Buon Ma Thout is a big, pretty city located on a huge plateau known as the Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen). I visited this city twice while riding through Vietnam. I enjoyed both of my visits here.
My day started out in Nah Trang and it was a rough start. It started raining soon after I got on the road.
I was leaving the coast again and going up into the mountains to the Central Highlands. Starting the day out wet wasn't how I wanted my day to start.
To make matters worse, I also hit some construction which caused traffic. That wasn't too bad, nor was it very uncommon. But to make things even worse, my bike started having problems. It was acting like it wasn't getting any gas. I had to keep the engine at high RPMs or it would start to bog down. Eventually the engine just stopped and wouldn't start again. This happened during the pouring rain.
Luckily there was a gas station close by so I pushed the bike to it and stayed under the shelter until the rain passed. I called the woman at Tigit motorbikes and she said to take the bike to a mechanic and then call her back. I didn't know where a mechanic was so I ate a snack and waited for the rain to pass.
After the rain had stopped, I decided to try starting the bike again. It started right up! WTF? I decided to continue on my way because I didn't think I'd be able to explain the problem the bike was having to a mechanic. This problem would stay with the bike until I got it fixed in Hanoi. When it started raining, the engine would bog down and struggle and sometimes die. I didn't know it then, but the problem was one of the sparkplug covers was no good and the sparkplug was getting wet. The mechanic in Hanoi fixed it with electricians tape.
Back on the road, I was enjoying getting some kilometers behind me, but I was nervous about my bike. I didn't want it to break down in the middle of nowhere. But the longer it went without problems, the better I felt about it.
I passed through a lot of little towns on my way to the mountains. After an hour or two on the road, I stopped for a drink and a rest. I stopped close to a mechanic in case the bike didn't start up again.
Next to the place where I had my drinks, there was a daycare or someone who was watching the neighborhood kids. All the kids came out to say hello.
Luckily for me it didn't rain much for the rest of the day. It looked threatening, but the worst of it had already passed.
I climbed up into the mountains, but it wasn't too bad of a climb.
The land going through the mountains was lush and pretty. If I remember correctly, I hit a pretty long stretch of road construction. It's kind of interesting to ride through construction zones in Vietnam. Everyone just drives through on their scooters. You just try to avoid the excavators and steamrollers and make your way through the construction zone on your own. I mostly just tried to follow other people through.
I had started riding around 8:00 am. By 11:00 am I was out of the mountains and onto the Central Highlands.
The climate, land, plants, and towns were noticeably different in this region.
Things just seemed a little more rustic in this region.
Around noon I stopped to have something to drink and take a break. I stopped across the street from a lake. A group of guys and a lady were across the street from me at a little building next to the lake. One of them waved me over and invited me to sit down with them. I pulled my bike up and then sat down with them.
I felt awkward at first, joining a group of strangers with very little language in common. But they were super friendly and the one with the most English asked a lot of questions and translated. I got more comfortable pretty quickly.
They were hanging out and having vodka and tiny birds. We talked and joked quite a bit. They kept giving me shots of vodka, but I still had 100KM of driving in front of me. I said something about preferring beer and one of the guys ran to the store and bought me a beer despite my protests.
They kept telling me to eat the birds. In yesterday's post I explained that I'm not a fan of skin, bones, feet, heads, or guts in my food. These looked to have all of those things in one tiny package.
I ate one and it wasn't too bad. The flavor was a pretty strong lemongrass flavor and something savory. The bird's head and brains seemed more like a hardboiled egg yoke than anything else. But one was enough for me and I didn't have any more.
I asked about what the birds were. I though they were baby chickens. One of the guys made a shooting-with-a-rifle gesture and pointed at some sparrows that were flying around.
This group was a lot of fun and I was really humbled by their generosity and kindness. They were the first group to invite me to their table. I would get more and more invites the further north I traveled. Or maybe it was the more time I spent in Vietnam, the more times I came face to face with Vietnamese hospitality. For a day that started out with rain, construction, and bike problems, it was turning out great!
After an hour or two of taking shots of vodka and having a beer, I said my good byes and thank yous and got back on the road.
On the road, I enjoyed the sights and felt my spirits recharged.
The land was mostly flat farmland and the riding was smooth and stress-free.
I started taking photos of the billboards. The style that's used in Vietnam is pretty unique to this country. Laos had similar billboards, but the artists in Vietnam seemed a little more talented.
I stopped at an old amusement park that was next to the road.
The weather cleared up nicely and it ended up being a very pleasant ride.
I arrived in BMT around 2:00pm. It took me a little time to find a hotel because I was looking in the wrong part of town. Eventually I found a place that was really nice and only cost about $15.
I took my bike in for an oil change. I'd been told by the lady at Tigit that I would need to change the oil almost every day. The bikes weren't really designed to be run for 7-8 hours straight. Oil changes were usually $5-$10 so it wasn't a big deal.
After the oil change, I returned to the hotel and parked my bike for the night. I then went out on foot to find some food and beer.
On the same street as my hotel, I found Cafe Rider. I checked google maps and it doesn't seem to exist any more. It was a cool place with scooters and old motorcycles decorating the inside.
It was a really cool place and I had a few beers here and read my book for a few hours.
At some of the other tables, a group of high school aged teenagers were having a birthday party. At one point, a group of them shyly approached my table and asked if I wanted some cake. Usually I'm not really into cake, but it was such a kind gesture. I had to say yes.
The cake was really good and I was touched by the kindness that these kids had for a stranger. After a while, I left to get some dinner. I stopped by the birthday table and thanked them for the cake and wished the birthday girl a happy birthday.
I found a pretty good restaurant and enjoyed my dinner. Then walked back to my hotel after dark.
It was a great day of riding for me. Even though it started poorly, the people of Vietnam really made it a special day for me. Up until this day, Vietnam was OK. It was a just a cool place to ride. After this day, Vietnam really felt like a special place to me. It wasn't the beautiful land that I was riding through, other countries are beautiful too. It was the warm and gracious people of Vietnam that were quickly making Vietnam my favorite country.
Years later, people ask me what my favorite country is after traveling to 25 of them. I always say "Vietnam by a lot, my next favorite country isn't even close. Vietnam is on a whole different level."
Luckily for me, this was just the beginning of my incredible time in Vietnam. I hope you'll join me for my next post as I continue my road trip.
