Vanda Pacheco ... never really rid-
den a 'proper'motorcycle ... she's a
scooter commuter who discovered
the joys of Vietnam on roads she
would never consider back home ...
she discovered adventures are very
rarely extreme ...
woke to the sound of rain.
A sound I didn’t want hear.
Today’s ride was going to
be the first time I would
handle a ‘real’ motorbike
on the open road. Why I'd
decided my first time would be in a
foreign country was a coincidence, it
just happened this way.
Bad weather! It continued, there
was nothing I could do but prepare
for our adventure in Hoi An, Vietnam
with my partner Dave.
Along the way to Hoi An Motor-
bike Adventures, I could see that we
were moving from a bustling little
town into the outskirts of the cen-
tral city district. The transition was
serene yet it was still raining, it lead
me to become more and more nerv-
ous about the prospect of getting on
a bike.
Arriving at the garage we were
quickly lead inside to meet our guide
for the day, Jason, a Canadian who
had been living in Vietnam for the
last year but only working for the
company a few months.
After some pleasantries Jason was
all business and asked what I would
be riding for the day. It was crunch
time, a decision needed to be made.
I was either going to ride a 150cc
Honda XR Dirt Bike or go on some-
thing I was more familiar with; a
125cc Honda Wave semi-automatic
scooter. With that in mind I thought
about what a friend once told me. He
said “You need to feel comfortable to
ride a motorbike. If you aren’t com-
fortable you won’t have confidence
which is something you need. Yes a
little fear is also needed but that is
to remind you of the machine you’re
riding”. My decision would be made
thinking about those words.
I
Sitting on the bike I realised my feet
couldn’t touch the ground. It was a
no brainer. The first time I would ride
a full motorcycle wouldn’t be in these
conditions; in a strange city, I had to
be comfortable. The semi-automatic
scooter was the way for me. Having
had 4 years of experience riding a
scooter I knew that I would be more
familiar with the bike and be able to
adapt to the road conditions … or so
I thought.
After selecting our riding gear and
going on a short ‘test ride’, our guide
Jason and another rider who worked
TRAVERSE
61
for Hoi An Motorbike Adventures, a
local who’s name I never did get, (a
great shame as we got along so well)
packed their bikes for our day trip
and we were off.
A lot of the roads we were riding on
were for bikes only, no cars in sight.
All we saw were locals in the fields,
lots of water buffalo and very quiet
paved/cobbled stone paths. It looked
like the rain had stopped for the day,
the sun teased its way through the
heavy humid clouds. It would stay
this way for the rest of our journey.
Our first stop was to have a look