My 6-week motorbike trip from the south of Vietnam to the north is without a doubt one of my favorite adventures. This trip offered a profound sense of freedom, similar to that of long distance thru-hiking, where everyday I get up and decide where I want to go next. Admittedly I did have a rough itinerary, as I did want to make sure I made the most of my time, but if I found I place I loved I could stay for some extra days, or if I wasn’t feeling it I could just move on. As an American I was a little apprehensive as to how I would be perceived by the locals I came across, but I never had any issues. The people were generally very friendly (when they weren’t trying to scam you or overcharge you for fuel), especially the students in Hanoi who would roam the tourist areas eager to practice their English (and buy you ice cream). A website called vietnamcoracle is a great resource for those interested in a motorbike trip around the country, which is considered a fairly popular thing for visitors to do. The primary route that I followed was ‘The Classic’, from Saigon to Hanoi, which includes a lot of the best sections of the country: coastal plains, windy and rainy mountain roads, highland villages, caves, war remnants, waterfalls, high passes, towns, cities and much more. After exploring Hanoi for bit, I then followed the ‘Ha Giang Loop’ in the far north of the country, seeing some lesser known areas including small villages and fabulous mountain vistas. You just need to be careful of the police traps around the country, who will issue foreigners a ticket (ask for a bribe) when you don’t have the proper paperwork (which is notoriously hard to get). Ideally, one would have some experience riding motorcycles, as the chaos in the cities can be quite intimidating. But once out on the open road the craziness eases up a bit and the riding becomes less chaotic. Many tourists hang around for a while and look for good deals of used bikes from other travelers, but that can be a little risky as to the quality of the bike, so I used Tigit Motorbikes which provides a new or like-new motorbike that they will buy back from you at the end of the journey. So all told, I think I spent just a few hundred bucks on the rental over 6-weeks. To describe all my experiences feels impossible, but some highlights or things I often think about: watching Trump get elected the first time early on in the trip, then getting caught in police trap the next day, a trap that I was warned about from the motorbike company, so just a double whammy of insult and injury the first few days; lovely coastal scenery; my phone getting destroyed by water damage from the water show put on by the dragon bridge in Da Nang, and needing to scramble to find a replacement the next day; the awesome caves of Phong Nha; the windy and jungle-y and rainy Ho Chi Minh Road; drinking with the Bahnar people near Kon Tum; the variety of Banh Mi; lots of Pho, and only throwing up one time; only getting one flat tire the whole trip; the quaint shops of Hoi An; the jagged limestone karsts of Ninh Bình; the ubiquitous rice fields; the imperial city of Hue; Hai Van pass; Halong Bay; seeing dog cooked on a spit in the far north and hopefully not eating it (I did eat some kind of meat up there, but not sure what it was :S); and on and on and on. Vietnam was an experience I will never forget.
