It was an easy 170 km ride out of Da Lat to Lak Lake. I was a bit hesitant to leave the fabulous weather (Read: Cool and Less Humid) that Da Lat offered. That, and the breakfast spread. Alas, we had to continue our trek up north.
The ride out of Da Lat was easy. The roads were decently paved, with no road construction. With only 170 km to cover, we had time to stop, take photos, and enjoy the day.
Many of the rivers here in Vietnam all appear to be very silty. Not necessarily dirty, but high concentrations of brown silt. Not sure if this is from improper resource management, but that looks like a lot of erosion somewhere upstream.
We thought the ride would be all downhill (literally) from Da Lat, since it was the central HIGHlands. That was the case, until our third hour into the ride. Then, the road started climbing again, challenging the poor Honda. By the time we crested the top of the hill, both the bike and the riders needed a break. We stopped at an mediocre looking truck stop, and hoped to get some food that had not been sitting since yesterday. To our surprise, it was one of the better meals we’ve had – a huge spread. But even better than the food, was the view out of the window. Perched on a hill top, we were able to see the entire valley we had just ridden up. All the while enjoying our lovely meal. That goes to show you should never judge a book by its cover.
That's the name of the restaurant. Definitely stop by if you're ever in the area. They've included a flag in case you miss the only restaurant at the top of the hill.
The lunchtime view from our truck stop dining experience. Views of orchards and valleys in this scenic rolling landscape.
All fed, rested, and ready to cover more ground.
We’ve learned that riding the motorbike takes lots of skill, patience, tenacity, and knowing when to take breaks. Reading other blogs, we found that other people have experienced the same excruciating pain of sitting on a saddle designed by the same person who sketched out medieval torture devices. They had appropriately named this “N.B.S.,” which stood for Numb Butt Syndrome.
As we rounded a corner, we found a coffee and hammock stand, a pulled in. Unknowingly, we had run into some new friends, Oliver and Mr. Chan of the Da Lat Easy Riders. (More on them in the next entry.) We chatted a bit at the hammock stand, traded stories, and talked about where our next stops were.
While planning our trip, Margaret had found a blog site that talked about a homestay in Lak Lake, just south of Dak Lak. After doing some homework, we found that the homestay was arranged through Mr. Duc at Duc Mai Coffee in Lak Lake. As luck would have it, Oliver and Mr. Chan were staying there as well. They helped us reserve a room, and made dinner arrangements.
Continuing to Lak Lake, we came across a floating community just underneath a newly constructed bridge.
Floating villages along the river. May be a bit difficult to move during the low season, when the rivers and lakes are so low.
You can even see that they have garden plots in between the homes!
One of the few times we have a photo of the both of us together. Thanks Oliver!
It was late afternoon when we rolled into Lak Lake. We looked for Mr. Duc’s shop, Duc Mai Coffee all through town. We thought it was on the main road through town. After doing a few laps back and forth, we stopped to ask for directions. Remember about smiling and nodding from earlier entries? Well, the same happened here, where the locals pointed us down the road, and said turn right. A couple more turns, and we were right back where were started, no closer. This time, we called Mr. Duc, and his son answered. We gave the phone to the locals to describe where we were. And luckily, he was able to come meet us, and we followed him to the Duc Mai Coffee.
Here is the elusive Duc Mai Coffee shop that took us over 45 minutes to find.
After checking in – Mr. Duc’s son took us down the road to this traditional longhouse. He gave us two towels, and pointed to the mattresses on the floor, and told us this was where we were sleeping. It was a really awkward situation, as we weren’t really introduced to the family members who lived there, what the customs were, do’s and don’t, etc. So, all we could really say were “Hi” and “Hello” in passing.
Here's the longhouse where we spent the night.
Examples of other longhouses in the village. Note the satellite dish!
Beautiful rice fields surround the village.
The view of Lak Lake from behind the longhouse. Evident in the photo, the lake was extremely low, as it was towards the end of dry season.
On the way out the next morning, I had noticed that the rear end of the motorbike had started to make some glorious metal-on-metal noise. After tightening every bolt, adjust the slack in the chain, nothing was left but the wheel bearing. Off to the mechanic again. After unbolting the rear wheel, the bearing had wallowed out the hub. Originally, the “mechanic” was going to use a bear can as a shim, to keep the bearing from spinning. I said no way, you need to machine out the hub, and find an insert. Well, that took two hours, but it looked more legitimate that the beer can shim. $5 for the insert, machining, and new bearing. As we were off.
You can see the "mechanic" working on making the shim - before I realized what he was doing and told him to stop.
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