TracEdaroundasia
Junior Member
Having just finished the Vietnam leg of a biking adventure around south east Asia, I can highly recommend the ride through Vietnam. We started in Hanoi back in May, where we acquired two brand new Detech Win's (Honda copies). 125cc, $620 each, and have become good friends on the journey. Whilst not without incident, we have had no major problems either with the bikes nor ourselves. We have just crossed the border in to Cambodia to continue the adventure - 30 days Cambodia then 30 days Laos before selling the bikes.
The full detail of our riding days and stopovers are included in our blog, along with embedded route maps:
www.TracEdaroundasia.com
A short Vietnam snapshot below:
Vietnam snapshot
87 Days
35 Different beds
5,500 km by motorbike
$85(AUD) / day
Total $7,400(AUD) between the two of us
Favourite place:
This is too hard to limit to one place, as there have been so many places we have loved for various reasons. In no particular order other than a general north to south sweet I would say the following destinations have to be seen if in Vietnam:
Sapa
Bac Ha
Cat Ba
Hanoi
Phong Nha
Khe Sanh
Hue
Lang Co
Hoi An
Kon Tum
Buon Ma Thuot / Lak Lake
Nam Cat Tien
HCM
My Tho / Cat Tho and the Mekong delta
Phu Quoc
Least favourite place;
there haven't been many places at all in 3 months that we have disliked. But Sam Son gets a special mention here for being the worst place we visited. Expensive, rude, busy are just three words that jump to mind. Avoid at all costs unless you enjoy paying 2-3 times the going rate for piss poor quality and service. Also watch for the scam artists. I am also sorry to say that Nha Trang gets a mention on this list. We both had high hopes for Nha Trang and had planned to stay a week. In the end 36 hours was all we could handle. If you like beaches full of sun loungers, obnoxious tourists (both domestic and international) and high prices, then Nha Yrang is the place for you. We did find one nice local sea food restaurant which we truly enjoyed. But other than that we were keen to leave the moment we arrived.
Favourite roads -
If we had to pick three favourite roads it would need to be the back road from Phong Nha to Khe Sanh through unspoilt rainforest close by the Laosian border. A close second would be the phenomenal road from Nghia Lo up and over the mountains to Sapa. In third place would be another road in the north heading from Bac Ha to the eastern perimeter border of lao Cai province. This road however becomes exceptionally challenging after crossing the provincial border. Other notable mentions would be the Hai Van pass north of Danang; the winding backroads through the Mekong delta along canal sides and over bridges; and the coastal road south of Hoi An past the prawn farms and across the small local ferries.
Since we are mentioning favourite roads, it's also probably worth bringing in to the mix some of our least favourite roads of the journey....
In first place by a country mile is the coastal road from the Cat Ba ferry towards Haiphong. This road is dusty beyond beliefs and excessively busy. A serious one to avoid. A close second place also goes to another road in the vicinity of Ha Long Bay which is the coast road from the Chinese border in towards Halong town, past the huge open cast mines. Third place goes to the QL1 / AH1 which is a road that should be avoided where possible in favour of backroads. It's a major arterial road with heavy traffic and constant horns beeping. Other notable mentions go to the road at the far north of Phu Wuoc island, which whilst being a main road is essentially a 7 km potholed muddy dirt track in serious need of repair; the road that never was on the way to Kon Tum; and also any of the roads that are in the middle of road works, as these are unbelievably dangerous areas as we discovered on two occasions.
Best tour - Vinh's tour of the DMZ from Hue with Andy & Janice. A very knowledgable guide with a sense of humour and spoke fantastic English. Booked through stop and go yours.
Best hotel:
a toss up between a few hotels. The Lang Co Beach resort was a great hotel and awesome fun with rest mates. The heart of sapa hotel was fantastically priced with super friendly and helpful staff. The Nilini hotel on Phu Quoc was great relaxation at a reasonable price with good food on sight and our lovely baby kitten.
