Day 1

Hours driven: 10.30am-6pm

From: Ho Chi Minh City, to: Bao Loc (Central Highlands)

Distance covered: 180km

From Simon:

The night before we were due to depart Saigon, it felt like everything was coming together as if it was meant to be. The bike was a very simple transaction, $400 cash and Kevin - the mechanic we bought the bike from, who seems to equip backpackers with a reliable bike as his main business - sorted us out with a great map of Vietnam, ponchos and two full-face helmets. Our bike was a Yamaha Nouvo 115cc scooter - the idea of covering over 2,000km on a scooter with the two of us and our bags seemed at first a little impractical. But then when you see what people carry on their bikes, whether a massive amount of cargo or a family of 5, I then felt more relaxed about the two of us and our 20kg of baggage. After all we are not too weighty are we?

I also felt slightly apprehensive, not helped by the fact that foreigners are not legally allowed to ride a bike in Vietnam without a local license (which is very difficult to obtain) which apart from problems with the police, meant our travel insurance would be void if something motorbike-related happened. I put this thought out of my mind and kept about $10 in a separate pocket ready for a police bribe.

We picked up the bike from Kevin and purchased our mandatory annual bike insurance which cost $5 (though because we are foreign is not valid, so really just a bureaucratic piece of paper). We packed one of our backpacks with all the heavier stuff inside it and this went in front of me, tethered to the bike. The other, now only weighing 4-5kg was on Vicky's back, for the next two weeks this system worked fine.

Our very first few kilometers would be on the notorious Highway 1 leading out of Saigon city. The 4-lane highway was jam-packed full of cars, buses and even more trucks - it was mostly at a standstill. This meant we were riding for a couple of hours in the gravelly hard shoulder in and out of ditches along with all the other bikes. Within half an hour we had our first puncture, fortunately I noticed this right by a very small garage on the side of the road. A few dollars and minutes later we were off. Traffic cleared, our speed picked up and we were beginning to make progress.

Highway 1 takes the vast majority of traffic and it goes from south to north on the eastern side of Vietnam. Our intended route was to be the Hoh Chi Minh Trail and despite being very long in length also has a very long history too. The road remains inland at all times and goes up and over many mountains bringing some of the most spectacular scenery. You could quickly begin to see why riding the length of Vietnam was a popular thing to do and we were both so glad we were doing just that.

From Vicky:

It was with a lot of excitement, yet also mild trepidation, that we set off from Kevin's workshop in the north of HCMC, on the first day of our road trip. It felt like only yesterday we had been thinking 'Yeah, travelling by motorbike around Vietnam would be pretty awesome…" and then here we were, kitted out and embarking on what felt like a huge adventure. I think that first day, battling with the traffic along Highway 1 out of HCMC was far more tense for Simon, and looking back that was probably the worst day, if we had to pick one. We both had a lot on our minds - the question "are we mad?" being one - but my preoccupations were slightly less as essentially I just had to hold on tight, and remember Kevin's warning about not succumbing to the 'Saigon Kiss' - disembarking from the bike on the right hand side, and scalding my leg on the exhaust.

Leaving the pot-holed and dusty roads of HCMC was a huge relief, and later that day we were driving through windy roads with lovely scenery and views. We stayed that first night in Bao Loc, a pleasant enough but otherwise unremarkable highway town. The proprietors of the hotel we stayed at, and the little restaurant we ate in next door, spoke no English but somehow we managed to communicate our respective requests for a room / food, and fell into bed that night exhausted, well-fed and relieved that we had survived the first day.

Day 2

Hours driven: 4 hours

From: Bao Loc, to: Da Lat (Central Highlands)

Distance covered: 110km

Total distance: 290km

From Simon:

Despite the vast number of bikes in Vietnam, come night time they are better looked after than a pet dog. No one leaves them outside, they get brought in to either a gated compound with security or more often than not into peoples' homes, usually into their living room. So in our first hotel, it was completely acceptable to bring your bike into the reception area and stand it on their polished tiled floor.

I had been instructed by Kevin to check the oil daily without fail, as these bikes are city bikes and not built to ride 200-300km of mountain roads day after day. So oil checked, bike on the stand, bag strapped on and I could not get the key in the ignition. Putting a bit more force into it, I fell on the bike knocking it - and me - over, sending us both sprawling in front of the hotel staff - very smooth. I am sure at that point the hotel owners were probably wondering if we were safe to be on the roads!

Today's ride went very well, a beautiful mountain road with blue sky all round and grateful to have got through the day without a puncture.

