Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi - pics++

[Shay HTFC]

I'm currently bored, so thought I would do a little write up of my trip up through Vietnam last Christmas. Warning, theres gonna be a lot of photos! Also, in addition to my current writers block, I can barely remember what happened yesterday, let alone last year, so I'm gonna keep the narrative to a minimum.


Anyway, I was working in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) for the 2nd half of last year as an English teacher and fancied making the journey north ala Top Gear, so one day I strapped my backpack to my trusty Honda Win 100 and just set off.

To start off with though, here's a few photos of what biking is like in HCMC.

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So anyway, I set off in the direction of the coast town Mui Ne, going along the perilous Highway 1. This is basically a motorway full of smoky lorries and all the mopeds hug the hard shoulder in order not to die.
I rode all day and came to Mui Ne just in time for a beer with another backpacker in a bar full of agro Russians (the town was just full of Russians. Restaurant menus were in Russian, the locals could speak Russian - it was basically a sunny Russia). And damn, those tonk mafia type skinhead Russians can be a scary lot!

The next day, the guy I shared a beer with rented a scooter and we both headed off to find the famous white dunes.
Unfortunately I didn't get any photos on the dunes, but I did get one on the way back.

https://img402.imageshack.us/img402/781/dscn0952y.jpg

Getting chased by a herd of cows
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Mui Ne harbour - so pretty!
https://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/166422_1632999717987_1626480008_1440886_3814794_n.jpg


After a couple days resting on the beach, I set off on my own towards Dalat which is in the mountains. It started off quite nice and straight forward and I followed the highway to the next town where a lady on a scooter guided me through the mad traffic to find the road I needed.
Then it started to get fun.
Slowly the number of houses and people reduced and the road started to climb into the mountains. The scenery was really lush and the occasional family would ride past on one bike with their shopping or what not strapped to the front.

https://img33.imageshack.us/img33/475/dscn0959m.jpg

I came across this breakdown which I managed to squeeze past
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After having some 'interesting' (read 'rank') meat and rice sat next to a local drunk in some mountain town, I set off again, hoping to get to Dalat before nightfall (which is when the roads get dangerous with wandering animals, fallen boulders from cliffsides etc - all of which are impossible to see when you have the naffest headlight in Asia)

So anyway, my timing was bad and I rolled up into Dalat in darkness and found myself a Nga Nghi (guest house).

View from the Nga Nghi balcony
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After a couple days here (where I met a fellow rider who I ended up riding up most of the country with), I decided to go to the beach for Christmas Day.
Now, I was on top of the mountain in the freezing cold and I was headed for the beach, 5 hours away. What came next was one of the best roads I have ever ridden. It was simply bliss and I'll let the pictures do the talking.

https://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/166422_1632999837990_1626480008_1440889_3483621_n.jpg

The garage on Top Gear where the USA bike was revealed for the first time and all the people came running down the hill is on the right, just behind the square blue sign. I happened to stop at the same place to get an oil change and only realised that it was the same place later when I was watching the Top Gear episode again. Thats my claim to fame on this trip!
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Just a small road block - Its interesting that 99% of vehicles you see in Vietnam on mountains roads and what not are motorbikes, so road blocks and stuff are not a problem generally.
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Gives you an idea of what the road building looks like...
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Having a quick lunch
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New road that was being built
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So anyway, I got into Nha Trang, but it was crap. Just full of backpackers (the type who fly to tourist town A, get drunk, get tourist bus along main road to tourist town B, get drunk....).
It was Christmas though, so I had a few bevvies and laughed at the funny Vietnamese 'tradition' where they dress up their little kids in Santa Claus outfits. I'm telling you, if you've never seen a beach FULL of little kids wandering around in Santa Claus outfits, looking totally bemused while overly attentive parents take photos, then you've not lived.
It was like that strange phenomenon on that island somewhere where twice a year the crabs come out of the sea and just cover every square inch of ground, except it was hordes of mini Santas instead. Surreal!

