Central Highlands Road Trip, Part III

It was a beautiful morning in Nha Trang the next day, warm and slightly overcast for Day 2 of our Road Trip.

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The beach was tempting, but I was looking forward to our second day of scootering.

Les getting directions from Mr Luong and the driver while Jerry gets his bike ready.

Nha Trang is a very nice city with a long, curving beachfront and lots of nice hotels and restaurants lining the street. There's lots of new development there so plenty of construction going on.

If you look closely, you can see the red traffic light just on the right edge of the buidling;
the arch was only wide enough for one lane of traffic at a time.  This was in central Nha Trang.

We gradually made our way through Nha Trang to the outskirts of the city.  Nothing especially scenic but after driving through rush hour traffic, we found ourselves parched once again.  

A certain glass of Vietnamese heaven, anyone?

This was the restaurant where we stopped for our ca phe sua das.
These guys spent the morning playing cards.  One of them was having an especially good morning judging by the wad of cash he later walked away with.

As we were leaving, I noticed that on the far side of the restaurant, in the same room where the men above were playing cards, this woman sat at a sewing machine.  Apparently you can get your pants hemmed while you enjoy your ca phe sua da. 

No sooner had we left Nha Trang, the road begin winding its way up the mountain.  Nha Trang obviously sits at sea level and we were on our way to Dalat which sits at 4800 feet.  The distance between the two is only about 70 miles, so it's a very steep climb via the Ngoan Muc Pass.

It got considerably cooler and foggier as we reached the top of the pass where we found the waterfall above.  There was virtually no traffic, so we had the road to ourselves which made for a very peaceful, beautiful morning drive.

Tomorrow: Mushrooms!

Central Highlands Road Trip, Part II

Eventually, our quiet, paved road unexpectedly turned to dirt, in part due to construction, but also by lack of sufficient traffic to presumably justify pavement.  The scenery was every bit as beautiful but it was a little more difficult to snap photos with one hand while dodging pot holes and driving with the other. 

Eventually we got thirsty again and, since we were pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, we had to rely on Mr Luong's unexpected Scooby snacks which consisted of Heineken (which is "the" imported beer to drink in Vietnam; no one quite knows why) and "Binh Phan" (sweet rice cakes with coconut) and "Tan Hung" (what amounted to sugar cookies). 

Fortunately, we found a nice, vacant storefront with an awning for shade, so we pulled in for our break.  Better still, the friendly general store owner next door invited us for a seat at the table he had out front. 

Mr Luong discussing our table arrangements with the general store owner
while Grandma #2 sleeps on an uncomfortable looking wooden bed.

Our host giving Mr Luong directions.  He was friendly and chatty.
Grandma's still asleep in the background.



As we were eating we were surrounded by a couple of small children, maybe 2 or 3 years old and buck naked.  Meanwhile, an older daughter, 7 maybe, paraded around with an infant in her arms while she played songs on the cell phone she had in her hand.  It was an amazing mix of old world and new world.

Infant in one arm, cell phone in the other;
naked toddler with dad nearby

A second daughter arriving home; we were obviously in an area of ethnic people who wore
very brightly colored clothing.  Unfortunately, you can't see much from these pictures.

All the while we were eating there were chicks and chickens (or are they ducks and ducklings?) pecking around the yard and beautiful peppers drying in the sun.

This was an orchard of some kind (the tall bushes in back).
No one knew what.

After 45 minutes or so, we hopped back on our bikes and continued for several miles along the same dirt road.  Along the way, we passed through a rag tag looking market in the town of Tang Rang.

After a few more miles, we came to a bridge.  Or what was a bridge.  The real bridge had been washed out and had been replaced by a hodgepodge of wooden boards in three different sections.  The first two weren't bad, but the end section was long, narrow and missing several planks, so it was a bit hairy getting up the courage to go, then not stopping once you started. 

Eventually we made it back to the main road at Route 26 where we headed east to Nha Trang.

Sorry.  Some things here just never grow old.  

A lineup of carts, all selling durian fruit, illegal in Singapore and most airplanes.
It's big, green and stinky!  How people eat, I have no idea, but you can smell it everywhere here this time of year.

Soon enough, we stopped for another bite to eat and had a selection of squid, chicken and a bunch of vegetables.

Note "Merry Christmas" poster in upper right

After more beautiful scenery and nearly 150 miles behind us, we finally arrived in Nha Trang and the beautiful, beachfront Six Senses Ana Mandara Resort.  It was no Dakruco Hotels, mind you, but it was n-i-i-c-c-c-e-e-e! 

Tomorrow: Day Two



Central Highlands Road Trip, Part I

SkyWest's long time CEO has always been fond of cycling and has taken bike trips all over the world.  So it was no surprise when he asked if we could do the same during his weeklong visit to Vietnam.  Of course, I was on that like white on rice!  Les was as well, so over the last month or so, we've been doing research as to where the best two day bike trip in Vietnam might be.

After several iterations, we finally decided on a trip through the Central Highlands of Vietnam, starting at Buon Ma Thuot, heading east and "down" to the beach town of Nha Trang, then west and "up" again to the mountain retreat of Da Lat (Sorry about the map; no matter what I did, it wouldn't expand out so you could get a context of where we were in Vietnam).


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Buon Ma Thuot is Vietnam's coffee growing capital and is central to a largely rural, agricultural area.  At my suggestion, we kept off of the main Route 26  east and instead made a loop south of BMT, then east along Vuon Quoc gia Chu Yang Sin (shown above and which I think is Vietnamese for "this green space on Google Maps might be pretty") before returning north again to rejoin the main route.  Once back on Road 26, it would be nice drive down to join the AH-1 for the remainder of our trip into Nha Trang, a very popular tourist beach destination. 