From Vicky:

After leaving Bao Loc the next morning we stopped almost immediately at a little café on the side of the road, for some breakfast, which consisted of a typical Vietnamese iced coffee and some biscuits. The café owner was both lovely and hilarious, jabbering away to us in Vietnamese although we clearly had no clue as to what she was saying, as much as we tried to understand/communicate back. While I was in the bathroom, she tried to impress (flirt with?) Simon in my absence by showing him how she could count to 10 in English.

The ride to our next destination, Da Lat, was a good one - smooth road, sunny day, and a short ride on a pretty, winding road as we headed through the southern part of the Central Highlands region. Da Lat is like a Swiss alpine town, with a shimmering lake in its centre and with cool, spring-like weather. The hilly city, at 1500m, is surrounded by lakes, waterfalls and forests, making it a popular domestic holiday destination. As we had arrived the day before Vietnam's National Day on 2nd September (a holiday commemorating the Declaration of Independence from the French in 1945), it was chocka with Vietnamese tourists, mostly walking around the lake queuing up for pony rides, candy floss and turns on the giant swan pedalos! The festive atmosphere in town helped explain why we had started to see so many Vietnamese flags dotting roadsides and decorating roundabouts.

DAY 3

Hours driven: 8am-5.30pm

From: Da Lat, to: Buon Ma Thuot (Central Highlands)

Distance covered: 215km

Total distance: 505km

From Simon:

We were blessed with another beautiful day for being on the road. The scenery was beautiful, great mountain roads and very little traffic. This day we encountered our 2nd puncture, and the small mechanics we just passed fixed the puncture with a patch. I had always fixed my bicycle tyre with a patch so it seemed a little odd patching a tyre on a motorbike. I later learnt that these small local mechanics in remote areas will do whatever it takes to get your bike back on the road but probably not a long-term fix, just enough to get you to the next big town. About an hour later I noticed the back tyre was flat again. As much as this was annoying there had been plenty of stretches of road when I really would not want to get a flat tyre. So far we had now had 3 punctures and each time we pulled up next to or had just passed a mechanic shop, very lucky. On we rode with no further problems and got to Buon Ma Thuot and checked into a very nice hotel. Once showered Vicky put the TV on, lay down and became engrossed in some ridiculous animal film ['Cats & Dogs' - ed.] while I was gasping for a beer outside, so headed to one of the local street stalls. After a days riding I always immediately craved a beer, perhaps due to the adrenaline, whereas Vicky always just wanted to shower, lie down and rest (but of course the beer came later for her too).

From Vicky:

It was a relatively early start to the day leaving Da Lat at 8am, rolling by the shimmering lake which looked beautiful in the early morning sunshine. It was a glorious but long day of driving until our next destination, Buon Ma Thuot, the largest city in Vietnam's Central Highlands region and known as the country's 'capital of coffee'. As well as lots of coffee plantations, we drove past rice paddies, lakes, ravines and a growing collection of roadside livestock (cattle, buffalo, pigs, goats, geese, chickens and chicks). As was apt for a region known for its coffee, we had some of our best coffee stops here, which was also becoming a favourite road trip ritual, partly because of the delicious coffee but also because of the interaction with the coffee shop owners and customers. Coffee here (and elsewhere in Vietnam) is served in mini individual coffee filters, on top of a layer of condensed milk and ice, making it the sweetest, most delicious iced coffee in the world (hot coffee would just have been madness). We would while away many a pleasant bike break, sitting in these roadside coffee shops, listening to the singsong and chirping of the pet birds we saw so often in homes and shops, and attempting to communicate with the locals. Our visits always brought curious questions and smiles from whoever we encountered, and we often found that no sooner had we sat down, people would be crowding round us, looking at our road atlas, pouring over our route, discussing it in earnest among themselves, us none the wiser to what they were saying but enjoying their interest anyway.

A key phrase we learnt was "Cà phê sữa?" -'coffee with milk?' - a limited but vital request and way of finding out if said location served our now favourite drink. I got it wrong one day and realised I had been asking for coffee with yoghurt a few times, before I realised their confusion when they brought out yoghurt too and we would shake our heads no, asking eachother 'why have they brought us yoghurt too?'.

DAY 4

Hours driven: 9am-6pm

From: Buon Ma Thuot, to: Kon Tum (Central Highlands)

Distance covered: 235km

Total distance: 740km

From Simon:

Today's roads were mostly excellent. Having to cover over 200km doesn't seem that much over the course of a full day but even with good roads we were lucky to achieve an average speed of over 35km/h, which meant the kilometers never seemed to tick over quite fast enough.