Anyway, I set off early the next morning on the 5 hour trip to Dalat in order to catch up with my new riding mate.

The next day we set off north and decided to use his GPS to get off the main roads and really get into the back country. And damn, did we hit the back country!

(will post the next update in a bit..)
____________________
Full Motorbike License - GS500E '95

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[shooter]

fucking awesome. keep it coming please!

[Shay HTFC]

The next day we aimed to make it to Buen Ma Thuot 70 miles or so away. Everyone we spoke to said we should take the main road, south out of Dalat and then up highway 27. But as young fresh adventurers we had already spotted the more direct route, the one that seemed to appear and disappear intermittently on Google Maps. We asked about our mysterious road and got back some real mixed reports. Local tourist guides said it was impossible and we were nutters for even contemplating it, but farmer types gave off more of a shrugged shoulders, "I guess you could" vibe. That was enough of a confirmation for us and set off north, almost feeling the tourist guides looking at us riding away in horror.

Heres a map (Going from Dalat - Buen Ma Thuot. The route we were looking at goes north out of Dalat, then runs just south of the national park before leading back to highway 27)
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=vietnam&hl=en&ll=12.219233,108.319702&spn=1.548822,2.8125&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=15.006879,28.256836&vpsrc=6&hnear=Vietnam&t=m&z=9


We set off nice and early and made our way out of town past large cemeteries and vast swatches of greenhouses which fill the countryside everywhere around Dalat. I think they grow strawberries and flowers there because of the cooler climate which is rare in Vietnam.

https://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1426/dscn0972x.jpg


In Vietnam roads are signposted so poorly to the extent where they don't really bother so finding where to go can be damn difficult, but still ok. But when the road you're looking for is some little side road between a shop and a petrol station on the outskirts of town then you really have a hard time. After going past it back and forth a few times and starting to get irate, we eventually spotted the little bastard of a road.

We started to climb out of civilisation, into hillside fields and forests where some of the views were amazing. It was deadly silent except for the distant sounds of small tractor type machine ploughing the fields.

I just had to get a photo of my grinning mug in front of the scene
https://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/166462_1632988317702_1626480008_1440839_444897_n.jpg


Shortly after, the road we were on turned to dust and dirt and worryingly, the GPS indicated that about 20 miles ahead the road would stop. Being the bold travellers we were, we ignored such trivialities as up-to-date GPS systems and went on the slightly bemused nod that a local gave us earlier when we hashed out "Buen Ma Thuot" in a questioning, and entirely mispronounced way.
So anyway, this satisfied us, and we continued to make our way along the rapidly deteriorating road.

Some cows we came across
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After an hour or so on this dirt road, having not passed anyone for ages, we suddenly came to some sort of building site and it became clear that the road wasn't actually finished yet. There were knackered JCBs and HGVs everywhere and, what we presumed were workers families, had set themselves up in small huts at the side of the newly prepared road. This was the first time we came across drying coffee too. The city we were headed to is the coffee making capital of Vietnam and for miles around every house had a big spread of coffee beans by the road to dry and the workers' families were no exception.

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We carried along this road for another hour or 2, every now and again coming across HGVs that gave off the distinct impression they wouldn't stop for anything, so getting in the way was not an option.
Worryingly, the weather was starting to come in and we found ourselves at what seemed to be the main quarry site for all the building works while heavy fog rapidly descended on us.

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After this point the road upto now (which was suitable for the odd HGV) turned into some forest track. It felt like we were miles and miles from civilisation, on a very slippy, rain drenched muddy road. What was tropical heat just an hour earlier was now bitterly cold wet mist that soaked everything around. Controlling the bike with my ungodly rucksack strapped to the back was tricky to say the least (my bike is the one with the big silver covered rucksack a few photos up)

The road we were now on, leading down into dense fog
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We managed to work our way along this road (which was still marked on the map, but not on the GPS, or something like that - all in all, we had 3 different sources telling us different info about where there was and wasn't road) and after an hour or so came to a small hilltop village which really took our surprise at just how remote it was.
We were hungry and stopped for a while eating cheap food from the local store (a hut with some bits and pieces spread out at the front) and took a few photos of this impressive place. I personally had never been anywhere like it. We were miles away from anywhere in a small remote village up in the hills. The people were so friendly and curious and we spent a while just chilling out not saying much, but just soaking it up. It was amazing!

