Bacon Loves Kale: Buon Ma Thuot to Kon Tum

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This was a high mileage day, so we got up extra early, saddled up, and hit the road. 255 km, I estimated, was going to be nine hours of riding. I estimated wrong. My calculations were based on paved roads. Not this rutted out, gravel strewn, water logged construction site they called a highway.

Potholes were about hub deep, and large enough to be a fish farm.

And to add insult to injury - riding a motorbike without a windscreen took its toll. I had a beetle of some sort fly into my shirt, and lodge itself into my belly button. At first, I felt a small stinging/itching sensation, and finally stopped a few miles later. Took my gloves off, and basically smashed it to pieces and pressed it further into my belly button. In the end, I basically had to scoop (what I hope) was the rest of it out with the motorbike key.

After seemingly endless miles of dirt, gravel (which is terrible and scary as hell on this motorbike), and the rear suspension constantly bottoming out - it finally happened. Another part broke. I knew something was about to let go, but I wasn't quite sure what it would be this time. I had mentally gone through a checklist of all the parts that have been replaced. BAMN. One good pop, and we were down for the count. Chain had popped loose, got caught in the rear sprocket - twisted the chain and chipped the sprocket.

With a limited amount of tools, all I could do was tighten the chain, and find the next mechanic. No luck - chain popped off again. Pushed it downhill, to a residence, and asked if they had any more tools, or could take me to a mechanic. But first, we inspected the bike, and straightened out as much as we could.

And this is what restores my faith in humanity. They assembled as many tools as they had, and started working on the bike. And these were complete strangers, whom we had met mere minutes ago.

After showing them that we needed new parts, Grampa got dressed, and took his own motorbike and told me to follow him to the mechanic down the road. And he helped explained what was wrong, and I told the mechanic not to fix the chain, but just to get a new one, and new sprocket set. Grampa waited there with me for over an hour as the mechanic went to fetch the new parts.

Here's the family - which we apparently are a part of now.

Left to right: Margaret, Daughter, Gramma, Grandaughter, Grampa.

We wanted to give them a parting gift, but didn't have anything on us. We tried to give them money, but they wouldn't accept it. Grampa saw that we had a couple of spare bungee cords, and he looked like he wanted - so I gestured him to keep it. They said there was rain off in the distance, and said we should eat dinner with them, and stay over night. We obviously could not accept yet another gift, and decided to make up some ground.

Losing over an hour and half, Kon Tum was not looking likely. So we stopped in Pleiku (46 km short of Kon Tum). That was a great decision, as it was dark, and no more than 5 minutes after checking into a motel - the downpour began.

The best part about this unexpected stop was that we found this really restaurant that sold delicious Hai Nam chicken - a friend variation of the Hong Kong Style Hai Nan chicken. I could have easily eaten two plates. The owner was really friendly, and brought us more rice and vegetables.

Heading into our actual destination, this is what our little rolling motorhome looks and sounds like. 110cc of raw power!

The route between Pleiku and Kon Tum was beautiful - lots of green rice paddies, rubber trees. All quite lush.

Rice paddies as far as the eye can see.

A required selfie, of course.

And the mandatory Vietnamese coffee break. Can't get enough of this stuff. $0.50 goes a long way here.

Here is the flood plain, next to levy as we entered Kon Tum.

Margaret found this place called Eva Cafe, in her blog readings of Kon Tum. The place is pretty neat - really artsy feel to it, with many of the pieces either built or designed by the owner.

Lots of outdoor seating. I found a nice quite corner and passed out for an hour.

They even have a tree house.

One of the local specialties is Cà Phê Trung - coffee with egg. It's sweet egg froth, almost like meringue that hasn't set on a lemon meringue pie. It was delicious, albeit a bit spendy - $2.50.

Here's the owner - he had quite the conversation with Margaret on how to build a better fish pond that didnt' leak.

Kon Tum has a very unique history - The French had set up a colony here, with a heavy dose of Catholicism. The missionaries traces back to the mid 1800's, and their legacy can still be seen today.

Wooden Catholic Church built by the French.

Even more Catholic Churches.

Right across the street from the white and yellow church above, here is where they held their outdoor mass.

Another interesting thing about Kon Tum is the large number of ethnic minority villages around town. If they don't have a Vietnamese flag up front, you'll need special permission from the local police to visit them. Here's their traditional ceremonial meeting house. Given the pitch of that roof, you'd think it snows here!