Easy Riding

Before the trip, we made a couple of pacts with our doctors:  1) we wouldn't pet stray dogs or 2) get on motorbikes.  The stray dogs were to be avoided for fear of potentially being bitten by a rabid dog (vaccinations for rabies, and neutering for that matter, lack in all the countries we've visited).  Given the traffic patterns here, motorbikes raise obvious concern, especially if you don't really know how aggressive the driver is.  Our own pact was to not eat any fruit or vegetables that may have been washed with dirty water.  After 3 months, we are dog petting, motorbike riding, salad eating fools...and loving it.

 

It comes to a basic realization: it's not possible or fair to make blanket judgments.  If the food appears clean and sounds good, we eat it.  If the dog is obviously friendly and not rabid, we pet it.  And if the Easy Riders have comfortable bikes, friendly/safe dispositions, we ride with them.  Had we stuck to our initial pact, we would have missed out on a wonderful day doing just that in Dalat, Vietnam. 

 

They are called Easy Riders for a reason.  There bikes are like Harleys (although made by Honda), and the men driving them were two of the most gentle souls we've met on our trip, Jean and Windy.  They took us around the gorgeous Dalat countryside (which feels an awful lot like California) and showed us a behind the scenes look at the rhythms of life in rural Vietnam.  We learned how silk is made (somthing neither one of us knew we had an interest in, it really is fascinating), about Vietnamese Buddism, the American and Cambodian wars (this linked photo is the remainder of a South Vietnamese General's house after the 1968 Tet Offensive), and how Dalat agriculture works.  We climbed up a hill for a sweeping view, down a hill to the Elephant Waterfall, and learned how locals grow flowers, coffee, and use native grasses to make brooms.  There really is something special about taking the countryside in on the back of a motorbike. 

 

We highly recommend the Easy Riders in Dalat, even if you "don't" ride motorbikes.