Global Rally

It was a wrench to leave Da Lat and the Dalat Palace Hotel. It’s a spectacular colonial building high on a hill overlooking a lake, very reminiscent of Geneva. The hotel has log fires in the bedrooms, fortunately not lit, and a magnificent dining room where we enjoyed a superb meal.   Again the hospitality was superb and we were looked after very well.

Before leaving, most people took a quick taxi trip around the old French quarter and a visit to the market.  Getting across the road on food was the most nerve wracking bit of the trip so far!

 

The first 75Kms of the drive to Ke Ga was a trifle tedious along the highway choked with traffic, relieved only for some by a detour to another waterfall. Many missed it because the sign to it had been removed but it proved a useful stop for some minor running repairs, or a catch up on the route book as Lorraine did above.

Then blissfully, we turned left and took a winding 46Km country road through the highlands; a thin strip of mostly single track, winding up hill and down, around and through vertiginous valleys heavily wooded and planted with coffee.. It was a glorious drive and ideal conditions for classic cars.

The first notable stop for a few of the team were the Lien Khurong Falls.  A deluge of muddy water that is some 200 meters wide and crashes over a vast escarpment of jagged rock.   Bizarrely the entrance to the falls is through a shop front, down a flight of concrete steps and then through the cafe owner’s house!   It was a long steep metal staircase that led down to the river, snaking through banana trees and bamboo.

Not so bad on the way down, but a killer on the knees coming back up.   So some of us opted to skip this one and take the opportunity to do some fine tuning!

Or to find a novel way of keeping our heads cool, like David above.

The advertised “Banyan Tree” coffee stop was closed for early travellers but opened for later arrivals and offered not only spectacular views but another opportunity for some fettling to a couple of cars.

The cafe is named after the famous Banyan Tree that it stood beside, note the past tense as the tree is sadly no more.   The owners of the cafe are a husband and wife, the former offers a side business in motorbike maintenance, while the latter deals with the refreshment.   No English is spoken but ordering with sign language was pretty straight forward!

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The recycling of plastic bottles is taken very seriously in Vietnam, which might explain the “guard” dog?!

The less said about this loo at one of our coffee stops today, the better.

There was time at one of the coffee stops today though for our guide, Tracy, to sing happy birthday to Debbi

Some cars today needed a bit more cooling off in the heat than others!

The terrain eventually flattened out, and cresting a rise we eventually could see the sea.

The last part of the drive followed the coast, with a continuous strip of resorts and hotels along the beach until we arrived in paradise; the Princess D’Annam resort.

The evening was memorable for being Debbi’s birthday, our first on this trip (word is there may be a couple more to come), celebrated liberally in the bar before a barbecue lobster dinner beside the beach. It doesn’t get much better than this!

 

A day off today

These rare animals are enjoyed as much as the travelling days because ‘one night stands’ are stressful, packing and unpacking the car every night and morning.

The routines for a day off are many and varied.

Some have a lie in and a late breakfast before a day lazing around.

Some head off on an excursion, determined to benefit the maximum from being in an exotic location.

Some head for the car park for some light fettling and a session with the chamois..

Some have issues with the car to resolve, and Paul is on full twirtle helping out.  The parking area was a maintenance and repair sight as all the eager beavers were out ferreting and fettling with their cars or waiting in line for Paul’s help.

Or some take their car to the local “car wash”

Some book a massage and some go for a swim in the South China Sea.

Some do some washing and some sort out their bags.

Some catch up with emails, or the book that needs finishing.

But nobody manages to do it all……..

For everybody though, the rest day is precious and we wont get another one for 5 days when we reach Siem Riep in Cambodia on Valentine’s Day.

The day was spent in Ke Ga, in the shadow of the the lighthouse built in 1899 to warn of the treacherous rocks off the coast and is the tallest in Vietnam.

The observant amongst you will notice that this is the first picture shared of car 15, the MG.   There’s a reason for that!   A saga of ships, ports, storms, who knows what,  delayed the car and it has only just caught us up, but John and Marian have been philosophical throughout.

“ First world problem”, John said, “and if that is the worst that can happen, so what?”

John and Marian have been amazing about the delay and have enjoyed travelling with Neil and Tessa/David in the 4x4s but are now happily reunited with their treasured car and looking forward to completing the rest of the journey together.

Early nights all round were also on the cards as tomorrow is a nine hour driving day, including skirting around Ho Chi Minh which might be “interesting” for the navigators!

We knew this day was going to be tricky because we needed a 2 hr briefing the night before to explain that although the roadbook was accurate, some of the roads we were to take are not on the map. So everyone gathered to mark up their maps with the intended route.

Although the day was to be only 360kms, we started at 06:30 because we had two challenges. We were to transit Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City and we also had two ferries to take across the mighty Mekong river. So an 8 hour day was to be in prospect, but that turned out to be optimistic: in the extreme for some.

The challenges of the day were mainly for the navigators although for drivers it was a day of “working the traffic”, ducking and diving, dodging and weaving in and out of trucks, buses and mainly motor cycles.

The first part of the drive was lovely, along the coast and through a nature reserve to a beach village where they still practice coracle fishing. Nearby, we stopped at a museum dedicated to military history of the Vietnam war.

The beach village was swarming with kids keen on collecting the ‘give away’ picture cards that we all carry; oh and climbing into the cars for a photoshoot.

