Plei Kần, Kon Tum, Vietnam
June 27, 2014
With hind sight this entry should really be titled 'The day I made a massively bad decision' as the route we took lead us on to some ridiculous situations and tough days but it was the right decision at the time. We were aiming for Dalat and had two options. Down the coast and towards the Russian inhabited party town of Nha Trang and along the busy horrible AH1 road. Option two was to head slightly back up North from Hoi An then West towards Laos and South from there down to Dalat. We chose the latter. We didn't fancy the boring dangerous fast-moving truck route of the AH1 nor the party town of Nha Trang. The mountain roads and small villages along the tougher inland route appealed so much more and that's what we chose. From Hoi An, Dalat seemed like a couple of days easy riding and that's how it started it out.
The ride out of town, North and then West was easy going. Good quiet roads. Small villages along the way and we made ground fairly quickly. As we turned South and then eventually hit the mountain roads our pace slowed somewhat but did not phase us. Two days to Dalat still seemed very realistic. The mountain roads again as in the North of the country offered so much. Amazing views for hours towards Laos and brilliant roads to ride on. Very quiet and also interesting as we climbed up snaking swirls of half decent tarmac. We initially set our sights on hitting the town of Kon Tum which was pretty much the half way point but as little Dora slowly and heroically climbed her way through the mountains we realised we would not make it before nightfall. Yet again these roads and views put the Hai Van pass to shame by a long way. A much more challenging ride and much more rewarding for the views and sense of satisfaction you got in return.
Again we were well off the beaten track and a million miles away from the tourist hubs of Hue and Hoi An. Sometime in the afternoon we pulled into a small town for some running repairs to the luggage rack at the back as part of it had snapped and we grabbed some lunch while we were there. The generosity of the people yet again was immense as the guy in the metal work shop didn't even seem to want any money for his work as he returned to his other job after welding us up and I literally had to nudge him away from his welding torch and pop some small change into his hand before heading off.
As we rode along a beautiful scene unfolded in front of us. We stopped off in the middle of nowhere to watch the sunset over amazing scenery of distant steam rising hills and paddy fields much to the excitement and admiration of the locals in the small ramshackle shop opposite. We were if we would find anywhere to stay but continued into the darkness until eventually we hit the small town of Plei Kan. I didn't even know where we were until I checked Google the next day but we spotted a couple of places to stay and decided we had enough of riding in the dark and it wasn't worth our while pushing on any further to Kom Tum. It was the right decision.
The place we stayed in was decent enough and about as cheap as it gets here at £4 a night for the two of us so we went off in search of something to eat. The food was slim pickings and I grabbed a bowl of some kind of chicken rice soup and some eggs which I assumed by the look of them that they were hard boiled. They weren't quite what I was expecting as when I started to peel the first one I'm pretty sure it was the kind of eggs they have here where the chick is fully formed inside and they boil it alive in its shell. As much as I have eaten some random things in Asia such as the usual insects and maggots I could not bring myself to peel it anymore and eat a whole baby chick that was due to hatch.
We grabbed some beers and supplies and headed back for a well-earned drink and to get some sleep ready to crack on the next day. We wanted to try to hit Delat making up for the lost time due to the slow winding mountain roads. Checking the map it seemed reasonable to do given the distance and we set the alarms for a nice early start.
