The short story is that Mark & I bought our motorbikes (Otis & Shimmie) in Hanoi and drove them South through the country ending in Ho Chi Minh. Susie joined us for the first part of the trip and rode on the back of Mark's bike while I took her luggage. We all survived and we saw some of the most amazing views along the way.
Overall, we drove around 1200 miles on the bikes over our 3.5 weeks traveling south.
Mom - I am pretty sure you are the only person that actually reads this blog regularly. You should consider skipping the rest of this post. #sorry
First off, some road rules of Vietnam:
- Don't hit me & I wont hit you
- Driving on the right side of the rode is merely a suggestion
- If you wish to overtake someone, drive on the left side, or just want to let someone know you are driving, honk many times over and over again
We had set some of our own ground rules before we departed Hanoi to keep us on track such as no driving at night, try to avoid driving in the rain, and watch your gas tank so we don't run out because that is just a stupid mistake. We managed to break all of these in the first 3 days of driving.
We left Hanoi for our first stop - Ninh Binh- a trip of about 60 miles. We figured we could make it there in about 3 hours. We started driving through the city and as we entered the biggest roundabout of traffic Mark's bike ran out of gas. This was the first of many issues on day 1. Before we reached Ninh Binh I also ran out of gas (on a highway), had to be redirected through the city by locals because we were about to enter a non-motorbike highway, had my bags fall off my bike TWICE, and Susie managed to get an exhaust burn her one inch of exposed skin. I think it took us about 7 hours to finally reach Ninh Binh. The plus side was that Ninh Binh is gorgeous and our home stay was really lovely. But honestly, after day 1 on the bikes I wasn't sure there would be a day 2.
We did decide to continue on and the next few days brought us some beautiful scenery and it was so cool having school children run along the road after you screaming "HELLO!" And waving. We also had a scary 40 km ride in the pitch black dark to Pho Chau which could also be called "middle of nowhere, Vietnam".
Aside from day 1, our most awful day was driving from Phong Nha to Hue. It had rained a lot that morning and we almost considered not leaving but then it cleared up and figured we would be fine. And for 75% of the way it really was ok. Maybe a bit of rain but we had ponchos and rain jackets. We were about 20 miles from Hue when Mark's bike literally just broke. Stopped running completely. On a major highway. After locating a mechanic (1 km away thank goodness) I then had to tie Mark's bike to mine with a rope and pull him down the road to the mechanic. On the wrong side of traffic. We left Susie to sit in a local family's house/restaurant/business and said we'd be back "soon." Soon meant about 2 hours and at one point we debated everything from sleeping on the mechanics floor to sending Susie to hail a bus or car into Hue with all of our bags. Thankfully, Vietnamese mechanics are magicians and fixed Mark's bike and we just had to drive to the city in the rain, on the highway, in the dark - just the usual.
After Susie left us the ride was significantly less exciting but we did have many drives up and down mountains in extreme fog and rain.
I wish Susie could have joined us for central - southern Vietnam because we really loved a lot of the cities. Highlights included:
Hoi An - an adorable city/beach town where you can get clothes fitted and made for you in 1 day. We had a lot of fun on the beaches drinking 50 cent beers and we finally had a few days off from driving the motorbikes.
Helping Vietnamese students with their English homework They needed to practice speaking with real live white people!
Dalat - Getting here was a really scary and cold drive that again took us hours longer than expected. But, we were met with the friendliest people at Mr. Happy's homestay where you shop together and cook family dinners together. Mr. Happy is a young Vietnamese guy who successfully opened his own hostel after working for many others in the area. His assistant, K, was also amazing and we had a lot of fun hanging out there for a few days.
Family dinner night 1 with Mr. Happy
Hiking with K - our local guide and friend.
Ho Chi Minh - A completely different world from Northern Vietnam. While it was super hot we did have a lot of fun at the 3D art museum, visiting the Cu Chi tunnels, and drinking cheap beers to celebrate the end of our motorbike trip.
3D Art Muuseum
Celebratory beers in HCM
Otis was sold to an 18 year old Brit who had no idea how to ride a manual bike. I couldn't even watch the transaction because I was scared to see him attempt to ride out of the parking garage. Thankfully, Mark told me he rode it out for the kid and he decided it was best to walk to down the road to his hostel.
UPDATE: 18 year old Brit DID survive his drive north. But Otis was left in the middle of the Vietnamese jungle when it broke down 20km down a dirt road.
Shimmie was sold to a local mechanic 1 day before we left Vietnam. We celebrated by walking to a McDonald's in 100 degree heat and getting an ice cream. As I was ordering, a lady came up to me and started having her husband take photos of the 2 of us which still baffles me to this day.
This journey on motorbike has been a highlight of the trip and I'm so happy we decided to do it even though there were moments that I was completely terrified.
Mark & his co-pilot
Shimmie girl
