The Road, Part II
We’re going to start mixing these blog posts up a little bit, both to keep ourselves and our audiences entertained. As much as we love to write the long, sweeping, thematic journal entries, for this part of the journey it simply just isn’t practical. So, instead, I have something very cool for all of you…
A map!
Below this paragraph is a map of our route from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (as well as the Northern route we took), with all our stopping points, hotel stays, and points of interest included as best we could. Hopefully if anyone else is hell-bent on risking their lives for a few good war stories, they can use this as a guide to traverse Vietnam.
First off, a massive shout-out to the Vietnam Coracle and eggbanana travel blogs. We copied/outright plagiarized almost all the routes that we took on this North-South trip from those two blogs. They’re fantastic resources about Vietnam and highly worth a read if you’re considering a trip through the country, or if you just want to learn more about the food, the people, or motorcycles. Our trip would have been much more difficult without these resources, so many kudos for that.
Our Hanoi-Sapa-Bac Ha itineraries were covered in previous posts (see those here, and here), but we haven’t given any info about our route South. We’ll be expanding on parts of this itinerary in further, shorter posts (on Phong Nha, Hue/Hoi An, Dalat, and Saigon), but without further ado, here’s what we’ve been up to for the past little while.
Day 1
After staying at the Tryst Hotel (recommended), just North of the Old Quarter and close to the West Lake for the past couple of days, we got up VERY early to beat rush hour out of Hanoi. We luckily got out before the crowds joined, so it was a relatively peaceful drive out. This day was very flat and fairly uneventful, with the outskirts of the city giving way to industrial complexes, then finally agriculture and some scattered limestone karst mountains. After a very hot and dusty ride, we eventually landed in the village of Cam Thuy on the Ma River. We stayed at the Thanh Nanh hotel (average) that evening – the rooms were nothing to get excited about, but it was reasonably clean and the air conditioning worked like a charm.
Vietnam: a mix of the old and the new, modern industry side-by-side with human powered agriculture.
I first thought about throwing out that shirt this day. I made that sucker last all the way to Saigon.
This bridge gave us a couple of good photos.
This day had long, flat, boring spots, punctuated by karst mountains.
A cute little house, nestled in the hills.
The Ma River in the village of Cam Thuy.
As we got into town so early, we took a detour to the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Ho Citadel, a relic of medieval Vietnam. It was a beautiful old ruin, and basically deserted, other than the rice farmers now inhabiting it’s grounds.
Rice fields for days, son.
Their farming operations here are pretty high-tech.
The inside of the Ho Citadel...there was a city of buildings here, once.
This (and some walls) is all that's left out of the once-mighty Ho Citadel, the fortress and headquarters of the feared Ho dynasty of Vietnam.
We couldn't get enough of the sunset at the Ho Citadel.
That evening we had some excellent Banh Xeo (savory Vietnamese pancake, wrapped in rice paper and dipped in a peanut type sauce) in a really strange little house on the town’s main street.
Day 2
We woke up and had some Banh Cuon (stuffed and rolled rice batter; like a dumpling that looks like a taquito) at Mrs. Thai’s shop, again on the town’s main street. This lady would seriously not stopped feeding us, we must have eaten ten or twelve each of these things. They were delicious, however.
This day was a very boring drive through the heart of Vietnam’s most agricultural province, Nghe An. Again, it was long, hot, and flat, but this time had very little in the way of scenery for us to get excited about. We were ecstatic to get to Tan Ky and the ‘Official’ start of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The Ho Chi Minh trail is the route that the Northern Vietnamese government used to send supplies and aid to their Viet Cong colleagues in the South. Since reunification, the government here has been developing this trail as a highway and trade route between Vietnam and Laos. We’d be taking this route the entire way through the Northern half of the country.
We stayed in the KM0 (get it, Kilometer Zero!? Because I didn’t. Rachel had to explain it to me days afterwards) hotel (recommended) this evening, a thoroughly modern and comfortable place which could fit right in anywhere in Saigon. We ate ramen for dinner, because we are poor.
Day 3
We got up this morning, having every intention of continuing our journey as far as Huong Khe before stopping for the night, and having a nice, easy drive into Son Trach, the town just outside of Phong Nha National Park, the next morning. However, after two and a half mind-numbingly boring hours riding through rice field after rice field in the hot sun, we couldn’t bear the thought of doing the exact same thing again the day after. So, we ponied up and rode right past Huong Khe, headed onwards to Phong Nha. Fortunately for us, the drive after Huong Khe went from boring-as-all-hell to unbelievably beautiful, with a great, twisty road through limestone karsts and rainforests mixed with verdant green valleys. The second half of this day was likely the most scenic part of our entire trip South – bar none. We even got a little swimming in, to boot.
