Vietnam - how to ride 2000km and not die >> PART 8

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MrBig

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This will be less of a ride report and more some random ramblings about Vietnam and our experiences in riding from south to north (2-up) on a 125cc Suzuki over 3 weeks in March 2013. If you ever thought of doing these writings perhaps this could in some way help you to figure out the why’s and how’s.

Why did we choose Vietnam? Pure chance really – just a place we haven’t been to and considering that our dates were fixed we looked around South East Asia for suitable weather during March. After discovering Emirates added a direct flight to Saigon mid 2012 our minds were pretty much made up. March is spring time in Vietnam and although it’s always warm in the South there’s less chance of rain and the North holds cooler weather. We had no desire to ride day in and day out in monsoon like torrential downpours and figured this time of the year would give us the best possible chance to do it. A very nice resource for weather conditions and trip planning is available on the weather guide page of Selective Asia

In November 2012 our research started and the decision to do it independently by bike wasn’t a clear choice from the start.
Once you browse the mountain of info on the web and read others opinions on forums such as Thorntree and TripAdvisor you will notice there are mixed opinions on the idea of biking Vietnam.
Many will tell you about their amazing experience and will be encouraging - but even more will tell you their horror stories...
Huge language barriers; insane traffic; zero road rules; no respect or tolerance for bikes on the highways; no legal way of driving on a tourist visa; horrible accidents with poor medical care; hugely corrupt police and traffic officials. The list goes on.
However, whether you choose to bike there or not should depend on what you want from the experience as a whole and you should approach it well informed and not only be comfortable with you ability to handle a motorcycle under difficult circumstances but understand (and make peace with it) that there are and will be risks. Yes, in all likelihood you will be riding there “illegally” and the implication of this should be understood. Make sure you have adequate medical cover for international travel as well as good liability insurance to boot if worse comes to worse.  

Nevertheless - we pegged some destinations and compared travel options.
Biking vs public transport (trains, busses) vs Flying to select destinations. All of which are feasible.
What swayed us in the end was that N[]va lives in Ho Chi Minh City and he offered assistance with the bike issue.
Having a friend there made all the difference as we knew we could pretty much arrive and find everything ready considering our limited time-frame of three-and-a-half weeks.
Besides, biking sounded like a lot more fun and interesting way of seeing the country.  :biggrin:

The only remaining question was whether to buy a bike or rent one. One way rentals are possible with a few motorcycle touring agencies but those offering rentals rarely have bikes suitable for 2-up.
Depending on what bike you rent and for how long the cost could be anything from $20-35 per day. There is thus a point where it starts making sense to consider buying a bike. For a solo rider the Honda Win (Chinese) is perfectly suited and good samples can be found for under $300. They are cheap to run and very cheap to fix with parts available everywhere. Virtually all the foreign riders we encountered (not many btw) was riding a Win.

Being held liable for damage to a rental bike also didn’t exactly appeal to me so we decided to take the plunge and buy something. Buying a motorcycle in Vietnam is pretty straightforward and the custom is not to transfer ownership but merely to pass on the original registration papers to the next owner.
This proves ownership satisfactory to all including the police.

Our biggest challenge was finding a suitable bike at a reasonable price. From the info I could gather on various forums and blogs the best way to go would be to buy a bike form a fellow traveler in HCMC.
Plenty of 2nd hand options are available - something like a Suzuki GS 125 seemed to be well suited to carry a pillion.
Craigslist Vietnam is a pretty popular source for travellers and after keeping an eye on it for a couple of weeks spotted a winner. https://vietnam.craigslist.org/mcy/
(If you’re looking also keep an eye on https://www.travelswop.com/ for some options.)

N[]va made contact and the very next day I was the semi-proud owner of a Suzuki GN125!
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Now planning could start in earnest.

We sent passports off to the Vietnamese Embassy in Pretoria for Visa applications. https://www.vietnam.co.za/
They confirmed that Saffers do not require proof of accommodation and all that's needed is a filled in application form, confirmed flight bookings and some colour ID photos.
The Visa fee is dependent on duration and number of entries. 1 Month Single Entry was R800 – a bit of a rip-off but that’s after all the Vietnamese way =)

The itinerary took shape and we managed to squeeze in a few days so total length of the road trip will be 23 full days (plus arrival and departure days  either side)
Realistically it left  us with around 20 days to make it from Saigon to Hanoi.

Rough route as follow:
HCMC to Phan Tiet (Mui Ne)
Phan Tiet to Da Lat
Da Lat to Nha Trang
Nha Trang to Tuy Hua
Tuy Hua  to Pleiku
Pleiku to Kham Duc
Kham Duc to Hoi An
Hue to Cu Nam
Cu Nam to Huong Khe
Huong Khe to Yen Cat
Yen Cat to Hanoi

So the plan was pretty much 11 days riding + 9 days for sightseeing and chilling then fly back to Saigon for a day or two

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In the meantime N[]va had Jerry (the Suzuki) checked out by his mechanics over at Hien Moto  (highly recommended as far as Vietnamese workshops go!)
New oil & filters, new clutch plates & clutch cable, new cam chain and tensioner, new fork seals, new sparkplugs, new grips.
Also fitted new tyres front and back and reupholstered the seat for more comfort with the total cost of work coming just under $200


more to come...

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edit - photos embedded using PhotoBucket so let me know if you can't see them


PART 2 here

PART 3 here


PART 4 here

PART 5 here

PART 6 here

PART 7 here

PART 8 here
 
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