Vietnam (Moto): Hello sir, what are you looking for?

[Wiley]

So it all started with a 2 year trip in my Chevy Astro Van south of the border. Then I did a 3 week fly n ride moto vacation in Thailand, and a 3 week fly n ride moto vacation in Ecuador. This time I was looking to take the van back down south, but half way through repairs I found out I had eczema which had my skin pretty much melting off my fingers due to all the chemicals. Due to this, I parked the van, and grabbed a flight to backpack S.E.Asia, but don't worry, my hands got better so on a whim I bought a motorcycle, this is an overland travel report. If you want to see the previous trips they can be found in the threads below, otherwise get ready for Vietnam, I have already paid a bribe, been left stranded with a crappy Chinese motorcycle twice, and still have at least 1 more week up near the Chinese border, and IF things go well I might even take the bike into Laos and Cambodia, but I make no promises.

2Guys1Truck: Astro Van through Central and South America March 2012
Honda CRF250: A Tale of Highs and Low(sides): 3 Week Moto Adventure Northern Thailand
And the Earth Shook: My 3 Week Motorcycle Adventure in Ecuador

I flew into Southern Vietnam, specifically Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, the city goes by both names depending on who you talk to. I had no real plans or itinerary, just figured I would get tips from other travelers as I worked my way North, the backpacker trail is well worn here. The city is full of people, noise, and great food, nothing boring about this place, in your face Singapore.

To get into Vietnam there are couple options regarding visas, and Americans MUST get a visa prior to just showing up, even if it is still a visa on arrival. Rules and regulations constantly change, and I am far from an expert, so do your homework. 1st, if you think you may pick up a motorcycle to take into Laos or Cambodia, DO NOT go with the "evisa" option. You can also get one ahead of time by stopping by an embassy, but I chose to go online and then pick it up on arrival. This only works if you are flying in, not at the land borders, for that you will need an embassy I believe. I myself used an online agent, of course I have since deleted the emails so do not know who I used or how much it was. The general process consisted of paying them to get me an approval letter, I chose a 3 month multi-entry visa in case I needed to leave and come back, but figured 1 month would not be enough. I don't recall how much the agency charged, but go with one that is reliable, as there used to be a problem with scams in the past...I will see if I can find it in a credit card statement. You have to pick your entry day, you cannot enter prior to this date, but can arrive any day after that date. In my case since I showed up 2 months after it, I only had 1 month remaining as the clock will start regardless to what day you show up. Once this letter was emailed to me, I had to bring this letter, along with the arrival form (Link provided) I previously filled out to save time, and 2 passport photos up to the counter, just follow everyone getting off the plane, this is prior to the customs or baggage pickup. I gave them my paperwork and sat and waited for 15-30 minutes. Then you will have to pay, so make sure you bring some US dollars with you, for a 30 day multi entry I had to pay 50 USD for the stamp, I think a 1 month is 25, but verify. After that you can clear customs just like any other airport.

Hotels and hostels are plentiful in the city, so I exited the airport and took the yellow bus (Bus 109) for a whopping 0.80 cents from the airport to the last stop which is a bus station located in district 1, where everyone stays. I grabbed a hostel in an alley off the main strip, which helps keep things a bit quieter than staying on the main streets of Bui Vien and Pham Ngo Lao. There are plenty of bars and restaurants located here, and things are in walking distance, though I am sure there would be better locations within the city if you want to get away from this type of crowd, it is definitely backpacker central here. Luckily there was a great group at the hostel I stayed at, probably true of most in the area. Every night about 10 of us from around the globe would go grab some dinner, and possibly too many drinks, so I stayed in the city for a day or so longer than planned. The problem with this group, was that there was a Canadian who had driven a motorbike down from Northern Vietnam, his buddy had ditched him temporarily for the Vietnamese chick he had picked up, so when he and I would hang out he was unknowingly rubbing the moto trip in my face.

I skipped most of the tourist stuff, heard mixed reviews of the Mekong Delta tour, as well as the Cu Chi tunnels, so said no thanks. I did go to the war museum, and ht up the local market where someone taught the locals a few key phrases. Every stall sold the same crap, and they all said the same thing, "Hello sir, would you like to buy a shirt". "Hello sir, what are you looking for", it was like walking through a pet shop full of parrots. Somehow a lunch turned into a Heineken tour, even though I don't like Heineken, but it included an observation deck to view the city, and a few free beers so I followed along. The tour was strange, they had a virtual reality presentation thing that was completely unnecessary, Foosball, pictures with virtual backgrounds, and a DJ table which I did jump on to get the party started...basically the corporate aholes sat down and said how can we drag this out for an hour before giving them beer. They did give a personalized bottle of beer, and while I thought I was being clever when I wrote my name as "Wiley Washere", they must have seen this trick before as they even added the space for me. We finally got to drink and relax in the bar, and then after that we left and ended up at a couple more bars. Eventually we even ended up at some club the Vietnamese girl the Canadian was with dragged us to, but for some reason they didn't let me get on the tables and spin the wax. Otherwise I just explored the city, and ate lots of cheap food, which I prefer to the tourist stuff anyway.

The stories of biking across Vietnam were haunting me, so on one of the days I swung by a shop to check out options, but in the end didn't buy/rent anything. I later mentioned this to the Canadian and he said his friend probably hadn't even tried to sell his yet since he had been distracted with his Vietnamese girl, so a few texts were sent and 20 minutes later I now owned bike number 3.

