Get up - noodle soup
Left Da Lat at 6.30am for the assault on Ho Chi Minh City some 340km away. Big ride.
Have been told its stupid to make it a day trip but impossible is nothing.
All going well for 40km, get some petrol.
Get lost at the intersection for my shortcut to highway 1, which would be faster due to better asphalt and wider road, lucky some guy has an iphone, wifi and googlemaps. Saved
Road starts off nice, then turns to shit as per usual, minefield of pot holes, but then becomes smooth again.
Come out at this view and have a steep ride down heading towards Highway 1
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| Break down 1/3 down this, that corner of the lake is where the mechanic is. |
Taking a corner at 'I want to get to Ho Chi Minh asap' speed resulted in a minor hiccup. Went off onto the side road, was coming to a stop, was fine, then a stray bit of bamboo caught my front wheel, so just let the bike drop. n00b. Remote location, cannot see anything or anyone.
Petrol leaking, oil leaking, indicators fucks, mud guard fucked, electric start fucked, kick start fucked.
Being on a steep ass hill I attempt hill start - fail.
New spark plug - hill start it, get it going and its feeling horrible. Soon dies, probably just going on the petrol still in the system. Neutral it all the way down which was sweet
Reach the bottom, no one.
Begin the walk in the heat
Find a guy living in a tarpaulin hut, he just points down the road.
Next stop, some random power station building with some people. They try the classic kickstart, having a look at the motor, touching it. Pretty much doing jackshit
Get told there is a mechanic 3km away, begin the walk
The old man there eventually gets on his scooter and catches me and tows me while I hold onto the back of his scooter.
Reach the mechanic. And begins mechanic session number 1: 2 hours
Everything taken off, the carburetor is fucked, God knows how its protected by the frame. Still leaking petrol.
After taking stuff out, blows through stuff, putting it back, realising its still not working, taking it back off, more blowing etc etc. Eventually get is rolling. Just.
Pay him $5 which was far too much when all he wanted was $2.
Now commence the ride, 5km, it dies.
Now accelerator is stuck, turning choke on fixes that.
Reach a mechanic: he is away
So have to run the choke on for 30km. Painfully slow.
Mechanic session number 2: 1 hour. Spark plug replaced with another new one and wtf its working. They try the one I put in and its faulty. Should have got 2 spares. Get carburetor fixed with a piece of cardboard.
Get chain lubed, lights fixed, body kit tightened, get motor tuned so its running sweet. All for $3. Classic
10km down the road it dies, kickstart it and get it rolling, shes rough though but fuck it can't be assed getting it tuned again.
Ride for 150km thrashing it, I'm running late and will be hitting Ho Chi Minh at rushhour and darkness.
Stop for mechanic session number 3: clutch lever is lose, could fix but don't have right tool, fixed with cardboard again. Charge = free
Pass this and this: one over takes the other on the main road and they are sooo slow. Then numerous army trucks, maybe some parade on tomorrow?
Nearly hit as van getting passed by petrol tanker getting passed by massive truck carrying shipping container that comes at me. A crash scene investigators dream
Dies: stop mechanic session 4: new oil, running again just.
Can feel the heat from the engine, need to let it cool down - but fuck it. Keep trashing. More petrol. I'm sucking it today revving the crap out of it.
Hit the traffic 70km out of HCMC, with a population of 9 million is just gets worse.
Best bit of riding though as the traffic clogs up the trucks which are death machines on the open road became tame giants and weaving around them is an endless slalom course through a sea of motorbikes.
Bike cuts out numerous times, lights are sucking too much electricity. So run them off where I can.
Traffic gets mental, I pass more trucks blocked up for 20km, just crazy.
Motorbikes everywhere. Road is extremely dusty and I put my tacky clear lens ray bans on, especially purchased for this exact reason.
Find my way to exactly where I want to go 1st try, I get lost in tiny towns but a 9 million people area = easy
Beef steak, egg, chips, bread roll, fried chicken, fried rice, pepsi, salad. Needed that after nothing all day.
Drive to accom, bike dies 4 times in 400m in heavy traffic
Get to accom, have shower, can't be assed getting my towel wet so go without, back to room realise there is a accom towel on the pillow.
Will hopefully get bike running tomorrow so I can do Ho Chi Minh sites and drive the traffic for fun, then sell it in the afternoon. (hopefully) Its been a good wee bike though, apart from today.
Was going to carry on into Cambodia but time is short and i'll be rushing so it will be boring main roads with traffic and a slowly crumbling bike.
The 12 hour day is complete.
Nice to have finally made it, adding another 340km to the total bringing it to: 3240km
Moral of the story: don't drop your bike: ever (and change the oil, i jynxed myself in the previous post)
Road trip complete
Sorry about minimal photos as you can tell, wasn't really in the mood
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