World Vietnam Nha Trang

Talya's Southeast Asia Trip

Easy Rider Trip to Nha Trang Mar 11, 2012

We saw so much on the 3 day Easy Rider trip that there is no way to explain it all so I'm just going to list what we did during each of the three days. Each day we were on the motorcycles a lot (especially the first and last day), but it was broken up by a lot of sightseeing stops. I did enjoy the trip but I think I was expecting something a little different, so I felt like it wasn't really worth the money that I spent. It was very similar to the one day Easy Rider trip that we went on, and I was expecting the scenery to be much different during the 3 day trip. It felt like we saw the same stuff over and over. A lot of the roads we took were through beautiful canyons and we saw bright green rice patties along the side of the roads. My guide spoke really great English, but a lot of the time Tamar and I were annoyed at how much he talked. He would go on and on about the tiniest bit of information and we stood there smiling and nodding and not sure how to get him to stop. He introduces himself as David but I think his real name is Chueng. By the end of the first day I was a bit annoyed by his incessant talking and the way he made jokes that neither Tamar and I found the least bit funny. We were entertained that every time we stopped someplace we were instructed to go for a little walk and "take pictures of the beautiful scenery." He kept reminding us to take more and more pictures. By the last day I was a bit tired of him constantly telling me to take pictures that when we stopped at a harbor with fishing boats and he turned around to tell me to go take pictures of the boats I said, "Actually I don't really need any pictures of that." I could tell he wasn't too pleased with me response. Overall it was a good experience and I saw a lot, but I really don't think it was worth the price, considering we had to pay for our own food and drinks on top of the $65 per day. Even though we had to pay for food, we did end up having really good food every day. The guides took us to really great places to eat authentic Vietnamese food. Day 1 of Easy Rider Trip – 3.9.12 1. Van Hanh Pagoda in Dalat- saw huge golden Buddha 2. Went to a farm just outside the city 3. Paradise lake- saw the beautiful lake and huge houses that are being built around the lake 4. walked a little bit around a minority village (called Chicken village because of the giant chicken statue in the center of the village) 5. Saw how coffee beans are cleaned and bagged 6. Mushroom farm 7. Saw cashew trees and tasted the fruit that the cashew nut grows on (its pretty gross- the fruit sucks the moisture right out of your tongue) 8. Got coffee and relaxed at a small shop by the side of the road 9. Drove through the windy canyons and passed by a lot of wet rice patties 10. Got to the hotel and went out for dinner Day 2 of Easy Rider Trip 3.10.12 1. Had breakfast at the hotel 2. Went to a small village and walked around for a little bit 3. Went to the largest natural lake in Vietnam 4. Went to another small village and saw local women preparing rice to make rice wine. At the village we passed out small candies to the local children. They were so cute and kept coming out of their houses because their friends told them that we were handing out candy. As we gave them candy I was taking pictures of them and they LOVED seeing pictures of themselves on the digital camera. They kept saying “Anh Anh” which means “you you” when they were looking at the pictures. They were laughing every time they saw the pictures of themselves and it was so cute. 5. Went to a passion fruit farm and played with the cutest little puppy. Tasted the fresh passion fruit and it was absolutely amazing. 6. Went to place where we were able to hold a couple pythons (one normal young python and one huge older one) 7. Had lunch at a Pho place 8. Drove to take a couple short hike and see a few different waterfalls 9. Saw the old bridge going back into Dak Lak province 10. Got to our hotel then went out for dinner with the guides 11. Went to bed really early Day 3 of Trip 3.11.12 1. Got an early start because we had 197 km to go that day 2. Stopped at an area where there are rubber trees growing. Our guide explained to us how people come and make rings of cuts around the bark in order to collect the sap (which then is turned into rubber). 3. Saw cocoa trees and were shown raw cocoa beans 4. Went to place where a woman was making rice paper 5. Saw pepper trees 6. Went to brick making factory 7. As we drove through the canyons and small towns passed by a lot of wedding parties 8. We got dropped off along some canyon and were told to walk on the highway and “take pictures of the beautiful scenery.” It was maybe the dumbest idea they've had thus far on the trip. The road was so busy and there was nowhere for us to walk, we kept getting buses and motorbikes honking at us to get out of the way. We laughed the whole time at the situation. 9. We got dropped off in Nha Trang at the travel agency and we put our stuff away so we could walk around for a couple hours before we had to get on the night bus. 10. Went to an internet cafe where I checked my email on my laptop for a while. While trying to get the computer plug out of the socket I got electrocuted. Yes... electrocuted. The adaptor broke and I tried to pull the broken piece out of the socket and touched the metal and ZAP. Huge shock of electricity went all the way up my arm. Definitely scared me. 11. Tamar and I went for an early dinner and then got on the night bus. The bus way definitely the nicest night bus I've been on so far. It was the first sleeper bus I'd ever seen. There are no upright seats, only bed-like seats where the legs are completely straight forward, and the back can adjust up and down. The bus left at 7 pm and was scheduled to get to Hoi An at 6 am. I took a sleeping pill and was fast asleep by 8 pm. It was not a restful sleep, I kept waking up in the middle of the night, but I was able to sleep on and off until we arrived in Hoi An.

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