At one of our many stops, the friendly owner was very keen to show Vicky a new altar that they were building behind their house with a great view of the surrounding countryside. While filling up our water bottle from the water cooler, I was interrupted by the daughter of the shop owner telling me to stop. She was trying to explain something but I did not know what. She then tried to get me to drink the 'water' and when I did I realised my error. I had in fact filled my bottle up with 1.5L of their local rice wine. She found this very amusing and so did Mum when she returned from showing Vicky around. I do hope they didn't think I was trying to steal their home brew.

From Vicky:

Today's first morning drink stop was at tiny little place on the side of the road which consisted of no more than a few shaded chairs, tables, and a lady serving fresh juices…as well as some very welcome hammocks to enjoy our drinks in. By this point we had worked out that we needed to stop every hour or so, even if just for a few minutes, to ease my numb bottom - our bike had quite high-up passenger foot holds, meaning just a small part of my bottom was taking the majority of my weight during the ride. Even my well-padded behind suffered from being in the same sitting position on the back of a hard-ish saddle for hours on end, so hourly stops soon became pretty necessary to stretch out the muscles. In the early days of the trip, before we started the hourly stops, my disembarking from the bike was a comical sight: I would basically lower my leg left down on to the ground, and then due to my bum being so numb my right leg would have to hover above the saddle, before the pain/spasms would subside and I could bring the right leg over to join the left. As if two western tourists arriving by scooter wasn't interesting enough to the countryside locals we met, they had the sight of me doing this strange-looking pose, like a dog with his leg cocked during a pee, as I got off the bike each time.

It was once again a beautiful day of riding, and today was also the day we started on the Ho Chi Minh Trail proper. As Simon mentioned this route was not only beautiful but historic: during the Vietnam War it was used by the North Vietnamese as a route for its troops to get into the south. They also used the trail as a supply route - for weapons, food and equipment. The trail ran from north to south Vietnam, along the Laos/Cambodia borders, about 1000km in length. It is the natural environment that gives the trail its beauty today (more apparent in the following days) and which provided excellent cover during the war, as the jungle provided as much as three canopies of tree cover, successfully disguising what was going on at ground level.

Later that day we were welcomed with a lovely sunset as we drove in to Kon Tum, a nice town with a friendly vibe, and another excellent hotel. Throughout our trip we were so impressed with Vietnamese accommodation: we chanced it most of the time (most places we visited were not in the guidebook anyway) and whenever we entered a new town or city, we would ride around until we thought we had found the centre and then stop at any nearby hotel which looked alright to ask if they had room free. Most of the hotels we stayed in were incredibly decent hotels which seemed to be aimed at mostly business travellers and for around $15 a night for the two of us we would be treated to a clean, private room with bathroom, breakfast and cable TV - just the ticket to rest and clean our dusty, tired bodies after a long day riding. Particularly exciting about this hotel was that it had a bath - an absolute luxury.

That night's dinner was also particularly memorable - at an unassuming-looking but bustling local restaurant we had one of the best meals of the whole trip: an amazing seafood hotpot, a traditional dish which we had also come across in China, where you cook your own food in a simmering pot of stock - bit like a fondue but larger. But we had never had anything like this seafood version, which included crab, octopus, squid, prawns, clams, tuna, various veg and rice noodles, which (including x4 beers) cost us under $10 total - we were as happy with the price as the amazing seafood feast in front of us! All the other customers were so friendly, throughout the meal we had various people coming up to us to ask where we were from, ask if they could sit with us etc…by the end we felt like minor celebrities.

DAY 5

Hours driven: 8am-4pm

From: Kon Tum, to Kham Duc (South Central Coast)

Distance covered: 185km

Total distance: 925km

From Simon:

The roads were excellent today and the bike ran very well, though we had to stop for a replacement tyre after I had noticed a slight bulge in it. Just as soon as we set off with our new tyre, a policeman stepped out into the road and waved us in, and I got prepared to pay our first bribe. As we came to a stop beside him, he must have noticed we were not Vietnamese and he simply waved us on, so off we sped. Maybe he was just being kind or more likely he spoke no English and could not be bothered with us, it did not matter to me what his reasons were but we were grateful - so far we had been very lucky not to have been stopped. Perhaps we had passed the police a dozen times to date and each time I turned my head away in the hope they would not see we were tourists. Apart from a fine they could quite legally impound our bike. I was told that if we were stopped then to very quickly take the key out of the ignition and put it in our pocket, because apparently if the police get to the key first then you have far less bargaining power. What with my regular 'key in the ignition' challenges I had hoped I would not have to do this, and luckily we didn't.

