Motorbiking Vietnam

Asia » Vietnam
August 9th 2003

Published: August 9th 2003

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Fry

Classic I Hotel

My room in Hanoi...a safe haven on my first night.

So there I was, sitting in my apartment trying to figure out what to do with my 1 week vacation from teaching english in Daegu, South Korea. Most of my fellow english teachers had all gone to Thailand, and gave it rave reviews but I wanted to do something a little off the beaten path. So I started looking on the internet for tours, and stumbled upon Motorbiking Vietnam, and was instantly sold. A week motorbiking in the mountains of north vietnam was exactly the kind of adventure I was looking for.

Day 1: Hanoi is Crazy
I arrived in Hanoi late at night, and luckily the tour operator had sent a car for me, complete with name card. Hanoi was a fair distance away from the airport, and for anyone who has ever taken the trip by cab, it is a pretty interesting experience in itself. It was dark, and perhaps it was the headlights from the uncoming dump trucks racing directly at us, that made me feel a little uneasy. I thought on several occasions that I would die in that cab, but apparently the cab driver was the greatest driver of alltime, as nominated by me. The

Farmer

A farmer and her water buffalo on the way out of Hanoi

two lane highways didn't leave much room for error, and were filled with motorbikes each loaded 3-4 people high, bicycles, carts, people walking, and various animals yet the cabbie avoided them all as he sped toward Hanoi. We got to Hanoi, and my hotel in the old quarter was called the Classic I hotel. The streets were narrow with Vietnamese people sitting outside the buildings, talking, drinking and burning stuff. I went into my hotel room and was literally scared to go outside, I stupidly felt like the only white man in vietnam! I just remember thinking to myself "what the hell are you doing?"! Luckily their was air conditioning, a fridge with coke, and I indulged and went to bed. Vietnam was so far unlike any place I had ever been.

Day 2: Hanoi is Scary
The next morning I awoke to a rooster crowing, and the hustle and bustle of Hanoi's old quarter. I was still pretty scared, but the light made it less intimidating. Hunger made me leave the safety of my hotel room, and as I stepped outside I felt like the biggest sore thumb, but aside from the street vendors I

Lunch

Talking to a family at lunch on the way to Nghia Lo.

went unbothered. I was almost instantly approached by two or three vendors selling books of some sort and pencils, after refusing another woman approached with t-shirts...I told her that I was interested but would buy them later and kept walking...but she followed! When I went into a shop she waited outside, I went into a restaurant and she sat on a curb outside waiting for me...I felt bad and asked her to come in but she wouldn't. I ordered a steak, salad and a Miller light and watched a baseball game on TV. Suddenly it felt a little more like home, even though the steak was more of a big meat patty! For about $2.50 CAD it was a good meal. I walked out and bought some t-shirts off the girl so she could stop following me around, and then took one of the taxi bicycle cart thingy's around hanoi. It's a nice city, with nice architecture, but very poor. There were a lot of people walking, and the motorbike was definately the vehicle of choice there, they were everywhere! After a brief tour around and a full stomach, I came back to my hotel room feeling much better about

Out of Gas

My red Minsk ran out of gas on the road. Warren and Martin drove on until realizing I wasn't behind.

the situation. I called up
the tour operator (Digby from Australia) and we chatted a bit about the upcoming trek and he came and picked me up on his bike and took me back to their office to get outfitted. After running around Hanoi some more we went to get my traveller's cheques cashed, and when I came out my guide had this young kid by the neck up against the wall shouting something in Vietnamese. The kid had tried to pick his pocket, and he caught him! I laughed as it seemed like par for the course at that point. Later that night I met up with Digby at a local pub, and he introduced me to Martin who would be the guide for the trek. Warren, a bloke from England had just decided that day to take the trek with us, so the 4 of us sat and ate some local cuisine, and had some varieties of "zeal", which was some kind of alchohol with various insects marinating it it...so we tried snake, spider, scorpion, and gecko and decided to stick with the beers.

