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Published: November 1st 2013
Getting to Hanoi from London
When I first came up with this idea I figured it would be a cool way to break up my flights home. For the same price as flying home to Australia I was able to book a 6 week stop over in Chiang Mai using Singapore airlines. The trip to Hanoi was far more painful than I expected.... Close to 30 hours when I finally got to the hostel. Fair to say sleep was the order of the day.
Day 1 - Organising
Plan for the day was to sort out my GoPro stuff for the trip, a Sim card and of course a set of wheels. Stepping out into Hanoi you certainly get hit with senses overload, the smells in the street (most of them nasty), the relentless beeping of horns and watching the thousands of scooters zoom around in what seems like complete unorganised mayhem. I was expecting a crazy city, but I think after spending so long in Europe I really was overwhelmed for the first few hours. All I could think was if it's this nuts just crossing the street then god knows how I'm going to ride in
this.... After many false starts I managed to sort out everything I needed, and only called one guy about a motorbike before a meeting was sorted. Caught a scooter taxi out which was terrifying, especially considering I could smell the guy was wasted! The 100cc Honda Win was exactly what I was after, and goes like a trouper. Only really problem is the non existent brake, indicators and head lights. But in a land where safety really isn't important I figure neither are the lights. Biggest issue of the day was my ear, after lasting 8 months in europe with no medical issues its just my luck that I get an ear infection the first time I'm away from medical care. Managed to find a chemist and using hand signals explain I have an ear ache, she provided me with two options, clearly I pick the ones with "prescription only" written in red. They have to be better right? I decided given its my last night in Hanoi I should head out and ended up having a funny night talking to a Dutch couple I met over dinner.However before I could get home it felt like someone stabbed me in
the ear, shooting pains from my ear felt like electric shocks on my brain. I no longer cared what the ear drops were, I filled my ear up to the brim and lay awake most of the night with a fever. Welcome to Vietnam was all I could think....
Day 2 - First day on the road
After spending a horrible nights sleep munching pain killers and filling my ear up with some random medicine I felt absolutely terrible when I woke up and considered staying another night in Hanoi. Luckily enough the ear drops seemed to be starting to work and after munching down some more pain killers I felt good enough to depart. Figuring out the best way to strap my luggage down took a while, I hardly have any clothes but when it comes to electronics I'm certainly weighed down (tablet, iphone, camera and now a GoPro). It will be worth having it all in the long run, but it all makes the bike very top heavy. Riding out of Hanoi was easier than I expected, you quickly learn to follow traffic and be aggressive with your riding. Just make it look like you don't
care if you smash into their scooter and they quickly get out of your way. My favorite part of the day is definitely when I got out into the countryside, it was absolutely amazing riding between the massive volcanic mountain's, past endless rice fields and through cool little Vietnamese villages where all the local kids come running out waving at me. They all can't get enough of the GoPro on my helmet, I'm not sure if they think its cool, or I look like a riding clown, I'm thinking its the latter but its fun waving at everyone none the less. The bike handles like an absolute nugget, it feels like I'm riding a pogo stick, bouncing my way down the streets but apart from that I couldn't be happier with the Honda Win, it powers up the hills like an absolute trouper. I thought that today's ride would take me around 2 hours, I was way off it turns out. Some of the streets are closer to 4WD tracks than roads and my suspension certainly makes the going tough. Ended up taking me 5 hours to do around 170km before arriving in Ninh Binh (nothing like the Aussie version).
By the time I reached a hotel my arse and back were in turmoil. Only 5 weeks and 6 days more to go. Tomorrow I have to push through my longest day for the trip I think, next stop is over 400 kms away so it's going to be an early start and a long day. Can't wait!
Day 3 - Punching some kilometers
So the day started in absolute tragedy. Tied everything on the bike and turn the GoPro on... Flashes 3 times and turns itself off... Seems some retard left it on overnight. Pissed off, I started riding the 415kms of highways. You would think that much riding on highways would be shit house, but it was so much fun. I spent the whole day dodging pot holes, rocks, chickens, water buffalo, cows, stray dogs and other random shit. You have to be on your game 100℅ of the time because oncoming trucks and busses pass assuming you will move, if you're lucky you end up on the shoulder but a few times I was two feet off in the scrub full swapper style. Easily the worst part of the day is all the shit that
smashes you in the face. The dust is relentless and the trucks pepper you in the face with rocks. A piece of steele even flew past my head from some overloaded truck, but that's nothing compared to the face full of moisture I copped passing a pig truck... Only 5 hours before I can wash it off, cheers mate. Hopefully tomorrow i will get more time for some photos. Now I'm off to lather my arse with savlon and find a whizz fizz spoon to shovel the shit out of my eyes.