Now most motorcyclists fill their garage with motorcycles, but not me, I buy and strategically place them around the world. I have my main one in Socal to enjoy Cali and Mexico, another stored in Colombia for the rare trip back to S. America, and now a bike in Vietnam. Why Vietnam, well buying a bike in Vietnam is easy as there are constantly travelers going back and forth between HCMC and Hanoi, selling crappy Chinese knock-offs that have probably exchanged owners at least 1000 times each, and sure to break down. All you need to do is hand them cash in exchange for the "blue card" you do not need to register or associate the bike to your name in any way, which is why I can just give it away if things go bad. The added benefit of owning a Vietnamese plated bike is that it is easier to get them out of the country, in case I decide to push on into Laos and Cambodia. Thailand used to also be easy to get into though that has changed, but I have been there done that, so hoping to just get Laos and Cambodia if anything. Now it was time to figure out how to get myself and this Chinese crap bike out of this city, traffic is a nightmare, and since I didn't bring my GPS, I had to use my phone, which meant driving a few minutes, pulling over to see I had missed a turn, and repeating. Finally...the adventure I had been looking for.

 

[Stroverlander]

Nice to see your latest adventures Wiley!

 

[Wiley]

Nice to see your latest adventures Wiley!

Thanks man, bummed about the Astro, and it is a tough decision to pay to park a 14 year old van indefinitely when I have no income, but I couldn't let it go just yet, the hands are doing well so I think I will finish fixing it up once I get back from S.E.Asia to use around Socal.

 

[Wiley]

2 years driving through Mexico, Central America, and Colombia and I paid 0 bribes, 1 Hour driving in Vietnam and I am already losing the battle. Oh well, 20 bucks let me keep my bike, I think it was worth it.

Now, I am not claiming to be a master at avoiding bribes, but they certainly tried to get my money when I was south of the border. Even when 2 Colombian cops stopped me and tried to sweat me out for 30 or so minutes, 1 of them making a slicing motion across his throat while telling me "I was in big trouble", I never wavered.....but this time was different, this time I was unprepared.

As I had purchased the bike on a whim I had done no research on Moto travel within Vietnam for this trip, though it has been on my list of potential adventures so had previously looked into some of the aspects of it, but after buying the actual bike, I had no idea how to proceed, or much of what lay ahead for me. Since traffic is on a another level in Saigon, I did some quick googling looking for the best way out of the city and read by heading north, rather than east, I could avoid some of the heavy traffic, as well as the corrupt cops that lie in between Saigon and Mui Ne. This would give me about 2 hours of heavy traffic as opposed to 4, and since I had no plans to go to Mui Ne would minimize any cop related issues. I did bring an international drivers license just in case I rented a bike in any of these countries, but I do not believe Vietnam recognizes these, there is a lot of confusion about it online, they seem to simply look the other way when it comes to foreigners on to wheels.

I headed North towards Cat Tien, leaving Saigon around 10am, as I had read traffic would not be bad since rush hour was coming to an end. 1 of many problems with the bike is that there is no speedomoter, so I cannot really say that I wasn't speeding, but it was obvious why I was pulled over from the start. I had started to pull over to the side of the road as I saw what I thought were food vendors setup down the road, and wanted to check my GPS since I am using my phone, and need to take it out of my pocket and check it every few minutes in the city traffic. This obviously resulted in me SLOWING DOWN, but I then see it is a police check point, so I quickly put my blinker on and return to the main flow of traffic hoping to blend in, which clearly did not work.

I saw a cop get excited and wave his baton around indicating for me to pull over, oh ********. He tells me I was speeding and I instantly argue, dammit I shouldn't have spoke English now he knows we can communicate, I am clearly out of practice for this. Again I was slowing down, so I was a bit pissed that this cop was clearly going to bribe me. He tell me "Vietnamese license", something I obviously do not have, but I grab my international license telling him it's "international". He doesn't object as he looks it over, but I didn't get the impression he cared since he kept telling me it was 55kph. I agree telling him yes, 45 pointing to my bike since they don't use radar guns, but again he doesn't care. In less than two minutes he makes it clear why he pulled me over...."monies, you go".

Again I don't know if this license had any weight, or what a Vietnamese jail is like, so I keep asking myself why I am arguing with him, but I cannot stop. To keep this easy we will just go with USD, he tells me he wants 128USD. I immediately laugh, state a firm no, and low ball him and counter with 4.30USD, I didn't necessarily mean to go that low but when I threw out the amount in Dong, it took me a second to calculate what it was equivalent to but then stuck to my guns. "NO, 128USD" he demanded. "No, 4.30USD", I am being pretty blatant with my No's. Sometimes I counter with "I am not paying", and eventually he threatens to keep my license. I should have acted like I was upset by this, but he could tell I didn't care. He lowers to 85USD, so I play the game and bump my offer up to 6.45 haha. He gets mad, counters, and I drop it back down to 4.30. That really pissed him off, so he threatens to take my bike. This is all going on while we stand next to a flat bed truck, so I am asking myself if this is a bluff, or if my bike will end up in the back only 1 hour after its maiden voyage. Meanwhile there are about 10 other cops pulling over locals left and right, they come and go quickly, it is quite the spectacle, but I am too preoccupied to see who is actually paying money, but it looks like everyone is getting shaken down.

