fter crossing the Tay Trang International border it was a short ride to the historic city of Dien Bien Phu. The ride into town was scenic and tranquil, I kept wondering how the Vietnamese got their rice field to be so green, my initial reaction was I’m going to like this place. However, as you enter the city you could start to see the major contrast between Vietnam and Laos; while Laos seems to be stuck in time, Vietnam was plowing ahead with all of its rode work and building constructions. Pretty soon it was chaos – there was no lanes and everyone was honking their horns. I counted 6 different horn sounds and was amazed at how there were no accidents; driving in Bangkok all of a sudden seemed civilized compared to Vietnam.
We arrived at the hotel and were greeted by the staff all having really long hair pass their waist; some had it tied up in a small bun. These women were from a minority group called the Black Thai and are somehow related to us. They looked like Thais and I could understand about 60% of what they were saying. One of our crew made the mistake of speaking Thai about one of them and she understood everything he said. The funny thing is the Black Thai staff asked almost all of the guys in our crew if we were married - I have no idea if it’s a “come on” or plainly customary. I later learned that if a Black Thai has her hair tied up in a bun it means she’s already married and if the hair is let down she is single – no wonder our crew kept asking for the one with the long flowing hair!
The next day we drove around town and visited the remaining war relic. The city of Dien Bien Phu is very important because it was here where the Vietnamese army defeated the French back in 1954 ending 70 years of French colonization of Vietnam. You cannot help but to think the Vietnamese are very determined people; in the pass 100 years they had defeated the French, American, Japanese, Chinese and Cambodian.
The following morning we headed south for Mai Chau which is roughly 400 km away and took us about 8 hours. Like before there was a lot of road constructions with dust flying all over the place. The first half of the ride to Son La was terrible: however, the 2nd half we started to climb high into the mountains – the air started to get cool, the mountain scenery was nice and I started enjoying myself again. As usual, Hui and I was ahead of the team on our bikes – it got dark, we got lose and ended up arriving an hour behind the team at Mai Chau. Two 14-year-old girls on their scooter led us to Ban Lac, a home stay community where we were staying for the night. The White Thai, another hill tribe minority group that is also a distant relative us Thais, ran the home stay.
The next morning I got up early and took a walk around the village of Ban Lac; the place could have been mistaken for another hill tribe village in northern Thailand, we are definitely related to these people someway somehow. During my walk I ran into a French guy that was riding around Vietnam on a Minsk, a 40 year old Russian built motorcycle. I have heard about these bikes and asked him if I could take it for a ride – he said yes, so I took off on to the surrounding rice paddies. Personally I thought it was a piece of junk, however, I have to admit I felt a bit nostalgic on the bike. At least now I can tell people I had ridden the famous Minsk in Vietnam, a sort of “right of passage” among globe trotting bikers.
That Afternoon we left for Hoa Binh 60 km away. Ascending down from the mountains it started to get real hot and smoggy, upon entering the city I couldn’t even see the sky. Hoa Binh is an industrial town, its only attraction being a huge dam that the Russian had built about 15 years ago. The locals were actually picnicking by the dam among the dust and pollution. We were in Hoa Binh to meet up with CARE who has a project in Lac Son, a farming community a few kilometers away.
We spent all of the next day at Lac Son with CARE and the local villagers. CARE project in Lac Son is to educate the woman on the latest farming techniques and know how. CARE also work with the local women group, making sure they are aware of their legal rights and the tools available to them. I asked the village head, who is a man, what he felt about all this and he was very supportive of CARE's project helping the local women. He mentioned the richest person in Vietnam is a woman who drives a $20 million car!
The following morning we left for the capital of Hanoi, which was 75 km away. Entering Hanoi was like entering Dien Bien Phu but times a hundred. I couldn’t believe how many motorcycles were on the road. With a population of 3.5 million, one third of Hanoi’s residents own a motorcycle. It was so chaotic I just started laughing at the whole situation. Everyone was honking their horns so I started honking my horns - amazing no one gets mad at one another! The only conclusion I could draw was it’s a difference of culture. I am sure foreigner wonders too why nobody honks their horns in Bangkok! “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” Next week begins our frenetic journey into hectic Hanoi. 
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