Easy Riders

Here we are again at the beach. We were glad to see the sands of Mui Ne after 2 days on the back of a motorbike. We are still walking a bit tentitively!! We have a great hotel just off the beach, but it is still raining.

We left Dalat on Monday with our 'Riders' Hung and Quang who promised to show us the 'real Vietnam'. We certainly did see the sights of the central highlands: the good and the bad, the rich and the poor. The area is full of the most amazing waterfalls - far superior than any seen in New Zealand. The laughing Buddha was one of the highlights - as I said to Hung (a serious Buddhist) "Do people really worship that?" It was met with a stern response!



We travelled through some amazing countryside and saw many local ethnic minority tribes. Many of the hill tribes are very poor, due mainly to the fact that they are Christian and will not tow the 'party' line.

In England it is polite not to discuss politics and religion when you have just met someone, but the Vietnamese know little else. We had some tense conversations about religion and about Western 'niavety', but I think we remained friends - at least after a few glasses of rice wine!