Today we tried to get familiar with the vietnamese taffic. But let me start at the beginning… After a rich breakfast - we tasted a “pho” (soup with beef and rice noodles) we’ve been ready to start our trip. Almost ready. Let’s say I didn’t want to separate from the bathroom. About half an hour later we definitely startet. We packed our motorbikes and drove back to the motorcycle rental station, since we forgot to buy the rain ponchos. It’s supposedly really hard to get ponchos for european people which are taller than 1.6m.
We would have had a few pictures from our journey through HCM - an adventure - but our camera had an exposure bug so that all our pictures were to bright. Anyway.
I’ll try to describe the traffic situation in words: U-turns are no problem, even buses make u-turns. The only problem is, that you have to anticipate wrong-way drivers everytime. You can see trucks loosing their tires, people fixing trucks in the middle of the road (the engine lying on the floor), buses overtaking trucks. One thing I’ve learned for sure: It’s not sure whether the trucks/buses breaks work or not. The most important part of every engine-driven vehicle is the horn.
And last but not least: Don’t just look twice or three times ahead and back AND slow down!
The last 50km of our trip today was hot but relaxing driving. We passed caoutchouc plantations, banana-, mango-, papaya trees, met many very friendly people which were always smiling, especially than, when both realized, that a normal communication isn’t possible.
In the early afternoon we arrived at the “Spirit Garden Guesthouse” at the border of the Cat Tien Nationalpark.
Tiny bungalows with simple but very clean facility, close to the river “Song Da Huoai”. We enjoy great hospitality and just had a absolutely delicious meal with typical vietnamese ingredients. A beautiful place to stay one more day!
