Vietnam 2024
Neil and David spend the month of August riding from Saigon to Hanoi, covering 3,500kms on rented Honda XR150s (called Victor Charlie). Keeping away from the backpack/tourist route, we rode through the middle of the country, keeping in the hills, mountains and jungle as much as possible, often hugging the border with Laos.
Part 1: Saigon
David arrived in Saigon a day before Neil; unfortunately without his bag as a tight layover in Istanbul meant his luggage wouldn't arrive for another day. Saigon was hot, steamy and busy but with lots of new food to try and beers to sample, it was straight out into the streets to start exploring.
Once Neil arrived the exploring continued, sampling some of the many rooftop bars and negotiating happy hour, irrelevant of the time of day. We did a half day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, travelling by speedboat up the Saigon river to beat the crowds and enjoy the city from a different perspective. We stayed at the Ben Thanh Boutique Hotel in District One, which was nice and central.
A massage or two was had, always treading carefully to avoid the "extra services" sometimes offered. One experience was biker themed: should have clicked when she was on my back riding me like a moto GP bike, using her left foot going through the gears on my family jewels, giggling away. She then asked if I'd like a happy finish. When I said no, the massage promptly finished before my half hour was up!
It was soon time to pick up the rental bikes from Tigit Motorbikes and start heading north.
Part 2: Saigon to Hoi An
Saigon to Cat Tien: 100 miles
Picking up the bikes from Tigit was relatively painless; a quick spin around the block to ensure everything was in good order; load them up with luggage and plenty of bungee cords, and we were off. We headed for a a recommended route out of the city via a ferry across the Saigon river. The traffic wasn't as scary as we had built it up in our heads and having comms to help each other through the intersections and traffic certainly helped. We avoided the main roads as much as possible as we made our way to Cat Dien, learning the ways of the road and trying to order food and drink with varied success.
We arrived at Cat Dein around 4pm having negotiated our first off-road section of mud track which was great fun. We chose to stay at The Green Bamboo Hotel and Restaurant, with rooms overlooking the river. Over dinner we met an interesting English chap who was working in the park looking after bears that had been rescued from captivity.
Cat Tien to Dalat: 134 miles
We started the day by taking the boat across the Dong Nai River into the National Park and hiring mountain bikes for an hour to explore; good fun, but with lots of mosquitos.
We left the lodge about 10am for Dalat. The riding was great with a high range to pass over with perfect winding tarmac and a lunch stop at the top withamazing views. We raced the weather into Dalat, but on the approach the sky darkened and we hit our first afternoon tropical rain storm for the last 30 minutes. Arrived at our accommodation for the next two nights, the Green House Dalat, where we could park the bikes in the foyer. The evening was spent exploring the city and night market.
Dalat day ride: 83 miles
A route called the Durong Truong Son Dong (Road East of the Long Mountains) starts from Dalat and out intention was to follow this north, unfortunately isn't completed yet but we'd heard the ride north from Dalat was a great road, winding through pine forests and coffee plantations so we would ride it to the end and return to Dalat. As it was essentially a dead end there were very few vehicles on the road. We stopped at what appeared to be a Swiss Chalet in the pine forest as it had a few bikes parked out front. It turned out to be a coffee tasting and education centre for the area, which was very interesting and topped up our caffein levels for the rest of the ride.
In the afternoon we explored Dalat, taking in the Crazy House and Maze bar which were great fun. We played some pool and tasted some beers before going to the street markets for dinner then back to our local cocktail bar for nightcaps.
Dalat to Lak Lake: 93 miles
Quite a long, hot ride through quiet roads took us to Lak Lake where we were surprised to find elephants wandering around. Not a lot of english spoken as we were now off the Western travel route so organising accommodation and meals isn't straightforward.
When stopping for breaks it was important to get shade for ourselves and the bikes, often riding them into the restaurants to get them out of the sun.
Lak Lake to Ayun Pa: 153 miles
Heading east we had to make our way through 30 miles of muddy roads under construction, first and second gear mostly as we cut across a remote, undeveloped area. Once we turned north we were on a main road for the rest of the day, just making up the miles through an area tourists wouldn't generally go.
