North Vietnam Motorbike Tour

[Tit]

Hi All,

I've just returned from a fairly excellent holiday, and I suspect a few of you here would enjoy a 'mini' adventure such as this.

In August & September, a few mates and I flew into Hanoi to do a ten day motorbike tour of North Vietnam. We circulated from Hanoi north-west in a clockwise direction back to Hanoi.

The bikes were old Russian Minsks, however, due to the general unreliability of the old noisy and smokey engines, the tour company had replaced the running gear with Honda 125cc engines and decent Nissin front disk brakes (still drums on the rear).    The company also has 650cc Urals. They were a bit big for our experience, and are better suited to the rides down south towards Saigon.

Now...I'm an inexperienced rider.  Actually...I only had my L's when I headed over.  One of the guys I went with had done the tour before, and thought the riding wouldn't be too tough for a green rider like me.  Though when we told the tour guide on arrival, his eyes almost popped out of his head. haha...getting insurance was interesting to say the least.  Anyway...I got 1400km of training!

The tour company is one of the oldest in Vietnam, and some of you would be familiar with them, as they were the crew that Top Gear used for their Vietnam episode, and Charley Boorman has used them a coupla times.  They also had the misfortune of hosting Gordon Ramsay...

This is the company:

http://www.exploreindochina.com/

What was it like?  

The riding

This varied from hair-raising highway riding, through terribly degraded single-lane roads, mtb-style single track, rocky steep climbs, slippery mud and all kinds of garbage surfaces.  Anything you could think of to contend with running across the roads - dogs, chickens, pigs, children, buffalo etc.  No one is going faster than 60km/h, and we were averaging about 140km @ 30km/h per day.  The traffic style in North Vietnam takes a bit of getting used to, but it kinda works because the people are patient and decisive. Road markings are only really decoration.  There's a lot of overtaking head-on into traffic.  Somehow it's all "normal" to them.  They could teach us a lot about patience!  I'm now really good at riding head-on towards trucks while honking my horn as well as being out-ridden by scooters with entire families hanging off the back....

North Vietnam

This place is eye-poppingly gorgeous.  Once we left Hanoi, the scenery was astonishing the whole way.  Truly phenomenal. All mountains of varying types.  And everything you'd expect; rise paddies, jungle, very wet and super huge mountains as we headed to the border of China.  Most of the places we went were inacessable by car; most people in Vietnam ride scooters.  We went well off the normal tourist tracks (ie. Sa Pa etc).

For accommodation, we mostly stayed at "home-stays" - pretty much people's houses. They fed us and provided the beers - was very interesting to meet the locals that way. One of our hosts was a retired Vietcong Colonel...

I'm already thinking about how to do this trip again.  It the best holiday I've had in a very long time.  I got home sore and tired, but it was an excellent adventure.  If anyone's interested in more info, drop me a message.

Anyway....thought I'd drop in some pics.

The Bike - Minsk/Honda hybrid

Some more pics:

Typical Accommodation:

Ten straight days of views like this:

Washing his bike in the middle of nowhere

Ferry

[Blue964]

amazing and beautiful country. i visited there in 2002 and had a ball. 

[JD86]

Looks like an epic tour!  I definitely will do something similar one day

[Niko]

Gutsy effort Tiaan, What a great trip.   Sensational photos.

I remember back in 1971, the eerie silence in the plane as it climbed to higher airspace out of Tun Son Nhut airport, hoping to Christ 

we would not get any "thanks for coming" presents from the ground....

we were just hoping we would get clear and we just wanted to be home....

Then the wheels of that Qantas Freedom Bird tucked up and clunked into place,  

That was the signal.   The plane erupted in cheers and hand shakes 

 We opened our VB's and there were even cigars being passed out.

....and we left that god forsaken place for good, and as we did , we took a last look at the bomb craters and pock marked scorched earth below, 

as we flew out of the danger zone.   We made pacts, we would never ever return to that sh$#hole of a country.

 

Fast forward to 2000, when I took the giant step to go back and stay with some Vietnamese people (friends living here) in a village with their family.

The people and place blew me away.  I have since taken my wife back four times.  We have seen most of the North and South and have stayed on

Con Dao and Phu Quoc Islands.  Where possible we have travelled by car and enjoyed the countryside and the locals.  

What a sensational country, and the people who don't have much, are the happiest most gracious people you could ever want to meet.

I fully endorse anyone wanting to go over there, and to do what Tiaan has done would be absolutely fantastic.

I apologise...I just time travelled back and inadvertently took you with me on my journey down memory lane.

Didn't mean to hijack your thread mate, it just come out....

 

 

[Tit]

Of course Niko! Hijack away!

It would be hard for me to imagine doing a trip like this through Iraq! It must have been cathartic for you. There's few experiences comparable to that shared stress and brotherhood.  Sebastian Hunger has been speaking about it recently:

The Vietnamese people are phenomenal. I can see why successive 'invaders' have failed to overcome them. They are calm, adaptable and have grit.  They are also generally happy and patient.

