Current location: Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam
Before I left home I had the idea of buying a motorbike somewhere along the way and riding it as far as I could. In the original vision I saw myself buying a used Royal Enfield in India and blasting it through the subcontinent and beyond.
I had decided to take a rain check on Nepal, India and Bangladesh when I was in China, (due to the difficulty, cost and red tape of overland travel through Tibet) but the opportunity to get some wheels presented itself in Hanoi.
So before I left Hanoi for Ha Long Bay, I paid a visit to Vietnam Motorbikes, a little business fixing, selling and buying motorbikes to see what they had to offer. I was shown a recently rebuilt and overhauled Honda Win replica and took it for a spin. I was happy with the bike so I told them I would take it, but would first take a trip to the coast, which they were okay with, as they wanted to test it before handing it over to make sure it would run smoothly.
So when I returned form Ha Long Bay, I went to their shop to get a mechanics lesson on the bike, so I would know to fix any little problems the bike might have on the way and recognize bigger ones so I could point them out to a mechanic on the road.
We also went over the map of Vietnam to see which routes I should and shouldn't take, and what cool things I might be interested to see on my way. After getting a set of tools and some spare parts I rolled out of the shop on the fist motorbike I've ever owned.
Before heeding the call of the road I spent a weekend partying at the Backpackers Hostel in Hanoi (possibly the cleanest, friendliest and most efficient hostel I've ever stayed at. And free beer, who could say no to that?), met a friend I'd made in China, and took part in the festivities of the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Mooncake festival.
As a Finn I don't need a visa to get in to Vietnam, but got a 15-day travel permit on arrival for free, so I decided to use my 15 days on Northern Vietnam, cross over to Laos, do Laos, and then return to Vietnam to check out the south.
So I decided I would ride from Hanoi up to the Chinese border and turn west towards Sapa, see Sapa, and continue to Dien Bien Phu and Tay Trang on the Laotian border.
I set off from Hanoi, riding easy as the engine had been overhauled and I'd been advised to take it easy for the first couple of days to break the new parts in.
The trip from Hanoi to Sapa could be done in one long day, but I had decided to stop for the night roughly half way there, as I couldn't ride the bike at top speed.
So I made my way through the villages and countryside to Yen Bai with no problems, found a hotel and hung my helmet and riding gloves happy with the good start I'd had with the bike.
The next morning I had some coffee for breakfast and set off towards the mountains feeling confident in myself and the bike. Little did I know that a shit storm was headed my way, and that the second day of riding would be the start of a plethora of troubles on the bike...
Before I left home I had the idea of buying a motorbike somewhere along the way and riding it as far as I could. In the original vision I saw myself buying a used Royal Enfield in India and blasting it through the subcontinent and beyond.
I had decided to take a rain check on Nepal, India and Bangladesh when I was in China, (due to the difficulty, cost and red tape of overland travel through Tibet) but the opportunity to get some wheels presented itself in Hanoi.
So before I left Hanoi for Ha Long Bay, I paid a visit to Vietnam Motorbikes, a little business fixing, selling and buying motorbikes to see what they had to offer. I was shown a recently rebuilt and overhauled Honda Win replica and took it for a spin. I was happy with the bike so I told them I would take it, but would first take a trip to the coast, which they were okay with, as they wanted to test it before handing it over to make sure it would run smoothly.
So when I returned form Ha Long Bay, I went to their shop to get a mechanics lesson on the bike, so I would know to fix any little problems the bike might have on the way and recognize bigger ones so I could point them out to a mechanic on the road.
We also went over the map of Vietnam to see which routes I should and shouldn't take, and what cool things I might be interested to see on my way. After getting a set of tools and some spare parts I rolled out of the shop on the fist motorbike I've ever owned.
Before heeding the call of the road I spent a weekend partying at the Backpackers Hostel in Hanoi (possibly the cleanest, friendliest and most efficient hostel I've ever stayed at. And free beer, who could say no to that?), met a friend I'd made in China, and took part in the festivities of the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Mooncake festival.
As a Finn I don't need a visa to get in to Vietnam, but got a 15-day travel permit on arrival for free, so I decided to use my 15 days on Northern Vietnam, cross over to Laos, do Laos, and then return to Vietnam to check out the south.
So I decided I would ride from Hanoi up to the Chinese border and turn west towards Sapa, see Sapa, and continue to Dien Bien Phu and Tay Trang on the Laotian border.
I set off from Hanoi, riding easy as the engine had been overhauled and I'd been advised to take it easy for the first couple of days to break the new parts in.
The trip from Hanoi to Sapa could be done in one long day, but I had decided to stop for the night roughly half way there, as I couldn't ride the bike at top speed.
So I made my way through the villages and countryside to Yen Bai with no problems, found a hotel and hung my helmet and riding gloves happy with the good start I'd had with the bike.
The next morning I had some coffee for breakfast and set off towards the mountains feeling confident in myself and the bike. Little did I know that a shit storm was headed my way, and that the second day of riding would be the start of a plethora of troubles on the bike...
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| A proper Apocalypse Now sunset over the West Lake in Hanoi. |
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| The Old Quarter filled up with people during the culmination of the Mooncake festival celebrations. |
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| Deep fried cheese. Need more be said? |
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| First day on the road with Victor Mike. |
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| On the foothills of the "Tonkinese Alps" |
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