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Published: December 10th 2012
When deciding to go travelling around Asia often people would ask of one thing that I really wanted to achieve. After exploring the countries on a map I thought that it would be pretty cool to cycle from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. So here is how I have set myself up for the challenge.
Before I start it is best to clear up any misconceptions, I am not a sportsman or an advanced cyclist, although I did get my cycling proficiency certificate as a teenager. My prior experience of cycling mainly consists of childhood summers spent on a bike and the occasional bike ride as an adult (last year approximately 10, none more than 30miles).
I do however have a theory to support any long distance amateur cycling trip and based on this I am certain I will be ok!
This theory goes:
· The distance between Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi is roughly 2000km
· I can cycle 50km a day, which should take 3hrs at 20km/h with a 30min break and if I take a little longer it is no drama.
· If I do this it will
take me 40 days of cycling
· I will probably want days off to rest and explore, so let’s say another 30days
· This is a total of 70days
· You can get a tourist visa for 90days
· Therefore the trip is easily achievable!
Whilst in Cambodia I started to research how feasible my plan is, unfortunately the internet is not encouraging for your average man wanting to cycle the whole of Vietnam. Articles are generally by professional cyclists who recommend a lot of fancy gear. There are also a lot of suggestions that you cannot get a bike in Vietnam good enough to cope with this kind of trip. Also the roads are given a lot of bad press as traffic in Asia seem to follow no rules, except if you can try to stay on the right.
Reading this I started to question whether or not the trip will be possible . . . until I meet Matt, he is also cycling in Asia and bought his bike in Ho Chi Minh. On his trip he has not met any other cyclists but confirms my belief that
it is a lot simpler than people let you believe. He tells me where to buy a bike in Ho Chi Minh and asks if I have a smart phone with Google maps, I do, which he insists is the one essential piece of equipment as decent road maps of Vietnam do not exist.
As meeting Matt in Siem Reap, the stop just before I go to Ho Chi Minh was so unlikely, I decide to take this as a sign that cycling Vietnam is not just something I wanted to do, but quite possibly my destiny! Well not really but he did boost my confidence enough to ensure that I put my plan into action!
Anyway all this so far has just been about how I decided to do what I am doing, let’s move it into Ho Chi Minh!
In Ho Chi Minh I stay at a place called the Loft Inn Saigon, it is clean, air conditioned and gives you free Bananas and Coffee all for $7! The staff is also friendly and helpful, which was useful for my first task of locating this bike shop. The bike shop I went to was called
Martin Bicycle, Martin is also a Vietnamese name, the hostel staff made some phone calls and find out there is a bus which goes straight past it, its number is 149. The full address
Martin Bicycle is;
107 Center 75 Thoai Ngoc Hau Street, Hoa Thanh Ward, Tan Phu District.
Shops in Ho Chi Minh tend to be set out so that everyone that sells one thing sells it on the one street, which maybe not very sensible for business is really useful for comparing bikes and prices.
Buying the bike was a fun experience, the owner wanted $200 for it and didn’t want to budge on the price however is more than happy to throw in all the extra things I needed. Although trying to communicate what I needed was tricky and some unsuccessful drawings the shop owner whipped out Google translate and we were away!
My main concern was how I would carry my stuff on a bike, but luckily for me I was in Vietnam, home of loading an inappropriately large amount of stuff onto anything! He takes me round to the bike that I have selected, then disappears and returns brandishing 3 baskets,
his idea is to put 2 either side of the back wheel and one on the front. It is genius, and also means that I can keep my backpack!
We go back to Google translate, so far I have secured the baskets and a helmet, the only thing left for me now was to get a pump (I later returned to buy inner tubes and Alan keys that I didn’t think of at the time). Google translate had been working remarkably well up till now, so I type in can I have a pump, and then he types back in Vietnamese and the translation is, “there are many bombs on the roads in Vietnam”, I read this am initially a little alarmed (as this could possibly change my plans) then think, of course, the word for pump must be the same as bomb, so I take a risk and ask him to show me a bomb. Luckily he pulls out a pump, and says I can have it, it’s about half a meter long with a massive handle but I am guessing this is what pumps must be like in Vietnam, so I take it and say thanks.
