This February, we spent a full week on a motorbike journey in Vietnam. We employed two guides (by way of Simple Riders Vietnam, primarily based in Dalat) and set off to discover the Vietnamese Highlands and the coast from Hoi An to Hué collectively. We got here again with over a thousand pictures, which is why it’s taken us ages to undergo them and choose the most effective ones to share. We noticed a lot that it’s not possible to suit the whole lot into one publish, so right here come the highlights of day 1!
We set off from Dalat, toured across the metropolis a bit, after which took to the nation roads to find rural Vietnam.
The loopy home in Dalat. As a resident of Barcelona, I’d describe it as “like Gaudi on steroids”. Loopy home is an apt identify. Very a lot loved strolling by way of it and discovering hidden corners. You’ll be able to truly sleep right here, some rooms are arrange as resort rooms!
Dalat practice station. It’s at the moment not practical, however there are talks about reviving the practice route from the coast to Dalat. My spotlight there was discovering a practice that was inbuilt Esslingen, a mere 15 kilometers from the place I used to be born.
And off we had been, leaving town and discovering the nation aspect with our Simple Riders.
A buddha statue we visited on the way in which – I can’t bear in mind the place precisely it was!
We stopped at Elephant Falls for a brief hike to the waterfall. Gorgeous!
Visiting a espresso farm
One of many highlights of day 1 of our motorbike journey was visiting a espresso farm. Not simply any sort of espresso farm, however a weasel espresso one. Have you ever ever heard of Ca Phe Chon, or, because it’s extra famously recognized in Indonesia, Kopi Luwak? For those who haven’t heard of it, that is going to sound actually unusual: For this well-known espresso, the farmers let Asian palm civets wander across the farm. The animals eat espresso beans, and excrete them half-fermented. The farmers decide up the droppings, clear them (completely, I hope), dry them, roast them, after which promote the beans at loopy excessive costs. It’s thought-about a delicacy in massive components of Asia.
Views of the espresso farm from the customer’s middle
A Robusta kind espresso plant with unripe flowers
The ripe beans… that is what the civets, or weasels, eat!
The Asian palm civet. The most costly Kopi Luwak is made utilizing wild civets, however most of one of these espresso in Vietnam is now produced with caged animals, it’s develop into fairly industrialised.
Yup, that’s what you suppose it’s.
…and right here’s a close-up of the weasel poop.
After surviving our first cup of poop espresso, our lead information Hung instructed us excitedly that our subsequent cease could be a cricket farm. I knew we’d be consuming native meals for the week, however I wasn’t anticipating to get thrown into the deep finish like that!
Crunching on crispy crickets
So, subsequent cease: a cricket farm. I hate having something creepy-crawly in my condo or resort room, so I wasn’t certain this was going to go down properly with me. Cricket farms are unusual locations. The crickets are bred in massive open bins stuffed with dried banana leaves, which the crickets use each for ‘housing’ and for meals. Think about the sound of a number of thousand crickets crawling over dried leaves… eek!
Hundreds of crickets crawling over banana leaves. These had been about mid-stage, near closing measurement however not fairly but.
These ones are ripe for selecting… absolutely grown crickets, up shut. I clearly didn’t take this image, I did NOT need to get that near them.
Only a mid afternoon snack… crispy fried crickets with candy chili sauce!
Hanging out with our information Hung, having crispy crickets and a few robust rice whiskey to scrub them down with!
Would you?? I attempted one… after which truly ended up consuming half the plate. Crispy crickets, it seems, aren’t that unhealthy.
Again on the street, having fun with unimaginable views of the highlands!
Completely happy Buddha, an enormous buddha statue we visited on our method to Lak Lake. “Completely happy buddha” was additionally the expression we used for the remainder of the week once we had been tremendous full after a meal.
Visiting a silk farm… and studying that not the whole lot is as tasty as crickets
As a result of poop espresso and crispy crickets weren’t sufficient for a primary day introduction to Vietnam motorbike adventures, our trusted guides then proceeded to take us to a silk farm. You’ll see beneath why I feel there was clearly technique behind the order of the locations we visited!
Harmless trying silkworms…
Silk worm cocoons
The cocoons up shut, you’ll be able to see the wonderful silk threads
Within the manufacturing facility, the cocoons are washed after which fed into massive machines that can spin the threads collectively.
Unusually formed cocoons (a few of them are doubles, the place two worms determined to out collectively) need to be spun by hand. This girl was so fast the digicam didn’t fairly catch it, however she was utilizing chopsticks to deal with the cocoons!
Right here’s the place issues get sketchy. Our guides provided us a snack of silkworm larvae, steamed with lemongrass. I clearly wasn’t paying consideration, as a result of I didn’t discover neither of them had been consuming any of those themselves.
I’m nonetheless smiling as I’m posing with my silk worm… I used to be not smiling as soon as I ate it. Silk worms, it seems, are nowhere close to nearly as good as crickets. I can’t even describe the style, however simply the feel alone was bizarre. Ugh. Not recommendable.
Vietnam motorbike journey: the surroundings en route
The surroundings was beautiful, day-after-day of our journey. Day 1 was completely within the highlands, generally using alongside roads that had been a part of the Ho Chi Minh Path in the course of the battle. Despite the fact that we visited within the dry season, it was very inexperienced – the highlands get extra rain than the coastal space, even throughout dry season.
Intense inexperienced hills within the highlands, excessive above sea degree.
We climbed up these insanely steep stairs to get the most effective view – it was price it! And we labored off the energy from all of the crickets we ate.
We stopped on a bridge over a big water reservoir…
The fisher households have constructed their homes straight on the water…
…and so they promote their catch on the aspect of the street. Dried fish in loads of completely different variations. We had among the dried fish hanging there for dinner.
Inexperienced hills so far as the attention can see!
Pigs & Whiskey all the time go collectively
One other culinary element we realized that day: Pigs and whiskey all the time go collectively. This little farm had a barn stuffed with pigs, and outdoors the barn stood two massive cauldrons. We realized that they make rice whiskey right here, after which feed the pigs the fermented rice. The main points are a bit fuzzy now… we did attempt some whiskey later that night.
The cauldron for fermenting / brewing / distilling the whiskey
The pig barn
Our night: A lot of meals, some music and a little bit of whiskey
It was an intense day. In complete, I counted 21 stops that day. There are many little sightseeing stops and brief hikes I’ve needed to minimize out to maintain this publish below 30 pictures.
Within the night, we bought to Lak Lake the place, because it was already darkish, we dropped off our luggage within the resort and went straight to dinner, the place we had an enormous feast of Vietnamese goodies – no bugs this time.
Some lemongrass pork skewers from our dinner feast. I undoubtedly desire my lemongrass with pork slightly than with silkworms.
A hill tribe ceremony demonstration we stumbled upon. It was being held for a bunch of vacationers, but it surely was nonetheless a good looking method to finish the day, listening to their music, watching their dancing, and becoming a member of within the conventional whiskey consuming, the place everybody drinks out of the identical jug with the identical big straw.
Hill tribe musicians
So, that was simply day one. Extra to return as I am going by way of my hundreds of pictures… when you have a query within the meantime, don’t hesitate to go away a remark beneath!
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