I eventually tell him no and sit on my bike indicating I am done playing his game, this really pisses him off. I think I could have used these tactics to my advantage as they do not want people seeing what they are up to, but really I have no idea how far I can push him, so listen to him when he tells me to get off the bike and come back over to him. At this time, a cop pulls over someone else, and in true stereotypical fashion, a scooter driven by an Asian comes barreling in, almost colliding with 2 other cops. 1 of the cops gets pissed, and swings his baton at the guy. I can't tell if he was trying to hit him or just scare him, but decide maybe I should pay the bribe and get the F out of here, as he looked pretty serious. I work my way to 20USD, which is probably still to high, and ignore his gesture to be nonchalant, pulling the bill from my wallet, holding it up for all to see verifying the amount as if I do not know what 500,000 dong is equivalent to, "500 yes??". Again, he gets pissed, but gets my money and tells me "you go now, you go". I slowly pack my bag up, taking my sweet as time, and pull out revving that little bike as much as it would go, looking down at my shifter acting like it was stuck as I pull away. In hindsight I am actually surprised I didn't find out what that baton felt like.

 

[Wiley]

I get to Cat Tien in the afternoon, and word must have spread about the shakedown, as soon as I check in the woman running the hotel I stayed at gave me some cake! Ok, so it might have been her birthday, but the cake was delicious aside from the candle chunk I found inside. There was an Aussie guy with a German girl, so we took off for some dinner. These two picked up bikes having little to no experience between the 2 of them. Now I wont harp on it after this, but I have met way too many people doing this. Vietnam is heavily populated, things are hectic, they do not drive well, constantly pull out in front of you, and the buses and trucks do not care about the motorcyclists. Luckily everyone drives very slowly, but Vietnam really is not a place to be learning how to ride, I strongly suggest you rent a bike at home so you can focus on the bike and driving, without all the added challenges.

Cat Tien is a national park, but I had no plans on checking it out, so the next day I take off headed to De Lat, all I know about that place is it is located in the mountains, and is known for it's nice cool climate, YES! Vietnam has been hot, so I could use the change. I didn't leave super early, so with lunch, and stopping for photos I get in around 4pm. Traffic was crazy in the city, turned out all the students were off so everyone had headed to town for some partying. I do not know how it is normally, but it was crazy the day I got in. To add to the chaos, there are lots of roundabouts, and I do not have a clue where I should be going. I grab a hostel and am not impressed with De Lat at all, but the hostel was good, and I signed up for the "family dinner". They cooked those of us who signed up a nice meal, and we all got to know each other. Everyone is going to go out for drinks, quite excited for it, but I am a bit tired so decline, asking myself why these people are so gung ho to go out on a Sunday. I was still hungry after the meal so went walking for food, when I found a large area where they had closed off the streets, full of people, vendors, and food. I am looking at a pizza treat of some sort I have not seen previously debating if I should try it, when some guys from Saigon who can speak a bit of English tell me it's good, and to try it out. They tell me the price so now that I know I am not going to get ripped off I sit down and enjoy the tasty treat. They give me the low down on some things about Vietnam, and I eventually leave them to go find desert. I walk around a bit s De Lat starts to grow on me. I go back to the hostel ready for bed and find it empty aside from the person at reception, literally everyone has gone out, savages. Well of course as has happened all to often in my previous travels I was off on my days, as it was Saturday night, which is why everyone wanted to go out so I missed out, oh well.

From De Lat I head to Nha Trang..."Russians". Well, that is the 1st word I hear anytime anyone mentions Nha Trang, which is a popular destination for Russian and Chinese tourists. Everything I read says to skip it, I even got a tip or two on where I could go instead from people at the De Lat family dinner, but I wanted to check it out. Plus the drive there took me over a pass where I got my 1st real taste of Vietnam's spectacular scenery. The previous days were fine, but nothing special, the pass, while brief, was great, and offered many photo opportunities, especially for newly weds apparently. After some nice mountain roads I arrived in Nha Trang a bit early, so it wasn't a terrible long day. I grabbed a hostel, and naturally went out for food. I grabbed myself a delicious burger, and I do not regret it! Vietnamese food is fantastic, but sometimes, you need some comfort food, and anytime I finish a ride here in Vietnam I find myself craving burgers, and a good one is hard to find here. I searched for a burger place since it is a large city, and when I saw so many positive google reviews I knew where I was headed. I then walked the boardwalk, and just kind of wandered around. I didn't mind Nha Trang, and there are some beautiful Russian women which is a nice plus. It also looked like it would have a decent night life, but I didn't check it out, so just used it as a stopping place, something I do for most of Vietnam as that visa clock is always ticking.

 

[Wiley]

The next day was a long drive, as I wanted to drive the ninh van bay peninsula to check out the recommendation from the family dinner group before continuing up the coast. I had read it was great back in the day as well, but now it kind of sucks. The drive out was a waste of my time, I only recommend it if you do not want to go to Nha Trang, and stay the night at the end of the peninsula....but to drive there and back round trip was a complete waste, and the area itself is filling up with resorts and condos, so has lots of construction going on...sadly I have missed the window on this place, which seems true for most of coastal Vietnam. Everywhere that was worth checking out at some point is now being over run with construction and tourists. Of course I live at the beach, so it is tough for me to get excited about them, maybe you will love them, but I wasn't feeling it, but still had another day or two of the coastal route I planned to follow. I then continued North which took me through some nice looking areas with fishing villages, passed blue ocean waters, and a good portion of boring old flat highway, until finally arriving in Qui Nhon late in the evening.