Beyond that the day’s challenges were several.

Firstly, we had to transit Ho Chi Minh City (HCM) which at the best of times is to be avoided. But to enjoy the delights of the Mekong Delta, it is the only way to get there.

In Vietnam, people only get one week’s holiday per year and it occurs to coincide with the Vietnamese New Year. Today, Saturday, is the first day of that week and the whole nation is on the move. So the traffic was appalling.

Secondly, the air in this part of Vietnam is thick with pollution. Fires are lit along the road, sometimes to burn scrub and sometimes to burn rubbish that has been dumped outside as there is not rubbish collection. So the air in which we travelled was thick to breathe.

Thirdly, it was hot, dammed hot, (as Robin Williams said so eloquently in “Good Morning Vietnam”) and the combination of heat, dust, noise and hassle from the traffic made it difficult to make the right decisions at critical junctions.

Fourthly, the queue for the second ferry was over an hour as only about 8 cars could get on, along with 8 thousand motorcycles (I exaggerate).

So by the time that we got to the lovely hotel in Can Tho it was almost 5pm. Some made it earlier, but due to breakdown problems, two cars along with Paul our mechanic did not make it until late. At the time of writing, they are still not in.

Although it was a difficult day for many, the spirit of the group remained upbeat and positive in the evening. The Victoria Hotel where we are staying is right on the banks of the Mekong and has all the air of an old colonial Hotel; very comfortable and grand.

There is sad news and good news. The sad news is that Stuart’s daughter Becky, who has occupied his co-pilot seat from the start, has left us to return to South Africa. Thank you Becky for joining us, it was great fun.

The good news is that Stuart is joined by Chris, a familiar friend who has ‘global rallied’ before with us. Welcome Chris and enjoy the ride.

Late news. Everybody got in last night; one couple at 10:30 (long story) one couple at 12:30 and our back up at 3am (even longer story)

More tomorrow but we are relieved at last.

PS we have also made the local news in Vietnam:  Click here to have a read

Firstly an update on our late arrivals last night. David and Lorraine had a problem with the car and Tessa and David stopped with them to help.  Paul set off the find them but missed them for a combination of reasons, though whilst travelling alongside Neil’s Land Cruiser (the two of them known now as “Stereo Support”) two local chaps recognised the stickers on the front of the two cars as being identical to those on the stricken car they has past some time ago.

They tried to use their best sign language to explain to Paul and Neil how to get back to them.

Tessa and David were advised to leave the scene and got in to the hotel at 10:30pm. David and Lorraine got going without Paul’s help and arrived at 12:30.

Paul and Jo by this time were hopelessly snarled in ‘New Year’ traffic, travelling at night to avoid the heat of the day, and did not get in until 03:30am.

A perfect storm of problems from which which we have learned lessons for the rest of the Rally.

The day started early with an 06:30 embarkation onto a Mekong River boat for breakfast. We are to visit the famous Mekong floating river market in Can Tho and it’s quite special.

Farmers bring their produce, mostly vegetables and fruits, to the market by boat and wholesalers, who live on their boats, act as middlemen to the trade, mostly restaurants and retailers who want to buy fresh produce cheaply.   Vessels advertise what they sell by hanging their products from the top of a long bamboo pole at the bow.   The wholesalers have no overheads and pay lower sales tax, so the market thrives.

So we had a late start from the hotel and it was the usual bustle to get out of town but then we got onto country roads and had mile after mile of blissfully quiet roads: quiet because there was no noise from constant honking, apart from ourselves warning motorcycles ahead that we were coming by. It could not have been more different from yesterday.

We were traversing the Mekong Delta, flat obviously, and incredibly fertile.  The whole countryside was bursting with colour; all shades of green with flowering trees and plants.

 

Massive rice fields dominated the landscape. One example of the fertility is that the Mekong Delta enjoys 3-4 rice harvests per year, whereas in the north, they get between one and two. This makes the south relatively wealthy and trade was everywhere. No town or village was complete without row upon row of shops with every imaginable produce.

We were looking for a coffee stop and spied a large group of locals eating and drinking, so we stopped and were welcomed to sit and have tea and coffee. Unbeknown to us, it was a private family gathering, (celebrating the Vietnam New Year) but they did not seem to mind us joining them, and they cheered us on our way when we left. We could not help noticing that it was all the men at the table with a liberal quantity of empty beer cans under the table and the women were sitting at the back with the kids keeping their men supplied.  PC has not yet reached rural Vietnam!

 

Our route took us on some pretty small roads and at one point we were on a tow path alongside the canal, only just wide enough for our cars.

We eventually arrived at one of the visits of the day, a museum to commemorate the 1978 Khmer Rouge massacre of the village of Ba Chuc; a deeply moving reminder of the upheavals in this area in our own lifetime.

 

From there we followed the canal that demarks the border with Cambodia all the way to Ha Tien.

We have learnt the secret of the fires beside the road; it is the Vietnam equivalent of Spring Cleaning. Because this week is “New Year”, everybody cleans the house and the result ends up outside and needs to be burnt to tidy up. Burning the grass and scrub is similarly to tidy up the area round the house with a bonus of ash that will be used to fertilise the fields. Clever!

Tomorrow is a border crossing into Cambodia, where the Destination Rally team are already hard at work making sure the roads are passable for us all.

So an early night was enjoyed by all.