Travelled: October 3-4, 2015

Another weekend motorbike excursion is now under my belt. This time we cruised out with 23 people to Mai Châu. We met at Ho Chi Minh mausoleum at 5:30am. We didn’t leave as soon as expected, not taking off until just after 6:00am. However, we did catch the morning yoga workouts done by locals, spread across the grass and concrete walkway, and the rising of the flag. It was unexpected and a really beautiful moment.

The whole journey there was a bit rocky. Naturally the large group split into three smaller travelling groups. Each group seemed to have some sort of defaulted motorbike journey, whether it was mechanical, a flat tire or an accident. Within my group, I was the unlucky one who was hit by another motorbike. Slowing down for a pothole, I cruised over it soundlessly until two seconds later the person behind me slammed into my left calf and bike, making myself and my bike fall. My immediate reaction was to get the fuck up before I get crushed by a cement truck. Getting up I hobbled over to the side of the road, asking someone to grab my bike out of the middle of the highway. I was just happy I could walk, although there was a limp stemming from the bottom portion of my leg. Falling on my left side is always a gamble with my hip replacement. I was alright— a few rips in my denim jacket, but shockingly no damage to my $2 made in Vietnam cotton pants. (Impressive!) After I was hit, a Vietnamese lady behind me got hit and fell as well, but had what appeared to be pretty bad road rash from having a large portion of her skin exposed. Standing on the side of the road, I tried to pull myself together. Thankfully I had support from my friends and we chilled out for a minute before heading back on the road. The irony in the fall, was the song I had playing at the time, Ween’s “Falling Out.” Although the connotation of the song is based on the extremities of ending relationships, the fact I was hearing the words falling out as I fell of my bike, resonated pretty comically within myself.

Back on the road, the 11 of us continued on our journey. We stopping for lunch and coffee, pulled over to put our rain ponchos on, paused to make sure one of our fellow traveler and friend skidded out on the road from gravel was okay and made a group consensus on which route to take. We settled for the longer way, passing through a waterfall and a village. This road had so many natural beauties as well as so many imperfections in the ground. We passed over mud, sharp large rocks, dirt paths, severely unpaved roads, puddles of water and lose gravel. We avoided flocks of animals, road kill, other motorbikes coming in the opposite direction, children playing in the roads and bits of nature scattered along our path. We stopped a few times to observe and take in the stunning views of mountains, valleys and waterfalls. After a long 8 hour journey, we finally made it to our home stay in Mai Châu.

I was happy to be settled in somewhere for a day, not having to drive my motorbike and be able to catch my breathe from the anxiety I accrued on this excursion. I put my stuff on one of many lined up floor mattress on the top floor of our home stay. There were about 20 beds lined on the floor, each with a blanket, pillow and mosquito net to be put down once getting in to bed. The bottom outside area was lined with bench style tables and a box fridge full of Hà Nội beer, water and Coca Colas. As always, gravitating to an ice cold beer, a bunch of us hung out just talking and sharing our bike journeys. It was nice to all be there safe and sound after all the accidents and mechanical fails.

Shortly after, picking ourselves up, we began roaming the intimate streets of the Mai Châu village we were staying in. Each store had a rustic build, all wood and open. They were lined with colorful and embroidered handcrafted goods for sale. It was a nice and slow paced walk with good company. We spent the afternoon exploring, drinking beers and doing some shopping. The day shifted into evening and we headed back to our home stay for some delicious home cooked Vietnamese food.

Every Saturday night there is a bon fire event in Mai Châu that is full of young adults dancing and singing around a field of multiple bon fires. Being part of the reason we took the trip, it was an obligatory thing to see although it was a long exhausting day. I walked as far as I could, until I found a large golf cart that drove a friend and I to the bon fire for $1. The bon fire was full of energy, music and laughter. I only stayed for a short while to see what it was about before heading back to be more comfortable and horizontal.

Early the next morning I was awoken from an already shitty sleep to a chain of three roosters cock-a-doodling like no ones business. It went on for hours, as I would hear them doodle from loudest, to medium volume to the quietest on repeat. When the sun finally came out at 6:00am I walked downstairs to ice my leg. An hour later, delicious egg and cheese sandwiches were served for breakfast. After eating some of us went to the rooftop Sunset coffee bar to enjoy a hot Vietnamese coffee with milk and take in the foggy mountainous views. It is so peaceful being amongst the mountains, not hearing horns or logged in to social networking.

We spent another hour walking around doing last minute bargaining and shopping before heading back to Hanoi. The ride home was a lot more soundless with the only interruptions being to get gas or stop and take a few pictures. Although driving on the open road has gorgeous scenery and you can cover more ground in a shorter time, it is more dangerous going at a faster speed and hitting larger pot holes or any unfriendly road condition. There was a huge sense of relief getting back in to the city.