Qui Nhon was nice enough, a good sized small city, which people use as a base to check out beaches around the area. I only spent the night, and pushed on towards Kon Tum, as it was time to leave the coast and start ridding in the mountains, where I constantly read the real fun begins. This is where I will pick up the legendary Ho Chi Minh Highway, a system of roads which connect the Southern city of Saigon with the Northern city of Hanoi, and possibly goes all the way to China present day. This road runs through the mountains which border Cambodia/Laos, and played a crucial role in the "America/Vietnam War", but more importantly, had some great twisties and scenery for motorcycle riders. I could have picked it up sooner, but wanted to see what the beach scene was all about. I enjoyed the places I hit up, but would probably forgo them next time, but they were not bad in any way. I also plan on heading back to hit the popular locations such as Hoi An, or De Nang, before fully committing to the mountains.

All photos provided in this post are prior to the trip to Kon Tum, so as you can see there is still some very scenic mountain riding where I went, and the beaches have their moments, but I found things generally got better the farther north I went. Depending on how much time you have, I either recommend you start in Hanoi and focus only on the North, or start in Saigon like I did and head north. Many people go North to South, and comment that while it is nice, they cant help be feel slightly disappointed after starting in such an amazing area of the North and working their way South.

 

[Herbie]

Wiley, what a great report!

Glad to hear you're still at it.

 

[Wiley]

Wiley, what a great report!

Glad to hear you're still at it.

Thanks Herbie, that Chinese crap bike is no Astro, but it is good to be back on the road.

 

[Wiley]

Free tea and bananas were great at 1st, a few chain tightenings or general maintenance type things done to the bike on the house....but then it was free beers and rice wine, and eventually free diners. The kids light up with excitement when they see me coming, running to the street and yelling "hellllllo" followed by a friendly wave. I have even had fans in the street stopping me for photos on a few occasions, clearly die hard followers of 2Guys1Truck. Finally living the life I deserve, these people get me.

Yes it is the Rockstar life in Vietnam, my fame has now gone worldwide. People were friendly in the South, still friendly in the North but much more reserved, but Central Vietnam might just have the most friendly people on this planet. It is probably what I enjoy most about this country, yes the food is great, and the motorcycle riding is phenomenal, but seeing the joy I bring to these kids really makes this place special. My ego will miss this place.

Qui Nhon to Kon Tum: 190KM

Kon Tum to Hoi An: 298KM

Hoi An to De Nang: 30KM

De Nang to Hue: 102KM

Hue to Khe Sanh: 133KM

Khe Sanh to Phong Nha: 222KM

Phong Nha to Huong Khe: 136KM

Huong Khe to Cam Thuy: 300KM

Total for Vietnam: 2078KM (1291 Miles)

So I left Qui Nhon and headed inland, knowing it would be a brief detour through the mountains before heading back to the coast. This was not the most efficient way for me to get to the popular cities of Hoi An or De Nang, but I had read good things about the drive through Kon Tum via the Ho Chi Minh Road, and those of you who have followed this blog over the years know I do not know the meaning of efficient.

The Ho Chi Minh Road roughly coincides with the legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail that played a key role during the American/Vietnam war, which was a network of roads running through Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It will someday run the entire length of Vietnam all the way to China, and once completed will eventually be around 2,000 miles long. Why do I care, because it contains some of the best scenery on the planet, combining some of my favorites: mountains, rivers, twisties, and switchbacks. I am now leaving Southern Vietnam and entering Central Vietnam, where the riding gets much better.

The 1st few hours inland were pleasant, I had blue skies and good roads with gentle curves taking me through the countryside and through random villages. It was a nice change after the coastal highway full of idiots driving scooters and trucks, which was also flat and straight....boring. The scenery was nice but nothing spectacular, I struggle to recall the drive prior to hitting the mountains, as it has been several weeks since I have been in Southern Vietnam at this point. That said, I can remember the exact moment when I hit the mountains, and started the climb. It was a steep ascent, and the twisties started almost immediately. The view of the valley I was leaving behind was fantastic, I can vividly picture it in my mind, which is good since I took ZERO pictures.

Yes, unfortunately, it was a long day of driving, or maybe I stopped too often for pics prior to hitting the mountains, but at some point I noticed I had 130 kms and not much time left before the sun was setting. Now 130 kms is only 80 miles, but any number of kms in Vietnam can take much longer than expected due to the road condition, the constant ascending and descending of mountains, weather, and many other reasons, so I knew I had to book it if I was going to make it to Kon Tum before nightfall. I honestly did not think I would make it, and was a bit nervous to where I would be staying as this route gets you out into the middle of nowhere. The plus here, I made that bike move like it was designed to. Generally I prefer to not push it, back home I drive fairly relaxed and keep things in check, but I did not want to be driving at night, so by being forced to push it a bit I was able to enjoy a great road on a crappy Chinese bike. The problem with this is there are animals all over the place, plus village people walking around, potholes, landslides, you know the drill. As I cruised up a particular section of mountain with my motor humming, a group of guys were chilling on the side and heard me coming, and as I flew past they raised their hands in the air with approval. Out here I started to get a few hellos, waves, and smiles...the people of Vietnam can be very friendly. If I don't get a hello they at least stare as drive by, or especially when I walk around the small towns. It does take some getting used to, but sometimes my ego loves the attention. All eyes will be on you no matter what, if you are trying to get away, relax, or happen to have social anxiety, Vietnam is not the place for you!

