It is Monday April 12 and our day begins with breakfast at the Central Hotel in Quang Ngai. It is already hot as we continue our journey. We begin our ride heading south on Highway 1A, but only for about 30 kilometers. Today our journey takes us up and over the mountains, so we leave the coast of the South China Sea and head east. Our surrounding change quickly as we leave the coastal area behind.
For the next few hours we slowly move uphill. Here we see some farmland, including small fields of corn, and more rice paddies - except the paddies are terraced into the sides of the hills. Here also we have road hazzards, such as cows, goats and water buffalo that are roaming free! Every curve in the road becomes an adventure!
We stop briefly to stretch our legs and find ourselves in the middle of a group of children walking to school. They stop to smile and laugh at us. A family living nearby sees and hears the noise of our laughter and peek through the bushes to see what is going on. We give them candy and take a few pictures. Soon we are off again...onward and upward!
We make another stop, this time at a small United Methodist church tucked here in the foothills. Here we meet the pastor and a few members of his small congregation. It is hard to describe the feelings we felt as we met these people. They did not understand our words, yet with smiles, handshakes, and laughter we connected.
After our brief visit, we continue on and up into the hills. Our next stop is for lunch at a small roadside area. It's not exactly a restaurant, so we share ham sandwiches and cold bottles of water. Also, there are no restrooms here! Its every man and woman for themselves out back behind the building in the bushes! Make sure you take a roll of toilet paper with you, and be careful where you step!
As we prepare to leave, our guides tell us that we are just now leaving the foothills and will begin to go up into the mountains! We are cautioned. Most of the roads are switchbacks without guard-rails, so keep your eyes on the road and your attention to your riding. The leader tells us that these are some of the most dangerous roads in all of Vietnam!
For the next 4 or 5 hours we ride. Our bikes are 4-speed automatics, but we are constantly changing gears between 2nd and 3rd gear. Up and down and around and around we go. Every curve brings new adventures! We pass cows, goats, and water buffalo as they graze by the road. We pass through small mountain villages, waving and smiling at the people we meet. We pass children as they walk and ride their bicycles to and from school. Everyone we meet greets us with smiles and waves...most yell "hello!" as we pass by.
Allow me to make an observation here. Everywhere we go, we are greeted with smiles and waves. We have not seen any anger or animosity directed toward the "American Visitors". Even here in the small mountain villages, we find the Vietnamese are eager to share their friendship with strangers. It may sound strange, but in many ways I feel safer here than I do in some areas of Ohio!
It is getting late in the day and we finally ride into Pleiku. It has been an exhausting day riding through the mountains, but rewarding as well. Tired as we were, we became energized each time we rode through a small village. We looked forward to interacting with the people as they recognized the foreign visitors and showered us with smiles and waves. We park our bikes for the night and check into the Hoang Anh Gialai Hotel in downtown Pleiku. We wolf down our supper and with very little coaxing, we are off to bed. Tomorrow, our schedule and our route will be changed by the Communist officials riding with us!
No comments:
Post a Comment