Well worth the sore bums...

TRACIE ... Wow, what an amazing time we've just had on the back of a couple of bikes. Jono has posted some of his thoughts so forgive me if I repeat anything..
If you look at the photo's you will see how cool our two guides were. No doubt they have a bit of rehearsed banter etc going on, but they tailored a trip ending up where we needed to be and for slightly less days than they normally do, so we felt well looked after and that the money we spent was worth while. They were amazingly safe riders, and funny and polite at the same time. However safe they were, in the middle of rush hour in Buon Ma Thout I couldnt help but think that if Suzy were alive and knew what we were doing, she would have had major panic attacks just thinking about it! You have to be amongst it to understand what it's like. Everyone weaving around each other, people coming from every direction, and nothing abnormal about someone being on the wrong side of the road heading right for you. So cool! In NZ we are perhaps more civilised with our driving, but there is no road rage here, just lots of really courteous and patient drivers..
That of course was just a tiny part of the trip, and it was awesome to meet people and be able to watch normal life and feel that it was ok for us to be there because we were with some local VietNamese. Our guides occasionally told people that we were VERY rich, with 1000 cows and our own milk factory! Pretty hard to stop this when we didnt understand a thing, but Phouc and Tien thought it was funny. They didnt tell restaurant owners (if you could call them that) the story because otherwise we wouldnt have eaten meals for $4.00 (for both of us) and lovely coffees for 60 cents for two.
Jono has mentioned the girl we met in one village, but one time the boys dropped us off for a walk ("because it's good for your legs" - interpretation - bums) and we happened to walk into the middle of a ga-zillion schoolkids getting out of school. The girls must have thought Jono was pretty cool (as do I) cause there were lots of giggles and stares. He's rather a bit taller than the locals so makes an impression, and especially so where they dont see lots of foreigners.
There were many highlights of this trip for me, but one would be when we stopped at a rubber plantation and there were dozens of people pouring 20 litre pails of rubber liquid into big tankers. Such an amazing process. We also saw rice being harvested, and along the way, literally hundreds of houses with rice or coffee being dried in the front yard. In a few places they had even taken up a part of the side of the road to dry their rice, and obviously everyone politely drives around it.
Now, we're at the beach. It's less touristy than some other beaches in Viet Nam, and now isnt high season so it's even quieter, which is perfect for us. We are going to be doing some serious resting for a few days, which I am thoroughly looking forward to. We bought a book each at Auckland Airport, and I read mine in about two days, but fortunately there are places where people can exchange books, either for free or for a nominal price. So, for the next few days, eat, read, and sleep! HEAVEN!