The whole experience of buying this bike was a pleasure, the owner couldn’t have been any more helpful if he tried and they even guided me to the main road so that I wouldn’t get lost on my way back to the hostel.
Cycling in the city was actually ok, most people are on Mopeds so size wise you are not much different. Also as there are so many people they cannot travel so fast, so you don’t feel daunted as people whizz around you. When taking a left turn or a roundabout just try to emerge yourself in a group of scooters going the same way and you will be fine, and don’t be alarmed when people beep their horns.
If you are preparing to cycle out of Ho Chi Minh with a bike laden with crap I would suggest taking a couple of days just getting use to cycling your bike in the city first, it was what I did and meant on the final day when I left I didn’t get lost.
After a very productive first morning in Ho Chi Minh I meet up with some of the other people at the hostel and we head out to a bar called “Acoustic” as it is the only place that the lonely planet guide actually mentions to go as an evening venue. Going in the place is rammed, it is not overly touristy, the audience is mainly Vietnamese and there is a local cover band that plays an eclectic mix of songs, from ballads, love songs, pop, rock and some rap too! The audience go wild and the band love it, they have guest singers and they can really work the crowd, one of the singers likes inviting the ladies up to the stage with him to get them to sing along and accosts one girl, blatantly on her way to the toilet, who then has to sing the entirety of “everybody needs somebody” by the blues brothers until she is able to complete her trip.
I had to make sure that the excitement of having a new bike didn’t get in the way of doing some important sightseeing so I made sure I booked on a tour to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels and the War museum.
The message given to you at the Cu Chi Tunnels is the story of how the Vietnamese outwitted the Americans, used their own weapons against them and had a great time doing it; if the whole situation wasn’t so tragic they painted it as a real classic underdog story. At the war museum you saw the real tragedy, as you looked through photos of people mutilated by Agent Orange and you read about the large numbers of deaths of innocent people as schools and villages were bombed. Of course this is in Vietnam so any other side of the story is hidden but it is hard to imagine what could have ever justified such actions.
Now, I was happy with my bike but I had to face the very real fact that sometimes there might not be anywhere to stay and sometimes it is going to rain. I realized that to solve these problems the things I needed where a survival hammock (as I had spotted being used by many Vietnamese) and a massive sheet of tarpaulin.
As I walk into the market I take my bike with me as the people outside tell me I cannot park and I notice everyone is laughing and smiling at me, I think everyone is being really friendly until I hear a whistle and I get escorted out again by a policeman. One of the women from the market follows me out to show me where I can park, so I park and re-enter, whilst re-entering the market all the locals are laughing at me, many saying I remember you, however this works to my advantage as I have an immediate audience for shopping charades. After a short time I am the proud owner of a survival hammock and 4 bunjy chords, unfortunately I am unable to act out tarpaulin but using the popular phrase of “same same” I receive a gesture to the part of town I need to go. The general direction was enough, as when I get to the street there are about 20 shops all specialized in selling tarpaulin!
Right so I am pretty much set for my cycling adventure to begin, but there is one more thing I want to try. Rather than sleeping rough when there is no where to stay I decide to have a go at using couchsurfing.com, I have heard it is successful so I look to see if there is anyone in Bien Hoa I can stay with. There were loads of people; in the end I had offers from three people to put me up.
I picked Bien Hoa as it is only 33km out of Ho Chi Minh and for my first day of cycling with a laden bike I didn’t want to travel too far.
But now I was set for the adventure to begin, I had everything I needed, my bike, I did a cull of unnecessary things I was carrying around, I had the hammock, the plastic sheet and the address of somewhere I could stay! So after 5 days getting sorted I was ready! So at 7am off I went.
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Sam
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Maps
Nice pics man, the trip looks good, I'm travelling in Vietnam right now, is possible that you'll sent to me all your pas please?? Thanks, see you