This morning was the start of the journey south but first off to the office of Flamingo Motorcycles to pay for the rental, pay a security deposit and agree to pay for the bikes should they be stolen. No such thing as Insurance exists for these bikes in this part of the world. They did give us a large chain to lock the bikes together which gave us some comfort especially now as any thief or thieves would have to nic both bikes together. Our trusty steeds of questionable shape will both be 2003 Honda XR 250 cc dirt bikes which in this part of the world are huge machines. After a short walk to the shop to get our rides we had to wait for a half hour as mechanics worked feverishly to change the tube in the rear tire of my bike. After loading our gear as well as many spare parts and old tools provided by the rental company and fuelling we were off to the races in this city of traffic madness and within five minutes we made a wrong turn and got lost. A quick peek at the map and with a clear picture in our minds of the route out we managed to stay on coarse. We brought our helmet communication devices and were able to yell back and forth frequently with comments such as " look out", "did you see that"? " are you still behind me"? I think we turn here" and "I can't believe we are doing this". Thousands of scooters riding wherever they could, mixed in with trucks, taxis and cars doing exactly the same made the journey out of the city long and arduous. After two hours of this traffic madness we managed to become quite adapted at maneuvering like the locals and began to see the start of the countryside. We never realized how big this city was and started to relax as traffic became much lighter. Traveling through small villages and with lighter traffic we managed to get to the village of Yen Cat after seven hours of riding which is about 220 kilometres south of Hanoi. With only two hotels in this village we had the option of choosing the first 1 star or the second 0 star. We looked at rooms in both and decided on the ten dollar a night luxury of the first one star complete with cold running water and beds harder than concrete and tiny little bath towels thiner than paper. The other hotel had no towels or pillows let alone a bar of soap. Both did provide tooth brushes however? This evening we wandered the small village and ate Phoa followed by a beer at a local ....let's call it an establishment with small plastic chairs and a wee tiny table with questionable sanitary conditions. Exhausted and finally after a day learning how the traffic system works in this country we were in the sack early and asleep within minutes.
Loading tools and spare parts on Dan's bike didn't give us comfort to the bikes condition.
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