The Birdmen of Saigon

They weave through the traffic, bird cages balanced precariously atop motorbikes, winding their way to Tao Dan/ Cultural Park .  You will find them there most mornings but when my friend Elizabeth and I visited on Sunday, the birdsong was deafening and the stools all occupied.  Sunday might just be the big one!

If you enter the park from Truong Dinh, pass the throngs of scouts doing their thing and make you way to the coffee shop at the back.  It's an early start as they start to trickle away by 11 as the heat of the day kicks in.  As Elizabeth and I sat there with a cool drink we discussed the way we thought it all worked.  Was there bird man etiquette?  A pecking order if you will pardon the pun. 

The infrastructure was all there.  Poles for hanging and tables for placing your prized bird.  We tried to figure out how you chose where to put your cage.  Did you put it next to a bird that you think yours might like?  Did you place it on the ground because it does not like heights?  We mused over all this and more as the menfolk glance over and wondered what the hell we are doing here. We also picked our favourite cage.  I have been busting to buy a cage (minus the bird) to use as decoration and put a big candle in.  I could not let this opportunity pass to find out where to buy one.  Especially when we spied this one....definitely our favourite.

My Vietnamese vocabulary does not extend to the word "bird cage" so the trusty iPhone comes out and we look it up on my translating App.  Good news...there it is!  Bad news, as we found out amongst gales of laughter a bit later....it is VERY similar to the Vietnamese word for Vulva if you pronounce it wrong.

As it turns out, these lovely guys were just as curious to talk to us as we were to them.  As we approached them and asked them where they buy their vulvas, chairs are whipped out and we are beckoned to join them.  Thus begins our lesson in the art of bird keeping in Vietnam.

Firstly, the cages.  May I just say, there is no accounting for good taste.  The cage we chose as our favourite belongs to the master cage maker and this particular  one cost about $2,000.  At first we thought they were having a lend of us but no, $2000 it was.  He makes them by hand and they contain these amazing pieces carved from elephants teeth.  There is a waiting list of months and months for one.

We are then shown a video on someones phone of a cage worth $12,000!  By this stage we well and truly knew that this bird caper was serious business.

So what did we learn?  Well, a bit might be lost in translation but basically this:  This particular species of bird is their favourite.  He did tell me the name and it was something to do with the circle around the eye but I have forgotten it.  These birds are SPOILT!  It is all about the birdsong.  A happy bird sings much more sweetly than a sad one so these little guys are pampered.

Now I am SURE I must have misunderstood what they were telling us here but it was something like "green beans" are ground up and mixed with something else to make this powder that they eat.  They also enjoy drinking some sort of honey concoction to help their "voice"

Their favorite snack are these little grasshoppers or crickets.

THIS is how spoilt they are.  They patiently sit there with a pair of pliers and rip the legs off because the birds don't like the legs! (nice t shirt!)

The birds are very well cared for at home as well and can come out of the cage if they are tame enough.  After a few years when their song is not as sweet they are taken to the woods and let go. 

Back to the pecking order.  It seems Elizabeth and I just marched up and integrated ourselves with the "Top Guns" of bird men.  The elite...the best of the best!  Oh no, no cheap seats for us!  These guys were relegated to a square of lawn until they had paid their dues.  Apprentice bird men if you will.

The same love and care seems to be provided as they sit ripping the legs off small green insects for their beloved birds.

What an awesome morning!  Those men were just so friendly and I'm so glad we broke the ice and went over for a chat.  I hope they enjoyed teaching us about their amazing hobby.  It is one of those wonderful experiences that I know I will always remember when I look back on our time here.  I really enjoy it when I get a chance to catch a glimpse of what life is like for the people of Saigon.  Some of the best experiences here won't be found by reading a guide book.  I think you will find the memory a lot of people will take away from a visit to Vietnam is the time they interacted with the local people.  That's what it's all about.

Late Breaking News

It's Off!  And she couldn't be happier!  Celebrated with a 40 minute bath!

A Slow Bike to China - Day 4, Final Day.

Day Four:

Up early again as we were rewarded with cooler weather and the most magnificent ride through another spectacular mountain pass. No time for breakfast so we scoffed down a couple of chocco pies each and headed off into the clouds. The road (TL212) was some of the most fun riding we had experienced all trip and really tested our off road skills and the durability of the XRs. It was still a fairly major road (as far as the maps indicated) but there were long stretches of dirt, gravel, mud and serious potholes, that had us up out of the saddles as though on our own road of bones. (eat your heart out Ewen and Charlie !!!). As much fun as the road was, I think we were all pretty happy with our decision the day before to take refuge at Tinh Tuc, rather than tackle two hours of this in the pitch dark. It was like this for and hour or so, before descending into a lush green valley below. Our early morning conflab had decided that Ba Be lake was now out of the question as this being our last day of riding, we had to end up in Hanoi. Ba Be would take us out of our way and we would have had no time to look around anyway so unfortunately this will have to wait until next time.

