Vietnam in October

Skill Magill

Guys, I'm going to take 3 weeks off in October and intend buying a bike either in Hanoi and making my own way down over a 3 week period to Ho Chin Minh, or the other way round, it doesn't bother me. I'll be buying a bike for say 3 or 4 hundred quid and expect to make a loss (or leaving it behind ) My initial thoughts are, start at one end, buy a 125 stay a week there, ( or so), use the bike to go half way up or down, and end up at the airport at the other end of the country, to fly me home; 3 weeks?
I know some of you live in Vietnam, and some who don't, budget of about 2 grand

Notch000

vietnam is cheap super cheap., i back pack throug there a few years ago, if you watched the top gear special you would be lead to belive that its easy peasy to scoot from saigon to hanoi but in realyity id be certain there were transported on trucks between film shots.. Bike/scotter are everywhere, millions of them. [IIRC 7yrs ago] When i was there you could pick up a scooter or a small bike for a couple of hundred euro and cash it back in when you reach your destination with another backpacker. The bike is choice for most was 125 russian Minsks. Insurance road tax etc are not any issue, and i dont think foreginer are techinally allowed to purchase veichles there anyways, not that it stoppped anyone. Breakdown are no an issue either as every second house is a make shift garage and they'l get you on the road again for a fiver.
However the main road linking the country north to south is like somehting off mad max. Accident are in biblical porptions, the biggest veichle has righ of way over anythign smaller and thats the way it works, if you get run off the road or get mowed down under a truck tough titty. You'd want be pretty brave to take it on. Bring your own PPE & helmet as there standard stuff there are like biscuit tins. Make sure you travle insurance cover bike too.
Amazing country tho, Amazing

listermint

Went from Ho Chi Min via Denang to Hanoi this year but all on flights, Fantastic country. tbh, Youd be putting some pressure on yourself doing the full distance in that time and getting the most out of the country.

Consider smaller destinations and see more. Denang is superb spot as is Hanoi. But rather than top to bottom why not half way up and make some nice choice stops on the way.

Skill Magill

Did youse book hotels or just wing it? We winged it when we went to Thailand and Cuba, and got away with it. First night in a hotel though.

Notch000

wing it, very easy cheap walk in motel/hotel rooms everywhere for 5-10$

Skill Magill

Notch000 wrote: »

wing it, very easy cheap walk in motel/hotel rooms everywhere for 5-10$

Sweet!!!!!You have to messin though:) ?

Skill Magill

listermint wrote: »

Went from Ho Chi Min via Denang to Hanoi this year but all on flights, Fantastic country. tbh, Youd be putting some pressure on yourself doing the full distance in that time and getting the most out of the country.

Consider smaller destinations and see more. Denang is superb spot as is Hanoi. But rather than top to bottom why not half way up and make some nice choice stops on the way.

Perfect sense man start in the middle and its up or down, I'm thinking down?

Skill Magill

Got the all clear from work, 3 weeks off in October, gonna start booking a flight into De Nang one way, and do a one way down to ho chi min, with me having to make it on time, cheers lListermint and Notcho, did you bring any gadgets with you to stay in touch with family? Should I buy go-pro and a selfie stick to record it or is it a pain in whole to do it?
I feel like i'm about to bungee jump!

listermint

Skill Magill wrote: »

Got the all clear from work, 3 weeks off in October, gonna start booking a flight into De Nang one way, and do a one way down to ho chi min, with me having to make it on time, cheers lListermint and Notcho, did you bring any gadgets with you to stay in touch with family? Should I buy go-pro and a selfie stick to record it or is it a pain in whole to do it?
I feel like i'm about to bungee jump!