This baby pig gobbled up everything in its path, including chocolate wrappers
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After we finished our chocolate a friendly local pointed us in the right direction (again, we couldn't tell if he understood us at all, and his slightly quizzical and hesitant finger point didn't fill us with confidence). Anyway, we went off in search for the next part of our 'road' not knowing what we would get. We seemed to ride around this village for ages - it was all built on different levels so we were going up and down random little tracks with no real idea. I couldn't help but wonder what the locals thought of 2 outsiders blindly riding round in circles with our little engines repeatedly leaving, then coming back into audible range.

Eventually we found our track and thats what it was, a narrow footpath type track. It kept forking and we kept guessing which way to go based on which track looked the most travelled. By now though we were getting pretty worried. Nightfall was just a few hours away and our progress was hideously slow. If we didn't make it to civilisation soon, we'd be stuck in the jungle with no tents or anything... we decided not to think about it too much and just get on with it, travelling down our ever worsening path with no idea how long it would go on for.

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The track was thin and muddy, but the ride was amazing and just kept getting better and better. We were weaving under trees, crossing small rivers and avoiding 40m drops just 30cm away from our tyre tracks. The feeling of adventure was continually hitting me in the face and I couldn't help thinking about just what we were doing. It was almost surreal.

After a couple of hours not having seen a single person or any sign of civilisation other than the narrow track we were on, we came to a tiny village. Now this village was like some long lost civilisation or something. We were miles from anywhere, with just a narrow dirt track going past. The houses were all hand build wooden huts and the place was silent. We crossed a small bridge and 2 young teen girls clocked us and their jaws just dropped. We gave a wave and they giggled excitedly.
We rode into the centre of the few huts and slowly a crowd gathered. Little girls were staring at us wide eyed, hiding behind their mothers and fathers, not sure what to make of us. Fathers looked both interested, but also slightly aggressive and kept their distance at first. One thing is for sure, America has a lot to answer for in these parts.

But soon the ice breaker came. A local came roaring up the track and crashed his already knackered scooter into a fence post. He got up, clearly drunk, and we all started laughing together. It was a great moment.
We shared a few quick smiles and handshakes, asked for directions (which didn't work at all - our pronunciation was just too bad out here) and then set off, back into the jungle.


By now, we were getting really worried about time. The sun was getting low and we had no idea how long this track was still going on for. As we went on, the quality of it seemed only to get worse and worse. We crossed a river a good 40cm deep (the universal 'stop, prepare yourself, and then GOOOOO' technique was used), crossed rickety bridges made of laid down tree trunks and climbed muddy hills where our bikes squirmed around as we tried desperately to avoid the large mud holes and drops to the side, all the while struggling to get any sort of grip. All the while we could barely see the sky and it felt like we were riding through a jungle tunnel. Regrettably we never got any photos because we were so 'in the zone' tackling the challenge. I should point out that despite (or maybe because of) the poor quality of the track, the ride was AMAZING. I have never experienced anything like it. The concentration required and the sheer adventure-ness of it was something else. Even now looking back I can't help but smile.

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Now, about two hours after leaving the village, it was slowly becoming apparent that the jungle-like vegetation was thinning. The path was starting to get wider and much to our surprise we saw a man carrying a load of wood or something. Also to our surprise was that we could actually fit past him - the track really was getting wider. We gave him a quick wave and clocked his utterly bemused face and climbed our way out of the forest, heading towards the setting sun.