I was in the North, which wasnt impacted by the 'American War' like the south was.  I was hoping to go to Dien Bien Phu, but it's so far west it was out of the question for this tour. We did visit the Hanoi Hilton though.

I also feel that war tourism can be a bit insensitive, so we generally didn't discuss the war(s).  Though when we came across things like the memorial for the Dien Bien Phu supply trail we checked that out.  Thousands of people riding bicycles through those mountains with military equipment is pretty amazing.

I've got a few more pics up now...

This was our Vietnamese mechanic. We started calling him McQueen because he was so cool...

Gutsy effort Tiaan, What a great trip.   Sensational photos.

I remember back in 1971, the eerie silence in the plane as it climbed to higher airspace out of Tun Son Nhut airport, hoping to Christ 

we would not get any "thanks for coming" presents from the ground....

we were just hoping we would get clear and we just wanted to be home....

Then the wheels of that Qantas Freedom Bird tucked up and clunked into place,  

That was the signal.   The plane erupted in cheers and hand shakes 

 We opened our VB's and there were even cigars being passed out.

....and we left that god forsaken place for good, and as we did , we took a last look at the bomb craters and pock marked scorched earth below, 

as we flew out of the danger zone.   We made pacts, we would never ever return to that sh$#hole of a country.

 

Fast forward to 2000, when I took the giant step to go back and stay with some Vietnamese people (friends living here) in a village with their family.

The people and place blew me away.  I have since taken my wife back four times.  We have seen most of the North and South and have stayed on

Con Dao and Phu Quoc Islands.  Where possible we have travelled by car and enjoyed the countryside and the locals.  

What a sensational country, and the people who don't have much, are the happiest most gracious people you could ever want to meet.

I fully endorse anyone wanting to go over there, and to do what Tiaan has done would be absolutely fantastic.

I apologise...I just time travelled back and inadvertently took you with me on my journey down memory lane.

Didn't mean to hijack your thread mate, it just come out....

 

 

[WOKA]

My first thought was 'insurance'..  A friend of mine with a group of others embarked on the same journey, though for some reason they couldn't get insurance.?

 

[Tit]

My first thought was 'insurance'..  A friend of mine with a group of others embarked on the same journey, though for some reason they couldn't get insurance.?

 

Yeah. I end up finding the kind insurance that war reporters use.  An American company. Australian companies are too risk averse. 

I spent a lot of time on fine print!

[Chris-p]

Thanks for sharing the experience with us Tiaan. Sounds like you had an amazing time. Kudos to your very understanding wife too

 

chris

[tk111]

Wow

[Tit]

Kudos to your very understanding wife too

yes!!!!

[Niko]

Of course Niko! Hijack away!

It would be hard for me to imagine doing a trip like this through Iraq! It must have been cathartic for you. There's few experiences comparable to that shared stress and brotherhood.  Sebastian Hunger has been speaking about it recently:

The Vietnamese people are phenomenal. I can see why successive 'invaders' have failed to overcome them. They are calm, adaptable and have grit.  They are also generally happy and patient.

I was in the North, which wasnt impacted by the 'American War' like the south was.  I was hoping to go to Dien Bien Phu, but it's so far west it was out of the question for this tour. We did visit the Hanoi Hilton though.

I also feel that war tourism can be a bit insensitive, so we generally didn't discuss the war(s).  Though when we came across things like the memorial for the Dien Bien Phu supply trail we checked that out.  Thousands of people riding bicycles through those mountains with military equipment is pretty amazing.

I've got a few more pics up now...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our Vietnamese mechanic. We started calling him McQueen because he was so cool...

 

 

Cheers mate, those photos are sensational.   They definitely give an insight as to how beautiful Vietnam really is, once you get out of the two major cities.

Although I think Hanoi is a much more civil place than Saigon.    (Sorta like Melbourne compared to Sydney)

I haven't been to Dien Bien Phu...yet.   but it is on my bucket list.

Sebastian Junger is very impressive and really knows what he's talking about.  

Very interesting concept on PTSD I hadn't heard that view before.  

I think I would agree with his thoughts which flies in the face of a lot of "experts" on the subject.

Cheers mate, thanks for posting those up.   

[Tit]

Cheers mate, those photos are sensational.   They definitely give an insight as to how beautiful Vietnam really is, once you get out of the two major cities.

Although I think Hanoi is a much more civil place than Saigon.    (Sorta like Melbourne compared to Sydney)

I haven't been to Dien Bien Phu...yet.   but it is on my bucket list.

Sebastian Junger is very impressive and really knows what he's talking about.  

Very interesting concept on PTSD I hadn't heard that view before.  

I think I would agree with his thoughts which flies in the face of a lot of "experts" on the subject.

Cheers mate, thanks for posting those up.   

My feelings aign with his.  I think often the transition to civilian life can be as challenging as the in-uniform experiences. Sometimes this gets mixed up and misinterpreted as PTSD.   Police, firies and high performance athletes might experience similar....

[YellowDieselGolf]

Thanks Nico and Tiaan for sharing