What an amazing first five days on the road!  Due to intermittent web and WiFi access, long days on the bike and all the day to day business of travelling in a foreign country I haven't been able to update the blog as regularly as I hoped but here goes with the run down of last five days, and some pictures and video if I can master the technical aspect I'm struggling with.

Day 1............20/01/15

Departed HCMC at 7am as planned  and successfully negotiated the exit from District one via the tunnel to the ferry crossing on the edge of HCMC.  Heading east to connect with highway 51 (or 17 depending on which map you use!!) to head south to the coastal holiday town of Vung Tau. I decided to avoid the traffic I would take a lesser used route that I had been told about and seemed fairly strait-forward on the map!! After 2 hours of exploring (?) rubber plantations, Nypia Palm forests used for manufacturing partition walls for local houses, petrol/chemical plants we arrived back at the ferry landing!!!!! Monty found it funny anyway and said we got to go where no aussie has been since the war if at all!!

Arriving at Vung Tau for lunch (bit later than planned) we dined on whole baby squid with the fat and roe left inside it was very nice. Highly recommend leaving the inn eds next time cooking baby squid. At first I thought it was some sort of stuffing! From Vung Tau headed to La Gi where we were thinking of staying until we were told of a better spot known as the Golden Caost "just up the road"! Hind sight is a wonderful thing but after 13 hours (travelling 319 ks!) on the road our first day we finally negotiated rooms for the night at the newly established resort location of Van Ka. Paid too much but at that time we were too tired to argue!

Day 2...........21/01/15

From Van Ka we headed north along the coast to Phan Thiet and onto the popular tourist area of Mui Ne for lunch at the market. From Mui Ne we continued north along the coast on a newly developing dirt road to Phan Ri Cua.  This area is showing signs of quiet local villages giving way to rapid tourist development and establishment of a major shipping port. Most maps do not even show this road but is on google maps as a goat track. It was a good ride but loose sand, road works and pot holes made the riding tricky but we managed to keep the bikes upright.  From  Phan Ri Cua we hit the A1 highway for the first time. As the name suggests this is the number high in Vietnam linking HCMC with  Hanoi and is best avoided as much as possible, and now we know why. Rule #1 when on roads in Vietnam the person in front has right of way regardless what they are doing; stopped in the middle of the road to use the phone, heading against the flow of traffic the wrong way, cutting across the traffic etc.  The second rule is size matters!!  The A1 has everything from huge trucks carting rocks, buses going flat out, right down to pushbikes, pedestrians and cattle. Trucks and buses being the largest can overtake each other at anytime and it is your responsibility to get out of the way. Its OK as they let you know by flashing headlights and honking horns; the large the vehicle the louder the horn!

Finally after another long day of 9 hours on the road for 200ks we made it to Phan Rang - Thap Cham. After a good feed of seafood which is selected live from tanks and cooked in front of you we hit the bed for a well earned good nights sleep.

Day 3........22/01/15

From Phan Rang - Thap Cham we headed inland up the mountains to Da Lat. The ride up the mountains was a continual uphill twisting, winding ride and fortunately there was not a lot of traffic so was very enjoyable and the 109ks only took us about 2.5 hours. Da Lat is a very beautiful city centered around a lake and scenic gardens. It has a strong french influence is said to be the honeymoon capital of Vietnam. It is also a highly productive horticultural area producing all sorts of fruit, vegetables, coffee, tea and flowers. It also has a replica of the the Eiffel Tower and to complete the French connection has vineyards ans wineries!!! To date this has been the highlight for me....surprise surprise. The wines are not the best I have tasted but do hold up well and a less than $4 a bottle great value! Next door to our rooms was a charcoal grill shell fish eatery very popular with local Vietnamese and very few westerners so was great value. The black lipped oysters were nearly as big as the ones we would get at Black Point and also showed signs of coming from mangrove roots...my favorite! Many different types of pippies, cockles, snails and crabs so we decided we needed a day of R&M the following day so booked in for 2 night!

Day 4.......23/01/15

Repairs and Maintenance (R&M) day! Repairs and maintenance to bike, body and mind! After the traditional Pho Bo (beef soup) and Cafe Sua Da (iced coffee) for breakfast we headed to the bike repair shop for some minor repairs and the for a massage on the weary and aching bodies. After an hour and $10 we were feeling pretty good! Next wash some cloths as the supply of clean underwear was almost exhausted!  A walk around the markets and some sight seeing and back to the charcoal grill for more shell fish for Tea!

Day 5......24/01/15

Usual breakfast then head back done the mountains heading for Nha Trang.  This was a great ride winding down the mountain with minimal traffic and the bikes handled well. Lots of stops along the way to take it all in including meeting a local couple who had just got married and were having their wedding photos taken.  The local store had bottles of wine including bubbles so we bought them a bottle to celebrate their special day which they were really appreciative to accept the gift after they insisted we get a photo taken with them. Stopping off to watch locals training their rooster for fighting (boxing chickens) among some of the highlights. Arriving Nha Trang early afternoon to the rush of a large tourist beach city full of tourists, many from Russia. Vietnam has become the holiday destination of choice for Russians with main direct flight from all over Russia to many Vietnam cities. Booked in for 2 night before continuing north along the coast, planning to head back up the mountains at Hoi An.

Day 6.........