Day 4 - Break downs
After yesterdays 9 hour grind the plan was to take it easy and ride about 250km to a town called Hoi An. Plenty of time to stop and take photos I thought.... The bike had other ideas. About an hour down the road I noticed a Buddhist temple which I decided to have a look at. Just as I touched the brakes the rear wheel bucked up into the air, followed by a symphony of crunching, banging and grinding noises. Happy days. Basically the metal rods connecting the drum brake to the foot peddel had let go and wrapped themself around
the back wheel, with a screw driver and an adjustable spanner to my name I was in for a long walk. Before I knew it I'm surrounded by locals who obviously came out to see what the noise was, before I could shoo them away the bloke starts ripping the back wheel off. Turns out he is a master bush mechanic and after a quick trip to town for some parts had me back on the road in no time. Off to Hoi An I go.... Incorrect again. After maybe 10 minutes the Honda was suffering from a serious loss in top speed. I pulled over to have a look and noticed the rear brake was nearly on fire. I managed to get the wheel off and as soon as I opened the drum brake pieces of calipers poured out... Perfect. I can ride 4 hours with no rear brakes I figured. After maybe 10 minutes I decided it's fix the brakes or kill myself. So my third unscheduled stop for the day happened in the next town, this time at a mechanics. So with the bike better than new and me seriously concerned about how late it was getting
I was back on the road. Most of the riding was relatively boring until I hit a mountain pass north of DA Nang. It was pretty much 20km of my laughing and screaming to myself, easily the highlight of the trip. I considered dropping a U bolt and running it again but luckily decided against it. As it was I didn't reach Hoi An until dark which is thrilling without lights. Forecast for tomorrow is a possible Typhoon.....
Day 5 - Hoi An
With news of a possible Typhoon I figured I should stay a couple of nights here, which was fine with me because I've heard nothing but good things about Hoi An. It has some of the best scuba diving in Vietnam (clearly weather put a dampener on that). The town itself is amazing, its where they have the floating lanterns in the river and the bars and restaurants are top notch. I'm pretty sure this is where Top Gear stopped and got their suits made. It was a nice change of pace not having to ride so far, I was able to zoom around the town scoping it out and also headed out to Marble
Mountains for a look. Not the easiest ride out there with the wind almost blowing me off my bike but worth it when I got there, has some seriously impressing caves and a cool Budda city on the top. The latest update on the Typhoon is that its been downgraded to a tropical storm. To be perfectly honest I'm very disappointed by this news, I was planning on taking the GoPro and running around in the typhoon. "I went running around in a tropical storm" just doesn't have the same ring to it as "you should of seen how awesome it was running around in a typhoon". One thing is for certain. My wet weather riding gear shall be tested over the next few days. Plan for tomorrow is to head towards Nha Trang, but it's 415 km away so not sure I can be bothered doing that much in a day again, especially if its raining. My left testcle for a pair of moto goggles, sunnies just don't cut the mustard.
Day 6 - Riding mate
Starting the day off hungover meant any chance of riding all the way to Nha Trang was out the window. While
I was packing my bike up ready for the trip some bloke rolls over and asks which direction I'm riding. I look over and he's kitted up like he's about to race the Dakar rally. "Ah, I'm riding south mate"
please don't be going my way "oh really so am I"
you must be shitting me "oh awesome we can ride together"
this is going to be a long day... So Van Damme and I hit the road, to be honest I was probably a little to quick to write him off, turns out he is a nice bloke. He's actually riding down into Malaysia, across to India then up through Iran on his was back to Switzerland. So maybe the army boots are for a reason. The riding for the day was relatively uneventful by Vietnam standards and the only issue I had was my chain flying off, which apart from scaring the shit out of me was a quick fix. We road nearly 300km and the change in landscape was amazing to see. Everything is looking very tropical now, and I love looking at the Vietnamese propaganda billboards as you ride along, some are honestly hilarious. We made
it as far as Qui Nhon before we called it a day. The hotel we found was like 50 meters from the beach and had the best views I've ever had from a hotel, all for $5 AUS. On our way for a beer some local bailed us up and wanted to show us his favorite restaurant, sure why not. After we had ordered I went too the toilet and really wish I didn't see how and where our meals were being prepared, side order of food poisoning all round. Still no real sign of the tropical storm....