QL212 heading South from Tinh Tuc.

Into the valley below

Stopping for fuel and Banh Mi (Bread)for breakfast in Na Phac

Once we hit Na Phac, the QL212, which had briefly become the QL279, now became the QL3. The pace picked up here as the road quality and width also grew. We did experience a heap of massive 18 wheeler semi trailers that seemed to be coming from Hanoi and heading toward Cao Bang (one of which I showed you earlier on its side). Pete's bike was still struggling with its asthma but wasn't too bad as the we left the serious hill climbing behind us. Non the less my bike decided to go out in sympathy and started to lose power and even cut out completely when in top gear. The QL 3 was in great nick and would take us all the way to Hanoi, via the major town of Thai Nguyen. Just shy of Thai Nguyen we hit a three lane freeway devoid of any traffic and we all enjoyed hooting along at a rapid pace for a bit. If this keeps up, we will be having our lunch in Hanoi. Making great time now.

The freeway only lasted 20 minutes and then we hit Thai Nguyen, which we opted to bypass completely and push on towards Hanoi, despite Turbo being in desperate need to extricate himself from all those chocco pies!!! The QL3 South from Thai Nguyen to Hanoi was pretty much road works, gravel, dust and mud, for about the next 40 minutes. Traffic was heavy and there was was some pretty crazy overtaking as we all tried to keep the group together. Once we cleared the roadworks however, the pace increased and we were looking to make great time into Hanoi, around 1.30pm.

Eventually we did need to stop one last time, 20 kms short of Hanoi to fuel up and give Turbo his much need opportunity for relief !!! Just as we were patting ourselves on the back for making such good time and being disciplined about taking shorter rest stops etc, another challenge presented itself. Pete's bike said enough is enough, get stuffed, I'm not going anywhere.

We found a mechanic, had him come with his scooter and push Pete's bike back to his shop about a km away (with his foot wedged on Pete's pillion peg). After the first hour and several calls to Anh, we spied a taxi parked across the way and discussions about worst case scenario ensued. We could always leave the XR for Anh to collect, Pete jumps in the cab who leads us back into Hanoi. Sounds abit like the sad wagon again so we opted to stick it out and eventually after a false start and a new watchamathingy fitted, we were on our way once again and still with a few hours of daylight left. Would have been a shame for us not to all finish this epic journey on two wheels under our own steam.

Again getting into Hanoi was no where near as challenging as expected as the QL3 lead straight across the Chuong Duong Bridge and into the Old quarter near the North end of the Hoan Kiem Lake. At the Southern end of the bridge is a massive round about, and once safely past this, my crappy sense of direction must have figured this was no time to test our Ha Ha levels and lead us straight to the Essence Hotel.

Helps if you enter Hanoi on a Sunday, as the traffic is likely to be significantly lighter, as was the case with us.

We arrived dirty and sweaty at the Essence to an enthusiastic hero's welcome from the friendly staff. We dropped our bags and then took the short trip around the corner to return the bikes to Offroad Vietnam. Anh was apologetic for the trouble the bikes had caused us and informed me that he had 18 second hand XR engines, currently stuck at the Chinese border awaiting clearance. He assured me that next time he would ensure I had bikes with much newer and more reliable engines. My final word on Offroad Vietnam is that I would actually recommend them as I believe they probably do have the best maintained fleet of XRs available. This will be especially true if the 18 newer engines make it across the border. Doing this trip with a guide, mechanic or even a support vehicle would definitely have been a safer and more sensible more way to have seen the Heaven's Gateway, but it is as I said at the start of this blog, it was these very challenges that made the trip what it was.

Trip finished off with some pizzas and beer at Gecko around the corner (really craved some western food) and then a few more beers and a couple of Cuban cigars over looking the Hoan Kiem Lake.

All in all a legendary trip that will not be soon forgotten. Adventure, good mates, motorbikes and magical scenery. Would I do it all again? Shit Yeah !!!