Cost of bike ownership
- replacement brake lever Traceys bike : 30,000VND
- Replacement rear brake assembly Traceys bike : 120,000VND
- Replace back brake pads on Traceys bike : 130,000VND
- Oil changes (6) : 1,500,000VND
- Throttle rebuild : 20,000VND
- Replacement electric starter (hotel paid for it) : 100,000VND
- 7 rear spokes : 70,000VND
- Decals : 1,000,000VND
- Punctures : 3 punctures : 80,000VND
- Petrol : 3,630,000VND / $215AUD
- TOTAL : 6,680,000VND / $396AUD
Include graph of breakdown of spend :
Police stops:
Thankfully none. Saw a lot of traffic cops at side of road in their distinctive khaki uniforms, but when they spot it's westerners on bikes the tendency seems to be to wave them by. Unless you are riding without a helmet or like an idiot, the police tend to leave you alone.
Road kill:
Not a section I expected to include given we were on motorbikes. However, there were some poor unsuspecting victims of the ride.
A chicken (ran out in front of eddies bike). A second chicked on a different day remained relatively unscathed after a high speed knee but.
A cobra (alive when Eddie passed it, dead moments later when we returned to check it out after Tracey passed it)
Un countable number of flies, moths, butterflies
Weird things seen on back of bikes:
This list could go on and on and on, so in the interests of space I am listing the more obscure items. Best to assume if anything you are thinking of is less bizarre than this list... Then it was seen!
5 people 1 bike
A goat
A pig
Multiple pigs
A dog on handlebars
Cages full of ducks, chickens, dogs, puppies, Pigs, piglets
Water containers with air pumps and live fish
Trees
Plate glass
Door frames
Display cabinets
A fridge freezer
Gas cylinders
Water / beer - approximately 15 cases
Wood. Lots and lots of wood
Huge carts attached to the back
Side cars with shopping stalls attached to the side
Various contraptions dangling off the back and sides, the most scary being a man riding along a dusty potholed dirt track with an open fire dangling on both sides keeping his huge cooking pots on the boil
Crashes:
Sadly we have seen a few accidents on the roads and had a couple of minor ones ourselves.
A truck flipped in the mountains
A bus crashed across a ditch in the mountains
A Range Rover flipping on a straight road in central Hanoi
Motorbikes colliding with one another right in front of us in central Hanoi
Aftermath of a motorbike and car collision in central highlands (sadly a fatality)
Aftermath of a backpacker swerving to avoid dog and flipping motorbike
Motorbike and bus collision just outside Nha Trang
The full detail of our riding days and stopovers are included in our blog, along with embedded route maps:
www.TracEdaroundasia.com
A short Vietnam snapshot below:
Vietnam snapshot
87 Days
35 Different beds
5,500 km by motorbike
$85(AUD) / day
Total $7,400(AUD) between the two of us
Favourite place:
This is too hard to limit to one place, as there have been so many places we have loved for various reasons. In no particular order other than a general north to south sweet I would say the following destinations have to be seen if in Vietnam:
Sapa
Bac Ha
Cat Ba
Hanoi
Phong Nha
Khe Sanh
Hue
Lang Co
Hoi An
Kon Tum
Buon Ma Thuot / Lak Lake
Nam Cat Tien
HCM
My Tho / Cat Tho and the Mekong delta
Phu Quoc
Least favourite place;
there haven't been many places at all in 3 months that we have disliked. But Sam Son gets a special mention here for being the worst place we visited. Expensive, rude, busy are just three words that jump to mind. Avoid at all costs unless you enjoy paying 2-3 times the going rate for piss poor quality and service. Also watch for the scam artists. I am also sorry to say that Nha Trang gets a mention on this list. We both had high hopes for Nha Trang and had planned to stay a week. In the end 36 hours was all we could handle. If you like beaches full of sun loungers, obnoxious tourists (both domestic and international) and high prices, then Nha Yrang is the place for you. We did find one nice local sea food restaurant which we truly enjoyed. But other than that we were keen to leave the moment we arrived.
Favourite roads -
If we had to pick three favourite roads it would need to be the back road from Phong Nha to Khe Sanh through unspoilt rainforest close by the Laosian border. A close second would be the phenomenal road from Nghia Lo up and over the mountains to Sapa. In third place would be another road in the north heading from Bac Ha to the eastern perimeter border of lao Cai province. This road however becomes exceptionally challenging after crossing the provincial border. Other notable mentions would be the Hai Van pass north of Danang; the winding backroads through the Mekong delta along canal sides and over bridges; and the coastal road south of Hoi An past the prawn farms and across the small local ferries.