Day 3-10: The Trek
The next morning I awoke early, ready to

Hotel in Nghia Lo

We stayed here on our first night. After a few beers, local food and a sampling of dog meat, I was off to bed utterly exhausted.

start the trip. I packed my saddle bags, and met Martin in the lobby and we went to pick up my bike. It was raining, and I was a little nervous to be driving a motorbike in Hanoi for the first time in about 6 years while it was raining. I remember thinking it would probably be the worst spot to forget how to drive a bike. I loaded up my trusty 125cc Russian Minsk and was ready to go! But first, we needed to eat so we stopped off at at a hotel for a buffet breakfast and mapped out our journey. After breakfast I had the unenviable task of re-learning how to drive a motorbike in down Hanoi, luckily it wasn't too hard. But Hanoi doesn't have a whole lot of traffic lights! So at massive intersections where some 5-6 streets intersect, everyone just comes together and slows down and weaves around one another! The worst thing to do, I was told, was to stop! After almost hitting some woman on a bike, we made it outside Hanoi and on the open road! I was smiling from ear to ear, thinking here I am riding a motorbike in

Waitress

A waitress in Thanh Uyen listens to AC/DC "You shook me all night long"!

Vietnam, how crazy is that! The countryside in vietnam was absolutely amazing, and I had come at the best time of year apparently when it was at its greenest. It was an incredible experience. All along the way, we were greeted by interested people as we stopped for gas or a break. The trek was planned out perfectly as everyday the scenery got more beautiful and the mountains got bigger and bigger. The first night we stayed in a place called "Nghia Lo". Sitting outside in the courtyard, we were all exhausted from riding all day, but it felt good. We had a few beers, tried some different foods including dog (sorry mom), and chatted with some American guys who were taking the trek by jeep. The hotel was basic, and water and electricity was shut off after 10pm. After a great day, I crawled under the mosquito net and into bed and went fast asleep.

The next day I woke up and found Martin and Warren down in the courtyard and joined them for breakfast. The coffee was black and thick and not very good, and we ate some eggs and bread and were on our way to

Boy on a Bike

Little Vietname boy on the back of his mother's bike in Nghia Lo Market.

Thanh Uyen. We were getting higher and higher into the mountains everyday and into more remote areas. On our way we stopped
off at a small village inhabited by a minority hill tribe called the Black Hamong. They wore their very unique and traditional clothing and it was amazing to see and meet them. We stopped at another small village for a break, and there had to be at least 50 people all crowded around us checking us out and just waiting and staring as if something amazing was going to happen. I felt like a celebrity! It was pretty much like that the entire way, large groups of Vietnamese people would come out to see us, as apparently a lot of them had never seen a white person before. I had a lot of comments about my skin, the funniest was one girl said it was just like "flour"! A lot of them wished they had white skin, and I told them a lot of white people pay to tan their skin like theirs. As we continued on, the views were incredible and I was slowing the guys down by taking so many pictures. We got to Thanh Uyen

Black Hamong

Sitting down with a Black Hamong woman on the way to Thanh Uyen.

afterdark and exhausted managed to make it to a nearby "place to eat"...it was more like someone's house with picnic tables inside one room but the food was great, noodles with Venison and bia hoi...or local beer. As per Vietnamese tradition, the owner came out and took a shot with each one of us as a sign of welcome. I went to bed feeling exhausted, happy and
a little drunk, and after killing 6-7 buzzing mosquitoes I fell asleep.

The next day we were a little delayed, as the handle bars on martin's bike were cracked, so I went next door to where we had drinks the night before and had some juice and let the waitress listen to my cd player. When the bike was ready we took off for another day on the road. It seemed like around every corner I was pulling out my camera and snapping a picture. We stopped off again at a small village for lunch, and as usual a crowd gathered, of mostly kids. This one boy had a giant rhino beetle on a leesh and was dragging it around like a toy! After a small lunch we took off again toward

Old Woman

An old woman joins the crowd of people who have come to check out what all the fuss is about. She liked my camera.

