G'day All,
Mike and I had the most fantastic trip up in to the North of Vietnam along the frontier with China.
Amazing up there.. Can't wait to go back on a bigger longer trip with more off-road next time.
Will start this trip report with a few observations and information that I hope are of use to others riding in the North of Vietnam for the first time..
Others may have different ideas or experiences.. These are mine.
Flamingo Travel
http://www.flamingotravel.com.vn/
Hung / Chris and Team are truly fantastic.
Where else do you arrive and have a cold beer in your hand with in five minutes.
Five stars for service and support as well as quality well maintained bikes.
You could not ask for better, more reliable and honest people to deal with.
Bikes hired
XR 125cc (full list available on the website)
25 USD per day
Spare tubes and full tool set provided.. A bit heavy but needed.
Saddle bags are available if needed.
You really don't need anything larger than 250cc up here.
I would have not enjoyed this at all on the Versys..
To big and heavy.. Nice light and easy to maneuver bike is the way to go.
Visa
https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/showthread.php/38949-Vietnamese-Visa
Accommodation
Vietnam basic hotels cost around 220,000 Dong per night around 12 USD.
This seemed pretty standard through out our trip.
You can pay more at other up market hotels where available in the towns.
The price is on the wall behind reception.
You need to explain that you want a room each.. We had this at every hotel, where they assume two of you will share the room.
Food
Not always easy to find.. Unlike Thailand where you have food every where.
Up in the sticks.. there is no English and no menu with pictures.
Pho (Noodle Soup) is readily available. Just look for a sign out side with " Pho " displayed.
Suggest you take a few snacks for the times you can't find any food or not open yet.
In general.. The food hygiene was good.. No bad stomach at all.
Language
A Vietnamese phrase book or App for your phone will be handy.
There are plenty of free apps for Android.
Get use to sign language
Phone SIM card
Very cheap and only a few dollars with a very generous data allowance
Though you do need a PhD to work it all out..
Chris McBride was on the case and sorted it out before we headed for the train to Lao Cai.
My phone for some reason did not have a data connection.
The APN value should have been taken directly from the SIM when inserted, but didn't.
Flamingo office staff called up the Telco and we entered the APN value manually and it worked.
Good way to keep in touch with each other and easily call Flamingo Travel if you need assistance on the ride.
3G and Edge are EVERYWHERE.. even in the boonies on the trail.
Riding in Vietnam
Really not the place to learn if you have no riding experience.
We saw one accident not far in to our trip.
Didn't know how to handle a surprise pothole and ended up crashing in the middle of the road.
His bike ended up getting bussed back to Hanoi and he was in a lot of pain.
Suggest if you are new to riding.. Take some lessons first. Get some experience before tackling Vietnamese roads and driving.
Personally I could not imagine just starting out riding and taking on Vietnam first go..
Riding in the mountains
We all know the saying.. Expect the unexpected..
But in Vietnam.. The unexpected will come at least a few times on your trip.
Take the corners carefully and leave yourself room to change course quickly.. I had a few near truck / car experiences,
Not doing anything crazy and came around and a truck is taking up the entire road.
Where they can pull over they MAY pull over a little. But if you are not going to fast you can pull off on to the side, go around the truck and continue on.
If you are hammering it and leaning the bike over.. you are screwed..
Get use to passing trucks with centimeters spare.. It feels a bit strange at first, but you will get use to it.
Roads in the North
Narrow and potholed. Some parts can be like off-road and for extended periods.
A dual purpose or adventure bike is the way to go if you want to enjoy the ride
We saw a few people riding on Waves.. Can't imagine that was very enjoyable or comfortable.
They had to slow down while the XR's just cruised over and made easy work of it all.
Driving in the cities
Keep up with the traffic flow.. don't be afraid to peep your horn as you pass anther bike.
It is expected. If you don't they may just drift over thinking no one is there (They don't look or use mirrors most of the time)
Vietnamese will ride through red lights.. so keep your eyes peeled and approach and pass with caution..
GPS / Maps
Flamingo have a a couple of paper maps.. basic and more advanced map.
There are no real good maps for Northern Vietnam.
We had the OSM map.. This was OK.. but not brilliant.
Basically not a lot of people riding and updating in this area.
But certainly better than no GPS map at all.
Chris provided us with a KML file of the suggested route.. We converted this to GPX and loaded it on to the GPS.
We will be updating our tracks to OSM and putting a little more accuracy in to the existing routes on the OSM map.
Money
Five day trip.. we both changed 300 USD in to Dong and still have a couple of million left at the end. 300 USD was around 6 million Dong if I remember correctly.
Only time we used USD was to pay for the bikes and train direct to Flamingo..
Drivers licence / Insurance
Chris has covered this here in his post.
https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/showthread.php/38956-How-to-be-legitimate-in-Vietnam-Drivng-license-Bike-Insurance-Ownership-papers
Police
We only saw Police once out in the country and they just watched us pass by..
How much did we spend?
Not including the flights and train to Lao Cai I would say around 70 USD per day.
That was staying where we wanted to stay.. eating what we wanted to eat.
Bikes and fuel plus beers etc.. Not being cheap charlies watching every Dong.
Rip Offs
We never really experienced any real rip offs.. Just once where we stopped in town by the side of the road and had a beer and some beef jerky.. they over charged us by a few dollars.
Ask how much before you order... so your Beer Hanoi is around 15,000 Dong and not 20,000 Dong when you go to pay.. Little things like that..
No one really tried it on in the mountains. All were very honest, friendly and happy to see us.
