Anyone toured Vietnam?

[Boob Johnson]

Spill the beans, any motorbike stories from your time there would be great. Short or long trips, road or trail, keen to hear of your experiences

[kiwigazza]

yeah spent a couple of weeksriding around the north, awesome roads people were cool.........you heading there? can check out my pics here

www.gazz.smugmug.com

Im on the road in mexico at the moment which is also sweet

[CookMySock]

www.gazz.smugmug.com

Wow, you've been everywhere.

Steve

[Boob Johnson]

yeah spent a couple of weeksriding around the north, awesome roads people were cool.........you heading there? can check out my pics here

www.gazz.smugmug.com

Im on the road in mexico at the moment which is also sweet

Ha ha epic man, epic! Great pics. You certainly have been on a few trips, do you ever work?

Yes I am wanting to go. Some reckon do a tour but im more interested in free lancing it. Looking to travel through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam & possibly a little of Malaysia. Got any tips?


ps: What happened with the police chase? lol

[rachprice]

I haven't been to Vietnam but have been to Thailand....definitely don't bother with tours, doing it yourself is part of the adventure...though may be an idea to look at tours to see some of the attractions that they go to, to work out what it is you want to see and do!
Staying in some of the villages away from main beaches/centres etc is so much fun!!

Have you got quite a bit of time to travel? If not I would suggest choosing one place and then returning to the others seperately....all the people I have known travelling SE Asia have spent a good few weeks/month in each country and still think its not quite enough!
Highlights for my friends have been Laos and Cambodia
I think Thailand is probably the easiest in terms of culture shock, a lot of the people speak broken English, you can generally communicate quite easily

Oh apparently Vietnam is the place to get suits/clothes made too

[kiwigazza]

yeah i'd definatly reccomend doing it on your own but if you can afford it i guess a guide would be good....think it was about $40 US a day when i was there + you gotta pay for guides meals accom etc.

Bike was $6 a day (was spending about 30US all up) we just rented them and started riding its safe as the only problem i had was when i was near the border of china where foriegners are meant to have a permit (which i knew but didnt bother with) ended up down the cop shop just told to get out of there pretty much.

are you thinking of taking your own bike? if so all the other countrys are sweet but vietnam have to rent something there....im looking to ride from nz-euro so will be heading through there but wont be for awhile yet as yeah i gotta work sometime

plenty of info here horizonsunlimited.com and here advrider.com or hit me with any other questions ive spent a fair bit of time around those ways

[pritch]

Yeah, but it was in 1968 and mostly on foot.

It belatedly occurred to me that the Sean Flynn reference might not be immediately recognised by all...

In the late sixties or early 1970s Sean Flynn, son of Errol, went for a motorcycle ride with a friend. Neither was ever seen again.
Motorcycle touring should be less perilous these days...

[martybabe]

yeah spent a couple of weeksriding around the north, awesome roads people were cool.........you heading there? can check out my pics here

www.gazz.smugmug.com

Im on the road in mexico at the moment which is also sweet

Shit you have been everywhere and your only a youngster. Well done you, God speed on your next adventure, I is well jealous

BooB, I'm sure you've seen it but there's a link on here somewhere to Top Gear doing Vietnam by bike, hilarious and it does make Vietnam look very appealing. Good luck with it, hope you get there!

[crazyhorse]

Wouldn't wanna go there - now, greece, spain.... hmmmmm, that would be fun

[Drunken Monkey]

I did some of Greece by scooter, I wouldn't rate it as much of an adventure though. I think hardship is part of the appeal of SE Asia by rickety old bike.

[Boob Johnson]

I haven't been to Vietnam but have been to Thailand....definitely don't bother with tours, doing it yourself is part of the adventure...though may be an idea to look at tours to see some of the attractions that they go to, to work out what it is you want to see and do!
Staying in some of the villages away from main beaches/centres etc is so much fun!!

Have you got quite a bit of time to travel? If not I would suggest choosing one place and then returning to the others seperately....all the people I have known travelling SE Asia have spent a good few weeks/month in each country and still think its not quite enough!
Highlights for my friends have been Laos and Cambodia
I think Thailand is probably the easiest in terms of culture shock, a lot of the people speak broken English, you can generally communicate quite easily

Oh apparently Vietnam is the place to get suits/clothes made too

Precisely Rach, i'm more interested to on hang with the locals in their villages off the beaten track. At this stage of the planning (early) I don't have a time frame. Thinking about landing in Singapore & making my way up the peninsula from there to Bangkok & beyond.

Yeah heard the same about suits. About $500NZ for a full tailored suit & they even keep your measurements for a few years to re order from abroad (last bit is a bit risky of course).

yeah i'd definatly reccomend doing it on your own but if you can afford it i guess a guide would be good....think it was about $40 US a day when i was there + you gotta pay for guides meals accom etc.

