no worry chicken curry, HCM trail, typhoon, abortion, messi

The 3 day motorbike tour across the Central Highlands was really sweet. Like thuper awesome. My mind just went blank as we winded through the mountainous jungle on the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Some of the mountains still showed scars from Agent Orange during the war. I also couldn't help but imagine slogging through the trail as a muddy dirt road with 50lbs+ on my back.

The journey overall was a welcome relief after Nha Trang. In fact, it was the exact opposite. We probably saw 5 other white people over the course of 3 days.

After playing Pauly D for a couple days in NT, I was sooo ready for some water and comfort food our first night into the ride. Well f me, we walked into the restaurant to meet our guides to the sight of a liter of rice wine and a dozen half-hatched quail eggs. AKA quail fetuses, feathers and all. Couldn't say no so it was time to nut up or shut up. Blah, never again haha.

At least we then migrated to some noodles and grilled beef. One of the more poignant moments of my trip was when Anh showed me a picture of his father, who fought for the American Army during the war. He was killed in these very same highlands in 1974, though his remains were never recovered.

The highlight of the ride was staying in Dak Lak in a traditional Lak longhouse nestled in the mountains along Lak lake. Prob a town of 200 people living with no toilets, running water, etc...though almost every house did have satellite TV. We had some time to kill so we watched this kids play soccer on a harvested rice field which was just a patch of mud with two sticks in the ground serving as goals. They were playing with a soccer ball that was at least 20 years old but were having an absolute ball. For some reason the euphoric looks on their faces made me start thinking of all the bitches (myself included at times) that I grew up with, always demanding the newest baseball bat or running shoes from mommy and daddy. These kids had nothing but were having more fun than anyone at home ever had playing sports.

Along the ride we stopped for this unreallll goat hotpot which I could eat a thousand times over. Our drivers were completely insane. Safe drivers and all, just absolutely nuts. Anh's cackle could get me going anytime.

We made it to Dalak and then hopped on a bus down to HCMC. We drove through the outskirts of the typhoon which didn't look fun to drive in and we got in late last night. Gonna hunker down here for a bit to let the weather blow over the the Mekong.

Righteous.