Living.Vicariously.Through: Back on the Horse: Mankato & Short Round Take on Vietnam

We’ve all heard the expression about “getting back on that horse” after being thrown off. I’m not sure how many of you have ever been thrown from a horse, but I can tell you that dusting yourself off and getting back on is easier said than done. But one thing that a good Midwestern upbringing full of horseback riding, sports, and summer vacations spent getting scraps outside instead of virtual blood-letting in a video game has taught us is that getting knocked down may hurt now, but the sting of not getting back up sticks around much longer.

Our mission, (and yes, we chose to accept it) was to come to Vietnam, buy motorcycles, and ride through the country at our leisure and pace. We spent a few days in Hanoi looking for bikes, finally found some, had them looked over at a mechanic (who ripped us off big time) and a week after arriving in Vietnam, we were ready to embark on our newest adventure. So here we are, the proud owners of very used, slightly abused, year unknown, Honda Win100 motorcycles: please meet Mankato and Short Round.

4:30am, ready to go.

Mankato, front and Short Round, back

After what I shared with you about Hanoi and its traffic, it’s easy to deduce that we weren’t excited about riding the bikes there (there are limits to the drive that the “get back on that horse” mentality will take a person to). So we woke extremely early (3:30am) to be packed, fed, checked-out, and ready to get on the bikes at 4:30am before the traffic got going. We planned out our route out of town the night before (seemed easy enough, only two turns in a non-grided city) so that we could hopefully make it out of the city before traffic picked and so that we could keep from getting unfortunately separated. Only one wrong turn and a few issues getting the bikes started (and into neutral) and we made it out of town just as the sun was coming up. It was a success.

The first two days of riding were not exactly what we expected. The traffic while riding was much less than what we experienced in Hanoi walking around, but it was still stressful and kept us on edge. On high alert. The roads were less than quality. In fact, it felt at some points as though we should be on dirt bikes on a racetrack, not motorcycles on a “paved” road. But the third day. The third day is why we wanted to get bikes in Vietnam in the first place. The scenery was beautiful, the traffic was very light to non-existent at times, and the roads were some of the highest quality we’d come across thus far. It was relaxing and peaceful and totally enjoyable. That third day (two days ago) was the reward that we’d never have experienced if we’d never gotten back on a motorbike again.

only a fraction of the beautiful scenery we saw on day 3

We decided to take advantage of the distance we’d made and the location we’d made it to on that third day, so we stayed here two nights instead of one. The city (Son La) isn’t wonderful by any means, but the hotel is nice enough and complete with internet and HBO. This gives us a chance to rest, to update, and to savor that third day. We’re hoping that there are more days like that third day and that there are few troubles and no serious issues along the way. If there are, then we’ll sell the bikes and call it a success. We got back on that horse. If we stop riding now, it will be on our own accord, not because of the fear that we could have let grow and take over from our accident in Korea.

So to our parents, who are probably on the verge of an aneurism, heart attack, or at the very least an ulcer at the very thought of us back on two-wheeled motor vehicles, know that it was our fine upbringing, thanks to you, that has instilled us with this “get back up and get back on” mentality. You have no one to blame but yourselves. J But seriously, thank you for raising us to be stronger than the fear that keeps so many people from trying again.