Day 7 - Singing in the rain
So before my alarm could wake me up, last nights dinner did. Now I bet the Swiss bloke wishes he gave me a wide berth. After doing unmentionable things in the toilet I popped open the curtains to look at our stunning views I was highly disappointed, seems the tropical storm had tracked us down. It hadn't started raining and we discussed wet weather gear over breakfast. I decided not to because it's still as hot as hell. I can pencil that in as another stupid decision for the trip. We probably made
it half an hour before the rain started. Only Forest Gump can describe the rain properly "we been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin rain... And big ol fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight from underneath". Even with my wet weather gear on it was intense, luckily its still hot so you don't get cold. The worst for me is I'm running an open face helmet and sunnies. So I can hardly see a thing and it feels like someone is sand blasting my face, I spent hours looking at stupid Van Damme in his stupid full face helmet. At one point the rain got so heavy it drowned the Swiss's bike, anyone who knows me will understand I was fighting to not break out laughing while he's cracking the shits. Didn't take long before it fired up again anyway. Our little bikes are at complete mercy to the wind, I have to laugh when we're riding straight on like a 30 degree angle. I guess you haven't really rode Vietnam if you don't get thrashed by some crazy rain, and once I was soaked all the
way through and the nerves in my face had been battered in to non existence I really enjoyed the ride. It was easily the most amazing riding I've done, just endless kilometers of windy roads that snake around the coast line and over mountains. I was absolutely loving racing around like I'm Casey Stoner, only my cheese cutter wheels make me a little nervous but so far no stacks. After around 5 hours on the road we hit Nha Trang which is a beach resort town, however I can't see myself heading to the beach to cop some rays.
Day 8 - Floods
So after hanging out all night with a pack of English who were playing some ridiculous drinking games, I woke up late and to the news that the road to Da Lat was closed. I needed to get to Da Lat today or not see it at all, so to the surprise of my Swiss mate I started packing my bag. He literally thought it was the dumbest idea but decided to tag along to see how I went. So fully decked out in wet weather gear we headed off for the mountains. We made
it about an hour before we came across a police block, I just waved at them and rode around the barriers smiling, surely it's just a little water... Around the next corner we saw the issue, the river had flooded the road and was at least 100 meters wide. Again we were told to go back, but I grabbed a stick and waded out, the Vietnamese were dying with laughter. The current wasn't too strong and it was maybe half way up my thigh at deepest. The Swiss bloke could not believe it when I started pushing my bike through, and the Vietnamese thought it was hilarious. I'm honestly in love with my Honda, after draining the water and cleaning the spark plug she fired first kick. Even the Swiss followed. Another 10 minutes along we hit another river not as wide, with another big cheering crowd of locals. This time I tried to show off and ride it while waving at the fans, not even half way before the bike died, much to the amusement of the crowd. I looked like a retard fixing my bike while they all pointed and laughed, but without too much drama I was
off again. I'm so glad we pushed through because the riding up the mountains was absolutely spectacular, only way I can describe it is it felt like riding around Jurrasic Park. I just wished the damn rain would give it a rest. Once we hit about 1000+ meters of altitude the temperature plummeted, so it really turned into a mental grind to keep going. I was shivering away like a crack baby. Da Lat is an amazing farming city at the top of the mountains, about 1500 meters high. Wasn't much on in terms of nightlife but was cool to see. And with the rain still coming I was happy with an early night anyway.