And then we emerged out at the top of a hill looking down over a large vista and we saw it... civilisation! Clearly in the distance there were roads, houses, motorbikes, everything we had not seen for the past 5 hours or so in the jungle. It was kinda sad though, knowing that our latest adventure bit had finished and we were back to the 'normal' adventure again

However, whilst the view was amazing, I couldn't help but notice that I seemed to be parked on a bit of a small hill. Only then did I notice that it was actually a grave (), and I quickly rolled off it again, only then noticing the scale and details of where we were.
It was clearly a grave yard and all around us were shallow graves, notable only by the mounds of raised soil and the small items, such as a spoon or a small bags of sweets, placed next to them along with a small, rudimentary cross stuck in the ground. It was amazing to see, but at the same time extremely thought provoking.

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We made our way down onto the plain below and rode for another hour or so on tarmac (which felt sooooo smooooth!) and crossed a river on some cool boat.

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We rode for another hour or so in relative civilisation and eventually came to the main road where we found a bug infested Nga Nghi room and conked out for the night
____________________
Full Motorbike License - GS500E '95

[pepperami]

Impressive ........ how do you go about staying safe? after all you have to sleep sometime?.

I know that not everybody wants to kill the foriegner (you/us/westeners) all of the time but it would certainly cross my mind in a land so different to my own.

When I was in Cyprus (north and South) I felt safe.

Am I just listening to, to many old stories?
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[waffles]

This is amazing to read, those pictures are breathtaking!


____________________
Theory test - 19/8/09, CBT - 11/10/09, MOD 1 - 16/8/10, MOD 2 - 27/10/10
Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125

[Beelzebob]

Amazing adventure. Just a little jealous

MOAR!
____________________
'09 YBR 125 -> '92 XJ600 S Diversion -> '99 Hornet 600

"Stronger than your average female lifeguard"

[reddeviljp]

Superb posting, mate. I imagine that's is a true adventure and Charlie Boorman will only turn up once the road has been tarmacked! Keep it coming, mate.

[stinkwheel]

The only thing that would have been cooler is if you'd been on a Minsk 125.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[D O G]

Awesome. Beats commuting to Hursley I presume!? Tho the bike is definitely in better condition than that GS...

[Shay HTFC]

[D O G]

Ha - no I sold you a few bits from my GS a while back - might have changed the username since then. I recalled you saying you were thinking about jacking in your job then. I remarked to my missus that was probably a daft thing to do, but I take it all back - the stuff which you are doing now is far more enriching then building a career in the UK.

Well done!

[Shay HTFC]

[olionel]

wow man I'm well jelly (youngster talk for jealous ). I hope to do something similiar in 2013 (end work..spend savings... win )... awesome pics. Have fun!
____________________
1989 CG125 - Childhood Sweetheart (she got kidnapped by baddies)
1998 ZXR400 - Teenage Love (lasted three years, then she turned lesbian and left me)
2001 XRV750 - Wife Material (still getting to know her but head over heels in love)

[Shay HTFC]

I'm back and I'll just get straight on with it.

The next day, we got up and set off for the relatively easy journey to Buen Ma Thuot (where we'd hoped to be the previous day)

map: https://g.co/maps/eb6gm

Unfortunately I didn't get a copy of the photos from this section, but other than having superb scenery, nothing much happened. The road went along the top of a wooded mountain range which was really nice. Cruising along in the sun on tarmac at our bikes' top speed (70km/h I think) felt really good compared to the dogged riding of the day before.

Anyway, before long we dropped off the mountain and into Buen Ma Thuot.
We had just the one night here so had a few amazing coffees (this town was the coffee capital of Vietnam and wow, it tasted good! - so thick and syruppy almost with a great big dollop of condensed milk in it just to make it even more syruppy - so good!)

For the rest of the time we just walked around doing nothing much. To try and keep off the windchill we were starting to experience on the higher roads, I went and bought a really cool, motorracing-esque jacket for around a tenner (in hindsight it was a cheap plastic pile of crap, but hey, this is Vietnam - it looked good in my minds eye). It worked a treat though at stopping the wind going through my hoodie for the rest of the trip.

