Denise: Meet Gin, a very cute and friendly 3 year old we met in Phong Nha when we stopped to change the oil and lubricate the chain.
Jonathan: He is super cute. In a nutshell, he just randomly walked up to Ness for a hug when we had our oil changed for the bike.
Also, the ride…. Riding along the QL1, which is part of the longest highway networks in Asia, was horrible. The trucks and buses drive erratically and fast. The horns/hooters that are equipped were tinkered in the depths of a hellish insane asylum. When blown right next to us, our hearts stop, jump start and shimmy to the right side of our chests… And then strike off two years of your life. If you aren’t used to high pitched sirens from a horror film stay the hell away from Asian roads as a motorcyclist.
Denise: We were pushed off the road speaking of horrible. A bus was over taking a truck and we had to quickly pull of to the side, this nearly happened earlier in the ride so I had my camera ready. Jono is such a great driver, kept his composure but probably losing his shit on the inside.
Freaking crazy!
Denise: And over these 2 days we have seen (well, seconds after) an accident happen. Today’s was a bit more crazy, a guy over took us, going somewhere between 80km/h and fokof. We came around the bend and he had hit a truck, he luckily just grazed it but he was man down.
You can see the victim with his head between his legs in the background. He was lucky.
We also saw many churches the further we got south. Jono tells me that is because during the communist take over in the North, the monks and priests were expelled and sent south… Very interesting.
Jonathan: Yeah, much of the South has still has a strong Catholic presence as a result. The landscape is beautiful on this side of Vietnam. Here are two maps of where we rode.
Jonathan: The rolling karsts and mountains we had to traverse and wind down and up made for some amazing riding. The roads are in amazing condition and also…. Less and less trucks!
We were both so captivated by the stunning valleys and jungle landscape. Some of Vietnam is still yet untouched! One cannot help but think how the Vietnamese porters moved supplies down to the South and had to get it through this spiny and dense landscape. Wow!
Then we came into the beautiful and unexpectedly quaint town of Phong Nha.
Denise: Note the pillow😎. Yeah, that bad boy helped like you can’t believe. The only issue is that there is only 1 so we share it. Our bums are still so sore! Every pit-stop we do a few squats, stretches and even the plank. We hope this will help us, because right now we are horizontal in bed because our bums and backs are not happy. So next stop is another pillow.
Jonathan (eating humble pie): The pillow helps so much. I was very wrong. Admittedly, I’m getting one too. Well done on that call, Ness.
Denise: Phong Nha is home to the world largest cave, the Son Dong Cave. At a small change amount of $3800.00 you can go explore the cave for 3 nights and 4 days.
We actually ran into some amazing people by fluke. We were riding down the road and I saw a sign that said “Water Slide”. Jono saw 2 huge bombs on the property so we decided to go for a drink and met some really interesting people, one of whom discovered the world’s largest cave. Among those interesting beings was a guy with 3 nipples, a guy who make liquor, the owners of the property whom had 4 dogs and a goat named Mêh.
Undetonated bombs found on the guest house property
Jonathan: It was one of those chance encounters when travelling. The people you meet, EY. They were friendly and made for some interesting conversation. Stuart, one of the owners of the guest house, said that every year around TET they still detonate bombs found on the farms from the war. People, that was 50 years ago! It was an amazing fact, yet somehow also disgusting.
Denise: Our trip to Khe Sanh is home to the biggest battle fought during the Vietnam war. We went to the Military Air Base today and got see the original bunkers, some tanks, planes and helicopters to name a few. Here are some amazing photos that we took.
Some undetonated bomb shells
Some images from the museum
Empty piled up artillery cartridges at Khe Sanh
Jonathan: The highlight of today was riding out of Phong Nha through the nature reserve. Pictures cannot capture the absolute majestic landscape which unfolds as you ride. Beautiful, clean mountain air fills the lungs and ravines run in the dropoff next to the road. And I got to share that with Ness. Here is a photo of what we got to ride through.
We are going to post some pictures of the trip over the past few days on our Facebook page.
The Bosman's online 