The start of some beautiful landscapes.
Some stilt houses in the countryside, just before we went swimming.
Beautiful limestone karsts all the way through this country.
That sky just wouldn't quit.
The photo opportunities just did not stop on this day.
LUSH
Tree spirits.
As we were approaching Son Trach, the karsts gave way to a beautiful river valley surrounded by rice fields and limestone monuments. We rode over the Son river, and into Son Trach to finish our day at the delightful (though a little expensive) Phong Nha Riverside Guesthouse (recommended). More on Phong Nha and Son Trach in a later post!!
Day 4
We spent this day exploring Phong Nha; more on this in a later post!
Day 5
We spent this day exploring Phong Nha; more on this in a later post!
Day 6
We woke up this morning, and prepared our asses for a LONG ride. In distance, today was only 250 kilometers (157 miles), but it was through some of the most rugged terrain we encountered on the entire trip. Mountain pass after mountain pass, with hardly another car to be seen for miles (and no people either!). This was the most isolated ride on our whole trip, and after around eight hours of riding – average speed of about 30 km/hr (19 mph) – we arrived in the infamous Khe Sanh, one of the most vicious and bloodthirsty battles from the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam war (or the American war, as the Vietnamese call it).
We stopped for very few photos this day, and other than a meal stopped rarely at all, period. It was a long day of riding through one of the most remote stretches of road that we ever encountered in Vietnam, with few villages and people but a lot of shitty concrete roads, limestone mountains, and trees.
Rural Vietnamese traffic jam.
Though the town is rapidly becoming an important trade hub with Laos, the scars of the battle that raged here 40+ years ago aren’t so easily erased – bomb craters and other evidence are everywhere if you know how to look beyond the tea plantations surrounding the town. Just outside of the village is an open-air museum standing on the remnants of the American base that once existed here – a concrete airstrip, fuel storage tank, and a few old concrete houses are the only intact structures from the war (the American forces blew up everything they could before retreating), but they have a myriad of old missile launchers, Huey helicopters, and tanks on display as well.
That evening we stayed in the Thai Ninh Hotel (not recommended) this evening – it came recommended on the Vietnam Coracle blog, but we found the rooms to be dirty (fingernail clippings on the floor, bugs everywhere) and the service subpar. That said, we were so beat by the time we got there, it didn’t take much time for us to pass out after the big day.
Day 7
Hue, the old imperial capital of Vietnam, was our final destination today. Rachel was starting to come down with something, and the weather didn’t exactly cooperate with us for the second half of the day, but the first half was a beautiful ride through a river valley that followed us all the way South. After the past couple of days, we were sore, tired, and, in Rachel’s case, getting sick, so we were happy to ride into Hue and the fantastic Golden Orchid Hotel (highly recommended). More on Hue in a later post!
There were some really pretty spots on this fun drive from Khe Sanh to Hue.
Just a little rando waterfall we found on the way.
Day 8
We spent today exploring Hue, more on this in a later post!
Day 9
The Hai Van Pass was made famous by, hilariously enough, an episode of Top Gear, the world’s most popular TV show. They called the coastal mountain pass from Hue to Da Nang one of ‘the best coastal drives in the world,’ and though the scenic part of the pass was shorter than we expected, the views and drive did not disappoint. We rode down from the top of the pass to the thoroughly modern and bustling city of Da Nang, then straight through it to the Ancient Town of Hoi An. For the next few nights we stayed in the Sun Boat Hotel (recommended). More on Hoi An in a later post!
This looks like a temple, but is really a stunning graveyard right on the coast on the way to the Hai Van Pass. Apparently a lot of Vietnamese graveyards are right on the coast due to their favorable Feng Shui, with the strong meeting of wind and water.
You come up the twisty Hai Van Pass from the Hue Side with this beauty of a view....
...To be treated with this spectacular vista of Da Nang when you pop over the other side.
Day 10
We spent today exploring Hoi An, more on this in a later post!
Day 11
We spent today exploring Hoi An, more on this in a later post!
Day 12
We spent today exploring Hoi An, more on this in a later post!
Day 13
The ride down from Hoi An to Nha Trang is long and entirely on Highway AH1, Vietnam’s national superhighway. This road is dusty, busy, and entirely un-scenic, and after hearing of several people who had motorcycle accidents on the highway due to tired truck drivers, idiot pedestrians, and/or construction, we decided to cheat a bit and put the bikes in the luggage compartment of a bus and skip this part. Unfortunately however, everything leaving from Hoi An was full for the day so we had to make our way back up to Da Nang so we could leave the next day. My bike was having all kinds of trouble on the way up to Da Nang (the culprit turned out to be a fouled spark plug), so this drive took us a LOT longer than it should have. Eventually we made it, and decided to check out some nightlife in Da Nang before heading to bed. We went to the ‘Hottest Club in Da Nang,’ and it was one of the strangest club experiences we’ve ever had – decent Asian electronic music blasting so loud I’m sure that I permanently damaged my hearing, but everyone was just standing around, not dancing or anything. It was so…weird. Like why even bother going to a club if you’re not going to dance!?
