easy riders

Okay kids, this will probably be the last blog entry. we leave for home tomorrow night and we're busy busy busy here in vietnam. buying gifts for all of you is a full time job. so far we're bringing back all of our leftover change (worth so much in the usa) and some handi-wipes from the airplane. don't fight over who gets the handi-wipes. there are enough for everyone.

so. where did we leave off? i can't remember, so i'll skip to the present. right this second, we are in CAN THO, a little town in the mekong delta. how did we get here, you might ask? well. that's a long story. but first, a quick description of vietnam: nice people. like really nice.

delicious food (if you get it on the street or in the little sidewalk cafes. the tourist restaurants are total crap), the cutest children on earth and, most importantly, the best coffee we have ever had. you know about it. maybe you have had it yourselves. the water slowly drains through the strongest, tastiest coffee into your cup. maybe it takes 10 or 15 minutes. maybe it's only 1/4 of a cup. none of these things matter. you wait. you pine. you stir it to dissolve all of the sweetened condensed milk in the bottom and then you drink. and of course you want to order about 25 more because it took you 5 seconds to drink and it's so good. but you don't because then you'll have to run to the "WC" for a little while. what else? what else? vietnam is beautiful. a country of farmers and over 50 different ethnic groups. highlands, beaches, jungle, even a red desert. we love it here. there is also, of course, the political, colonial and local history that is too complicated to get into here. someday. we're learning a lot about it from the people who lived it, however, and let's just say it's a long story. we'll have you over for dinner and we'll talk about it.

so, back to the present. the vietnamese government operates a tourist trap, i mean, bus. you buy a ticket and you can get on and off anywhere they stop. unfortunately, they stop where all the tour companies and tourists are located. so the "real vietnam" is almost impossible to find. understandable, as the tourist industry is a real economic help to many people here, but really, why do we want to eat a hamburger in vietnam? why do we want to play pool in a bar with a bunch of other tourists from europe and australia? we don't. but before we knew any better, we had our open bus ticket from nha trang, a very touristy beach town to da lat, the mountain coffee town in the central highlands of vietnam. also known as "the city of flowers" (it's true!) and "the city of strawberries" (again, true!).

the bus driver was an axe murderer. probably the meanest person ever born. also, there was no air conditioning (even though they advertise a.c.) and the trip was not the stated 5 hours, but 8. also, the bus was filled with more tourists going to the same place we were. not exactly the "real vietnam". we were miserable. sweaty. tired and starving. our moods did lilft a little when we saw how beautiful da lat is, though. our kind of town. anyway, the bus pulled in to the government-run tourist agency, where about 10,000 guys surrounded it, trying to get us to stay in their hotels or sign up for their tours. we were flustered, to say the least, and then, literally the SECOND we stepped off the horrible bus, this guy rolls up and says "hello beautiful ladies! where are you from?" now, if this happens in new york, you might not respond, right? but this guy is on a japanese knock-off version of a honda superhawk (brandname "bonus"), he's wearing a blue jacket that says "easy rider" on the back and a huge shit-eating grin. we said "new york city!" and he says, "i love new york! good morning vietnam!" he proceeds to follow us down the street and direct us to our hotel and disappears. when we get to the hotel, he's sitting there on his bike, smiling and pretending to be shocked to see us. he makes us laugh and within ten minutes, he's won us over with his charm and personality. his name is bin, a.k.a. dunhill.

the easy riders are an institution in da lat. they were formed about 10 years ago by a guy who wanted to take tourists to see the real vietnam. away from the tourist traps and the "big metal box" (a.k.a. the dreaded bus). eventually they gained a reputation for being cool, safe, fun and almost always one of the best experiences tourists have in vietnam. a writer for lonely planet dubbed them the easy riders a few years ago and now they are a gang of about 70 guys that take people around the central highlands or as far away as hanoi and saigon. we knew a little bit about the easy riders from some of our very accurate and trustworthy vietnam guidebooks, but we had no idea. the afore-mentioned biker, Dunhill and two other amazing guys, Lu and Nghiep picked us up at 8:30 the next morning and off we went. they assured us we would see the "real vietnam" because they hate the tour agency spots and western food and crowds of tourists and cheesy trinkets just as much as we do. we were like, "suuuuuure, we've heard that before, but if we have to get on that bus one more time, we will die."

we have been with lu, nghiep and dunhill for five days now and we have only seen one or two other tourists since. to be sure, this is one of the best decisions we have ever made, maybe the best one on this whole trip. every day we ride 150-250 kilometers with our bags strapped onto the backs of the bikes, meeting local people and learning about the history and daily life in vietnam. we've visited silk factories, coffee farms, backyard rice wine "breweries", mushroom farms and brick factories. we've "helped" harvest rice, collect honey from the hive and shell cashew nuts. we have been welcome in the homes of so many of the most generous and curious people on earth. obviously we spend a lot of time with lu, nghiep and dunhill. these guys are the best. they keep their word. they have a million personal stories and maybe the worst "grandpa" jokes we've ever heard (yet, somehow, they're funny). they are walking encyclopedias, fully informing us on such things as the vietnamese perspective on the "american war", current events, economic growth, daily life and when to chill out in a hammock and drink coffee. we love them. we're never coming home. tomorrow we get up at six a.m. to check out the floating market and explore the mekong delta a little bit more. then we're off to saigon. a short stop in tokyo for some sushi and then we're home freezing home. warm theplace up for us.

love always. corey "easy rider" tatarczuk for matacodotcom.