Fozz & Joe's Vietnam Bike Bender

This road is loosely based on the Ho Chi Minh Trail which was a road system created by the Viet Cong during the war that enabled the army to move supplies from the north to all over the country. The original road ran through Laos and Cambodia but there are still lots of pathways coming from this which would have been used back then too. This was some isolated areas with very few other vehicles coming down, the main traffic still uses the highway one which comes down the coast line.

Normally my posts include a road trip from one point to another, but Hué was full of so much rich history and beautiful sites it needed a post of its own. The old Imperial capital, an abandoned water park, old war bunkers, nights out with some superb locals, pagodas and of course more bike repairs.

Spent two days in Da Nang, the third biggest city in Vietnam and for some reason regularly avoided by travellers. The bridges, a fucking huge Buddha, war museum, gorgeous beach, fishing boats and great food. Then drove the Hai Van pass to Hue made famous by the three clowns from top gear (sunset scene)

After arriving in Nah Trang we were met not only by Dixon but DK also (again) surprised us with his presence. We weren't in the Russian holiday resort town long before we realised we couldn't spend the whole 10 days of their vacation here and enjoy ourselves so we put ourselves and our bikes on an overnight sleeper bus and took the 12 hour journey to Hoi an. Here we drank ourselves into oblivion, had clothes tailored, took stupid photos, went to beach, learnt to cook Vietnamese, went to my son and ate a lot of Cao Lau.

We arrived in the beautiful French colonial town of Da Lat and found ourselves in similar temperatures as back in England. Grey sky's and slight rain didn't affect 5 days of eating great food, visiting stunning waterfalls, crazy house, pagodas and catching up with Katie whom I travelled Laos with and Dean and Charlotte who Joe travelled with 3 years ago. Many a weighty bahn mi was consumed. The drive between da lat and Nha Trang is one of the most popular biking routes with the thousands who pass through Vietnam but for good reason, breath taking beauty. The mountains go so high you are literally driving through the clouds (and it's fucking freezing) The route then descends to the beach town of Nha Trang where we are meeting Dixon !!!