Hanoi To Ho Chi Minh

Khun ToeNee

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Oct 2, 2018
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Just finished a 12 day trip from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh with 12 of my buddies visiting from California. We rented bikes and had a customized tour with Vietnam Laos Cambodia Motorbike Tours | Indochina Motorcycle Tours of their 12 day Hanoi motorbike tour on 150 Hondas. Really good trip, and the bikes were OK as we never really had to go much over 80 KPH the entire trip. Random hazards come up on the roads so quickly, going slowly really is the key to survival. Tour buses have NO regard for anything smaller than them and will literally come charging up behind you with full on air horns blasting their way through. Motorcycles must keep to the right lane/shoulder and technically overtaking on the left is illegal on 2 wheels. ..quite often too you will take the inside line to past a truck or car and in the available 1.5 metre wide lane (shoulder) a scooter will be coming right at you! With water buffaloes, chickens, puppies, ducks and small children, the random amount of different scenarios that come up on the road, you can't even imagine! Cars will come flying by you down the middle of the road on an immanent collision course with absolutely no plan where to go. You have to anticipate that just before they slam into on coming traffic they will decide to swerve into your lane and take you out without a second thought. Riding in Thailand is demanding but Vietnam is in a class of its own. My brain is numb from processing visual input for over 6 hours of riding a day to keep me from crashing out.

Having said all that, we all survived the trip except for a broken collarbone (3 fractures) from a tip over in the sand onto a random chunk of buried concrete and two rear flats.

The tour leader, mechanic and their support driver & riders were all great and looked after us and the bikes well. Accommodation was excellent and they even catered to my plant based diet. Weather was cool in the North and warmed up as we headed South. A LOT of burning fields and burning along roadsides. Didn't really see much blue skies except right along the coast road. I'm not sure whether the Russian tourists will even notice the smoke in their gated, all inclusive resorts.

Really shocking the rubbish/trash/garbage everywhere along side the roads, South of Nha Trang. They must just fill up their cars, park at the side of the road and dump it all out. There are mega resorts and huge wind and solar farms being built alone the coast. Going to be like Cancun here for the Russians with cheap, all included holidays.

 
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