I brought a go pro had it already. Brought a chrome book to upload stuff to the net. Or decent Tablet with sd slot would do the same. Also can be used for Skype

Skill Magill

Listermint, did you book hotels before hand? Did a quick search and it seems that the average prebooked room in Ho Chi Minh is about €100, is that the case?, or once I get there is it significantly cheaper?
Cheers man

Skill Magill

Booked flights for Hanoi, will land there and wing it, defo won't be going down to hochimin as I got return flights from Hanoi for 560, I'll be either buying or renting a bike to explore though, the little 110cc hondas seem to sell at about $230, which is about the same price of a chain and sprockets for the TDM

Now that its booked, I'll keep this thread updated for the crack, including photos etc when I get there.


Next stop - visa

listermint

Skill Magill wrote: »

Listermint, did you book hotels before hand? Did a quick search and it seems that the average prebooked room in Ho Chi Minh is about €100, is that the case?, or once I get there is it significantly cheaper?
Cheers man

All prebooked online you can get prices for accommodation from anything 8 Dollars a night up to what ever you want. It depends what you are looking for.

for example i was there 8 years ago and stayed in places along these lines

http://www.seventyhotel.com/hpage/

a few times places like this

http://beautifulsaigonhotel.com/


But this time around i was far more decadent hiltons etc.

The Likes of Bui Vien Street is where you should be looking because there is alot of accommodation and the price range would be closer to what you need id say.


Get the Visa from the Embassay in London (via post)
you bank transfer the money to them,
Send them proof in an email and send them the forms with photos
(you can take the photos on your phone no need to go to chemist)

I think the visa is about 70 ish or so if im not mistaken.

j.s. pill II

Skill Magill wrote: »

Listermint, did you book hotels before hand? Did a quick search and it seems that the average prebooked room in Ho Chi Minh is about €100, is that the case?, or once I get there is it significantly cheaper?
Cheers man

Can I ask what sites you were looking at??? If that's the cheapest you've found then you're way off the mark.

You might consider one of the vast array of hostels on offer too:

This establishment is particularly good - they had 2 locations in Hanoi last time I was there (their booze cruises are f-ing epic!):

http://www.vietnambackpackerhostels.com/


Have you toured abroad before? You'd certainly might want to bring as much of your own gear as possible, even if you decide to just rent along the way. I can't offer much advice about route etc. as when I was there it was before I was really in to biking so I was just renting scootes as I went along.

From my experience of other countries though, I would do a bit of research on what might be available to buy/rent. 125cc can feel quite inadequate sometimes especially if carrying a lot of gear; if traveling at altitude or if large trucks need to be overtaken frequently :eek:

two wheels good

I expect accomm. will be easy to find when you're "on the ground". I'd be more concerned about the bureaucracy and potential delay involved with finding and buying a vehicle as a non-resident.
I've no idea how strict Vietnam is about tourists buying a vehicle but you're sure to find some useful info on the HUBB.

Skill Magill

This day next month, I'll either made a bollix of it, or I'll be over there!
Lads in work were saying I need jabs, until I went into the tropical disease shop on Grafton St, apparently they were not taking the piss:) I'm gonna book about 4 days in a semi descent hotel at max €50 if anyone has any recommendations?

listermint

Skill Magill wrote: »

This day next month, I'll either made a bollix of it, or I'll be over there!
Lads in work were saying I need jabs, until I went into the tropical disease shop on Grafton St, apparently they were not taking the piss:) I'm gonna book about 4 days in a semi descent hotel at max €50 if anyone has any recommendations?

Got jabs the first time I went.

Didn't bother the second time tbh. I'm mad like that.

Or else I reasoned they were a complete waste of money

two wheels good

listermint wrote: »

Got jabs the first time I went.

Didn't bother the second time tbh. I'm mad like that.

Or else I reasoned they were a complete waste of money

Nooo ! Tetanus and Hep vaccinations are a minimum. Maybe typhoid too, but I don't know the real risks of that.
Your first jabs were probably still valid on a second trip.

two wheels good

Skill M, Here's some research reading for you. Seems to have very good reviews. I came across it in the library today.

