life at the roadside....

Day 3

A carnivores delight

Diary entries:

‘Lunch in a restaurant in rural Central Highlands proved to be interesting to say the least. As we take our seat on the plastic chairs, Phuk brings over a huge jar filled with a large rodent type animal pickled in rice wine. This is not lunch…thank god, it’s traditional Vietnamese medicine. As I take a look at the back of the restaurant, I find a whole array of funky pickling jars filled with various reptiles and rodents. As decorative stuffed animal heads stare down at me from the walls, my appetite takes a dive bomb even before any mention of food. Much to my delight a feast of “miscellaneous meet” is placed before us. Dishes loaded with pigs tongue, blood sausage and bitter melon stuffed god knows what kind of minced meat just wait to be demolished. My appetite has now plummeted through the concrete floor of the restaurant as I push grains of plain white rice around my bowl with my chop sticks. I guess I can blame it on my vegetarian upbringing. ‘

The day certainly improved as we cruised at mac 10 on one of the most stunning roads I have ever travelled. I spent the rest of the day wearing this huge grin as the speed of the bike and the breathtaking scenery sent my adrenaline pumping. Although this road is paved and in relatively new condition, it is generally only used for locals to move between the various villages on their ancient scooters, so for the majority of the time we have to ourselves. We cruise by huge lakes and pass through countless minority villages.

At one point we stop to chat to a group of peasant women and children collecting firewood at the side of the road. Their baskets are bursting full of heavy wood and Jasmine, by far the most athletic one the three of us, decides to have a go and has to be helped off the floor by two of the women. She gets totally shown up as a girl that looks about nine years old effortlessly lifts the load and begins the long walk back to the village.

My first out of space experience

‘After a long time in the saddle we take a break in a small town and stop to try the dumplings that are being sold by the side of the road. As we are munching away I notice that slowly but surely more and more people are coming out of their houses to congregate at the roadside and stare intently at us. O.k, let me set the scene a minute:

Rural Vietnam, miles away from any tourist town, on a road that is barely used, and along come trhee beings from outer space.

Alien 1: Long blonde hair and red wind burnt face.

Alien 2: Long curly hair, huge brown eyes.

Alien 3: African/Indian American

We smile and wave…no response, just long hard stares, months slightly open. I fear that we are now scaring the children. To my surprise Julia and Jasmine are still tucking into their dumpling totally un-phased.

“What? This happens everywhere you go in China”

They have just spent 5 weeks as aliens on China.