Destinations

Ride day 11: Sam Son to Huyen Do Luong

909

June 5, 2016

28 May 2016

We both wake early after a fairly broken sleep, and keen to get out of Sam Son and back to rural Vietnam. A very quick pack up, and we head downstairs just after 8.00 a.m. to find just one bike in the lobby. Thankfully the second was just outside, but begged the question how the bike with steering lock and rear wheel lock on had been got down the stairs? Not asking too many questions, we continue to load up both bikes. The staff at the hotel continue to be rude and unhelpful, so as soon as Tracey is loaded up she rides to end of street to wait. At this point an angry older member of hotel staff appears and demands a further 300,000VND from me on the street. A few words shouted, and then I rode off. So long Sam Son – we won’t be back!
We are back on our journey south. The first 40 or so kilometres of the day on the very busy number 1 highway. Once we’d got 50 km under our belt we stopped to first get money, and then a quick petrol stop before looking for food. We happen upon a small Nha Hang (rest stop) and have a delicious and cheap brunch of chicken, lemongrass, veggies and pipi broth, with rice and water.
A few more km’s down the road and Tracey flicks her front light on to get me to stop. Her back brake had made a funny noise and a bump under braking. A quick check and it seems ok. But no sooner have we started again, than on comes the front light. Sure enough, the back brake is completely knackered. Rod and cable hanging by the wheel looking fairly twisted. We hobble the bike in to a local cafe and get a couple of bottles of iced tea. Then out comes the leatherman tool and a few bits and pieces from our emergency repair kit. A nice young bloke from inside the cafe comes out to help me, with a pair of pliers and a hammer. We spend the next 30 minutes lying in the dust, fettling in and around the very hot chocolate exhaust to reattach the push rod, straighten the puller and use a combination of zip ties and a circlip to give the bike marginal back brake to get us to next town. Feeling quite pleased with this trail side fix, we drink up and set off, wondering whether this broken brake was also a result of the prior days accident.

Temporary brake fix

The roads in this north central part of rural Vietnam are stunning. A lot of farmers in the fields and crops ready for harvest. As we pass field after field, we spot a weird tall amazing bamboo lookout tower.

Eddie at the top of the tower looking down

Deciding to stop and climb it, we find out that it’s a viewing tower for a piece of art in the field of a Phoenix. After ascending the tower and getting photos, we are surrounded by four or five local women. They are very friendly and we have a fairly long sign language based chat, then have our picture taken with them before heading off.
Minutes later – Traceys front light again! Seems the trail fix had already given up. This time it wasn’t something that could be bodged. So we stopped for a sugar cane juice, then tied the broken parts up out of the way so they didn’t snag the wheel, and rode very gently towards the next village. A small local Xe may at the side of the road was the only mechanic option. We point out the problem and they start trying to fix it. Turns out they didn’t have the necessary parts, so put a temporary fix with used parts and charged us 20,00VND to get us back on the road.
The temporary fix partially worked, but clearly the brake wasn’t in top shape, so as we rode in to main town 15 km or so later we looked for a proper mechanic. Managed to find a Castrol bike service centre so stopped in there. The majority of the work on the bike was done by a young boy under supervision of a few older mechanics. He was very quick and thorough in replacing the parts with brand new parts and tuning the brake. One of the older mechanics then gave all his work a quick test, before handing us back the newly fixed up bike.