I hope the opening sentence of the extract I read won't apply to your trip.
"For the first time in my life I felt that death was a possibility; a stupid, pointless, lonely death on the aptly named Mondulkiri Death Highway. The Ho Chi Minh Trail is one of the greatest feats of military engineering in history. But since the end of the Vietnam War much of this vast transport network has been reclaimed by jungle,"

11wingnut

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ThailandCambodiaLaosVietnamBackpacker/?fref=nf

rat_race

Meant to do a trip like this myself a year ago. Circumstances meant I didn't (did some less adventerous, though).

Quitting my job, finishing early October. Might do something similar myself!

Very excited (jealous)...Give us some tips when you're back ...

Btw, I did some research, and buying a bike is supposedly piss!

listermint

two wheels good wrote: »

Nooo ! Tetanus and Hep vaccinations are a minimum. Maybe typhoid too, but I don't know the real risks of that.
Your first jabs were probably still valid on a second trip.

Definitely werent it was 8 years ago.

Oh look im still here.

Vaccinations are not a must they are not even an assurance. They are just another precaution, take them or dont i weighed them up as a waste of money and time taken to go to the city.

So meh.

two wheels good

listermint wrote: »

Definitely werent it was 8 years ago.

Oh look im still here.

Vaccinations are not a must they are not even an assurance. They are just another precaution, take them or dont i weighed them up as a waste of money and time taken to go to the city.

So meh.

I wasn't suggesting vaccines were mandatory - just prudent. Tetanus and Hepatitis jabs being the basics. They're even of benefit in Ireland!

How serious are the risks? No idea - I'm not an expert, but heading out the bundu in SE Asia on a moto they're going to be higher.
AFAIR the tetanus vaccine needs a booster every ten years and one of the Hep. vaccines are lifelong so it is possible your first jabs are still valid.

Tetanus and Hep jabs are routine, no nasty side-affects. I've taken a chance with malaria in the past because of possible nasty side-affects but why take a chance with these? And the cost is trivial in the overall scheme of holiday costs.

Skill Magill

two wheels good wrote: »

I wasn't suggesting vaccines were mandatory - just prudent. Tetanus and Hepatitis jabs being the basics. They're even of benefit in Ireland!

How serious are the risks? No idea - I'm not an expert, but heading out the bundu in SE Asia on a moto they're going to be higher.
AFAIR the tetanus vaccine needs a booster every ten years and one of the Hep. vaccines are lifelong so it is possible your first jabs are still valid.

Tetanund Hep jabs are routine, no nasty side-affects. I've taken a chance with malaria in the past because of possible nasty side-affects but why take a chance with these? And the cost is trivial in the overall scheme of holiday costs.

Cheers man, you make sense, but I don't like needles, at this stage its not the cost its the act of someone injecting me but the fact they are injecting me

witty username

Hi OP, I did a week long bike tour with a moto tour guide from Nha Trang to Saigon last month and absolutely loved it. A few of my own experiences were as follows:

-using a tour guide's bike rather than going and buying one was way easier, there aren't actually many bikes around, its mainly scooters. Most of the bikes I saw for sale in Saigon were crap old yokes with fuk knows how many miles on them, and had no panniers, I didn't see any for sale in Hanoi but I was only there for a couple of days. Our bikes were also well maintained so we didn't have any mechanical hassles on the trip.

