made for pictures. The road started up in the highland plains, wove through the mountains, and traced along the "Golden Loop" river valley. It was all very beautiful and definitely made up for the previous day. We saw waterfalls and quaint local villages. Our food stop was another "no-menu/no-English" order, and we ended up with some braised pork, eggs, rice, a tea-boiled egg, and random half-fried/half-slimy fish parts. It was weird but delicious and powered us through the rest of the day. The final stretch into Hoi An felt blazing hot after the cool mountain air, and we were much-weary travelers from our previous 4 consecutive days on the road, which equated to over 880 km (nearly 550 miles). And remember, we are doing this all on 15-year-old, stitched together, low-cc automatic scooters (but we still love you Sabrina and Nash!).