Vietnam's Central Highlands

We loved the central highlands so much, we decided to fork out for a tour guide and a couple motorbikes to travel two days from Da Lat to Buon Ma Thuot.

Our guide Bruno showed us around the countryside, including a bunch of places that we never would have found without a guide. We saw a weasel coffee farm (where these small cat-like animals are kept in small cages, fed coffee beans, and then the beans are harvested from their poos and roasted- the small cages are quite depressing), a rice-based moonshine operation, a floating village, a clay brick kiln, a silk factory, and an incense workshop.

We stopped at a huge waterfall, and got kidnapped by a picnicking family who fed us beer and snacks continuously and without mercy.

We drove through mountains and past vast rice paddy fields. We stayed one night in a village longhouse by Lak Lake. This village has a history of antagonism with the Government. The Government has therefore kindly erected speakers on the main street to keep the locals up to date with relevant political information all day, every day.

We ended our tour in the bustling city of Buon Ma Thuot, and caught an evening bus to Kon Tum. Kon Tum and the surrounding area are interesting for the large amount of ethnic minority villages. We went for a self guided, and somewhat intrepid, motorcycle tour around the region. We saw some "Rong Houses" with their unusually shaped thatched roofs. They provide a similar community function that marae do for Maori in NZ.

Da Lat

Cool weather...and rain....refreshing after a few days on the coast. Jumper weather even.

We caught a 5 hour bus up to Da Lat through the beautiful countryside. Saw a few rice fields, but mostly coffee farms. Didn't see much in the way of villages the whole way though which was surprising.

We immediately liked Da Lat. It's a picturesque town with a lot of character. Seems like a popular holiday spot for tourists and locals alike. We hired a motorbike to visit local waterfalls and a monastery via cable car.

We went out for a few drinks to the world's coolest bar "100 roofs". It is a six story maze like building built grotto style. It is easy to get lost. There are bars on multiple levels and many different alcoves to sit in.

Also went to the building that inspired it- the "Crazy House" was built by a local artist/architect. It frustrated uptight neighbours and town planners for decades. It was recently officially permitted by the authorities, and is now a big tourist drawcard. It is also still growing upwards...

We stayed at a great place called Tiny Tigers. Hosts Leo and Tiger were amazing. We had some amazing family style meals, lots of rice wine, and some karaoke with their 6 year old son Tintin.

Mui Ne

We got a 5 hour comfy "sleeper" bus ride from HCM City to Mui Ne on the coast ($9).

It is obvious we are here in the down season- the place is geared up for the hoardes, but feels quite empty. Although there are a few Russians about with their families. We only stayed a night and wouldn't recommend the place to anyone.

We hired a motorbike for an afternoon to drive the coast and check out the famous red sand dunes.

I had my first dip in the South China Sea. There were some small waves about with kids surfing.

We spent the evening at an enormous beach side bar where we were pretty much the only patrons for a few hours. We therefore had direct access to the house musician to request some Purple Rain.

Vietnam!

We are off on another adventure! We are travelling through Asia for three months, but without a van. We thought why waste a good blog site...so we are recycling this one.

We flew direct from Auckland to Ho Chi Minh City in a new Air NZ 787 dreamliner. You can order drinks and snacks any time during the flight from a menu on your seat display, what a time to be alive.

It is supposedly monsoon season in this part of the world, and while it is warm (30°) the rain is nowhere to be seen.

Ho Chi Minh is a massive and busy city. The roads are packed with motorcycles- crossing the road means walking slowly with your fingers crossed as the traffic parts around you.

There is also a lot of history in this town, from its beginnings as a backwater swamp, to a regional centre, to a French colonial administration, to being a national capital, to North Vietnamese tanks rolling into town and declaring that Saigon will now be known as Ho Chi Minh City (and not a capital).

We visited the reunification palace where this last event took place. There was originally a French-built palace on the site that was home of the President of South Vietnam after the country gained independence. The palace was bombed in a failed attempt to assasinate the President. It was ordered to be rebuilt in modern style (although the President didn't survive to opening day), and was then the centre of the US / South Vietnamese war effort. This all ended when North Vietnamese forces raised their flag from the roof.