Tam Duong. It was very hot about 30 degree celcius, but the wind on the bike made it tolerable, but I got a nasty sunburn. The night in Tam Duong I wasn't feeling too hot and felt worse after the local bar owner wouldn't let me go without taking multiple shots with him. I didn't eat much, and got to bed early. That night there was a thunderstorm, and there were no window panes in my hotel rooms, just screens so the sound of the rain and the thunder kept me entertained as I spent most of the night on the toilet looking at all the insects crawling around on the bathroom floor!

The next morning we checked out a local market, then headed up toward Sapa. Sapa is a town fairly close to the chinese border, and is a popular tourist destination, although most get there by train. As we rode higher and higher, it was amazing that at one point is was very hot and as soon as we crossed this altitude boundary on our way up it was suddenly very cool, and I had to put on a sweater. The views down into the valleys were

Vietnamese Women

Two woman smile for the camera dressed in their traditional tribal clothing on the way to Thanh Uyen, Vietnam.

incredible, and we could see the road we had come up on far below. We stopped for a picnic on a ledge overlooking the valley below, but it started to rain so we were on our way. We got to Sapa early evening, checking into our hotel "the cat cat" which was very nice compared with the previous few nights and had an incredible view from right outside my door. I had a hamburger at the hotel restaurant, which was the first bit of western food I saw since leaving Hanoi. Later we went out and saw a bit of Sapa, ate dinner and talked with some locals. The next day we just relaxed in Sapa for most of the day as we had to catch the night train in Lao Cai back to Hanoi that night. Before leaving we sat down at a nice restaurant for the pizza which Martin had told me about a few days back...a crowd of street vendors both young and old crowded around us and all of a sudden Martin couldn't find his wallet! After talking to some of the locals, he realized one of the ladies had stolen it. Fortunately, the younger girls

Black Hamong Girl

A young black Hamong girl collecting plants along the road. I stopped to take a picture and she was a little startled, but she got excited when I show her the picture I took of her. This is the 2nd more friendly pic!

there felt bad for him and took it on themselves to get his wallet back. So as we sat eating pizza, the girls would come by and update us on the situation and be off again...eventually they found the lady who stole the wallet, martin told her she could keep the cash he just wanted the cards back, and eventually the girls brought it back to him...just as we were finishing our pizza. We left Sapa for our journey down the mountains to Lao Cai, right on the chinese border. Martin suggested I put the bike in neutral and turn the engine off and just glide down the mountain and I did. It was great, and we must have been going like that for about an hour down the mountain. We got to Lao Cai at dusk, and could look across the river into China. We went to the railstation, loaded our bikes and had some bia hoi while waiting for the train to leave.

The train ride back to Hanoi was bitter sweet as I was exhausted and sunburned, but it meant the trip was over. It was an incredible experience that I'll never forget. We got to

Stopped for Lemonade

The sturdy Minsk, on the way to Tam Duong.

Hanoi at 6am in the morning, and road back to where it all began. I had a day left in Hanoi, and had heard great things about Halong Bay...so after a quick shower and a 15 minute nap, I was back on a motorbike being taken to catch the bus as apparently I was late. I managed to get on the bus and it was filled with older European tourist and it was like night and day from what I had just experienced. Halong Bay was beautiful, and I met some interesting people from different countries. I met a market researcher from Boston who was there "working", a young couple from Ireland who was scared to death and wanted to go home and I spent the night convincing them to give it a chance. We stayed overnight on the boat, and had some beers and chatted with
the vietnam tour guides and after a few too many we all started singing...we were singing Pink Floyd's "Wish you were here" and midway through we could here people out in the darkness on other boats singing along with us! It was a great experience and a lot of fun. The next morning

River

River coming down for the mountains, on the way to Sapa.

I woke up hungover in my cabin, and eventually made it back to shore.

I flew back to Korea with great memories of an amazing trek that I will remember forever.

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