We took some photos by the main roundabout in town (which had a model of a tank on it and looked quite impressive). In addition I was also requested to be in a few photos by giggling local girls and families which I was only too happy to oblige with.


The next day we headed off for Kon Tum just over 200kms away along the Ho Chi Minh Highway.
map: https://g.co/maps/z75xq

We headed out of Kon Tum along a back road just to get a bit of adventure and it was nice. Its always good to see life away from the main routes and this was no different. We passed hordes of school children all dressed in white cycling to school 3 abreast. It sounds really idyllic and it really is picture postcard Vietnam, but at the same time, it can be fucking dangerous!
The kids fill up 3 quarters of one side of the road, but lorries still plough past at top speed with cars going the other direction, so you end up with cars and lorries whizzing past each other, tight for space with a load of calmly cycling school children just inches away. Not to mention us lowly bikes squeezing past the madness. Its crazy and beautiful at the same time.

Stole this image from another website to give you an idea of the cycling processions.
https://gernot-heiser.org/BSCC/img-gernot/0443.jpg


We joined the main highway then rode for a while, but unfortunately I don't have any photos again. Never-the-less, it was an amazing journey. We were really getting into the mountains now and each turn of the road would bring a glorious new view. There would be villages on the other side of the river with small rope bridges connecting them to the main road, there were grand valleys peeling off to the side going to who knows where, and there were perfect corners with pristine tarmac that were just made for 2 wheels. It made for great riding.


We passed through Pleiko quickly. It was the biggest city for a while and had quite a buzz about it at least to me. There was a real sense of being close to Laos now, the mountains of which you could see on the horizon.

We stopped to take photos of a set of new houses which totally exemplified Vietnam's new city houses. They tend to be long and thin and to be honest, look really funny compared to our more squarely built houses. They build each house individually right next to an existing house, so you end up with this quirky row of thin fronted houses, all in different colours. I love them.

My collection of photos is back again from now
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Anyway, we left Pleiko for the short journey to Kon Tum which we made just before nightfall. After dinner at a posh restaurant (I think we had grilled boar or something) we went to probably the coolest cafe I've ever been to.

For whatever reason, the Vietnamese make these really cool themed cafes. There was one in Dalat that some couchsurfers took us to which until now was my favourite ever cafe (built so that you felt you were sitting in some living tree - it was class)
This on in Kon tum was even better though. It was almost like going into a tree house with wooden furniture everywhere built out of tree stumps and stuff. There were candles everywhere and just this unbelievably chilled out vibe.
Anyway, we got talking to the owner who a local artist whose aim with the cafe was to bring in the designs of the local villages that are situated around Kon Tum and keep the traditional feelings alive. It definitely worked.
Heres a link too: https://g.co/maps/kajuu

The owner finished by giving us directions to a village that was on our way. It was the village where his wife was born. He told us how it was only accessible by boat, how it was untouched by Westernism and how the local girls would go wild for us. We made a point to go there and then went to bed.

I'll write up the next day later (with more photos!). It was the day when we crossed a river in a non-usual sense...
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____________________
Full Motorbike License - GS500E '95

[Visitor Q]

You made it to Asia then?

I was working in Bien Hoa from May until October ish, when I did the same ride in deep rainy season alone.

Your pictures take me back. You're be happy to know that section from Dalat -> Nha Trang was still collapsed in to the gully.

Loved the ride. Hated the country. Khong sao.
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China traffic/travel bike vid - When I make a sweeping statement, please add the word 'statistically' in to the sentence before you bitch...
From September 2014 to January/February 2015 I will not be using any English, nor reading any. As such, I won't be on here. PM at will, but I won't be checking/posting unless in emergencies. Certainly not for the first couple of months. Please berate me savagely if I break that rule...