Leaving Saigon

First day of my motorbike trip.  Arrived in Saigon on Monday.  It is now 6 days later...

4^th December 2011 – Sunday

Around 7.45 this morning I took a taxi up to Kevin who lives on the northern outskirts of Saigon and sells motorbikes to English-speaking foreigners; a real grease monkey, he loves motorbikes and cars.  I watched him and a very nice American photographer called Dave (who is doing a similar trip) eat their breakfast, after which we went back to Kevin’s workshop where he gave me a lesson or two on the streets outside.  Foot gears, so not like my automatic in Bristol, much trickier.  Lots of false starts which is no fun at all the in traffic here but I got the general hang of it.  Bought some waterproofs for myself and a new phone for Dave who insisted on photographing me with plastic goofy teeth (his first victim on his trip).  Then at about 11.15 I said goodbye and set off with all my stuff (too much stuff actually) in my newly acquired backpack.  The roads are not as filthy as India in the sense that Vietnamese use rubbish bins and have by and large grasped that idea.  But the pollution from all the bikes and trucks is pretty bad, at least in the city.  It got better the further I got from Saigon. 

After about an hour and a bit I stopped for lunch in a roadside café whereupon the entire family and neighbours came to see this foreigner eating lunch!  They even sat at my table with me, laughing and chatting away.  Huge delicious bowl of pho (soup with meat and veg) even better than the pho I’d had in Saigon; that and a coke only cost 40,000dong (just over a quid!).  It was a great idea bringing those photos of Hat and the kids because this family LOVED seeing them.  Everyone seemed to stare at them for hours saying how beautiful the girls were etc.  Anyway I took their photo which they were delighted with and the dad helped me repack my backpacks on my bike since they were tending to slide off.  Despite what Kevin said I think I might get someone to weld a proper rack on the back to make life easier for myself.  By 2.15 I was in Vung Tau where I’d booked a hotel room.  That’s 100k and though not far, I was ready to get off the bike.  Helmet is a bit tight so will see about replacing it though I doubt they make them big enough for my fat head in this country.  Getting the hang of the bike already and the roads, though I guess this will get easier as the days wear on.  Tomorrow my ride is a bit over 150k to Phan Thiet (well, Mue Ne in fact) but I’ll have the whole day and have booked three nights in a beach resort (seeing as I will be heading into the hills for a long time thereafter).  This hotel room in Vung Tau is pretty amazing for the price.  I had booked what they call a Standard Twin (the cheapest on the website) but was upgraded on arrival to a deluxe.  All this including internet and breakfast for about £14.  The woes of the oncology centre and St P’s are already a million miles from my thoughts these days.  It’s great not having to think about anyone but myself and tackling the next challenge.  Walked down to the beach which was much more crowded than when I'd come here by hydrofoil during the week.  For the first time I sensed someone trying to scam me.  A couple of guys in their late 30s early 40s came and sat down next to me trying to make conversation and invite me to have a few beers with them.  They were quite insistent but I held my ground feeling something was not genuine about them.  Important to trust one’s feelings about these things while remaining polite.