Word: mountainous
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...clutch handle snapped clean off in the fall, but that was not the most pressing disaster. My hulking Minsk dirt bike was lying on the only road up the mountain?and so was its less-than-hulking rider. Fumbling to find second gear, I had stalled the bike, wobbled and fallen over. Now I had to get myself and the bike off the road, fast. An adrenaline-driven heave on my part and the help of a passerby pulled us out of immediate danger, but that still left the problem of the clutch handle. It was the second...
...Vietnam's highlands are renowned for their spectacular scenery, waterfalls and rich hill-tribe culture. But there's another ubiquitous sight along the north's twisting mountain roads: the smoke-belching, gear-grinding, Eastern bloc motorcycle throwback that Vietnamese call con trau gia (the old buffalo). First imported from the Soviet Union in the 1960s, the Minsk's two-stroke engine and body have hardly changed over the years. Northern Vietnam has undeniably become Minsk country, and the old buffalo are used for everything, from personal transportation to hauling pigs, cows and chickens to hill-tribe markets...
...More recently, the Minsk has attracted a cult following among expatriates in Hanoi, who are discovering what the Vietnamese have known for decades: the hardy dirt bike is ideal for touring mountain roads, gravel roads and places where there are no roads at all. In other words, perfect for the little-explored villages, wildly varied landscapes and historic sites of the north...
...foreigners riding around the capital on the ungainly, smoke-billowing "peasant bike," which offers an unwelcome reminder of Soviet domination. But the foreign devotees don't care. "I may never get a Vietnamese girlfriend riding this bike," says Minsk enthusiast Digby Greenhalgh. "But I can get up any mountain." Armed with a Minsk, a tool kit and a good map, few places are out of reach for the adventurous weekend warrior; those with a week can take in an astonishing array of landscapes and locations of historic and cultural interest. The "Grand Loop" first leads to Sapa, a mist-shrouded...
...from the French colonial army in the 1940s. The provincial government has turned the village of Pac Bo, said to be the site of the exact cave where Uncle Ho hid for four long years, into a communist-themed tourist attraction, complete with signs pointing out Karl Marx Mountain and Lenin Stream...