Weather in Hoi An was starting to worsen so I left early and was riding fast. I was in a race where the only participants were me and a large black cloud. The weather forecast was good for the mountain region where I was headed and I was praying that it would stay that way. I had a lot of driving ahead of me so it was gearing up to be a challenging day.
I was a little nervous about what's ahead. I didn't see many towns and accommodation options on google maps. I was worried about the road conditions as well. These are much smaller roads that see less traffic so I wasn't sure if the government maintains them well.
Very Underrated Route
But the ride turned out to be absolutely stunning. Weather was improving, I started to see blue sky and some white clouds. The road was in superb quality and nature was amazing here. Jungle, mountains and beautiful green lakes everywhere. Countryside in central Vietnam is also incredibly clean. There aren't many towns either so this amazing road was all to myself.
I got on the Ho Chi Minh Road and it was pure joy riding it. There were long stretches I didn't see a single soul around. I rode for about 100km without seeing a single person on the road. What an amazing day. I was a little sad though, because most people miss this part. Most people do the coastal Hoi An - Hue route instead so this incredible section goes unnoticed.
Occasionally I passed by some old forgotten infrastructure from the war. I was taking stops like every 10 minutes to soak up the views and take some photos. It was not possible to find a nice groove driving because of it.
In The Clouds
There was a point I was heading up a high mountain and getting swallowed by clouds. The road just kept going up. Many times I thought I reached the peak but it just kept going up. It actually felt a little disturbing, I had not seen anyone for what felt like hours, I was surrounded by clouds so the forests looked really creepy. Throw in an occasional old war building and you got yourself a horror movie set.
After going through this long tunnel the altitude started to drop. Soon I was in this even more jaw dropping area. I was trying to take a video with my phone while driving downhill to capture this moment, not the smartest idea but the area was that stunning.
Soon I was becoming concerned about where to stay overnight. I had marked a couple of potential accommodations on my google maps just in case wouldn't come across anything. One of them was this supposed homestay, it looked decent and it had some recent positive reviews but there was no information online about it so I was praying it's operational.
Homestay
I reached the spot just before it turned dark and it turned out to be a really lovely place, it's called Huong Danh Homestay. A nice Vietnamese family is running the place and they have a nice set up there. I wasn't the only guest however. These two travelers from California were staying there as well. They were using some tourist service and had two local guys taking them across the country on their motorcycles. They were really nice and they invited me to join their authentic local dinner experience. We had a bonfire and some beers. One of the other travellers offered me some weed gummy bears from California so it shaped into a great evening.
The next day was another long day of riding. I had to make it to Khe Sanh where I would spend the night. I was looking forward to this day. I read that this section of the Ho Chi Minh Road road was even more spectacular than the last.
So Much Power
Unfortunately I was having some trouble with my motorcycle as it was losing some power. There was no mechanic in sight. I passed through a little village hoping to find someone but no luck. Soon after I stopped by this old gas station and asked a guy who was selling snacks whether he knew any mechanics in the area. Luckily he found a guy for me who could check on the motorcycle. For 5$ he replaced this one small part on the engine and it seemed to work at first however it just wasn't working like it's supposed to.
In the next town I found some local mechanics who looked at my motorcycle and adjusted one tiny screw which resulted in much more power than before. I think it was the choke on the carburetor. I was so stoked. I was able to go much faster now and it was exactly what I needed on these empty mountain roads.
With all this new power I finally picked up the pace. The ride was beautiful and everything was going smoothly for most of the day. Some rain clouds started showing up though and made the last stretch really challenging. Eventually I reached Khe Sanh.
Khe Sanh is an industrial town close to the Laos border used as a pit stop by commercial truck drivers heading in and out of Laos. It's a messy town but I needed an accommodation for the night and nothing else was around.
After looking at the weather forecast I decided to stay an extra night here because the forecast looked really grim for the following day and for these next 500km I wanted to have the best possible weather conditions. This upcoming stretch was supposed to be on an another awesomeness level.
I spent this extra day just eating chips and binging "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia".
To be continued.