Home » Vietnam » At Ease with the Easy Riders

Monday morning Jeff and I crept out of Casa de Andrew and John not to wake the boys from their slumber. The place was a complete hole, and random neighbors were coming back to retrieve bowls and plates from the night festivities (take note of this comment for later). As bad as we felt leaving it a mess and as much fun as we were having in debaucherous Saigon, it was time to leave. The boys and the whole couchsurfing experience definitely made Saigon such a memorable place for us!

At Ease with the Easy Riders

Casey Lary
2007-04-21 23:11:26

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More than once we saw (what Jeff and I guessed) was a 10-year-old driving a motorcycle. I guess different cultures have different standards. The villages were not what I expected. They were definitely poor, yet they weren't hill tribe villages that still practiced old traditions and methods. They had definitely been touched by globalization and were in the process of developing. They were at a mid-developing stage. Other stops included time for the "Happy House," aka the bathroom. Sometimes Lam and Hai would just let Jeff and I off to walk around and get off the motorcycle. I hobbled rather than walked. Hai was dubbed the Dancing Man because every time we stopped he was dancing and singing. He enjoyed Vietnamese and American hip-hop.
He was quite a character. The whole day I did not let go of Lam. I either had one or both hands securely holding onto his shoulders. Excited to be on the motorcycle, yet always an element of caution (that was for you mom and dad!).

My favorite part of the day was during early sunset. We had reached a valley full of rice fields, and found ourselves riding in the middle of them. We had left civilization far behind. It felt as if we owned the place and the sun was setting for us. It was absolutely amazing and a serene experience I will never forget. We didn't see any cars, just herds of cows on their way home with their owners. This was the side of Vietnam I was in search of and found. Ladies wore the straw hats as they carried their crops home for the day. Huge cows and yaks wandered the streets and the green rice fields. There I was smiling ear to ear thinking that life doesn't get much better.

As we approached Lak Lake the road turned into a dirt path. We arrived in Jun Village, where we would stay the
night in a stilted house. Due to the flooding of the lake, all the houses are stilted. In addition, the space below the house is used as a cover from the heat and a shelter for their animals. We walked ...