- I was riding a 125 Honda, a chinese-made WH-125 which is like a bigger version of the likes of a GN125 with big panniers on the back to carry plenty of bags. This was plenty fast enough for any roads over there. The traffic there is completely different: on most of the roads in the country you will pass dogs, pigs, water buffalo, kids on bikes, kids on foot, mopeds driving the wrong way up the road, a moped carrying 6 goats in cages hung over the back, a tractor with a load of paddy, then someone will have spread a blanket over half the road width to dry out some rice: and you will meet all of this in any everage 300m stretch of road. There are 80 million people in the place so almost every road has houses to both sides and people on the move so there is always something going on.The only way there aren't mad accidents every km is that everyone takes it fairly handy. We were doing around 55-60k most of the time, slowing down to 40-50k in towns or busy areas (watch out for the police, if they see some westerners they will look for bribes and speeding just attracts attention), and upping it to 70-80k a few times on the rare stretches of quiet road when the road surface allowed. It was also light enough, which was a big plus when we got caught on mud roads in heavy rain and had to nurse the bikes along with the feet down. I had to catch it on a couple of occasions when it slid and was very glad I wasn't on a heavier machine. It was also nimble enough for getting through the bonkers rush hour traffic in Saigon, which has to be seen to be believed.

- having a guide was class. He brought us on some great back roads in the central highlands, places we wouldn't have dared venture near if we had been on our own, we went 2 days without seeing any non-vietnamese people at one point. These were always the most enjoyable and relaxing roads to ride, the main roads had more trucks, coaches and had less to see. Wee took back roads that went up mountains, through farm land and villages and into the jungle beside Cambodia and always had great stuff to see We didn't have to worry about getting lost with a guide either, signposts are not great and without a gps running fulltime it would be easy to end up taking wrong turns etc. He brought us to proper local places to eat rather than touristy restaurant. Any places we wanted to look more closely at when we were passing, even a plantation, a timber yard or a silkworm factory, that was no bother - we could pull in and he would bring us in, if someone was there he would just exchange a few words with them and we could walk around. He had good english and was a very knowledgeable guy so could tell us loads of things about pretty much anything we asked about

- its about the journey, not the destination. Don't try fit too many miles in or you won't see much and will be bolloxed by the end of each day. We did plenty of stops for coffee (they drink it like an espresso, except with loads of ice and condensed milk - its feckin lovely) and he broke up the days with stops at various places like cool waterfalls, ethnic minority villages or anything else that we wanted to see.

Anyway, that was my trip. If anyone wants a recommendation for a great motorbike tour guide, head to Nha Trang and look for Lac Moto Tours:

https://www.facebook.com/LAC-MOTO-TOURS-1463177890584822/

Best of luck with your own travels OP and let us know how it all went when you get back.

daveyjoe

I did this a few years ago, I went from Saigon to Hanoi though.

Here is a google map of the route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=15.559544%2C109.094238&spn=13.644292%2C21.577148&msa=0&mid=1f4LMscIByJ5nCjROBYcBRmJk1z0

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

My favourite roads were the roads up and down to Dalat and the road from Danang to Hué. Total trip took just under a month.
Any questions then I'm happy to answer .


edit: Here's a pic of my Honda Win: http://i.imgur.com/WDRNj.jpg

AgileMyth

Did the same, Saigon to Hanoi, about two years back. There's a thread on here about it too. Possibly the best month of my life.

Probably a road not many will ever see but from Pleiku to Hoi An is the best day I've ever done on a bike. Went three hours without even seeing another person. Then broke down the second I got back to civilization!

Korat

Whatever about jabs make sure you've got really good travel/medical insurance in case the worst happens.

And get a Go-Pro, words can never describe the stuff you see on the road. Have fun mate.

two wheels good

Sue Perkins was rattling along the Ho CHi Minh trail in a Land Cruiser on BBC the other night. Bit of a change from Bake Off.
Very interesting - how much of the trail was in Laos where it's much poorer and more remote, all the unexploded ordnance laying around, how none of the dodgy accommodation was shown. The presenters joked about brothel hotels.
Not as intrepid as doing it on a C90 solo though.


[EDIT] The producer of this travel prog. is the author of the book I mentioned earlier "A short Ride in the Jungle" - solo on a C90 on the Trail. I thought there was a lot in common.
She's followed that up with a trip and book about Arunachal Pradesh, NE India and guided tours in the 'Stans. Monetising her motorcycling -impressive!