 

[Wiley]

The road was a typical mountain road, narrow and a bit bumpy with occasional potholes, but generally pretty good. Luckily I made it to Kon Tum just as night fell. It was dark, and I realized that both my head light and tail light were not working. Luckily, half of the bikes in Vietnam are like this, so the only worry was someone hitting me. Kon Tum doesn't have much going on for it, but there was a good selection of street food and the people were friendly, saying hello and asking where I was from. The farther north I go the more friendly they seem to be. The only foreigners passing through are on motorcycles, so I am definitely not the first, but the numbers are low. I believe the only ones in this small city, were myself, 4 Aussies, and a French Canadian. It's actually a good sized city so I am sure there were others hiding somewhere.

Walking home from my street food adventure, I turned onto the road with my hotel. This street was not lit well, but straight, wide, and empty. I watch a scooter which is passing me in the same direction, as it crashes into the steep sidewalk which was about a foot off the road. Sparks fly as the scooter slides along the sidewalk/road like a bowling ball in the gutter, with the driver tumbling across the sidewalk. Oh ********, I freeze, feeling like I should go check on the driver but knowing it will be tough to help with the language barrier. There are 2 scooters a good distance behind who absolutely saw him go down, and drive right past without even looking over at the driver to check on him, something I have read is normal here. This also makes me hesitant to get involved being a foreigner, but I can't ignore him when he is right across the street. He stumbles to his feet and seems ok. Luckily I see a guy come running from the corner, ok good now I am off the hook.

I continue walking but keep taking a look back to see what transpires, as there was no reason for the guy to have crashed on such a wide open empty street. The helper picks up the bike, and then I see he is going to drive the original driver home, which I think is nice. As they go past me I see the guy who crashed hanging sideways of that back, slowly coming closer and closer to falling as the new driver is trying to hold him up with 1 hand while driving the scooter and trying to come to a stop. Turns out the crash was because the guy was shitfaced, to drunk to drive, and to drunk to be a passenger. I thought crossing the street in Saigon was dangerous due to the number of scooters, but now crossing the street really has me worried.

I continue north through the mountains often times coming very close to the Laos border. I eventually cut inland in order to hit up Hoi An, a popular tourist destination located on the coast and known for its picturesque lanterns hung all around town. Of course an hour or so outside town I missed my turn, but due to the rain that was just arriving I continued on and ended up in De Nang which is 45 minutes north of Hoi An, meaning I would need to backtrack slightly the next day.

De Nang is one of the larger cities in Vietnam, and slightly famous for its dragon bridge. I went out with some hostel people and had a great night, but I do not know that it had anything to with De Nang, and would have been fine skipping it, but it certainly wasn't a bad destination. It is a large city with stores and food, plus some bars....which is more than most of the destinations I will be hitting up in the next few weeks.

The next day I backtracked 45 minutes or so to Hoi An, which was a nice place to relax, but is a bit touristy. I enjoyed it but 1 day would be enough for me, though many people take 2-3 days here to bike around or just plain relax. I ended up staying 2 nights as I had a list of maintenance I wanted to get done with the bike, and was to hung over to get them done the 1st day due to the previous outing in De Nang. To give you an idea on Vietnam prices, I had the guy do the following which included parts and labor:

Replaced following for 50USD total: Stator (6USD), new front shocks which I could have ignored (30USD), Brakes, headlight/taillight bulbs, weld my rack that had broke, and a couple other misc things finishing off the remaining 15 USD.

 

[Wiley]

From Hoi An I continued past De Nang heading North, passing over the legendary Hai Van Pass, made famous by the guys on Top Gear, ironically they did not even see the best parts of Vetnam, but the episode is epic. Hai Van Pass is a very beautiful mountain pass with views of the blue sea contrasting with lush green mountains. It is only 21 kms, and located just outside De Nang which makes it very easy for tourists to rent bikes and make the journey. I admit I did not get the beautiful blue skies that others are lucky enough to get though the day was nice enough, I couldn't help but feel it is over hyped. It is definitely a must do, but there were plenty of other passes throughout Vietnam that simply put this one to shame.

The next stop was Hue, a city full of history which generally bores me, but I was only stopping here as it logistically made sense on my route. I assumed it was US war history, but at least it was from cool ******** back in the 1700's. There were 13 emperors who ruled Vietnam from hue, and they are buried around the city. I went to 2 of the burial sites, as well as walked around the citadel which is where they resided. They had a no peasants rule in the city, that's right peasants stay out you are not good enough for us...I like these guys. The sites were all ok but being on a moto adventure makes this stuff kind of lame to me. Plus it is a very touristy city. There is a backpacker neighborhood full of restaurants and bars which cater to tourists, and guides constantly trying to get you to go on a moto tour or sell you weed. If you are busing the country by all means check it out as it is a nice enough place, but the city did not impress me. The reason I spent 2 days here was the guy at the hostel had asked if I could stop by the local school, and mentioned it was difficult to get clean English speakers, those damn Brits or Aussies ruin it for everyone with there terrible accents. He said we would head over at 2pm, so I figured worst case scenario I am stuck there 3 hours, sow as happy to help as well as get the experience with local children.

