We will drive this stretch of road twice during our motorbike trip, a first time at the end of our first loop, to change clothes in Nha Trang and a second time at the end of our second loop when have to return from Da Lat to Nha Trang to get our flight back home. It is not a punishment because it is a very beautiful road featuring the Khanh Le pass somewhere halfway.
When leaving Da Lat we passed a hill covered with graves. The first part of the National Route 27C consists of hills all covered with pine forests, quite unusual for Vietnam. Then you pass kilometers and kilometers of plastic green houses where vegetables, flowers and strawberries are grown. We stopped to taste some, but didn’t buy any, they didn’t look very good and did not taste that good especially compared to what we are used to. We will eat them when we are back in Belgium!
After a short stop for a drink and a banh mi (baguette) with omelette we drove on over the beautiful Khanh Le pass winding between green covered mountains. A 29 km long pass that descends from 1600 to 200 m above sea level. It is known as a very beautiful stretch of road, but also a treacherous road since many accidents often deadly, happen here, especially when there is a lot of fog or when it rains. You have stiff mountains on one side and deep abysses on the other side. Part of Khanh Le Pass is located within the Hon Ba Nature Reserve of Khanh Hoa Province and the other is in the Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park of Lam Dong Province. Primeval forests can be seen all along the length of the pass.
Driving a motorbike in Vietnam might be the best way to see the country but not always the safest way. One must be very aware of the driving habits of Vietnamese bus, truck and car drivers. For them a motorbike is something they often just choose to ignore, overtaking others on small winding mountain roads while you are coming in the other direction or coming from behind you and almost driving you off the road. As a motorbike you have absolutely no rights here and so you have to drive very defensive.
While it was still cool at the top it was extremely hot at the bottom, we went from 19 to 37 degrees, it felt as if we drove straight into an oven. The mountains made way for green rice fields.
We checked in to the Vinpearl beachfront hotel and on both days took dinner at Mam restaurant. One time we finished our dinner of with a Kem caramel, a kind of flan, a typical Vietnamese dessert. I chose it out of pure nostalgia because I learned to love it when we lived in Vietnam. It is a dessert that was brought to Vietnam by the French. On our last visit we jokingly mentioned to the bartender that this was already our the third visit and that maybe we should get a discount. The young men answered he would offer us a free dessert and yes at the end of our meal they came to ask us which dessert we would like. We chose two scoops of coconut ice-cream to share. It was our lucky day!! Sometimes you just have to be bold!
Also read: Two week motorbike trip South and North of Nha Trang, Part 5: From Nha Trang to Tuy Hoa – Ca pass
chefmaison 