Click on the link below to see the google map of the route we took and distances covered each day. Note the unrealistic time estimation of google. Do not plan your trip based on these times. Doubling them is more realistic, but this still doesn’t allow for stops, breakdowns or doubling back after getting geographically embarrassed. Good luck!

A Slow Bike to China Route Map

A Slow Bike to China - Day 3. Ma Pi Leng Pass

Nicks adventure continues.......

This is what we had come for. This day would determine if all those hours in the saddle was worth it. Was the Ma Pi Leng (MPL) pass really the gateway to heaven? Should we have taken plan B and gone to Ba Be Lake? It was to be both a literally breathtaking incredible and awe inspiring day but also one of danger and tragedy.

Another big day ahead of us as we had to get halfway back to Hanoi to a place called Ba Be Lake (our plan B that was never to be realised). Once you pass through MPL the road takes you to Meo Vac, on to Bao Lac and eventually through another mountain pass to Ba Be Lake, a National Park with caves and waterfalls where you can stay with locals in stilted houses on the lake. But first to the Ma Pi Leng Pass.

I had played down the supposed beauty of the pass, for after what I had read, it could only prove to be an anti climax that I didn't want the guys to unnecessarily suffer. After all I was responsible for the trip and would definitely be held accountable if it turned out to be naff. Can I also say I have seen some pretty spectacular scenery, having visited the Swiss Alps, Lake Louise, Amalphi Coast and Niagra Falls to name a few and the term breathtaking was just that to me, a term. Until I rode the 22 kilometres from Dong Van to Meo Vac in the Northern Vietnamese Province of Ha Giang. OMG... I don't really have the words to describe it and the photos simply don't come close to doing it justice, so I am not going got post any here.

Just Kidding..... Seriously though the photos don't do it justice. Go see for yourself! But until you do, cop a load of this....

The ugly side of adventure is that the element of danger and risk that makes adventure what it is, is sometimes realised. If it wasn't then it wouldn't actually be a risk. Unfortunately for a group of British travellers and their newly found Spanish friend, the risk and danger of riding motorcycles in a remote area on precarious roads, was realised when one of them collided with an oncoming truck around a blind corner. There was no great speeds involved and you take most blind corners whilst sounding your horn and expecting there to be a vehicle on the other side and in most cases you can ride the soft shoulder of the road and avoid contact. But in this particular case on this day, the young Spaniard clipped the truck just enough to tear off most of his calf, along with some of his Tibia bone. A serious and nasty injury at the best of times but made much worse by the location and lack of infrastructure. Our group provided what first aid we could with the supplies we had, then flagged down a bus and convinced the driver to take the victim to the nearest town of Cao Bang, where the locals insisted there was a hospital. The 70 km journey would take about 3 hours. We had no phone coverage at that point and the bus driver was not keen to be delayed so everything was rushed. I only hope we did enough to stabilise him for the journey. One of the Brits went with him in the bus whilst the rest of their group pondered how two guys could get four bikes 70 km to Cao Bang. We rode on to get phone coverage and then contacted the Spanish Embassy to advise they arrange a medivac from Cao Bang.

With the hour spent at the crash site and the much slower pace we were now travelling at, we had again run out of daylight to reach Ba Be lake. Problem was we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere with no accommodation options at all. We decided to press on slowly even if we had to idle into Ba Be in the middle of the night. Oh yeah and Turbo, whose bike had a non standard fuel tank, held 2 litres less fuel than the rest of us and was now running on vapours.

An hour later we reached the tiny hamlet of Tinh Tuc, consisting of a couple of dozen timber shacks, some of which had hand pumped fuel in bottles for sale. We drained several of the tiny establishments of their fuel stocks only to head out of town and around the corner to be confronted with a modern looking petrol station standing by itself like a mirage. All I could think was TIV (This is Vietnam!) Ten minutes further on at a road junction leading one way to Cao Bang and the other to Ba Be lake, was a Guest house and restaurant, again standing by itself seemingly in the middle of nowhere. TIV. They had rooms, cold beer and food...happy days. After what we had just seen, I don't think any of us relished the thought of 2 more hours and another mountain pass in the dark.

Met a Kiwi couple who had been touring in Asia on Bikes for 4 months, shared dinner and a few drinks with them before turning in for an early night. We needed another sparrows fart start to make up for today's lost time. Planned to be rolling by 6 am then straight through to Hanoi.

Our digs at the PHAJ Oac Guest House, just outside Tinh Tuc on the junction of QL34 and TL212. 200,000 vnd (about $10) per room.

View outside the next morning. (priceless)
Not quite over yet...stay tuned.