Viet...VROOM...nam!

January to February 2015

Me and my chariot! Gotta love those trucks who honk loudly
and don't like to share the road.

We spent our entire 30+ day visa (apparently they just gave us from 20 Jan. until 20 Feb) driving our motorbikes from the south of Vietnam all the way to the north. We even made it to the Chinese border, but then we turned around. The driving in Vietnam is a whole other can of worms than any of the countries I've driven in throughout Southeast Asia. I felt like I had to relearn how to drive, because the "rules" are definitely not the same as Indonesia or Thailand. The best advice I got, from an American expat living in Ho Chi Minh City, the day I bought my bike: "Think of the craziest, stupidest, most unexpected thing that the other driver(s) can do. And then just expect them to do it." That was exactly what happened so many times while driving, especially with the sheer amount of motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City. Defensive driving was the name of the game. Some days it was quite exhausting. Even when we left the cities, it was the same advice taken to heart when driving on the highways with the buses and trucks. I just got out of their way. They're bigger. They will win. I will lose. We quickly learned how to use the atlas along with google maps and city maps to create our best route, which we made sure avoided Hwy 1 (the main road from south to north, full of road construction and the big trucks and buses). We chose the parallel roads, which usually allowed us to drive more slowly through rice paddy roads, local villages and have a chance to take in the beautiful scenery.

All that being said, we had no problems with our bikes, mechanically, and we had no accidents with any of the aforementioned other motorbikes, trucks or buses. Thank Goodness! After one day of driving, here are a few things we learned. Mainly, wear pants, a mask and gloves for dirt and sun protection. Layers became necessary as we drove further north into colder temperatures, as well. Buy a bungee cord to strap the backpack onto the seat and always have two ponchos ready, one to put around my backpack and one to wear. Also, avoid the main highway in order to avoid the big trucks. 

In the following, I'll give you an idea of our trip, from the south all the way to the north of Vietnam. I would say, "Buckle up" but I think the more appropriate is "Put your helmet on!"

Stop 1: The south. Ho Chi Minh City (you may know it better as Saigon). Crazy full of motorbikes! We did some site seeing to The Reunification Palace: the former government of South Vietnam was housed here. The War Remnants Museum: full of displays of war pictures, propaganda, Agent Orange effects from what is referred to in this country as the "American War". Opera House: acrobatic show about typical Vietnamese life on the countryside, and performers used only bamboo materials as props. Convenience Store: bought two semi-automatic motorbikes from a local man outside of the convenience store.

Crawling through part
of the Cu Chi Tunnels

Cao Dai Temple

Stop 2: First day of driving. Cu Chi tunnels: built and used by Vietnamese soldiers to hide in and attack American soldiers. Tay Ninh: Cao Dai Temple, which has an interesting mix of Taoism, Buddhism and Confuscianism, with Christianity and Islam also thrown in there.

Stop 3: Da Lat. Cooler temperatures here due to higher altitude. French colonists used it as an escape from the Saigon city heat, back in the day. We used it as a couple of days for relaxing and cooler weather (little did we realize how much colder we would get as we drove further north in the country).

Stop 4: Doc Let. Along the coast. We stayed at a "beach resort" to break up our longer drive. We also stopped at a cool place called Ganh Da Dia. I would like you to notice two things in this picture. First of all, you may wonder what I am sitting in. That's actually the "boat" the local fishermen use to get to his fishing boat. Second, what is that crazy rock formation behind me? I actually had to check the interwebs for a scientific explanation. Here's what I found, thanks to www.vietnam-beauty.com.

Ganh Da Dia

"Millions of years ago, during volcano eruption, mineral flows melting will be frozen when they encounter water and then the solid breaks into columns or obliques. That created the beautiful landscape of Ghenh Da Dia for the present time. Time over time, the landscape is rearranged as an artistic work by the hand of nature. Ghenh Da Dia is about 1km large, half in the sea and half above sea level."

