#69 Easy Rider trip, then on my own where no english is spoken, but general love is. dropping some dinero

This is the kind of hotel that I NEVER stay in,
however, this IS the kind of hotel that I would
go and use their pool and take advantage of any
other amenities that I could get away with.
(this isn't a bad thing is it?)


I left Da Lat on my easyrider trip for a couple of days. My driver was a veteran from the war and knew about the areas along with history of the war including areas that were crucial strategic areas for both sides. I knew and still know very little about the war, but it was very interesting to hear it from someone who saw it first hand. This is a perfect entry to write in the entry #69 spot because Mr. Hien, my driver would talk about how at first the simple people who were fighting with the americans didn't want to listen and were reserved about dealing with them. That is of course, until the americans offered them cigarettes, playboy magazines and told them about there favorite game called 69. Mr Hien couldn't tell these specific stories enough, I had to hear them in some form or another every few hours. It was great to be on the back of a motorbike and go through the central highlands which were absolutely beautiful. We spent the days passing through the mountains past rivers, waterfalls, farms, and seeing the bare hills that after 30 years still can't grow anything due to the agent orange dropped there.

One stop was a little place called Lake Lak which we saw a local minority tribe who when they buried their dead, they put a feeding hole in the coffin from the persons mouth to the top of the coffin so that people can feed them through this feeding hole for two years once they were buried.
Another highlight of the trip was stopping at this park with multiple waterfalls and one of them we could walk behind and go to stand under it which felt like a massage. I can't get pictures up on this computer, which is why you have to deal with the two I took off google.

When my easy rider man dropped me off I took a bus to a town in the middle of the country called Kon Tum. Here, no one spoke english and I didn't see another tourist while I was there. I played some ping pong and got my butt kicked by these older men. I thought I may have calmed down on some of my competitiveness during this trip, but that is not the case; I hate losing and it put me in a mood; I wanted to break something. (those who know me well, can picture this I'm sure) After my time pointing to things and battling to ask a few questions I took a bus the next day to Hoi Ann.
These two bus rides were in mini buses (we would call them big vans). Nobody in these spoke a lick of english, but that didn't stop them from talking to me. The vietnamese words would flow, they knew I didn't understand, they just didn't care. On one of the rides I had a tiny little old man sitting in front of me who wore a top hat. He had a big smile and would turn around and hold my hand (which amounted to about an hour of handholding) and talk to me. At one point he offered me a sugar cube, how could I refuse.
I am now in Hoi Ann, which is a beautiful city on the coast. I spent my first day in tailor shops ordering clothes (yeah, doesn't sound like me; I felt like Bracken if you know who she is). I spent what's a lot of money for me, but got some cool stuff. (those of you who are about my size and can wear my stuff will want to borrow some of it), I walked all around town, then biked around town and hung out at my hotel pool (I'm in a dorm for $5 and get to use the pool) a bit talking to an 89 year old guy who would wants to live here if he could get his sports channels and CNN to watch Larry King. He also told me I was a neat person (not in the way of eating or cleanliness).


This is a jack fruit, I've eaten quite a bit of it. Fresh, it's a bit sweet, so you can't eat too many at one sitting, but dried and crunchy.....get in my belly!!!! a little about them:
The fruit is huge, seldom less than about 25 cm in diameter. Even a relatively thin tree (circa 10 cm) can have huge fruits hanging on it. The fruits can reach 36 kg in weight and up to 90 cm long and 50 cm in diameter. The jackfruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world.
The sweet yellow sheaths around the seeds are about 3-5 mm thick and have a taste similar to pineapple but milder and less juicy.
The English name jackfruit derives from Portuguese jaca, which is derived from Malayalam chakka.

The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes "sight-seeing." ~Daniel J. Boorstin