Vietnam- From Saigon to Hanoi

AgileMyth

Im currently in a hostel in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) looking to buy a bike to head north.

Expecting to set off in the next day or two. Reckon it will take around a month.
I'll keep this updated as much as I can.

Anyone else got a summer adventure planned?

Skill Magill

Your adventure is my adventure..

prunudo

Take plenty of photos and post them up to make us all feel jealous
Have a great trip, look forward to hearing about it when you're finished

Skill Magill

I might go in September/ October, for that type of torrain, a smaller bike is better inop, You can lift it over things and easily pick it up when you come off. Keep us and yourself updated if you can.

BrokenArrows

My adventure is currently underway I'm in Florence - Italy at the moment. My total trip so far has been:
London
Reims, France
Geneva, Switzerland
Turin, Italy
Pisa, Italy
Rome, Italy
Florence, Italy

Left to do is:
Bologna,Italy
Milan,Italy
Zurich, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland
Paris, France (This will be a pure millage day from Geneva)
Bruges, Belgium (I'm not 100% on this yet, I'll see how I feel in Paris)
LONDON.
Then back to work

Skill Magill

Throw up a few pics if you can? I'll do the same, phibsborough is such a bottle neck, you can see me stuck in traffic on the way into work, breathtaking! I hate you guys:D

BrokenArrows

AgileMyth wrote: »

Im currently in a hostel in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) looking to buy a bike to head north.

Expecting to set off in the next day or two. Reckon it will take around a month.
I'll keep this updated as much as I can.

Anyone else got a summer adventure planned?

What are you going to buy?

positron

My brother just reached Ho Chi Minh city from India on a work related tour. Small world huh? Have a great trip.

AgileMyth

BrokenArrows wrote: »

What are you going to buy?

Bought a Honda Win 110cc heap of ****!

Not much choice here!

AgileMyth

positron wrote: »

My brother just reached Ho Chi Minh city from India on a work related tour. Small world huh? Have a great trip.

I've run into a few people from home in south east Asia, including a guy I used to live next door to! Small indeed!

Wonda-Boy

PIC PIC PICS!!!!

Zascar

Savage, well jealous. Fair play. How did you manage this anyway?

Keep us updated. I'd love to do something like that one day.

Skill Magill

One of these lads :


Perfect for the journey, considering the terrain and whats available in parts etc

AgileMyth

That one looks much nicer than mine!!

daveyjoe

I've done the same route (Saigon -> Hanoi) a couple of years ago, also on a Honda Win. Let me know if you have any questions. Make sure you go up to Da Lat, the ride up and down the mountains is jaw dropping, definitely my favourite part of the trip.

AgileMyth

daveyjoe wrote: »

I've done the same route (Saigon -> Hanoi) a couple of years ago, also on a Honda Win. Let me know if you have any questions. Make sure you go up to Da Lat, the ride up and down the mountains is jaw dropping, definitely my favourite part of the trip.

I've just left dalat! What a trip up and down! Did you do canyoning there? Best day out I've ever had!

Finding it hard to get decent internet here but I'll get pics up as soon as I can

daveyjoe

No didn't do any canyoning. I was able to find a map of my route if you're interested: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=202558346070694797541.0004c3b00c8e6fe3763e1&msa=0&ll=15.559544,109.094238&spn=13.644292,21.577148&dg=feature

There's a straight line from Nha Trang to Danang because I put the bike on a train.

Here's a pic of my little Honda Win in Hanoi, washed and ready-to-sell: http://i.imgur.com/WDRNj.jpg

AgileMyth

daveyjoe wrote: »

No didn't do any canyoning. I was able to find a map of my route if you're interested: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=202558346070694797541.0004c3b00c8e6fe3763e1&msa=0&ll=15.559544,109.094238&spn=13.644292,21.577148&dg=feature

There's a straight line from Nha Trang to Danang because I put the bike on a train.

Here's a pic of my little Honda Win in Hanoi, washed and ready-to-sell: http://i.imgur.com/WDRNj.jpg

We skipped Nha Trang. Went Dalat to Bhon ma Thout. We're in Pleiku tonight.

Hoi An is our next stop, probably three nights there. Its 350km or so from here though so might have to do it over two days. 350 is a long way on these roads.

AgileMyth

Got offered a job in a bar in hoi an! Going to give it a go for a couple of days!

Skill Magill

Thats it, you're never coming back now!

anto9

Top gear did a similar ride .Jeremy Clarkson pretended to do it at least .I bet he just filmed short stretches on the bike .Interesting though .http://youtu.be/O1zfuBgCUqY

Did that a few years ago and my only advice is try to leave time to drive north of Hanoi for 4/5 days or a week.. I could go up there every month but I'd never go south on the motorbike again.

If ya have any questions, let me know.. Still in the country.