Since we are mentioning favourite roads, it's also probably worth bringing in to the mix some of our least favourite roads of the journey....
In first place by a country mile is the coastal road from the Cat Ba ferry towards Haiphong. This road is dusty beyond beliefs and excessively busy. A serious one to avoid. A close second place also goes to another road in the vicinity of Ha Long Bay which is the coast road from the Chinese border in towards Halong town, past the huge open cast mines. Third place goes to the QL1 / AH1 which is a road that should be avoided where possible in favour of backroads. It's a major arterial road with heavy traffic and constant horns beeping. Other notable mentions go to the road at the far north of Phu Wuoc island, which whilst being a main road is essentially a 7 km potholed muddy dirt track in serious need of repair; the road that never was on the way to Kon Tum; and also any of the roads that are in the middle of road works, as these are unbelievably dangerous areas as we discovered on two occasions.
Best tour - Vinh's tour of the DMZ from Hue with Andy & Janice. A very knowledgable guide with a sense of humour and spoke fantastic English. Booked through stop and go yours.
Best hotel:
a toss up between a few hotels. The Lang Co Beach resort was a great hotel and awesome fun with rest mates. The heart of sapa hotel was fantastically priced with super friendly and helpful staff. The Nilini hotel on Phu Quoc was great relaxation at a reasonable price with good food on sight and our lovely baby kitten.
Cost of bike ownership
- replacement brake lever Traceys bike : 30,000VND
- Replacement rear brake assembly Traceys bike : 120,000VND
- Replace back brake pads on Traceys bike : 130,000VND
- Oil changes (6) : 1,500,000VND
- Throttle rebuild : 20,000VND
- Replacement electric starter (hotel paid for it) : 100,000VND
- 7 rear spokes : 70,000VND
- Decals : 1,000,000VND
- Punctures : 3 punctures : 80,000VND
- Petrol : 3,630,000VND / $215AUD
- TOTAL : 6,680,000VND / $396AUD
Include graph of breakdown of spend :
Police stops:
Thankfully none. Saw a lot of traffic cops at side of road in their distinctive khaki uniforms, but when they spot it's westerners on bikes the tendency seems to be to wave them by. Unless you are riding without a helmet or like an idiot, the police tend to leave you alone.
Road kill:
Not a section I expected to include given we were on motorbikes. However, there were some poor unsuspecting victims of the ride.
A chicken (ran out in front of eddies bike). A second chicked on a different day remained relatively unscathed after a high speed knee but.
A cobra (alive when Eddie passed it, dead moments later when we returned to check it out after Tracey passed it)
Un countable number of flies, moths, butterflies
Weird things seen on back of bikes:
This list could go on and on and on, so in the interests of space I am listing the more obscure items. Best to assume if anything you are thinking of is less bizarre than this list... Then it was seen!
5 people 1 bike
A goat
A pig
Multiple pigs
A dog on handlebars
Cages full of ducks, chickens, dogs, puppies, Pigs, piglets
Water containers with air pumps and live fish
Trees
Plate glass
Door frames
Display cabinets
A fridge freezer
Gas cylinders
Water / beer - approximately 15 cases
Wood. Lots and lots of wood
Huge carts attached to the back
Side cars with shopping stalls attached to the side
Various contraptions dangling off the back and sides, the most scary being a man riding along a dusty potholed dirt track with an open fire dangling on both sides keeping his huge cooking pots on the boil
Crashes:
Sadly we have seen a few accidents on the roads and had a couple of minor ones ourselves.
A truck flipped in the mountains
A bus crashed across a ditch in the mountains
A Range Rover flipping on a straight road in central Hanoi
Motorbikes colliding with one another right in front of us in central Hanoi
Aftermath of a motorbike and car collision in central highlands (sadly a fatality)
Aftermath of a backpacker swerving to avoid dog and flipping motorbike
Motorbike and bus collision just outside Nha Trang