Korat

Rather than start a new thread I'll just ask here.

Apart from scrambler type bikes what would be the best bike for keeping up with 1400+ Harleys on roads in SEA?

Korat

Anyone tried a 1000cc sportsbike on Laos roads?

listermint

Harleys and sports bikes on laos roads....

You'd want your head examined

Korat

They're getting a lot of infrastructure investment in Laos these days from the Chinese trying to create land haulage routes to Thai and Myanmar ports from Southern China.

The HGVs on the narrow windy roads makes a powerful bike a necessity. You need to be able to zip past as fast as you can to get your angle of attack right on the next corkscrew.

Korat

45 degree inclines require serious torque to pass even a slow moving tour bus relatively safely over a short distance.

Skill Magill

I'm here in Hanoi, there is no rhyme or reason as to the rules of the road,bat**** mental, but it sort of works.
Tried getting footage from the sj4000 but it's too wobbly to put up. Anybody know of the best settings if you have it on a harness? Might try dash am mode tomorrow. The hotel will rent me a bike tomorrow so I'll see how I get on. One other problem is that whenever I leave the hotel I get lost and it takes ages getting back, I'd say to do it on a bike could be a disaster haha

daveyjoe

Skill Magill wrote: »

I'm here in Hanoi, there is no rhyme or reason as to the rules of the road,bat**** mental, but it sort of works.
Tried getting footage from the sj4000 but it's too wobbly to put up. Anybody know of the best settings if you have it on a harness? Might try dash am mode tomorrow. The hotel will rent me a bike tomorrow so I'll see how I get on. One other problem is that whenever I leave the hotel I get lost and it takes ages getting back, I'd say to do it on a bike could be a disaster haha

Yeah, I had google maps and a cheap Viet sim with me. Would have found it very tough without that.

listermint

Buy a data sim from happy network or someone else. You have to get a sim card

Skill Magill

Back in Dublin now, and what an experience! Every time I left the hotel for a stroll I got lost, walk around the corner, come back in half an hour if I was lucky:) I eventually got a scooter for three days and got lost around Hanoi for upwards of 4 hours before i got back to the hotel, all the streets looked the same, and nobody speaks English to ask directions. If you're gonna do it, you'll need a satnav, 100%, I was using a map and google maps (bought a viet sim) to navigate back to the hotel. I got the hang of the traffic after about 1 hour into it though, all courier instincts fully restored and had a ball, I was driving against and through on-coming traffic, on paths, basically no rules and a gas bit of crack!

(I did see some western women with horrible scars/scabs on their knees though)

Again, Sat Nav, is needed dudes

rat_race

Skill Magill wrote: »

Back in Dublin now, and what an experience! Every time I left the hotel for a stroll I got lost, walk around the corner, come back in half an hour if I was lucky:) I eventually got a scooter for three days and got lost around Hanoi for upwards of 4 hours before i got back to the hotel, all the streets looked the same, and nobody speaks English to ask directions. If you're gonna do it, you'll need a satnav, 100%, I was using a map and google maps (bought a viet sim) to navigate back to the hotel. I got the hang of the traffic after about 1 hour into it though, all courier instincts fully restored and had a ball, I was driving against and through on-coming traffic, on paths, basically no rules and a gas bit of crack!

(I did see some western women with horrible scars/scabs on their knees though)

Again, Sat Nav, is needed dudes

Both your updates since you were first in Vietnam or had finished the trip, was basically just telling us you keep getting lost!!!

Pics!

Also, tell us about buying the bike, selling the bike, tips, accommodation, cost, problems/highlights, etc!

rat_race

rat_race wrote: »

Both your updates since you were first in Vietnam or had finished the trip, was basically just telling us you keep getting lost!!!

Pics!

Also, tell us about buying the bike, selling the bike, tips, accommodation, cost, problems/highlights, etc!

No? Okay.