Motorcycle Madness!
So the 4th October brought with it an all new, no-driving-test-needed experience in Mui Ne! Martin and I hired motorbikes, having never ridden one before in our lives and after very brief instructions in broken English as to what everything does Martin nearly killed himself by swerving straight over to the wrong side of the road! After his first warning as he nearly landed in a ditch due to not leaning as he corned we were initiated and with our manskills no-one could stop us!
We headed to the Red Sand Dunes and on the way we got boxed-in by kids on the back of motos with their dads driving. It was a bit like a chase scene from the movies with us constantly trying to get away, but them just speeding up or slowing down to match us! A bit intimidating considering our learner status and lack of protective gear (ie shorts and a helmet), but it turned out they were just being a little in-your-face about trying to get us to use their plastic sheets to slide down the sand dunes.
So we got there and the three kids organised themselves into 2 slide-pushers and a photographer! It was awesome fun slipping and bumping down the dunes and what's more we got to go the the hardcore, much steeper section rather than where the throngs of tourists were!
Next we motorcycled off a long way down the coast to another long beautiful bay, this time completely free of development. Realising we only had a 1/2 tank of fuel (well Martin did, my instruments panel including speedo was non-functional) we turned back for the Red Canyon. This was a bit like Bryce Canyon, with Hoodoo-style rock formations, this time though made out of sandstone. We had a bit of a scare whilst we filmed a mini documentary on how the formations reminded us of Lord of the Rings...
****INSERT VIDEO HERE****
****USE THIS LINK FOR NOW: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-924956064014925519&hl=en ****
We put the motos into 1st gear - a rediculously viscious gear which tries to throw you off the bike at every opportunity. Worse than this - your natural reaction is to hold on harder to the handlebars which in turn increases the acceleration from the handlebar throttle just worsening your already ungainly and uncomfortable ride!. The bike would just accelerate away leaving you flying on behind gripping the handlebars! Amazingly we made it across the soft sand Mui Ne's fishing port without any tumbles and out on to the harder sand by the water where we felt the need to pose with our new-foudn favourite means of transport!
That night we ate at a BBQ restaurant which we'd found on the motorbikes. Then we endulged in a spot of "Diese ist der Zauberer. Der wer? Der Zauberer." - this is the witch translated into German. Naturally this progressed into "Diese ist der Irische Zaubere" and it had to be said with an Irish accent - I think sometimes we just make things very difficult for ourselves! Tried to head to a club for the evening but alas it was closed for the low season so a spot more guitar tuition was in order!
We headed to the Red Sand Dunes and on the way we got boxed-in by kids on the back of motos with their dads driving. It was a bit like a chase scene from the movies with us constantly trying to get away, but them just speeding up or slowing down to match us! A bit intimidating considering our learner status and lack of protective gear (ie shorts and a helmet), but it turned out they were just being a little in-your-face about trying to get us to use their plastic sheets to slide down the sand dunes.
So we got there and the three kids organised themselves into 2 slide-pushers and a photographer! It was awesome fun slipping and bumping down the dunes and what's more we got to go the the hardcore, much steeper section rather than where the throngs of tourists were!
Next we motorcycled off a long way down the coast to another long beautiful bay, this time completely free of development. Realising we only had a 1/2 tank of fuel (well Martin did, my instruments panel including speedo was non-functional) we turned back for the Red Canyon. This was a bit like Bryce Canyon, with Hoodoo-style rock formations, this time though made out of sandstone. We had a bit of a scare whilst we filmed a mini documentary on how the formations reminded us of Lord of the Rings...
****INSERT VIDEO HERE****
****USE THIS LINK FOR NOW: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-924956064014925519&hl=en ****
We put the motos into 1st gear - a rediculously viscious gear which tries to throw you off the bike at every opportunity. Worse than this - your natural reaction is to hold on harder to the handlebars which in turn increases the acceleration from the handlebar throttle just worsening your already ungainly and uncomfortable ride!. The bike would just accelerate away leaving you flying on behind gripping the handlebars! Amazingly we made it across the soft sand Mui Ne's fishing port without any tumbles and out on to the harder sand by the water where we felt the need to pose with our new-foudn favourite means of transport!
That night we ate at a BBQ restaurant which we'd found on the motorbikes. Then we endulged in a spot of "Diese ist der Zauberer. Der wer? Der Zauberer." - this is the witch translated into German. Naturally this progressed into "Diese ist der Irische Zaubere" and it had to be said with an Irish accent - I think sometimes we just make things very difficult for ourselves! Tried to head to a club for the evening but alas it was closed for the low season so a spot more guitar tuition was in order!
Labels: Vietnam
posted by Ian Matthias at
10/15/2006 07:53:00 am
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