Cambodia & Vietnam 2010 (vid)

[woodboats]

My wife and I try and ride in unusual places each year, now that our family has mostly gone out on their own. We rode Vietnam last year and this year our son joined us for our Asia ride.
He only started riding this year to be able to carry out this trip.
Started of in Cambodia then up tp Vietnam to see some parts we missed last time.
You wont see any fancy riding, we just cruise along with conditions varying from very rough to quite good. Our highlights are the scenery and the people.
Hope some of you enjoy this vid,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P876kGXB7CE

[BAD DAD]

Thanks for that. How long where you out there?

[woodboats]

We went for 3 i/2 weeks this time.
Last year it was 3 weeks all in North VN but this time we started in Cambodia.
Love it over there, great people and plenty of things to do.
Cheers

[Stylo]

My wife and I try and ride in unusual places each year, now that our family has mostly gone out on their own. We rode Vietnam last year and this year our son joined us for our Asia ride.
He only started riding this year to be able to carry out this trip.
Started of in Cambodia then up tp Vietnam to see some parts we missed last time.
You wont see any fancy riding, we just cruise along with conditions varying from very rough to quite good. Our highlights are the scenery and the people.
Hope some of you enjoy this vid,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P876kGXB7CE

Awesome ...!!

[DMNTD:Me]

Superb...exactly what I needed to see for my trip sometime next year
Best time of year to travel via bike? Two weeks enough?

Cheers

[woodboats]

Yes, 2 weeks is enough.
You can see a lot in that time. 200 km a day is average. Sometimes not even that. It takes you all day just to cover that distance!
Maybe best to do it all in one country to be able to have a good look around.
Cambodia has a lot of ancient stuff, on a bike you are able to get to many deserted temple areas with no one around.
Vietnam has much more beautiful scenery than Cambodia.
We like to travel in April. While it is hot, it is usually quite dry. Except for the monson time you can travel most of the year.
Any idea where you want to go to?

[DMNTD:Me]

Yes, 2 weeks is enough.
You can see a lot in that time. 200 km a day is average. Sometimes not even that. It takes you all day just to cover that distance!
Maybe best to do it all in one country to be able to have a good look around.
Cambodia has a lot of ancient stuff, on a bike you are able to get to many deserted temple areas with no one around.
Vietnam has much more beautiful scenery than Cambodia.
We like to travel in April. While it is hot, it is usually quite dry. Except for the monsoon time you can travel most of the year.
Any idea where you want to go to?

Awesome,thanks for that. All I'm really interested in doing is avoiding as much "touristy shit" as possible while also being able to visit the most ancient temples etc I can get to.
I guess I'm saying that I'm looking for a 'real' experience.

[Devil]

Awesome,thanks for that. All I'm really interested in doing is avoiding as much "touristy shit" as possible while also being able to visit the most ancient temples etc I can get to.
I guess I'm saying that I'm looking for a 'real' experience.

$5 love you long time big boy.

[DMNTD:Me]

$5 love you long time big boy.

$5??? You obviously keen for 2 rounds! Oh...please don't shave next time

[cristi]

Hi,

Very nice holliday there. I was few years ago, but unfortunately not with bike.

Why not try a holliday or a tour in Romania? You can find a lot of thinks to do.
On this link you can see some pictures from Romania:
http://www.rideinromania.com/pictures.html

Cristi

[rustyrobot]

Awesome! and inspiring. Dream of doing rides like this with my son when he is grown up. Did you feel safe enough riding in Cambodia? Have to pay bribes? Excuse me if I'm being naive.

[Jay GTI]

I did an organised bike tour in Vietnam earlier this year through offroadvietnam (joined a group, was travelling alone and didn't fancy riding by myself). Easily the best holiday of my life, wonderful country, amazing people (once you're out of the tourist traps of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh) and incredible scenery. I did a 7 day tour of the north west loop of Vietnam, staying mostly with locals in homestays, eating their food and drinking lots of homebrew rice wine. I was there late Feb, early March... was supposed to be cool temps but wasnt, mid 30's most days. If you're travelling in a small group or solo, I would suggest joining a tour like I did, the people I did the tour with were very cool and definitely made the trip even more enjoyable.

My profile pic is of me sat on a Minsk by Ba Be Lake.

[woodboats]

Awesome! and inspiring. Dream of doing rides like this with my son when he is grown up. Did you feel safe enough riding in Cambodia? Have to pay bribes? Excuse me if I'm being naive.

Safety, people wise is fine. Although you probably don't want to ride after dark in some places. Cambodia is quite corrupt so if you do get stopped for anything just pay the small fine that may be asked for, but on saying that, they are basically a kind and honest people, just dirt poor.
Safety road wise is your bigger concern, crazy drivers plus some tough roads means you just need to keep your wits about, but not really that difficult. In the Northwest border areas there are still plenty of landmines, so off road riding should have a guide.
Vietnam is a very safe destination for the whole family. Riding in Hanoi is like being transported to a nut-house where everyone has a motorcycle.

Jay GTI- sounds like you had a great trip. Offroad VN is an excellent outfit to travel with. Cambodia has lots of ancient structures and "Indian Jones" type places to visit, but North Vietnam has the most increadable scenery. My wife and I have explored North VN twice now, and to be honest, we would go back again. North Vietnam is a biker's paradise, no tourists, lovely people, adventerous roads and plenty to see. 99% of visitors to VN never get north of Hanoi, so you have this amazing area to discover without the distraction of tourist areas. You do need permits for some areas but no big deal to get.

[yachtie10]

I have ridden in Cambodia and Vietnam and think it is a great part of the world to travel around. Cambodians are one of the happiest people you will meet (especially if you realise they are amongst the poorest)

The only real concern IMHO in riding in cambodia is the lack of high end medical care so if you ride there take it easy. As the thought of spending many hours in an ambulance just to get to an airport to fly out to Vietnam or Thailand has certainly kept my pace down.

[Nat]

Hi, sorry to dredge an old thread, but I'm after some info. Does anyone know if I can organise a decent bike to hire in Vietnam for a bit more than a month? I found a couple of companies in Hanoi with decent looking bikes, but I'm starting in Ho Chi Minh, and all I can find online there are scooters. I've got nothing against scooters but I need a decent bike for offroading. So if anyone knows how I can organise an offroad bike from Ho Chi Minh and keep it for about a month, that'd be great! Thanks,