Excellent! They let big bikes in now? And it's good to see a Glide enter Vietnam Mike and Nikki.
Care to share your guide's contact for future enter-ers?
Excellent! They let big bikes in now? And it's good to see a Glide enter Vietnam Mike and Nikki.
Care to share your guide's contact for future enter-ers?
See the post a bit above yours (dated 24 October) for all the details.Originally Posted by plasticblackspecs
"There's always something waiting at the end of the road, if you aren't willing to see what it is, you probably shouldn't be out there in the first place."
Opps. Sorry. Didn't see that. Cheers!
UPDATE: MONDAY, 2ND NOVEMBER 2009
[i]After a slow awakening, and a bad breakfast, we left Mui Ne at about 9:30am.
Stopping in the Binh Thuan province for a coffee and a break, we enjoyed a surprisingly good toilet. On the road again, the kilometres were passing away well, and we had lunch in Dong Nai province on Highway 1 at a Pho restaurant, typical for the area.
The ride down Highway 1 into Saigon (called strangely the Hanoi Ward) proved interesting as the traffic started to build up. About 40 Kms out of Saigon, two idiots on a scooter sped past us on the right, revving their engine and
cutting us off, breaking violently. Avoiding the idiots as politely as possible, they persisted, coming up on the left and jabbed me on the arm, provoking attention. I pushed the driver’s arm gently away. They then approached again, and pushed Nikki’s arm firmly, making our bike sway to the left, dangerously close to a bike next to us on our right. Nikki responded by pushing away on the driver, and I sped ahead to avoid them. They then approached us on the left, making swerving movements towards us threateningly. We tried to ignore this, but his exhaust pipe hit my left
foot plate twice, so I followed Tuyen to go around a truck on the right so as to block them off. This seemed to work, for a while.
The idiots on the scooter followed closely, and then came to our left, and went right up the **** of a truck in front of us so as to try and block us off again; swaying left and right. The driver and passenger looked at us over their right shoulder as the passenger pointed at our front wheel; the driver nodding to his unintelligible verbal suggestions. Suddenly, the driver skidded his rear tyre and swerved to “kickâ€
Davidfl
Keep The Power On
Hinice story bro..
yes we need to have a guide when riding in vietnam with our own bike,
same like China we also need the guide and pass the test in Mangla,for plate licence before
can proceed to Yunan provience
prepare the money..enough if u need to ride in this country..
I got into Vietnam myself through Bavet(Cambodia)-Moc Bai(Vietnam) border during my last 6 South East Asian Nation ride in December 2009.
I was using a Singapore registered bike. I engaged the services of a Vietnamese tour operator who did our paperworks prior to entry.
As I recalled, the tour operator needs to be present upon our entry at the border but he did mentioned that it's not mandatory to have a guided tour throughout the journey in Vietnam. A group of riders from Singapore did this arrangement before.
Our bikes were issued with temporary license plate and were required to put on display at all times. The officers also checked our chasis and engine number.
As my destination was Saigon, I engaged the escort services as well as riding in Saigon can be chaotic.
Moc Bai immigration house.
Our Vietnamese license plate
Entering Saigon
Our tour oprator with the escorts from ACE MotoSaigon
yempaul,
nice story u getting in to vietnam..but must have the guide...
Yes you need the guide at the entry point. Had a long chat with my tour operator about this arrangement and he informed me that the entry point is a must but not when you're in Vietnam itself. The so called "mandatory" is actually made cos tour operators do not want to lose business. SO most of them claimed it's mandatory.
I had a Singaporean group who did this and they left Vietnam whithout any problems.
Cheers
Whats the latest on Mark and Nikki anyone hear?
Great story but this part isn't true. You can buy and ride motorbikes bigger than 175cc in VN but the driving licence is difficult and expensive to get. Bikes bigger than 175cc are also crazily expensive because they are all imported and there is a stupid amount of tax on imported vehicles, which in effect doubles the price of any motorbike: so a $10K bike in the USA would cost at least $20K here. Big bikes in Vietnam are strictly the domain of the very rich. The roads here are totally unsuitable for big bikes anyway, you can't drive fast because the speed limit for bikes is 40km/h and with the road conditions you'd have to be foolish to try drive too much faster (although I have got my Honda up to 140km/h).
Highly informative thread I must say, mighty thanks to all who have contributed to this. I am planning to ride to vietnam myself with two or three other motorcycles, all Indian registered Royal Enfield Bullets (or Electras) 350 cc Motorcycles. We plan to enter Vietnam via Laos through the border crossing into Dien Bien Phu on a sponsored trip sometime in May 2012. Considering this takes time I suppose I will have to begin inquiries and initiate the process slightly early on.
A query however, the price that mark and nikki have posted (USD4500 for 21 days), is that a fixed rate for all sorts of motorcycles from all countries? any information on this would be of great help, thank you.
I will duly post my progress as and when it is done. Cheers.
Mark & Nikki's book is out
http://www.youmeandahd.com/book.html
The Book About Our Journey
You, Me And A HD is a travelogue and story about a six-month journey covering 20,739 Kilometers in a select group of countries in South East Asia propelled by Razoo. Our journey began in Singapore on 6 July 2009 making our way through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The return leg took us back through Thailand and Malaysia a second time where we concluded in Singapore on 9th January 2010.
A motorbike is a great way to see most countries, but our axe, Razoo, is one of the heaviest and most cumbersome Harley Davidsons you could imagine. It's the biggest Harley model of its era. Razoo is great for luggage and the open highway, but hopeless on the dirt, gravel and muddy stuff. Most would have chosen a more practical vehicle, like a semi-off-road Honda Africa Twin or BMW GS-1200. But no, we stayed true to our baby, and in the end, he stayed true to us.
Although a travelogue and memoir, the book contains many strange and funny stories that are sure to amuse any reader. The detail is as true to life as we could recall it. Sorry if we offend anyone in the process, but this is the way we saw things. At the end of each country, we have written a small commentary on a quirky element of the nation, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, others in stark reality, but all with a point.
The final chapters of the book contain some crucial information, if you want to embark on a similar journey of your own. You will find details on the logistics and paperwork necessary to get started, as well as most of the processes involved in crossing borders with your own vehicle. These rules should apply equally to most motorcycles and cars registered outside of the ASEAN region, and to most registered within.
Davidfl
Keep The Power On
The road from Moang Khoa (after having crossed the Ou river) to the border is some 60 kms of previously non-existing road. They are working on that leg now; some five little rivers and creeks need to be crossed and the very last part to Sop Houn was the most gruesome one. You better recheck, if the road construction on 2E (road from Oudomxay via Mouang Khoa to Sop Houn/Lao PDR) - leading into 279 (Vietnamese numbering) is "Harley Davidson" worthy. Some friends of mine did the trip some 18 months ago on cross-country bikes.
Best wishes and keep fingers crossed; shall revert if I have news - Peter
.......deja moo..... the strange feeling having heard this BS before........
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