Day 9 - Riders paradise
I woke up and took one look at the road to Mui Ne on Google maps, it was from every motorbike riders wet dreams. I sprang out of bed like it was Christmas, and to my surprise the day had perfect blue sky's. I packed so fast that I'm still waiting to find out what I left at the hostel. After scoffing my 50th Vietnamese roll for the trip (one good thing the French did to this place),
I set off, this time by myself which I was happy about. It was nice having someone to ride with in the depressing rain, but today I was planning a much faster pace through the windy roads. The riding was better than I could of dreamed, the roads snaked down the mountains for endless kilometers. Over 4 hours I rode through coffee plantations, jungles, around big lakes before hitting the sand dunes near the coast. Best day I've had in a long time! I thought it would be a cool photo to get my bike right to the edge of a sand dune over the water, probably didn't give the cheese cutter wheels enough thought. Was hilarious getting out there, but didn't think I was making it back. Once again the Honda takes it in her stride, plenty of revving and some pushing and it looked like I wasn't spending the night there. Mui Ne is a sweet little resort town, without thousands of tourists. The hostel I scored is more like a resort, with a big pool and bungalows. What makes it even better is it's literally on the beach. Could happily chill here for a while, but my
step dad is meeting me in Ho Chi Minh on Monday so think I will keep moving. Should be some funny times ahead with Mal here!
Day 10 - Mental traffic
Mui Ne is one hard place to leave. I woke up to perfect blue sky's and amazing view over the ocean, but it was off to Saigon for me. I guessed the days riding would be about 4 hours of highways. The first 30 minutes went smoothly until my guts went into absolute turmoil. I was in that much trouble I could hardly change gears. All I could think was why not 30 minutes earlier you stupid body! So with my options being limited to pants or roadside I had to consult Google maps... 15km to the coast. I pushed the little Win harder than ever before and when I saw the beach barely backed off the throttle as I flew over the sand dunes, down the beach, all the way to the sea. I can only imagine what these fishermen thought as I through my clothes off like a mad man and ran into the ocean bobbing around like a buoy for a few minutes. So
with that drama under control I could now head towards Saigon, in the end I was glad I took the 30km detour because it was an amazing coastal road all the way back to the main highway. The highway itself was brutal riding, the sun was coming at me from every angle, thousands of dusty trucks and I even copped another moisture face shot from a pig truck. Only this time my mouth wasn't completely sealed. Coming into Saigon was absolutely insane, nothing can prepare you for the amount of scooters, busses and trucks. By the time I fought my way through it, taking possibly 50 wrong turns, it was dark before I made it to a hostel. Thankfully the hostel was more like a hotel with an awesome rooftop bar. Cold beers was the order of the night.
Day 11 - Mekong Delta
Today was to be my first day without my beloved Win, not that my ass and back were complaining. I booked an all day tour to cruise the Mekong river plus some other stuff. Some other people at the hostel said it was good so I just signed up. I nearly pulled the pin
when my alarm went off, first time up before 8am in months as far as I can remember. Looking at the other backpackers when we were waiting for the bus made me feel much better, most of them were asleep on the floor or throwing up. The first stop was for a traditional Vietnamese tea at a local farm while listening to a traditional band. Boy could they rock out. "Would you like to buy our DVD?", "Yeah probably not thanks anyway". Next we got taken down a creek in a little canoe with an old lady frantically paddling away (I swear she was playing it up for a bigger tip, but how can you not tip a little old lady?), to a coconut farm where they make all sorts of coconut crap. In have to admit the lollies were spot on. Then it was off down the Mekong on the cruise ship. Happy to admit I knew stuff all about the river, so it was interesting listening to our hilarious guide explain it as we went. At certain points the river is so wide you think it's a lake. So basically my first day off the bike would of
been a fizzer, but luckily one of the English girls on the tour was a great laugh. I guess the one big downside to riding alone all the time is not meeting as many travelers. When I got back to the hostel I noticed a Honda Win for sale, I had a quick look over it and knew it was clean so flicked the guy $250 and Mal had himself his very own bike in no time.
