TRAVERSE 86
affirming!
At first sight, a motorcycle trip in Vietnam might seem daunting, frenetic traffic in the big cities, language barriers, and climatic challenges, to mention a few. Planning the two months trip was easy and straight forward, with information readily available. A great help was the website Vietnam Coracle. I was also inspired by Lawrence Bransby ยด s book By Motorcycle Through Vietnam.
Intending to do as much off-road riding as possible, it quickly became clear to me that the Honda XR150 would be the perfect bike to hire. After a couple of quotes for rental, I signed up with Style Motors. Sixty days for US $ 600, unlimited mileage. My plan was to ride the entire length of Vietnam, from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi and further north to the Chinese border. On my way north I would stick to the Ho Chi Minh Road as much as possible, with the return trip to Ho Chi Minh City following the coastal road along the South China Sea. I had originally planned to also visit Cambodia and Laos, but the administration involved in bringing a rented bike in and out of these countries, turned out to be rather tedious. I would, however, have to make a visit to Laos to have my thirty-day visa renewed.
The handover at Style Motorcycles HCMC of a well-maintained Honda XR150 with 12,000 kilometres on the clock, was quickly done, and I ventured into the maelstrom of bikes that keeps this city moving. All 7 + million of them. From the sidewalk, things looked pretty hectic, but it took only a few minutes to feel right at home on the bike in this megacity of ten million inhabitants.
Heading north towards Dalat the traffic out of the city eased up after two hours. The lack of traffic once in the countryside was almost surreal. Along the HCMR I could ride for thirty minutes without seeing another vehicle. The percentage of cars per capita in Vietnam is low, and they are not likely to bother you. Buses and trucks, however, are another matter altogether, and have to be watched carefully.
There is an abundance of coffee shops everywhere. Coming from a coffee loving country like Denmark, I frequently stopped. An added bonus, particularly along the HCMR, are the hammocks that are freely available at many of the stops along the road. Buy a cool drink or coffee, and take a snooze break in the shade,
TRAVERSE 86