That evening we stayed in the Gold House Hotel (recommended), and ate at a fantastic Banh Xeo place called Banh Xeo Ba Duong (highly recommended).
Day 14
Today we decided to get out of the room and do a beach day before hopping on our night bus down to Nha Trang. The beaches in Da Nang are fantastic, and everywhere took credit card as well, which was a welcome bonus. We whiled the day away on the beach before delivering our bikes to the bus company to be kitted out for shipping, and then headed back to the beach for some seafood before our night bus.
Rachel was glad she was sleeping for the entire night bus, as the bus driver got us into Nha Trang two hours ahead of schedule after driving like a f*cking meth addict the entire time. In the five minutes I watched, we missed three tractor-trailers by about four inches on dangerous passes on two lane highways. I stopped watching after that - it was mental, though given our experiences thus far on the highways, not entirely surprising.
*** Note: though it sounds like I'm joking, the meth problem with long-haul truckers and bus drivers in Vietnam and Cambodia is a very real thing. There's a realistic chance that if you're on a night bus in Vietnam, it's how your driver is staying awake. Pretty scary stuff.
Day 15
As I said, we arrived in Nha Trang two hours ahead of schedule, so we gathered our things, put our bikes back together (they had to be partially dis-assembled for transport), packed everything up and hit the road. Our destination today was the hill station of Da Lat, and the drive up there promised to be beautiful and did not disappoint. The air was cool and pine-scented, and the scenery utterly unlike anything we’d seen since we left the North. We rode the 150 km (94 miles) in bliss, before finally arriving at the romantic mountain town. We bedded down for the evening and the next few days at the Flower Homestay (above average), and proceeded to eat our way through Da Lat’s cafes and restaurants for the next few days. More on Da Lat in a later post!
Some pretty decent views on the way up to Da Lat. Typical shrine on the left to the Celestial Lady for your religious pleasure.
Day 16
We spent today exploring Da Lat, more on this in a later post!
Day 17
We spent today exploring Da Lat, more on this in a later post!
Day 18
We spent today exploring Da Lat, more on this in a later post!
Day 19
We had a tough choice to make exiting Da Lat – would we take the coastal route to Saigon and see some beaches, or would we take the faster interior route and avoid ourselves some headaches? We held off making this decision until the very last minute, but we eventually settled on the coastal route. The first part of the day was on a busy four-lane highway, which we hated, but the next part was a twisty secondary highway through some mountains. We were able to stop off at the stunning Pongour waterfall on the way, but by the time we made it down to the lowlands we were ready for some beach scenery. The old French lighthouse and the beaches near Mui Ne did not disappoint, and I even made a little friend (an eight year old with a f*cking tattoo!!) near some basket boats!
Stunning Pongour Waterfall about 40 km from Da Lat.
The old French lighthouse at Ke Ga.
Apparently everyone uses these 'basket boats' as they don't have to pay tax on them, what with them not being 'real' boats and all...
This kid had a tattoo.
We spent the evening in La Gi, a little town just off of the seaside and about 150 kilometers removed from Ho Chi Minh City. Our accommodation for the night was modern and comfortable at the Minh Nhi Hotel (above average).
Day 20
Today was our final day into Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, and the last day of the ride South. We spent the morning on a dusty inland highway, dodging rainclouds and seemingly avoiding any kind of scenery, and eventually starting running into traffic as we neared the city. We made our way to the Cat Lai ferry, which took us across the mighty Saigon River, and into the city proper. That boring, relatively uneventful ride was the last in our adventure down South, and as we settled into the AirBnB we rented, we reflected on our whole trip. It was long, at times frustrating, at times painful, but ultimately very rewarding. At the end of all of it, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip down.
They cram so many motorcycles on the Cat Lai ferry you can hardly move.
So, that’s all folks. 20 days from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. It was too long at times, but also too short, and the act of finally putting DJ Khaled and Michael J. Fox up for sale in Saigon brought on a bout of bittersweet feelings. We couldn’t imagine seeing the country of Vietnam a better way than with a sore ass, dodging cows and oxen and meth-addled minibus drivers, with the wind on your face on a motorbike. It was painful, but worth it, and now, finally, we can say that WE SURVIVED VIETNAM TRAFFIC!
WE DID IT.