Day 12 - Mal arrives
The one big touristy thing I wanted to do in Vietnam was the Cu Chi tunnels. Rather than do another tour I decided to see how Mal's bike went and ride out myself. No matter when I've seen another Win the whole trip my little beast has always had it covered, power to burn... Or so I thought. You reckon I wasn't pissed off when I opened up Mal's bike and it felt turbo charged compared to mine. Seats more comfy, brakes work better, starts like a dream, oh and did I mention it flogs the ass out of mine? Still time to swap it for another one before he gets here... Apart from my jealously
the 2 hour ride out was mainly cool little farming roads so ditching the bus was paying dividends even before I arrived. I'm guessing 99℅ of people show up as part of tours because they all were asking me where everyone else was, then yelling at each other in Vietnamese. Before I know it I'm on a private tour which I absolutely loved. You see the size of the bombs the Americans were dropping and the massive craters the left. Honestly hard to comprehend. Although I knew a little bit about these tunnels I had no idea they covered 250km. My favorite story was how the Viet Cong secretly tunneled right into the American base so the could use their showers. You also see some of their home made bamboo traps, I would take a bullet over them any day. The whole place doesn't paint Americans well, its kind of a shrine to the all mighty communism. It always seems to be the same story with these things, big political forces arguing in another country, where the big losers are always the locals, both during and for many years after the conflicts. Anyway that's my two cents. It blows my
mind how the Vietnamese show no bad feelings towards France, Russia or America. A local told me "that's all in the past now, and we shouldn't dwell on the past". After all that I was late to get Mal from the airport, its the most retarded entry to an airport I've seen, just ridiculous little unsigned local streets all the way to the terminal. Luckily I was there before he walked out. The ride back to the city in rush hour was hectic even for me, the handling of the bike was significantly affected with a passenger so we were nearly taking out scooters all the way in as wrestled the handlebars. I couldn't stop laughing but I could tell Mal wasn't sharing my enthusiasm (nothing to worry about mum).
Day 13 - Back to the countryside
With the inclusion of Mal we were now officially a Vietnamese motorcycle gang on our bad ass Honda Win's. I was thrilled to be leaving Saigon, get me back into the countryside that's for sure. It took us at least an hour to punch out of the city, probably not the most ideal riding for Mal to get used to the
bike. He was absolutely positive his front end was falling off, I had forgotten this was my first impression in Hanoi. He said "it handles like a rubber fish", once again I was laughing away while Mal was shitting himself. I managed to find the most western looking roadside place for a roll, but Mal still wanted no filling. I ordered 2 peaking duck rolls and told him to suck it up. Once again it was roasting hot with brutal humidity for the ride, it wasn't long before Mal had the rubber fish under control and we were snaking our way through traffic. We both made a comment at one stage that a little rain would be nice, as soon as I saw the black clouds I wanted to take it back. I've learned to seriously start taking shelter once the locals are pulling over scrambling for their ponchos. We quickly pulled in and brought a couple of ponchos our self thinking it will be a light downpour and we couldn't be bothered with wet weather gear in the heat. I should know better by now, but I still keep falling for it. The light rain quickly turned into another
epic downpour. At one point a truck went passed and hit a puddle, the wall of water that hit my face gave me a fat lip. This time I turned around and Mal was dying laughing. Once we got closer to our destination (boarder town called Chau Doc) the sun was back out, the scenery was unreal again. We even got to cross the Mekong on a ferry. Coming into Chau Doc a guy on a scooter offered to take us to a guest house for only $10. Normally I hate these sharks, but its only a small town so who cares. The room was pretty standard, apart from being filled with cockroaches and geckos, much to Mal's delight. Mal was first in the shower and comes out saying "there's no hot water and you have to use that white hose over next to the toilet because the shower has no pressure". Boy did I enjoy explaining to him he just washed himself with the ass washer. Hahahaha.
Day 14 - Off to Cambodia
So it was time to leave Vietnam. I just have to say that I was expecting the country to have beautiful mountains, amazing beaches
and delicious food all for insanely low prices and this was all very true. I had the time of my life cruising around seeing the country and all the amazing landscapes. However for me it's the locals that made Vietnam so amazing. I will admit I flew over with the attitude that the country would be full of scams, my experience could not be further from that. From the school children laughing and waving, to the street vendors, the mechanics and anyone else I asked for help. I received nothing but kindness my whole trip. They don't expect money, most are just happy with a smile and a wave. I feel bad for flying over with that attitude and just wish I could speak Vietnamese to chat with them.
Anyway its off to Cambodia. Here is that blog link: http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-815447.html
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Russell Yeats
non-member comment
What an exciting trip Paul will be keen to have a BBQ at home and hear some stories well a least the stories for old farts you look like you need a good feed. Look forward to catching up soon Russell & Jill