I jump on my bike and follow him over the school. We cut through the citadel and I realize the actual citadel city is huge, it probably took us another 10-15 minutes of motoring until we exited the walls on the other side. It is enormous, and has portions of the modern city of Hue withing these walls. We arrive at school where he passes me off and I am given a brief break down of expectations, there is a teacher present but I am leading the class, asking them questions and letting them ask me questions. Here I thought I was just going to go in and speak, but they are giving me a list of topics and things to cover, I am basically teaching on the fly, without getting paid....can I talk to the union?

I walk into class and in unison they give me the "Hello Teacher, welcome to class, how are you", like a bunch of robots. But it turns out their English is much better than I anticipated, and they are surprisingly well behaved. They are thrilled that I am there, I get a lot of stares from the kids who quickly look away shyly when I look at them. The classroom isn't all that large, yet for some reason I am handed a microphone which is completely unnecessary. We play games with key phrases from my cheat sheet, mostly consisting with "Whats-your-favorite-color...Mine-is-pur-ple". Class ends after 30 or so minutes and I think I am done, but they take me to another class. As I walk in the kid in the back gives me a high five, so naturally every kid wants to high five me. I walk up the isle to the front high fiving everyone I pass like the rockstar I am, yes these kids get me. Class is similar to before but the kids are slightly younger, less behaved, and we cover different topics.

Turns out school doesn't end at 5 like I assumed, and I am suckered into 6 hours of teaching kids, while each class got younger and less behaved. The obviously sold me with the best kids 1st, knowing I couldn't get free once I was in too deep. The last class had kids who might have been 6, and there was a lot of youtube sing alongs, it was a bit rough. At 8pm it finally ends, but they pay me with delicious food, ok forget everything I said this was great I will be back everyday, they clearly know the way to my heart. Once it was finally done I was quite thankful I had been asked to go, while a long day the kids were fantastic, and it is one of those experiences that I happened to be in the right place at the right time for.

Leaving Hue an old guy comes up to me and tells me my rear tire is wobbling. Since it is a touristy place I figure it is a scam but am 50 feet from the hostel so go back and ask the guy working to take a look as I drive away, since it feels ok. He immediately tells me it is a scam, so I pull away but look back and see him give the thumbs up. Thinking all is good I continue on, but of course there would in fact be an issue with my rear tire later.

 

[Wiley]

From Hue I go to Khe Sanh, another mountain town. It is another long day with more beautiful scenery, and I arrive feeling I am the only foreigner in town. These places in the mountains are mostly stops of convenience, there is not much going on, and the only foreigners they see are generally other motorcyclists. Even finding food at night is tough, everything is dead. Most towns have a small number of hotels or hostels so that is not a problem. Generally hostels in Vietnam have been 5USD A night, while hotels start at 10USD, though the hostels are often in better shape with more comfortable beds. If you are traveling with a companion you may want to throw in a few extra bucks for the next step up regarding hotels, as they are usually adequate but nothing special. A few have been fantastic for the price, while others are what you would expect for 10USD, but for someone who lived in a van traveling Latin America these places all fill my needs.

From Khe Sanh it is a long day on the HCMR to get to Phong Nha. This is probably the best ride in all of South/Central Vietnam, as I ride a glorified side walk which is generally in good condition, with minimal traffic through some amazing mountains. I stop at one point to snap some pics of an incredible vista, and by dumb luck, happened to park in front of a family of monkeys. I wouldn't even have known they were there if they hadn't suddenly went crashing through the tree from one branch to the next as they all ran away. Luck would stick with me later as I entered Phong Nha National Park, as I saw 2 more crossing the street, which I assume is a bit rare, as most people need to go with a guide who knows where to find them.

Phong Nha is famous for not only having the worlds largest cave, but a number of other impressive caves located within the limestone mountains. The largest cave has a wait list of 1 year and costs 3 grand, so most people do not see that one, maybe it doesn't even exist. The other caves were getting mixed reviews from the people I talked to. The only one consistently recommended to me was the dark cave due to zip lining and crawling through mud. That doesn't sound all that great to me so I skipped the caving, since again it is about the ride. I naturally hit up the duck farm though, because that is what tourists do.

 

[Wiley]

The what farm, yeah that is what I said too. I was talking to the couple from Edmonton at my hostel, and they mentioned the guy from Houston heard I had a bike and was looking for me as he wasn't able to take both girls to the duck farm on his rented scooter due to the cops in the area. Yeah ok that sounds stupid I probably won't be doing that, thinking he is traveling with his daughters and cannot take them to the duck farm, but keep my mouth shut. The guy from Houston eventually shows up, we all sit around chatting and doing the normal hostel meet and greet, and the guy from Edmonton jokes that the real question is if I want the blond or brunette. Oh...."girls", glad I kept my mouth shut. Turns out a couple of British girls they met earlier while caving wanted to go check out the duck farm, and while I had not yet seen if their teeth were straight, didn't want to ruin anyone's fun. Since they needed my bike I made the sacrifice and decided go to the duck farm.

