Biking Through Vietnam

I just got a motor bike in Hanoi five days ago and it was worth it. After taking a little break from New Years me and couple of my friends all decided to rent bikes instead of buying it on January 4th, 2018 and here is why. First from what we have heard, all the bikes that people sell you have problems along the way. The always have a tendency to break down setting back you back a day or two, and we don’t have that kind of time. Second is selling the damn thing after you finish your journey, which is not always guaranteed. So you might loose in the end 500 dollars rather than 200 dollars when selling it for 300 dollars. The last thing is all the bikes are now fake. I was thinking about getting a Honda Wind I think its called? (might be wrong) but they are all knock offs made from China and cheap as hell! The last Wind ever made was in 2006 by Honda. All these decisions lead to renting a motor bike/scooter from this one place in Hanoi. Our scooters are all 2017s and badass so the chance of breaking down is minimal. Also if they do, everything gets completely paid for through the company. The total cost was 225 for renting the bike and then 1000 dollars for a security deposit, in case you fuck shit up. Drive the bikes from Hanoi to Ho Ming Chi City and return the bikes. That’s it. The total length of the trip is 2300km north to south and we have officially made it half way to the city of Hue 1150km into our trip in five days.

Here’s the set up:

Nothing too fancy just some railings to hold the bags in place and some bungie cords, and trust me that’s all you need. The first day setting off was pretty hectic. We got our bikes right out of the old quarters square in Hanoi and had to take off through the city. Hanoi has some of the worst traffic in the world and we we’re surrounded by thousands of motor bikes and huge semi’s, touching mirror to mirror. We had an hour of super intense driving and then it settled down after the city. We drove all day and all night until we stopped in the middle of nowhere to make camp. We did at least 9 hours of driving and it was brutal on our bodies from not being used to that position on the bike. There wasn’t anything too spectacular to see on the first day but oh well made it to the first stop. Now this blog is very general so certain cities we stopped at, I’m not going to mention because honestly I don’t know where the fuck we stopped. Most of them were small hick towns that are not on the map and have shitty hotels for you to sleep in. The humidity is registered at 150% and when you wake up you’re drenched with the dew from outside coming in. Anyways day two we were off again, bright and early around 8am in the morning. This part of the drive was spectacular. We went through a whole bunch of rice paddy fields that were endless to the eye. Then went through jungle mountains that were so high up we were literally in the clouds getting soaked to the brim. Then through some more mountains with steep over hanging cliffs and a bunch of palm trees covering that sucker. It was a hell of a day and a hell of a drive again lasting about 7 hours. Here’s a couple of pictures from that day:

During the day we can’t make so many stops because we are on a time frame so there’s only a limited amount of pictures per day.

Day three was just an average day. Nothing really special, just went through some real rural cities where people hardly see white people and scream with joy and say hello every time you past them. The amount of hellos that I have said in these five days are crazy. Day four was absolutely amazing. We took an old highway through some national parks and it is supposed to be the best part of the drive and I can now be a happy man the rest of this trip because that shit was amazing. here’s some pictures from that. The road was great and curved like a snake. So many waterfalls were passed and rivers. It was absolutely gorgeous.

And today we had to stop in Hue to get our oil changed. It is the half way point in our journey and we will be here just for the night and then our next stop is Hoi An. We’ll rest up for a bit and stay there for two days. The journey was shitty. Took the highway to get here as quick as possible. Took us about three hours total and it was 60 degrees and raining. Thank the lord for my poncho.

I also went to Ha Long Bay which is a must if you are up in Hanoi. It is a three hour bus ride from there and then you hop on a 90 dollar cruise that takes you to the magical place. Food and drink are all included in the package and you go to a cave during the first day and then a view point and that’s it. Then the second day they take you to a pearl factory farm in the bay and then you Kayak around. Is it worth it? The view for sure is worth it, but the activities are just average and boring to someone kind of adventurous as me. Here is some pictures from that trip:

Well that is it so far on the motor bike journey. I am really exhausted from these last five days driving for 7 plus hours and then getting to the city just in time for dinner and bed. It’s honestly so worth it though. Best decision I made on this trip so far. Yeah there is times where it is sketchy as shit, but as long as you have your wits about you, you should be fine. Honk a lot and drive defensively. Until next time, so long.