From Vicky:

After another great breakfast (the usual omelet and coffee) we set off for the day's ride, this part of the day generally becoming a favourite part, at least for me anyway - was always beautiful seeing Vietnam is the early-ish morning light, and with a well-rested bottom! We stopped shortly after leaving, at a mechanic's for a tyre change, and I took the opportunity to practice/learn some Vietnamese with the friendly owners, our Vietnamese taking on an unusual form to the normal pleasantries, with a few mechanic/roadside terms filtering their way through into our vocabulary.

The scenery was once again beautiful, passing rice paddies and rivers and then lush rainforest up in to the mountains. It was while driving through a stunning mountain pass that we had our first rain encounter. When the first few drops started falling, Simon was adamant that it would pass, and declared: "I think we are going to be ok" as the fat drops fell with increasing speed on our visors and while I urged him that stopping to put our ponchos on was a better idea. Needless to say 1 minute later we were off the bike and struggling to put our ponchos on in the now torrential rain, while also having a mini roadside domestic (me: "why don't you ever listen to me?" Simon: "Just shush and help me cover the bags.")

Kham Duc seemed a relatively peaceful place when we rode in, though there were a few surprises in store. We had heard there was an 'almost 5-star' hotel in town, which seemed surprising for such a small place, but we found said hotel and it was certainly one of the better hotels we stayed at - we found out it was owned by the local gold-mining company, so the hotel was set up to house their clients. Kham Duc was also the site of an important battle during the Vietnam War, which ended in a major defeat for the U.S. military, once the North Vietnamese had seized control of the town.

DAY 6

Hours driven: 9am-1.30pm

From: Kham Duc, to: Hoi An (South Central Coast)

Distance covered: 140km

Total distance: 1065km

From Simon:

Today would take us from the mountains down to the lowlands heading east of the HCM trail to the coastal town of Hoi An, our first detour from the trail. It was a shortish run with decent roads and once we had left the mountains behind after about an hour the scenery was fairly ordinary. We did notice though that it felt very hot and even when we stopped for a couple of minutes we were itching to move off again and feel the breeze. We arrived at Hoi An which, immediately proved to be a well worth deviation and we were both looking forward to a few days spending our time on two feet.

From Vicky:

Breakfast at the hotel was an entertaining affair. The outdoor café where breakfast was served was full of locals, all who were exceedingly curious about us and our trip. We had various people approach us or sit near us, who you could tell wanted to ask lots of questions, but didn't know how, and would end up giggling like school girls (the women anyway) - or maybe they were just flirting with Simon again.

It was another good day of riding, passing by some pretty waterfalls in the morning and later stopping for a freshly made sugar cane juice, for a change, which we sipped while watching some baby pigs trot past on the other side of the road. Now down from the highlands, the weather was hot and sticky again, and so so hot particularly today…even the breeze from being on the bike offered little respite and seemed to stick to us like a hot blanket. We passed some impressive roadside cemeteries and gravestones, which seemed to get fancier as we headed north.

Our route took us on to a small but beautiful coastal road into Hoi An, providing a lovely ride into the even prettier Hoi An, where we would rest for the next 3 nights, as a reward for reaching the halfway-mark of our journey!

Hoi An

Hoi An provided the perfect respite and mid-way point, and we spent our time wandering round its atmospheric old town - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - full of historic houses, pagodas and temples. Once a major port, Hoi An is one of Vietnam's wealthiest towns, yet still retains a small-town charm, and the former Japanese merchant houses and Chinese temples now house stylish restaurants and art galleries.

Hoi An's magic really comes to life at night though, when it was gorgeously lit by thousands of lanterns, the fairytale illusion magnified by the town's riverside setting and the lights reflecting in the water. It was as such also the perfect spot to celebrate a belated birthday dinner (courtesy of our very good, and very generous friends Hannah and Sam) at Hoi An's best restaurant, where we enjoyed a veritable feast of tuna steaks and an excellent bottle of red wine, the latter being something we had not had in a very long time, finished off with dessert and Cognacs/Amaretto for us both, such a treat! Hoi An is also famous for its huge array of tailor shops, and as we were stopping here for a few days, it felt like a sign that we should also update our wardrobe - Simon got fitted for 4 new shirts, and me for a pair of tailored shorts to replace a pair that had lost their shape…all very exciting (my love of shopping having been hugely, but not totally curtailed, during this trip). With our new clothes, even more delicious food, and lazy days, Hoi An felt like a lovely dose of indulgence in the middle of our road trip, so it was easy to see why we loved it!