Well the duck farm was weird, but cheap, and everyone had straight teeth. We fed the ducks, letting them eat out of our hands, off from our laps., as well as off of our bare feet which was awful, did a few other weird things with them and then finally tossed them in a pond. The best part was the delicious food we had at the end, and no we were not served duck.

 

[Wiley]

Knowing it was only downhill after the duck farm I left the next morning to continue North. Just outside Phong Nha my rear shock fell apart on me. Luckily I found all the parts and was able to limp back to town and have the guy put it back together, along with an oil change, for 5.37USD (an oil change should cost about 3.44USD but can vary widely). Happy to have my bike back together I drove 3 hours from Phong Nha only to realize my passport was still with the hotel reception. Dammit, now I am going to waste a day on the visa staying one more night in Phong Nha.

The next day with passport in hand I finally continued North, stopping in Huong Khe as it looked like rain was coming. I could have continued further to cover more distance, but decided to stop early and grab a hotel to relax. I had been lucky throughout the trip thus far aside from the 1st day leaving Saigon when I got soaked, so figured this would be a good stopping point. I had read the lake is lined with delicious food stalls which may have also influenced my decision making, but that appears to only be during the summer as there was nothing going on in this town either. I found my only option was some ladies selling street food, but of course that hit the spot. Despite all of this, Huong Khe might have been my favorite town in Central Vietnam. Of all the towns the kids in this one were the best, their faces would light up when they saw me, all yelling hello and enthusiastically waving. Even the older people were very welcoming, I must have said hello to over 200 people as I walked around town, once again I felt like a rockstar. This is another town that is off the radar, and only sees a small number of foreigners.

I have not been recommending hotels/hostels since they are all pretty much the same, but I will say to avoid the "Hoang Ngoc Hotel". The hotel was nothing special, and a bit dirty but had good reviews on Google. That is not why I think you should avoid it though, I suspect they have a disgruntled employee. There was 1 guy who whenever I said hello to would give off bad vibes, his expression never changed, and he wouldn't respond to my pathetic attempts at Vietnamese. I chalked it up to the language barrier, but a half mile after leaving the hotel my bike dies. Now it's a crappy Chinese bike, they are known for this, so I look over the wires, make sure I have gas, etc. There is a wire that has come loose, which could easily happen from the roads I have taken so I reattach it. The bike still wont start so I start the walk of shame, and push it back to town which luckily I am just on the outskirts. A guy motions about me out of gas, I shake my head no and indicate it is engine related, so he tells me to come into his buddies auto shop. Now there are probably 17 moto mechanics if I keep heading to town, but I agree and decide to see how this plays out. His buddy is eating breakfast so I am given some tea which is standard mechanic protocol as I wait for him to finish. We then remove the spark plug to check for a spark, all good. He fiddles with a few other things and then turns the reserve switch on the gas tank, which releases excess gas. He points, draws a line on my frame to indicate which is off/on, and says I am all set. This is where the disgruntled employee comes in. I don't have proof, but that switch doesn't accidentally get changed, someone would have had to switch it off. The bike did feel like it was out of gas which would make sense a half mile from where I was, as there would have been some gas available. I felt like an idiot for not checking it, but the Canadian I bought the bike from told me the reserve did not work so I didn't bother to mess with it. I googled it before leaving Saigon since that means I can run out of gas and have no spare fuel, which is how the Canadian found out it was broken as he ran out of gas. Turns out it may be clogged, broken, or just installed backwards, but irregardless someone tampered with the switch after I parked at the hotel, so I would avoid that place just in case as there are other hotels in town.

Huong Khe to Cam Thuy, same old nothing going on, just a stop before heading to Vietnam's hectic capital of Hanoi, and the gateway to the North. The highlight to Cam Thuy was walking around town being the Rockstar, 1 guy came across the street to grab me and try and talk to me. I told him I only knew two words, Hello and Thank you, to which he had a good laugh. But the best was when a little girl grabbed her sisters arm with a look of fear/excitement as if she just saw a bear walk out of the woods. "Holy ******** there is a foreigner here" is what I believe she said, though my Vietnamese is pretty awful.

This long ass post wraps up Central Vietnam, where a lot of nothing happened, but there was some great riding everywhere I went. The coastal cities have some decent parties going on, but the mountains are a different world, there is not much of a social scene at all. What made the Central special is the friendliness of the people. The people of Central Vietnam are some of the most welcoming I have met in my travels around this planet, it really is amazing, plus it is nice to be surrounded by my 2Guy1Truck fans.

 

[Wiley]

Dog meat just might be delicious

The 1st Vietnamese words I learned were "dog meat", to ensure I did not accidentally eat just that. Now I do not think I have eaten dog meat, but the amount of mystery meat I have eaten is ridiculous, and every time it has been delicious....so if I did unknowingly eat dog meat, it therefore must be delicious.

"Thit cho" or literally meat dog, is a popular dish in many parts of Vietnam. I have seen the signs advertising this delicacy since my 1st few days in the South once outside Saigon, but it is much more prevalent in the North. It seems the smaller, more remote villages serve it in half of the establishments, and my problem is many establishments do not have signs advertising what they are cooking. The smaller joints often have 1 or two dishes being made, so you kind of have to take what they have, you do not have a choice. It becomes a "point at a meat and hope for the best" kind of deal, and is such a common game for me I stopped asking what they were since I never understood them anyway. But I swear, every time I didn't know what I was eating the meat was ********** delicious, so I stopped caring.

