Day 3: A cow, a crash and back to Hanoi

One of those caused the accident

On the third day of our Vietnam Motorbike tour we got up at around 6 (thank you rooster for waking us up) and had pancakes for breakfast. I realised a slight drizzle. You wouldn’t call it rain (unless you live in a desert), but it was enough to make the ground wet and the rocks slippery. And I just realised that we have to go down the way we came up the day before….

Day 2 (Part 2): You call that a road???!!!!

Crossing the bridge

So we made it through the mud. Bruised, sweaty and very, very dirty. But we were alive and proud to have made it. The mud part is certainly one of those stories you will tell your grandchildren. After the mud, the second part of the day should be easy. Or should it? 

Day 2 (Part 1): No more shitroads!!!

Go, go, go Allison

I wasn’t sure which time zone Vietnamese roosters were operating on, but certainly it wasn’t the local time zone. Being woken up at 3:00am is just a bit too early for me. At 6:00 it was time to get up though: Shower, breakfast and saddle the bikes. It was 8:00am when we left Mai Chau where we spent Day 1. If we had known before how this day will turn out, we might’ve stayed in bed just a bit longer….

Day 1: The epic Vietnam motorbike trip

The way to travel

After receiving a full briefing about the trip from the guys at ExploreIndoChina we were all very excited to start the trip. At exactly 8:00am the next morning we were picked up by our guides and a very cool jeep. We set off to the garage where we met our new best friends, the 125CC Minsk.

The Kalashnikov among motorbikes

So what is the best way of touring the countryside in Vietnam? A motorbike, without question. But this being Vietnam, you need something simple. Sturdy. Reliable. You need the Kalashnikov among motorbikes. A bike that you can ride on mud, gravel or the street. Something you crash with on the street, get up and just continue riding. You need the Minsk! 

Vietnam – I’m back!

Around a year ago I was in Vietnam for the first time . And boy, I was impressed! The food, the people, the shopping. I had to come back. So I did. But this time I visited the North.Since we had a one week break for Chinese New Year I decided to head for Hanoi and the surrounding countryside – on a motorbike! But before we go to the adventurous part, let’s start with Vietnam’s capital.