Stop 5: Hoi An. Old city, full of history. Delicious foods. Vietnamese cooking class. Outside of the city, Son My ruins and Marble Mountain. Bought a tailor-made jacket and pair of shorts.

We traveled over the Hai Van Pass. There is a tunnel through
the mountain, but motorbikes are not allowed through it. 

Stop 6: Da Nang. Another stop to break up the drive.

Stop 7: Dong Ha. DMZ (the demilitarized zone) tour. Tam, a local owner of a cafe and hotel, set up the tour. Our guide was a South Vietnamese war veteran who fought alongside the Americans. I learned so much about the differences between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and our guide was very willing and open to share his story and answer our questions. Here's a plug for Tam, which I don't usually do, but he's the reason why Dong Ha is one of my favorite places in the country! He gave us a great deal at his newly acquired hotel and then even invited us out to join in a snake dinner. He actually works for a NGO, and he is just a genuinely caring person who wants to share the history of Dong Ha and Vietnam.

A rebuilt version of the bridge to separate
North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

That's snake in my chopsticks.
It wasn't bad, but I won't start eating meat again for it.

Stop 8: Phong Nga-Ke Bang National Park. Home of the world's largest cave, Son Doong, as well as one of the world's longest cave systems, which is found in Phong Nga Cave. We explored Phong Nga cave, only about 1 km deep, as the system further inside is closed to visitors. We also went into Paradise Cave. We drove our bikes on the 60 km loop around the park, with its beautiful Karst outcrops. We met a lot of other people who were driving bikes, many from North to South (opposite of our travel plans). For the sake of convenience, and really to save time in our thirty day visa, we sold our bikes here and took an overnight bus further north to Hanoi. 

My camera clearly cannot capture neither the size nor
majesty of this cave. It is unbelievable!

View of the area from outside of a cave entrance.
Beautiful even on a rainy day.

Stop 9: The north. Hanoi. A little sight seeing. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: Ho Chi Minh is, simply put, the Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader and key figure in founding the People's Army of Vietnam and Viet Cong. He is typically shown deep respect and is considered the liberator of the Vietnamese people from colonialism, as his vision was to unite North Vietnam and South Vietnam to form a united, communist Vietnam. The "Hanoi Hilton". American prisoners of war were kept here and there are displays of how well they were treated, hence the nickname of the prison. We also met up with a former colleague from Jakarta who happened to come through the city the same day as us. We all met and chatted over a beer, and then we had dinner with his family that evening.

Ho Chi Minh on a propaganda poster.
They refer to him affectionately as "Uncle Ho".

Get it?!
Saigon "2" Hanoi! We made it (and in one piece). 

Stop 10: further north! Ha Giang. Thanks to a traveler we met in Dong Ha, we had the idea and plan for the northern loop on our motorbikes. Oops, you say, we already sold them. That is true, so we rented bikes from a hotel. They were so much nicer than what we had owned, it was amazing to drive them! From this hotel, we also had to pay for a permit to enter the area further north, since it is a protected area and National Geo Park. Over the course of five days, we drove from Ha Giang to Nin Minh to Gong Ha to Meo Vac and back to Ha Giang. This loop included stops at markets, absolutely amazing views of the karst limestone outcroppings, local villagers along the road at every turn, a drive down a path that lead us to the northern most point in the country. There is a tower and flagpole here that can be climbed, so that we could "look into" China to the north. Hands down, the driving of this loop showed me the best scenery in the entire country, in my humble opinion (but I can't compare it to Sapa or Halong Bay, as I chose to drive this loop in lieu of traveling to those more touristy destinations). 

Guess what? That's China behind me.

Ha Giang Loop

Winding, mountain roads is an understatement.

Convinced of the beauty, yet?

Stop 11: back to Hanoi. Vietnamese New Year and my birthday. The hostel where we stayed threw me a birthday party and even bought me a cake. They were so sweet! The owner had also been very helpful in helping us plan our motorbike loop in the north, as he used to organize tours in that area. At midnight, there was a fireworks display to celebrate the New Year (and my birthday, of course). 

Vroom! Vroom!