The palace is worth a visit. They have left intact various war planning and radio rooms in underground bunkers. The palace itself is grand with various state rooms and offices. The previous owners even had a theatre, games rooms, and lavish rooftop party area.

We also went up the Bitexco tower to get a view of the ever expanding city and the Saigon River. We had a few bottles of Bia Saigon (50c to $1), and bowls of delicious Pho ($2.50). We also saw an inexplicable pink pigeon while wandering around the city.

End of trip wrap up

Well, that's it. One year and a whole lot of memories. We have been back in New Zealand for three weeks, but have been putting off our final post as it is hard to believe it is over. 

We saw two continents. We learnt (some) Spanish. Most importantly we met some amazing people on the road, and caught up with old friends and family.

We thought we would pull together some statistics and facts about the trip, in no particular order:

• Distance travelled: 29,000 miles or 47,000 km
• U.S. states visited: 28
• Countries visited: 16
• Gas tanks guzzled: 75
• Estimated fuel cost: $10,000
• Flat tires: 5
• Couches surfed: 14
• Bribes paid: 1
• Birthdays celebrated: 2
• Illnesses: 0 (excluding mild tummy bugs and hangovers)
• Mild tummy bugs: 3
• Fluency in Spanish gained: 5%

You may also be interested in how the van performed- here is a list of things we had to fix on the road:

• USA: new front tires
• Mexico: new alternator, fixed holes in radiator hoses, welded muffler back on
• Guatemala: replaced seals in rear axle
• Panama: repairs to air compressor
• Colombia: repaired drivers side power window
• Ecuador: new front brake pads, roof repainted
• Peru: four new tires, crown wheel and pinion replaced in rear differential (by far most expensive and time consuming repair)
• Argentina: bearings replaced in air compressor

Here are some lessons learned (don't be expecting anything deep and philosophical here):

• Mexico is not as dangerous as Americans claim
• Colombians are the nicest people in the world, but the worst drivers
• If you see something you need/want, buy it- you probably won't find it again
• If you have duct tape, WD40, and two-pot epoxy, you can fix anything
• Pretending not to speak spanish is the best way to handle dodgy road cops
• Probably best to invest more than in a week in spanish classes if you want to learn the language
• Our parents are amazing and very supportive (as if we didn't know that already)

Thanks for reading! We need to get back to planning our next trip....

Thirteen hours in Chile

After a quick two hour flight from Buenos Aires, we landed in Santiago, the capital of Chile, with thirteen hours to check out this lovely city before our flight to NZ. Ringed by snowy mountains, it's a beautiful city with plenty of character and old colonial buildings. 

We walked up Cerro Santa Lucia for a fantastic view of the mountains and the city. We visited the main plaza, and the presidential palace. We then spent a good few hours drinking beer, playing cards and eating wantons before our flight back to Aotearoa at midnight.

Uruguay, who would've thought.

We never planned to go to Uruguay, it was kind of a bonus track on our panamericangladiators greatest hits album. Indeed we had never really heard anything about Uruguay other than it was down there near Argentina/Brazil and presumably Paraguay.

We visited the beautiful colonial town of Colonia del Sacremento, an hours ferry ride west of Buenos Aires across the Rio Plato. We stayed in a hostel, which we are not used to. We were treated to an all you can eat asado, and bottomless jugs of wine, so it wasn't all bad. We even managed a little sightseeing between rain squalls.

We also had a rain soaked peak at Montevideo, the nation's capital. Torrey made a conscious tactical decision to leave his rain jacket in Argentina, and paid for it dearly. We think Montevideo was beautiful, but couldn't see much for the weather.

Finally, we spent two nights in Piriapolis at a fantastic apartment. We had huge views of the coast and a marina. We had a very nice day in the sun, before the perfect storm struck on our last night. We had rolling thunder and lightning for eight straight hours.