Two Vietnamese I’m thankful to have met

Chinh and Bom spent two days with us on the Ho Chi Minh trail

These two Vietnamese men operate Easy Rider Motorcycle tours of Vietnam.

My partner, Marie loves to ride on motorcycles. Our first trip was just a one day outing to Marble Mountain near Da Nang. But Bom and Chinh were such good salesmen that we signed up for a two-day one-night tour of the Ho Chi Minh trail with them. See that story here. https://readmedium.com/motorcycling-on-the-ho-chi-minh-trail-811e71c0fcb7

By the second day of riding behind these two we had gotten to know them fairly well. They spoke English and were friendly and respectful. At one point Chinh and I were talking about the Vietnam war. Before coming to Vietnam, I was somewhat concerned about what the attitude of the people would be towards an American who was obviously of age to have been in that war.

Chinh surprised me by telling me that his father had been killed by an American bomb during the war. When I asked him how he felt about that he simply responded, “These things happen in a war. Our country has had many wars with the Chinese, the French, the Japanese, and Americans. It’s just war.” No particular rancor against Americans. “Today we are friends with all of them.”

I found this attitude to be prevalent throughout the country. We spent two months in Vietnam traveling from the far north near the border with China to the very southernmost isle, Phu Quoc. See the story of Phu Quoc here https://readmedium.com/pepper-pearls-and-phu-quoc-a-vietnamese-island-experience-e73bc49296c7

Through Bom and Chinh we met the Vietnamese people from simple weavers to tribal chiefs. Without them our Vietnam experience would not have been the same

It was around Thanksgiving in 2018 that we traveled with Bom and Chinh. This Thanksgiving Day I am remembering them with thanks for one of the best travel experiences of my life.

If you would like to replicate our tour or take another with Easy Rider, you can contact them at www.EasyRidersVietnam.com.