Richard and Bao's road trip to Tay Ninh: after the mountain

At the end of the last post, we had successfully climbed and descended from Nui Ba Den, but we were very footsore. We got back to the motor bike and set out to return to Tay Ninh. Only we found that the problems from the morning hadn't resolved themselves. Several times the motor bike motor just cut out and was very difficult to get going again. All I could really think of was that there was something wrong with the fuel. Bao was more inclined to think that because I hadn't changed the oil before starting the trip that this was somehow creating a problem.

After a while everything seemed to come right again, and we got back to the hotel to the best shower I've had for a long time! Washing off the mud and sweat and effort of the day. Then we went out for dinner with Bao's former colleagues from Kinh Do. He and I looked like a couple of invalids by then because we were both limping. Dinner was followed by karaoke, but the plans did come unstuck a bit ...
a) because it seemed everyone in Tay Ninh was singing that night and we had to go to 3 different places to find room
b) because we got a very flat tyre on the Yamaha on the way.

As it was now about 9pm it proved very difficult to find somewhere to get the tube repaired. Luckily a couple of friends were still with us and helped to search around to find a place. But in the end it had to be done by Khoa borrowing the tools from a Bom Xe place and doing the job himself. We were very lucky and very grateful to him for this.

Bao has some enthusiastic karaoke singing friends - and he has a very sweet voice himself! I, on the other hand, can make an OK sound when singing with the kids at ILA but am entirely different, and not for the better, when amplified to 150 decibels and singing classics from the 70s and 80s. So it was close to midnight before we packed it in and made our way back to the hotel and a very welcome bed, limping all the way :( troi oi!

The next morning we had breakfast of bit tet banh mi (steak and fried egg on a sizzling plate with bread) and then coffee with some friends. Then took the Yamaha off to the dealer to find out what the problem was: a worn air intake hose had a hole and was preventing the petrol from burning properly. Just a routine maintenance thing, really, exacerbated by travelling over 200 km with the moderate weight of 2 rather thin men - plus the fact that this hose has probably already travelled 25,000 km!! The mechanic showed us how dirty the oil was so that got changed as well, and a new tube was put in the back tyre to replace the repaired one. The tyres themselves were ruled as being fine. The cost for all this? VND 150,000. The time taken? About 30-45 mins :) on a Sunday. Service like that in Sydney would be fantastic.

By now it was almost time to get to the Cao Dai temple for the midday ceremony, which draws all the tours from Ho Chi Minh City, but which the religious officials generously allow spectators and cameras. I've been to this mother temple before but not to coincide with any ceremony. I've been also been put in the know by Rob, an Australian friend of Linh, who runs cultural tours around the world including to Vietnam: all the tours will leave after about 15 minutes, leaving plenty of space in the gallery to watch.


Cao Dai prayers are sung. Upstairs there is a small band and a small female choir. The participants file into the temple, women on the left and men on the right, followed by the elders of the three sects, blue, yellow and red. I've attached a short and rather grainy video (taken on Mum's old Nikon camera so it's only about 3.2 megapixels I think). The ceremony actually goes for about an hour. There are a few more clips that I haven't posted anywhere, and a whole lot more photos on Shutterfly. During this time Bao stayed with the bike because we had our bags with us and couldn't risk leaving them unattended.

Afterwards we went for a lunch of com thit nuong - rice with grilled meat. I was so hungry I had two plates! Then we started on the return journey to Vung Tau. I am very proud of myself for driving 3/4 of the way home, including the part of the trip which skirts around the north-west of Ho Chi Minh city to Bien Hoa and the highway back to Vung Tau. Of course it rained again along the way but we were making good time, until ...

... the back tyre got a nail stuck in it and the new tube got a hole. It was just coming on dark but fortunately we were fairly close to a repair shop, although it was on the other side of the very busy road to Vung Tau. We finally made it back at around 6.30pm and immediately went out for dinner!

This was my first big road trip. It won't be the last!