It was very hot and we invented a new way to keep cool by packing our riding gear with ice when we could find it during our drink breaks. Much humour was had trying to explain what we needed; even our perfect (to us) pronunciation of ice in Vietnamese was little help.
In the evening we did some exploring and found a great restaurant where we had a whole chicken to start (claws and beak included) and a goat for a mains, all washed down with a new discovery, flavoured vodka.
Ayun Pa to Mang Den: 131 miles
The day started with more mile munching in very hot weather until we got to K'Bang. Stopped for lunch with the worst meal to date (and probably the cause of David's stomach issues for the next three days); but things were about to get very very good.
After K'Bang the road entered the jungle and twisted and turned for an amazing four hours of riding nirvana. There was next to zero traffic on this road as it had only just been completed and cut its way through un-developed jungle. At one point it opened up and became a landing strip, 10 lanes wide, cutting straight through the jungle. Obviously a high speed test had to be performed.
We got to Bach Duong Hotel in Mand Den, which was a beautiful setting in a pine forest, just as the rain started to come down. We found an interesting bar to spend the evening, set into the side of a hill that gave a New Zealand feel due to it with all the ferns and trees.
Mang Den to My Son: 179 miles
Straight back into another 4 hours of amazing, empty, twisting roads with incredible views through the gaps in the jungle on the side of the road. We finally turned off the Durong Truong Son Dong (Road East of the Long Mountains) road and headed down and out of the jungle, the heat building with every mile as we descended towards the plains below.
Accommodation for the night was The My Son Heritage Resort and Spa, a five star luxury hotel where I think we were the only guests. The afternoon was spent in the pool, faking drowning to get the staff's attention to order more beer.
The bar was amazingly stocked, but the barman only knew hoe to make one drink, so we got behind the bar and made our own.
My Son to Hoi An: 25 miles
Up early to visit the My Son temple complex; by 8:30am we were sweating buckets and headed back to the resort to pack the bags and head to Hoi An.
Just a short ride across the plains and into Hoi An; unfortunately David picked up a dodgy belly which restricted his fun and "range of safety" for the next three days.
Hoi An
We stayed in Hoi An for three nights, exploring the local beaches and getting some chores done like washing and getting the bikes serviced. It was sticking hot, over 37C most days so plenty of fluids.
Hoi An to Bac Son: 126 miles
Back on the trail, we headed up a naggery backroad, avoiding the main road due to the trucks, intersecting the Durong Truong Son Dong road again. We rode high in the mountains, along ridge tops just under the cloud cover on twisting roads void of vehicles. We could hear a storm coming in and it started to rain but there was nowhere to stop to put our wet weather gear on. Turning a corner we were confronted with a huge tunnel which we used to have a break in and to gear up for the changing conditions.
Being way of the tourist route, finding accommodation was a challenge, but we found a nice place up a backroad called Hue Crown A Luoi Retreat. They were able to fetch us some beers and organise some lunch and dinner for us; but they only had frogs. When it arrived, every bit of frog was served, eyes, flippers, skin, the lot; tasty, if not a little messy.
They also had a resident monkey that terrorised the pet dog, much to our amusement.
Bac Son to Khe Sanh: 68 miles
Another great day riding the empty Durong Truong Son Dong through the jungle, just us, our bikes and the water buffalo that seem to wonder the roads to their heart's content.
Khe Sanh was a milestone of the trip due to it's prominence in the Vietnam War. The approach was a bit hectic as it is on the main road to the boarder and there were a lot of trucks. It definitely had the feel of a boarder town and didn't give us great vibes. We stopped at a restaurant around 2pm and all the locals were hammered; insisting we drank with them. We had some quick noodles and got the hell out of Dodge. First few accommodation places we tried didn't really suit us; down a backroad we found Home Stay Bao Nguyen Xanh. We wanted to try an authentic homestay so we settled in.
We visited the Airport Relic Museum which was interesting; there is a C-130 Hercules and Chinook still there plus a few tanks. In the evening we were served a plate of fried rice while overlooking a Vietnamese family who were served a five course banquet! We got chatting to them and had several rounds of Mot - Hai - Ba - Dzo!! ("one - two - three - drink!!")
