Motorcycle diaries day three

From Buon Ma Thuot to Pleiku.

Didn't realise but we're on our way back to Cambodia - doh! Tomorrow apparently we will be 10km from the border!
Currently sat in hotel having wandered around town and ground bombed with napalm and agent orange. Still not really much growing here. Beggar in street looked very like some of the photos in the war museum the other day. Altogether very sobering.

To get here was a long riding day (not being much of a 'biker' I question if 'riding' is the correct term but in the absence of any other - it seemed better than 'driving' or 'pillioning' as Martyn has just offered). We left at 8am we're still enjoying the lie ins but Wing and Tin Tin seem quite apologetic that we have to leave so early!

First stop building site (?) seriously - pagoda under construction but important that we see it because it will be beautiful when finished. Apologies to any sensitive souls out there for the next bit, focus on the science and the language! It took me a good while to work out how Tin Tin could possibly be implying they would build a pagoda out of semen, sorry of course he meant cement. It was early still. Fortunately my brain had kicked in to gear by the time we got to the two girls making cement pots. Thank goodness!

After pagoda to a war memorial and more sad stories from Wing. This time of the war after America had left - between communist and southern Vietnam, well not much of a war by this point, there were other stories but I remember most the one about what happened when the communists 'won' anyone who was not registered with the communist party was put in prison to be 'reprogrammed'. Wings words. It didn't matter what your sentence was you stayed in until you wrote the 'right' things down, in a cell with 10 other people. Sometimes one of those people would just be taken away and not come back.
There were other words, said with a smile, so that we would know. At the end, a shrug. His eyes say more than his words.
Before we came here people told us Cambodians are nice, Laotians are lovely and the Vietnamese are harder, not bad but that there is a harshness not present in the other countries. It's not that this isn't true but I'm not sure the people who told us those things had looked behind what they were saying - if that makes sense.

And quietly we left, to the previously mentioned cement pot making girls and Martyns first love. Two girls, cement pots, anyone seen the film Ghost? Apparently he's very handsome - its the blond hair and blue eyes. Despite the tan apparently he's still quite pale which is much sought after....,,. And then he rolled up his t shirt sleeve. Much girly giggling commenced !
But it was in the Market his fan base truly developed. I swear if the Vietnamese were the sort of people to throw knickers at Tom Jones then the Vietnamese equivalent of M&S would have been out of stock.
Apparently he also has a very long straight nose that doesn't squash at the end. Much ooooohing and aaaaaahing and raising of t shirt sleeve later we made it out the Market!

I of course have a squishy nose, dark hair and brown eyes and my small tan means I look like a woman from a farm - not that much admired in these parts, although my watch strap line earnt me a few points !
And then lunch where we were stared at by 8 labourers from the hills who had never seen White people before. They told Wing that they were going to be late - they had been watching us and forgotten to leave after their lunch! Sort of intimidating but they were happy to have seen us we think!
Next a lie in a hammock for a bit where we could ponder the pepper plantation we also stopped at.
Unscheduled stop at cashew nut farm was fascinating - never seen a cashew nut tree before. Fruit smells amazing and the nut grows on the outside of the fruit!

Rubber tree plantation next, a little walk to stop us getting what Tin Tin calls 'monkey bum' - not sure what that is but it probably aches!

And then a stop under a bridge for a story from Wing. He told us about the napalm and the agent orange and what it was
like fighting with American help and after they left. He comments on Iraq and can see things playing out in similar ways. He pats us on the back and says 'okay we go'.

To the hotel, for dinner, on our own, well..... We'll only have ourselves to blame!