Ok, maybe more of a piece of shit glorified scooter but it's still a big deal :)
We decided to get the typical backpacker's Honda Win and drive the length of Vietnam from South to North. So we bought our 125cc piece of shit for 200$ (that we'll hopefully re-sell for the same price up north). These bikes are crap and fall apart like crazy, but it's part of the deal and mechanic costs here are negligible. About 30 km in, we had to replace all 3 back wheel bearings and worn out brake pads for a grand total of 9$. Then, gas filter was leaking so we got one for 50 cents. Yesterday, the exhaust fell off so it set us back another 5$.
This whole deal seems like a jenga tower game: everyone that buys a bike puts a little piece on the already shaky tower, hoping it won't come crashing down. Some put it carefully, others not much so. But one day, the engine blows and the unlucky person is stuck with a bike that can only be sold to to a garage for parts (at 50$). We're halfway through our journey already, and hopefully we'll pass on our bike to the next person without problem! But if not, I'm ready to accept the 200$ loss for such a great adventure.
A lot of people at the hostel were telling me "if you can ride a bike, learning to drive a motorcycle is a peice of cake" and many have said so after doing the journey. However, considering the fact I can't walk around the grocery store without bumping my cart into people and have to clue how gears work I decided to trust my boyfriend with the driving.
Sidenote: I did try on the empty road for the first time yesterday, and it was super fun! The accidental wheelies freaked me out but it was the best! Maybe I'll try getting it in 2nd gear today.
Traffic is crazy, but the landscape is gorgeous! I'll post when my vlogs are edited, I've never seen such epic mountains of beautiful fields before. And I love stopping for lunch or coffee in little villages, where food is so amazing and people so nice. I've been slow at editing mostly because I don't really want my mom to stress for too long when she finds out what we're doing.
It's a little bit of a risk, since it's not the safest thing to do but it's such a great journey I've decided it's something I still want to do. So far, the scariest moment was running into the bunch on cows on a very curvy road: we were going slow enough to stop in time, but we would not have had the time if we were only 10 km faster!
Anyway, it's been a blast so far so I wanted to share. Much like the hitchhiking in 2014, we were not planning to do such a thing, and I would have never though it's the kind of thing I will ever do, but sometimes things just fall into place.
Stay off the 1A, it's an ugly shitshow, take the Ho Chi Minh highway, make sure you go across the Hai Van Pass, and seriously, seriously, be careful. Watch out for buffalo coming out of the ditches onto the road. Saw several people (experienced westerners and locals) die while doing this. It's not a joke and not a theme park, some people tend to treat it like that, though I am sure you won't. If you get hurt and go to the hospital, your insurance is not going to cover you. Not trying to be a buzzkill, but I saw people some seriously stupid shit and pay the price, and also some very experienced people get very hurt. Be safe. Don't know how much longer this will be doable, and it's an exhilarating experience.
We did take the A1 from nongh tranh to hoi an because there is so much to see that we decided to fast forward that part in order to see more of other stuff. Next we ride to hue and then the hai van pass as you mentioned! I'm so psyched! I know it's not without its risks, definitely didn't expect cows to appear a couple times. We're being as careful as possible, I hope it all goes well :) I swear the road from da lat was the most beautiful mountains I've seen in my life!
Unplanned adventures are the best adventures. So much fun. Learning to drive and fix things is seriously something you should try to do. Looking forward to your next vlog.... with a head mounted and not hand held camera. :)
Yeah, I'll practice a little on the side roads. I just got my car driving license a couple months ago and I've never driven stick so I don't think I'm ready for a motorbike in Vietnam but I wish to slowly learn because it's so much fun and we could do so much more if only we had 2 bikes! There are some seriously impressive mountains up north but I think we'll skip out because: 1. the bike probably won't make it up the hills with us both + our bags 2. we have no more space for extra fuel, tools and food on the bike 3. it would be dumb to go without an extra bike to tow you out in case something happens Yeah, got a helmet mount for our fake GoPro :) I've been more cautious since some fuckers tried to snatch my purse off me, but that a whole 'nuther story. I wish I had the reflex to elbow the guy in the face.
There's always somewhere to buy gas, get food and to sleep. No part of Vietnam is uninhabited and everyone drives similar vehicles to what you have. Highly recommend you go north, it's incredibly beautiful.
Yeah, we're driving to Hanoi so we will make it to the north. I'm talking about a specific stretch of the road next to the Lao border that's basically uninhabited because of mountains and it's a national park too. People I met said they didn't see even another bike driving by for about 2h. It's not the kind of train you ride unprepared on a crap bike.
I'm pretty sure that the Highway and the trail you're talking about are the same thing, though there are 2 paths to the HCMH, east (Đông) and west (Tây). West is the more barren one, I rode it for a while, and it's not that bad. The East one is far less barren and still very pretty. In your other comment, you went from Nha Trang to Hoi An? I did the same but went through Pleiku. If you're in Hoi An, you've already gone past the barren part, and I still highly recommend you go the HCMH route after Hue, especially if you are going to Phong Nha-Ke. I think whoever told you that meant north of HCMC, not north in Vietnam.
Yeah, we'll probably stick to east - less barren is better as we have no riding buddies and no backup. We'll probably go west up to the national park to see then caves and then come back east. Thanks for all the tips, how come you know that part of the world so well?! When did you ride it?
Wait, what I'm saying you're already past the East/West HCMH thing, unless you're talking about HCMH (west) and 1A (east), if so, I can't recommend highly enough that you avoid the 1A, as the HCMH is pretty, not barren at all, and you can still get to villages where westerners are rare and the people are incredibly kind. I promise, you will not go without. I spent 6 months last year going from Beijing down the coast all the way to Myanmar, and I'm one of those overly-methodical researchers before I budge an inch. There's tons of mis/out-dated information on blogs and out of people's mouths, so I tried to synthesize it all so I could actually make sense of it at some point :D
Got one with the bike and bought one. From what I hear, they're not much more effective than bike helmets here so better not get into any accidents :s Basically impossible to find a proper one. It's like the most reckless, terrifying and fun, epic, breathtaking journey of my life so far. It's either the best or worst idea of my life. I'll let you know the verdict when I don't die.