OFF-Road Viet Nam
the mud came unexpected. we had not much time left on our vietnam visas so decided to make a “shortcut” via jungle to the next big road. the map we had showed a little path that should lead us the right way. little did we know back then how complicated it would get… haha! we left with sunny weather and after few kilometers of steep climb found ourselves in thick mist and fog. a pure cloud forest and cold temperatures. as its constantly humid the “road” is pure mud, like melted butter, and the 100kg motorbike and me kept falling all the time… Marcos clutch broke and he got a flat tire. I broke my steering wheel and burnt my leg pretty bad. it was night by then and only blackness and mud around us. somehow around 9 pm after endless hills we reached a little village. i cooked some meat with veggies while Marco got his wheel fixed by some local dude. after leaving he got a flat tire again. we got back to the sleepy village. changed the flat tire to find out we made a whole when putting it back… so on and so on… at 2am with the cafeine leaving the system we started getting sleepy and after trying to change the wheel for 3 consecutive times with no luck we gave up and crashed out in a shed with no walls to protect us from dampness… early early morning we woke up happy. i dont know why but the more complicated things get the more fun you can squeeze out of it. we where fixing the bikes long time and when finaly back on the road another few hours of mud awaited. then slowly we started the descent and after leaving the fog for the first time in 24 hours we could see how high we were and the first real city beneath us. to our surprise it was even further up north than where we started so the shortcut was good for nothing. we must have gotten lost somewhere along the road. the same day another 150 km awaited. we arrived exhausted to Son La where we slept and rose early for another 12hour driving day to reach the border as it was the last visa day… We entered Laos dead tired. I dont think I would like to repeat something like this with knowing what awaits. How ever it turned out biblical and the memories are priceless.