Cam Thuy to Hanoi: 125 KM
Hanoi to Thai Nguyen: 67 KM
Thai Nguyen to Bac Kan: 83 KM
Bac Kan to Ban Gioc: 197 KM
Ban Gioc to Beo Lac: 197 KM
Beo Lac to Meo Vac: 86 KM
Meo Vac to Ha Giang: 182 KM
Ha Giang to Sapa: 244 KM
Sapa to Nghia Lo: 231 KM
Nghia Lo to Mai Chau: 229 KM
Mai Chau to Na Meo: 122 KM
Total for Completed Vietnam:
3,841 KM (2,386 Miles!)

Yes I am now in the North, and as I previously alluded to people here are still friendly but more reserved as the North is made up of many different ethnic minority hillside tribes, so it is back to the staring routine for the most part. I suppose this is how Mick Jagger feels as my glory days seem to now be behind me. I am not washed up though, at some point I go through a random village and 2 kids hold out there hands as I pass on the bike, yelling hello. I reach out and give them high fives without slowing down, I told you it's the rock star life out here.

I originally went to Cam Thuy so that I could go play in Vietnamcoracles "Limestone Loop", a series of roads taking one around the mountainous limestone Karst region of the North West. Once I got there, I took a look at my remaining days on the visa, and reconsidered as time was getting tight. I realized I could be in Hanoi in a day, so headed there instead in order to head to the famous "Ha Giang" loop, continuing around to Sapa, and then cutting South back to the Limestone loop depending on how many days I had left, but ensuring I had enough time to see what I came for, the real North.

Hanoi, Vietnam's capital and second largest city is a hectic one, but after Saigon Hanoi seems a bit tame. The traffic getting in was fairly easy thanks to the slow pace everyone drives, but it is still a bit of a free for all. I had no problem getting around, but did witness a scooter crash into a couple crossing the street, of course that scooter was driven not just by foreigners, but two women foreigners....need I say more. It looked like everyone was fine since it was a low speed crash so I did the Asian thing and pretended I saw nothing, and continued on.

I was only staying the 1 night due to timing, so I grabbed a hostel and walked around the area a bit, hit up a burger joint as I knew the food would be going downhill as I headed north, then I grabbed a waffle served with ice cream which surprisingly was a disappointment. From there I did some bar hopping starting on the famous "Beer corner", famous for cheap local beers which of course they were out of, so I was forced to buy slightly more expensive cheap beers. Eventually I ended up at another club, were I was forced to buy 5 dollar Budweisers....****** you must be kidding me? Needless to say Hanoi was fine, but nothing special after traveling the length of Vietnam. I could have used a few more days to get a feel for the city, but also don't feel like I missed out on much. From Hanoi most go on a tour of the famous "Halong Bay", which I also decided to skip. Everyone told me it was great, I do not doubt this, but again due to timing I figured this was more of a couples thing anyway, so jumped on the bike and pointed it North.

I decided to go up to the edge of the border with China, to check out the Ban Gioc Waterfall. I was not sure how long it would take to get there, so was roughly shooting for Cao Bang for a stop over. Headed North out of Hanoi a few hours outside the city up until Thai Ngyun is awful, the road is fine, and traffic moves but is busy, and it is nonstop commercial store after commercial store. There is no distinction from 1 town to the next, it just feels like 1 long city.

My bike feels loose, I have taken a look at the front end multiple times since it started a bit after the guy in Hoi An replaced the front shocks for me, but everything seems fine up there. I stop at a random mechanic and ask him to tighten my chain since that was overdue anyway, and he shows me it is the rear bearings causing the rear wheel to wobble. Remember the kind old man in Hue who tried to warn me, yeah thanks guy at the hostel for blowing it off as a scam. He takes off the rear wheel and the bearings pretty much disintegrate before our eyes. Now I am glad I stopped, he replaces them for 10 bucks and adjusts the chain since the wheel was off now the bike is back to normal. I feel great now so stop for some delicious Pho and a coke, and am only charged 1.08 USD which is the lowest I have paid yet considering a coke alone usually costs me 65 cents. Things are going well now.

I continue on another hour or so before my chain jumps off the sprocket. God damn, that idiot didn't adjust the wheel properly. This caused the chain to kink a bit, but I am able to put it back on the sprocket by hand and rotating the chain fixes the kink....but when it jumped it damaged the adjustment pieces on the bike, something I will need to replace later. I limp on until I find another mechanic who bends the piece back to normal and makes a quick adjust to the chain for me, then he sees the axle nut is loose. That idiot mechanic didn't tighten it properly, which is what caused the chain problems. The good mechanic charges me nothing and sends me on my way. Another hour or so of taking it easy as I am now outside the city, and the chain jumps again....son of a **********. I was passing a little girl on a bicycle when it broke, so I coast down the hill so as not to break down right in front of her looking like a ************** foreigner on a crappy Chinese bike. I come to a stop and jump off ready to put it back on the sprocket only to see it didn't just jump the sprocket, this time it broke right off. Not only that but it broke off up at the top of the hill where I passed the girl...of course it did. So not only is it physically impossible for me to go anywhere, I have to walk up the ********** hill to retrieve the chain.