Freshly spun silk
lunch day 2
On the way top Dalat
rice noodle
Tuan on the left with Nghiep
The Easy Riders in the central highland town of Dalat were formed after the civil war - those from the defeated south were often taken to re-education camps, and ex-doctors or teachers would struggle to find employment in this area under the new communist set up. There was however, after the war an occassional need for returning US soldiers to be taken around battle sites of the central highlands - and with the local infrastructure on its knees motorbikes became the prefered option. 30 or so years on the organisation now boasts 83 freelance bikers, with a collective responsibility to uphold their reputation for local insight and safe riding - and our 2 were great.
We had 3 days of driving through dense coffee and rubber plantations as well as stretches of countryside blighted by napalm and agent orange. We visited the cottage industies of rock-sugar production, shrimp farming, tapioca farming, mulberry leaf-munching silk worms, and silk production factories. We saw rice noodle and rice wine production, tea and pepper estates, 3 beautiful waterfalls, strategic military sites and memorials, elaborate wood carvings made from giant tree roots, beehives and finally a fascinating visit to the ethnic M'nong village at Lak Lake.
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