Hung proudly displaying his GT Rider sticker
More to come
Mike and I had the most fantastic trip up in to the North of Vietnam along the frontier with China.
Amazing up there.. Can't wait to go back on a bigger longer trip with more off-road next time.
Will start this trip report with a few observations and information that I hope are of use to others riding in the North of Vietnam for the first time..
Others may have different ideas or experiences.. These are mine.
Flamingo Travel
http://www.flamingotravel.com.vn/
Hung / Chris and Team are truly fantastic.
Where else do you arrive and have a cold beer in your hand with in five minutes.
Five stars for service and support as well as quality well maintained bikes.
You could not ask for better, more reliable and honest people to deal with.
Bikes hired
XR 125cc (full list available on the website)
25 USD per day
Spare tubes and full tool set provided.. A bit heavy but needed.
Saddle bags are available if needed.
You really don't need anything larger than 250cc up here.
I would have not enjoyed this at all on the Versys..
To big and heavy.. Nice light and easy to maneuver bike is the way to go.
Visa
https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/showthread.php/38949-Vietnamese-Visa
Accommodation
Vietnam basic hotels cost around 220,000 Dong per night around 12 USD.
This seemed pretty standard through out our trip.
You can pay more at other up market hotels where available in the towns.
The price is on the wall behind reception.
You need to explain that you want a room each.. We had this at every hotel, where they assume two of you will share the room.
Food
Not always easy to find.. Unlike Thailand where you have food every where.
Up in the sticks.. there is no English and no menu with pictures.
Pho (Noodle Soup) is readily available. Just look for a sign out side with " Pho " displayed.
Suggest you take a few snacks for the times you can't find any food or not open yet.
In general.. The food hygiene was good.. No bad stomach at all.
Language
A Vietnamese phrase book or App for your phone will be handy.
There are plenty of free apps for Android.
Get use to sign language
Phone SIM card
Very cheap and only a few dollars with a very generous data allowance
Though you do need a PhD to work it all out..
Chris McBride was on the case and sorted it out before we headed for the train to Lao Cai.
My phone for some reason did not have a data connection.
The APN value should have been taken directly from the SIM when inserted, but didn't.
Flamingo office staff called up the Telco and we entered the APN value manually and it worked.
Good way to keep in touch with each other and easily call Flamingo Travel if you need assistance on the ride.
3G and Edge are EVERYWHERE.. even in the boonies on the trail.
Riding in Vietnam
Really not the place to learn if you have no riding experience.
We saw one accident not far in to our trip.
Didn't know how to handle a surprise pothole and ended up crashing in the middle of the road.
His bike ended up getting bussed back to Hanoi and he was in a lot of pain.
Suggest if you are new to riding.. Take some lessons first. Get some experience before tackling Vietnamese roads and driving.
Personally I could not imagine just starting out riding and taking on Vietnam first go..
Riding in the mountains
We all know the saying.. Expect the unexpected..
But in Vietnam.. The unexpected will come at least a few times on your trip.
Take the corners carefully and leave yourself room to change course quickly.. I had a few near truck / car experiences,
Not doing anything crazy and came around and a truck is taking up the entire road.
Where they can pull over they MAY pull over a little. But if you are not going to fast you can pull off on to the side, go around the truck and continue on.
If you are hammering it and leaning the bike over.. you are screwed..
Get use to passing trucks with centimeters spare.. It feels a bit strange at first, but you will get use to it.
Roads in the North
Narrow and potholed. Some parts can be like off-road and for extended periods.
A dual purpose or adventure bike is the way to go if you want to enjoy the ride
We saw a few people riding on Waves.. Can't imagine that was very enjoyable or comfortable.
They had to slow down while the XR's just cruised over and made easy work of it all.
Driving in the cities
Keep up with the traffic flow.. don't be afraid to peep your horn as you pass anther bike.
It is expected. If you don't they may just drift over thinking no one is there (They don't look or use mirrors most of the time)
Vietnamese will ride through red lights.. so keep your eyes peeled and approach and pass with caution..
GPS / Maps
Flamingo have a a couple of paper maps.. basic and more advanced map.
There are no real good maps for Northern Vietnam.
We had the OSM map.. This was OK.. but not brilliant.
Basically not a lot of people riding and updating in this area.
But certainly better than no GPS map at all.
Chris provided us with a KML file of the suggested route.. We converted this to GPX and loaded it on to the GPS.
We will be updating our tracks to OSM and putting a little more accuracy in to the existing routes on the OSM map.
Money
Five day trip.. we both changed 300 USD in to Dong and still have a couple of million left at the end. 300 USD was around 6 million Dong if I remember correctly.
Only time we used USD was to pay for the bikes and train direct to Flamingo..
Drivers licence / Insurance
Chris has covered this here in his post.
https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/showthread.php/38956-How-to-be-legitimate-in-Vietnam-Drivng-license-Bike-Insurance-Ownership-papers
Police
We only saw Police once out in the country and they just watched us pass by..
How much did we spend?
Not including the flights and train to Lao Cai I would say around 70 USD per day.
That was staying where we wanted to stay.. eating what we wanted to eat.
Bikes and fuel plus beers etc.. Not being cheap charlies watching every Dong.
Rip Offs
We never really experienced any real rip offs.. Just once where we stopped in town by the side of the road and had a beer and some beef jerky.. they over charged us by a few dollars.
Ask how much before you order... so your Beer Hanoi is around 15,000 Dong and not 20,000 Dong when you go to pay.. Little things like that..
No one really tried it on in the mountains. All were very honest, friendly and happy to see us.
Hung proudly displaying his GT Rider sticker
More to come