Bike was $6 a day (was spending about 30US all up) we just rented them and started riding its safe as the only problem i had was when i was near the border of china where foriegners are meant to have a permit (which i knew but didnt bother with) ended up down the cop shop just told to get out of there pretty much.

are you thinking of taking your own bike? if so all the other countrys are sweet but vietnam have to rent something there....im looking to ride from nz-euro so will be heading through there but wont be for awhile yet as yeah i gotta work sometime

plenty of info here horizonsunlimited.com and here advrider.com or hit me with any other questions ive spent a fair bit of time around those ways

ha ha definately not taking my ZX7R to S.E.A

Did you have to pay the cops a bribe? I've been reading a lot about that carry on.

Not keen on the a guide for a few reasons, obviously it costs more but is still affordable it's more the adventure of it I guess. $30US a day is a site cheaper than the guided tours ive seen so far!

Cheers for the link, ill suss that out

Yeah, but it was in 1968 and mostly on foot.

It belatedly occurred to me that the Sean Flynn reference might not be immediately recognised by all...

In the late sixties or early 1970s Sean Flynn, son of Errol, went for a motorcycle ride with a friend. Neither was ever seen again.
Motorcycle touring should be less perilous these days...

lol Pritch. I'm guessing Sean had.........an American accent?.......and was travelling in war time? Silly fool!

Wow so you travelled Vietnam mostly by foot? Tell us more my friend!

BooB, I'm sure you've seen it but there's a link on here somewhere to Top Gear doing Vietnam by bike, hilarious and it does make Vietnam look very appealing. Good luck with it, hope you get there!

I have it on my possesion Marty, one of their best efforts for sure

I'm definately going, it's just a matter of timing.

I did some of Greece by scooter, I wouldn't rate it as much of an adventure though. I think hardship is part of the appeal of SE Asia by rickety old bike.

Exactly! Although doesn't have to be a rickety old bike

[martybabe]

Wouldn't wanna go there - now, greece, spain.... hmmmmm, that would be fun

Ah, Spain, Of all the countries I've ridden in..... A bikers dreamland for sure, superbly sealed main drags and an adventure riders nirvana, thoroughly recommended 9/10.

Not ridden in Greece, unless a gutless step through counts but the infrastucture is decades behind Spain and the toilets are terrible Gorgeous coast lines though, a turquoise ocean and pretty white villages, mmm.

Foreign travel, you gotta love it and with beautiful NZ to come back home to eh.

[kiwigazza]

http://www.minskclubvietnam.com/

all the info for there

http://www.gt-rider.com/

for thailand

As for the suits Hoi An in vietnam is the place crazy little town full of tailors, pretty sure you´d get a few suits for $500nz

nah didnt have to pay the cops, i was actually trying to ride up a military road which is why i got busted but didnt realise as my vietnamese aint too flash. i did know that i was way inside a restricted area tho.

at the time i had no licence/insurance...nothing and there wasnt a problem at all the cops dont want the hassle i think only if you were to have an accident would it be a problem. In thailand i was riding back from the pub and came up behind a cop on a bike and thought i better not pass and then realised he was drunk as a skunk...so yeah doubt you would have any problems with the cops

theres a list of 'fines' and info on the minsk club site.....have yet to run into the mexican coppers yet but im hearing it might be another story

when you thinkin of going? im pretty keen to get back to vietnam wanna ride cambodia aswell and not so keen on riding that one by myself but we´ll see

[Boob Johnson]

http://www.minskclubvietnam.com/

all the info for there

http://www.gt-rider.com/

for thailand

As for the suits Hoi An in vietnam is the place crazy little town full of tailors, pretty sure you´d get a few suits for $500nz

nah didnt have to pay the cops, i was actually trying to ride up a military road which is why i got busted but didnt realise as my vietnamese aint too flash. i did know that i was way inside a restricted area tho.

at the time i had no licence/insurance...nothing and there wasnt a problem at all the cops dont want the hassle i think only if you were to have an accident would it be a problem. In thailand i was riding back from the pub and came up behind a cop on a bike and thought i better not pass and then realised he was drunk as a skunk...so yeah doubt you would have any problems with the cops

theres a list of 'fines' and info on the minsk club site.....have yet to run into the mexican coppers yet but im hearing it might be another story

when you thinkin of going? im pretty keen to get back to vietnam wanna ride cambodia aswell and not so keen on riding that one by myself but we´ll see

Sweet, cheers for that Gaz. At this stage it's looking on for sometime in November. By all means if the timing is right we can meet up

Been reading some real bad things about the Minsk. Reading a blog of a guy who spent an insane amount of time having it fixed, constantly off the road. It got there in the end but was a lot of time & hassle. In your experience how did you find them? Only good bit of machinery the Ruskies pumped out en mass were the T34 & the Kalashnikov AK-47

Drove up a military road? lol you're lucky to get off scott free like that.

[ynot slow]

[QUOTE=Boob Johnson;1129360651]Sweet, cheers for that Gaz. At this stage it's looking on for sometime in November. By all means if the timing is right we can meet up
[QUOTE]

There might be a new travel centre coming to a small town near you,the owners have had expereince in Thailand,and wealth of knowledge.If it opens be upfront and say you want to pick their brains for ideas,but will book it online,if you book with them say so as well,enjoy the trip.