AgileMyth

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Did that a few years ago and my only advice is try to leave time to drive north of Hanoi for 4/5 days or a week.. I could go up there every month but I'd never go south on the motorbike again.

If ya have any questions, let me know.. Still in the country.

I'm probably not going to have time to get North of Hanoi.

AgileMyth

anto9 wrote: »

Top gear did a similar ride .Jeremy Clarkson pretended to do it at least .I bet he just filmed short stretches on the bike .Interesting though .http://youtu.be/O1zfuBgCUqY

Just did that Hoi an to Hue mountain pass yesterday! Spectacular but only the second best road I've ridden here!

AgileMyth

Almost there now! In Phong Nha at the moment. One of the nicest places I've ever been.

So I've heard.. The one place I still haven't made it to! Should have gone this summer.

Hotblack Desiato

Jeez, 15 years ago when I was touring in France I could go a few days between phoning home from a coinbox (and needed the right French franc coins) now it's feckin' tweets and updates from the other side of the world

Times sure have changed up on Walton's Mountain.

AgileMyth

ninja900 wrote: »

Jeez, 15 years ago when I was touring in France I could go a few days between phoning home from a coinbox (and needed the right French franc coins) now it's feckin' tweets and updates from the other side of the world

Times sure have changed up on Walton's Mountain.

Its an amazing world we be living in.

Made it to Hanoi safely. What a trip. Now to celebrate and try to sell!

AgileMyth

Hoped id have it sold by now. Might have to take a big hit on it and sell it to the bike shop.

the guys i travelled with sold theirs for more money than im asking and no one will even look at mine!

Need to get out of this city! The only place in Vietnam i haven't liked!

Bikerguy

AgileMyth wrote: »

Hoped id have it sold by now. Might have to take a big hit on it and sell it to the bike shop.

the guys i travelled with sold theirs for more money than im asking and no one will even look at mine!

Need to get out of this city! The only place in Vietnam i haven't liked!

bro can you provide us some pics? I am checking your topic in silence hoping for some amazing shots..
Can ya?

Skill Magill

Thinkin of headin there in October for 2 weeks, any advice? North or south? Travel around or stay put in one city? It only being 2 weeks

AgileMyth

Bikerguy wrote: »

bro can you provide us some pics? I am checking your topic in silence hoping for some amazing shots..
Can ya?

I have some good ones alright! Cant upload them from my phone and no access to a computer though!

Bike sold today.

daveyjoe

AgileMyth wrote: »

I have some good ones alright! Cant upload them from my phone and no access to a computer though!

Bike sold today.

Out of interest, how much did you buy and sell for. I bought my win for €325 and sold for €315.

AgileMyth

daveyjoe wrote: »

Out of interest, how much did you buy and sell for. I bought my win for €325 and sold for €315.

Bought for $200 sold for $200.

Spent a bit on repairs along the way though!

Skill Magill

Do you reckon you could fly into ho chi min , buy a bike for 200 quid and then drive up to Hanoi and then fly back to Ireland, in 2 weeks, in October? What about insurance etc?

AgileMyth

Skill Magill wrote: »

Do you reckon you could fly into ho chi min , buy a bike for 200 quid and then drive up to Hanoi and then fly back to Ireland, in 2 weeks, in October? What about insurance etc?

You could but 2 weeks is really pushing it. Not sure you'd be able to enjoy it really. We had about 8 days of riding spread over two and a half weeks. There's a few places you'll really want an extra few days to see. We loved the off road biking and cave exploring in Phong nha for example. If you could swing an extra week you'd be good to go.

No insurance. Your license is not valid here so its illegal and at your own risk.

AgileMyth

Apologies for the delay in getting pictures up. Decided to spend a couple of weeks in Laos before making the awful decision to come home!

Here she is in Ho Chi Minh, I honestly never expected this bike to make it!

Picked up a few people on the way and we headed for the sea!

Left Mui Ne the following day bound for DaLat. The road up had everything. From the lakes at the bottom:

To some incredible views near the top:




More to follow!!

AgileMyth

Dalat is cold. I had to buy a jumper. Closest I got to PPE on my trip.

The roads got 'interesting' for a bit. I was following a local around the potholes til he went into one and literally disappeared out of sight. We managed to fish him and his bike out!

The roads improved! The mountain pass from Pleiku to Hoi An is probably the best road I've ever ridden.


After about a week in Hoi An we were ready for 'The Top Gear road'. Some beautiful stretches but a slight let down after the road from the last day!

AgileMyth

I only stopped for a piss...


We discovered there are many ways to cross a river in Vietnam!



Our last day biking. We decided to get up really early, catch sunrise and get in to Hanoi before it got crazy hot in the afternoon. The result was empty roads and some of the best photographs we got in our entire trips.