Travel Story : russell cook - vietnam
Day 1 : Hanoi – Phu Yen : 160 Km
Thon our guide gets to our hotel take us and our luggage to the tour office . A good 10k drive across Hanoi and see some of the suburbs . Very busy roads out here as they are wider and there more of them than in the Old quarter . Our mounts Honda XR125SL single cylinder carby model bikes .
They have between 6000-30000km on them and the rubber is all new or nearly new . It ’ s 10:30am and we ’ re off , 1 turn and we ’ re on a 6 lane highway . Within 500m we ’ re in the centre lane to do a Uturn in a break in the median strip . Scooters , cars , buses going everywhere – what a great intro to riding in Vietnam .
We all manage it ok . A bit over 20k sees us leave Hanoi on some small local roads . In that first 45mins we ’ ve done main roads , bridges and smaller roads . Jazmin did brilliantly for her first ride in another country and on the other side of the road .
After Hanoi we got on to the back roads through the paddy fields . Dodging oncoming vehicles , scooters was fun . Mostly . Everyone drives between 35-60km / h so traffic being everywhere just isn ’ t a huge issue . Had a couple of tight sections and Jazmin took a tumble when she lost the front in sand as she tried to get back on to her side of the track . It was a slow off with a nice roll so no harm done to Jazmin or the bike .
Some of the dirt was virtually single track through the fields . Then roadworks and a 1km mountain pass . Multiple 10 % gradients up and down . About 20km from Phu Yen . Thon , Greeny , Ali and Eric left us to do some dirt . The rest of us were a bit tired so we went with the mechanic , Do ( pronounced do ’ h ), on the main road through the pass to Phu Yen .
We did 190km day from Hanoi to Phu Yen . A little bit of dirt , some single track through the paddy fields and roads with trucks on our side and roadworks with no traffic control and everyone driving everywhere . We made it by 4:45pm . Greeny and Ali and Eric arrived just before 6pm . Exhausted , but happy as they done some ver technical climbs . River crossing etc . on the back road . Some of this is captured in the tour company YouTube .
Dinner was at a local restaurant . Greeny and Ali drinking sake with the guides . We had chicken in thin strips and served in small portions with a different vegetable added to the hot pot for each serving . It ’ s served with a traditional lime , chilli and garlic salt dipping sauce . One of the group , who shall remain nameless but not me or Jazmin , tried cat from the next table . He said it tasted like chicken . At the hotel WiFi internet in Vietnam is faster than at home .