Our first four days of our trip are in the books and it's already been quite the adventure! Our first day riding out of Hanoi was very chaotic with all the traffic, honking and trying to navigate our route. It also wasn't a very pleasant day of riding so I would recommend taking a bus out of Hanoi for anyone considering a similar route. We spent our first night in Hoa Binh which is roughly 75 km from Hanoi and is a small city with a hydroelectric station built by the Russians.
Day 2 of the trip had us riding south from Hoa Binh towards the Pu Luong Scenic Reserve. We missed the turn for the reserve as it was not clearly marked and ended up riding an extra 10 km. Once we got on the right road, the road got really narrow and we went up and up and up! The grades were in excess of 20% in places and Ginny spent a lot of time walking her bike. By mid-afternoon, we realized that we weren't going to make it to the homestay that we had booked for the night. Using Google translate, we asked some locals for help finding a place to stay. This one guy was incredibly helpful and invited us into his house for tea before sending us on our way to a different homestay down the road. The scenery throughout Pu Luong was absolutely spectacular and it remains mostly undiscovered so there thankfully are not hordes of tourists everywhere like Sapa and Halong Bay.
Yesterday we had a short day of riding as we had just moved our reservation back a night for the original homestay. It was good that we didn't have many kms to travel as we had to walk our bikes for a few kms on these incredibly steep descents coming out of the mountains.
Today we had our longest day so far riding 92 km to this small village of Son Dien which is roughly 25 km from the Laos Border. We were mostly on SH217 which is well maintained road with not too much traffic. Tomorrow we will cross the border into Laos and will plan to spend the night in Vieng Xai which apparently has some great caves and waterfalls nearby.
A few observations from the first couple days of riding:
- Despite all the craziness on the road and people doing whatever they want to do (e.g., drive on the wrong side of the road, run traffic lights, etc), it all seems to work and I think the Vietnamese are better drivers than most. I think their secret is that they're patient, drive slowly and always expect the unexpected. A guy I met at the homestay last night said that driving here is like downhill skiing - you don't worry about what's happening behind you but just focus on what's ahead!
- I have gotten a small glimpse into what it must be like being a celebrity the past couple days and it's exhausting! There must not be many westerners who make it to these parts as almost everyone on the streets (and especially the children) enthusiastically yell ''hallo" to us as we ride by. It's pretty cool really but does get a little tiring by the end of the day.
- Things are really inexpensive here. We've been spending between $20-30 a day so far and that includes everything - food, water, beer, accommodation, etc. Prices obviously are higher in the bigger cities but all in all, it's incredibly affordable to travel here.
Day 2 of the trip had us riding south from Hoa Binh towards the Pu Luong Scenic Reserve. We missed the turn for the reserve as it was not clearly marked and ended up riding an extra 10 km. Once we got on the right road, the road got really narrow and we went up and up and up! The grades were in excess of 20% in places and Ginny spent a lot of time walking her bike. By mid-afternoon, we realized that we weren't going to make it to the homestay that we had booked for the night. Using Google translate, we asked some locals for help finding a place to stay. This one guy was incredibly helpful and invited us into his house for tea before sending us on our way to a different homestay down the road. The scenery throughout Pu Luong was absolutely spectacular and it remains mostly undiscovered so there thankfully are not hordes of tourists everywhere like Sapa and Halong Bay.
Yesterday we had a short day of riding as we had just moved our reservation back a night for the original homestay. It was good that we didn't have many kms to travel as we had to walk our bikes for a few kms on these incredibly steep descents coming out of the mountains.
Today we had our longest day so far riding 92 km to this small village of Son Dien which is roughly 25 km from the Laos Border. We were mostly on SH217 which is well maintained road with not too much traffic. Tomorrow we will cross the border into Laos and will plan to spend the night in Vieng Xai which apparently has some great caves and waterfalls nearby.
A few observations from the first couple days of riding:
- Despite all the craziness on the road and people doing whatever they want to do (e.g., drive on the wrong side of the road, run traffic lights, etc), it all seems to work and I think the Vietnamese are better drivers than most. I think their secret is that they're patient, drive slowly and always expect the unexpected. A guy I met at the homestay last night said that driving here is like downhill skiing - you don't worry about what's happening behind you but just focus on what's ahead!
- I have gotten a small glimpse into what it must be like being a celebrity the past couple days and it's exhausting! There must not be many westerners who make it to these parts as almost everyone on the streets (and especially the children) enthusiastically yell ''hallo" to us as we ride by. It's pretty cool really but does get a little tiring by the end of the day.
- Things are really inexpensive here. We've been spending between $20-30 a day so far and that includes everything - food, water, beer, accommodation, etc. Prices obviously are higher in the bigger cities but all in all, it's incredibly affordable to travel here.
Wow, this seems amazing! Great post. So glad you are having fun and still have a healthy budget for southeast Asian beer!
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