So, after finishing business on Friday night, Les, Jerry and I, along with Huy (Mr Viet, the chairman's 27-year old son who also happens to be on the Board of Directors), as well as Mr Luong, Air Mekong's HR Director hopped aboard our Air Mekong flight from Hanoi.  Sadly for Huy, Mr Viet forbade him from riding a scooter with us, so he and Mr Luong were to accompany us in their chauffered SUV.  No one's quite sure why Mr Luong came along although there are several theories: 1) to make sure Huy didn't actually ride a scooter, 2) to serve as the events official photographer (which he did, ably) or 3) to make most every eating event somewhat more awkward than it already was. 

In any case, the five of us arrived in BMV (as the airport code is known) just after 10pm Friday night where we were met by our chauffer whose name I never did get.  We were quickly taken to Dakruco Hotel, "Buon Ma Thuot's first and only international four star hotel"! 

I'm not sure who opened this place, but it was weird.  Massive open spaces with undersized furniture all pushed to the walls, marble everywhere and a funky, chrome circular staircase to nowhere:

No matter where you turned, there were reminders that you were staying with "Dakruco Hotels" so I thought it must have been some obscure Chinese or Korean chain.  But there's only one. 

They even spelled out "Dakruco" in the landscaping!

The hotel is probably 10 years old and, in its initial attempt at luxury, featured all sorts of relatively tacky, over-the-top furnishings and finishes, which is bad enough.  Unfortunately, over the life of the hotel, they've not kept the place up which is even worse.  There were all sorts of unfinished repair-jobs in the bathroom.  The carpet was thin, lumpy and stained.  The chairs were orange and well worn.  And, like the lobby, the room was big, but everything was pushed to the edge. 

Four-star luxury at Buon Ma Thuot!  You can even see the carpet lumps!

Suffice it to say, I won't be staying with the Dakruco Hotel Chain again!

Fortunately, I slept well and woke the next morning to a beautiful sunrise.  We met at 6:30 in the unsurprisingly weird "Apricot Cafe" and had brunch, which I limited to fruit and toast, before we headed out of town at 7:00am.

Leaving Buon Ma Thuot

It was a perfect day for a ride.  Beautiful, sunny, clear skies and mild, mid-70s temperatures.  And, more importantly, the route we had chosen was fantastic.  A quiet, two lane highway from town through spectacular rice fields with lush, green hills in the distance.

Mr Luong asked this nicely dressed, toothless, long-bearded man for directions
when we needed to turn off of Road 27

(Yes, this road is part of our route.  It looks like a sidewalk
but it's a real road, cars and all)

Of course, taking in mile after mile of spectacular scenary, one gets pretty parched.  Naturally, there's nothing better for a dry mouth than a round of ca phe sua das at a cute roadside stop!

Grandma, on the right, just woke from her nap in the hammock

These three ladies offered me something like sunflower seeds and were laughing and
giggling.  They apparently thought I was cute and wanted my phone number according to Huy.

Then we were off again to take in some more spectacular scenary.

Lots of corn!  Just like Iowa!

It was really an incredible morning driving through rice paddies, coffee plantations and corn fields.  And, once again, I was reminded how truly lucky I am to be able to see an incredibly scenic part of Vietnam that most never get to see.

Tomorrow: Lunch!

Catching up

Sorry for my posting delinquincy of late!  I'm afraid the last couple weeks have been spent busy at work preparing for the visit of Air Mekong's big cheese American investor man (who also happens to be my old boss; or at least, the boss of my boss, Jerry Atkin).  Anyway, when I've not been at work, I've been living a rather routine, unadventurous life, not really worthy of blog posting.

Fortunately, the business side of Jerry's visit ended Friday and we're literally out touring Vietnam as we speak, each of three of us on rented scooters tooling around the Central Highlands.  Our first day was fantastic and I've taken lots of pictures which I'll be posting here soon.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my downloading cable, so I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to post them here, but I'll get something up as soon as I can.  

Until then, I'll try to get back into the swing of things by posting this morning some stuff I haven't been able to post over the last couple of weeks. 

First, we went out for seafood last week and visited an interesting street vendor in the Old Quarter of Hanoi which featured fresh seafood.  Really fresh.

That styrofoam box contains several live, blue crabs

Plenty of squid and snails from which to choose.

You basically pointed to whatever seafood it was you wanted and the waitress brought it to your table a few minutes later.  We had crab (which, while good, I was reminded, is never worth the trouble), calamari and lots of snails.  Pretty tasty stuff, especially given that Hanoi isn't exactly a seaside town.

Meanwhile, back in Madison, Craig and Ali have been trying their hand at their own Vietnamese cooking.  Apparently they've already mastered ca phe sua da (although we'll withhold judgement until I'm able to personally sample), so they've turned their attention to food.

Craig took home several recipes with him after visiting last month and decided to take his first stab at bun bo nam bo, which is one of my favorites.  After carefully assembling all the ingredients (rice noodles, herbs, beef, sprouts, peanuts and fried onions), this was the end result:

Rumor has it that it tasted pretty good.  Unfortunately, it didn't look anything like the real thing served here in Hanoi at the Bun Bo Nam Bo Shop next to the office and shown here:

So after providing a few pointers, Craig and Ali made another attempt this week and came up with this:

Looks just like the real thing, huh?!  And they said every bit as good. 

Warning to all future visitors to Wisconsin and/or Arizona!  You may well be a guinea pig for future Vietnamese cooking lessons and, while you may rest assured that no dog will ever be served, all else is fair game!  (The good news is, the drinks you see featured are part of the deal, so it's not all bad!).

I'll post again as soon as I can download the first of my pics from yesterday's trip.  And there are lots of them.