How to see the real Vietnam on motorbikes!︱Cross Training Adventure

http://vietnammotorbiketours.com Day 6 on the top Gear tour with Vietnam Motorbike Tours! Today we are going so far off the beaten track it's like being in a time machine, riding parts of Vietnam where life has barely changed through the centuries. It's all part of seeing the real Vietnam! Uh oh, problem! A wet start to the day but thankfully the support crew carry wet weather gear for anyone who didn't bring any. The light rain eases off as we head into an extremely remote area. Even after all these years of touring the Vietnam Motorbike Tours guys regularly explore the country to find these hidden areas where westerners never go. They only discovered this area recently and it's a long slow climb through tiny villages where various ethnic minorities live. There are over 50 ethnic groups within Vietnam each with its own language, lifestyle, and cultural heritage. This is incredibly different to my previous trips when backpacking around Vietnam twenty years ago, just plodding along the well established tourist trail down the coast. I can see why the Vietnam Motorbike Tours crew keep saying this is the best way to see the real Vietnam. We finally enter a part of the mountains where rice terraces have been used for centuries. These require constant care and plenty of skill to ensure water is constantly making its way down the terraces. Sometimes many families will own the terraces and the work is shared among them. The Vietnam Motorbike Tours guys say in the old days the water supply would be channeled down from rainforests above the terraces but of course nowadays they can pump water up and cultivate the entire hillside. Bridges span some of these valleys because they are impassable in the wet season when that trickling creek turns into turbulent rapids. Taking it very easy, this central bit of steel is bloody slippery with these road tyres. The humble scooter in Vietnam is used to carry produce, furniture, animals, tow trailers and even carry entire families. And today we see it even transports other scooters. A small technical issue forces a stop among the rice paddies with Vietnam Motorbike Tours. Vietnam is one of the world's richest agricultural regions and it's the second-largest exporter of rice worldwide. Rain hail or shine the Vietnamese tend to their rice crops.

But back to pumping water up to the rice terraces. The Vietnamese have actually been doing this for centuries using water wheels. Built out of bamboo, these are used to channel water to at least several metres above the river level. It really is like stepping back in time. I couldn't find out when the Vietnamese started using these water wheels but the Chinese developed them 2000 years ago, around the time they conquered Vietnam so the technology may have been passed down back t ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdNAiWuYWfo