So I arrived in Saigon last night at 9pm. Managed to meet some people and went out that night. Got pretty wasted and on the way home was raped buy a Vietnamese masseuse.
Anyway, next day met this crazy but nice guy called chow who drove me all over the city to buy a bike. Ended up meeting these 2 young Vietnamese mechanics and they had a Honda win 110cc in decent nick. The guy took me on the back of it and man...the traffic there combined with his crazy driving had me puckering good. Motorcycle gear is virtually unheard of here. Got the bike for 9million dong which is like $400 US. I went to give mr.chow 200,000 dong but he demanded 1,000,000. So he did help me alot...so I pulled out my dong and gave it to him good.
Anywho this is what I got, let the adventure begin.
An item on my bucket list is to land in Saigon, pick up a little bike as you just did, ride up the cost to Hanoi, then down to Bangkok. I think it might actually happen next year.
Well the plan is that there is no plan. I'm gonna spend a few days in Saigon because it's a frigging blast and cheap as! The people are really friendly for the most part.
I'm just gonna pack up my bags and start riding north. I find it hard to plan a trip for somewhere where I have never been, best just to wing it. I got an old Chilean girlfriend flying over to meet me here in a month.
It's crazy riding here. It's freaking chaos but it just works. I feel a lot safer than riding in the city in Australia because cars are far outnumbered by bikes and the speeds are a lot slower. It's really fun.
Your plan sounds solid Le slid you should just do it, no ifs, buts or maybes. You can't take a bike from Vietnam into Thailand but you can go combodia and laos
So far people are really friendly and the city is really nice. I stay one more day to get some tools and stuff and pack my bike. Then I will pick a road and ride north!
I had 12 beers and I went for an innocent massage. To my horror she did unspeakable things to me, against my will, ofcourse.
To top things off she tells me she is a lady boy when all is said and done. To clarify she was NOT , I repeat not a lady boy. Was nothing but a tasteless joke.
The Honda win 110cc is an absolute beast! The sheer torque and power of the thing will have your wheels turning at quite a decent pace. All jokes aside it's really not that bad and the one I got seems to be in good condition. Forks are fine, sprockets , tires and chain are all good. Apparently have to dump the oil every 500km.......oh well oil change cost 80 000dong= $4 US. Can you imagine taking your bike to the dealer for an oil change they say that will be $4 please.
This is it... 1 damn picture.:dunno:biggrin Dude your letting us down. I've seen some pic from Vietnam and Laos before and they are beautiful countries.
Ah sorry guys to keep you hanging. Been such a crazy few days in the best kind of way. I met an American guy who bought a bike the same bike the same time as me and we road out together. He bought the same bike as me at half the price. It,s chinese, it eats fuel, leaks oil , sounds like a can of bolts and is a bitch to start
We have a go pro set it to take a photo every 30 seconds so we have like 3000 photos and we're going to make a video.
Yesterday my bike started to develop a wobble, I carried on think maybe the rim was buckled. Checked the next day and the tire itself was completely warped and messed up is suspect from sitting for so long. So we left our hotel on the river in this village. We stopped at 3 mechanics and then the fourth one had a tyre for me. He had the new tyre on in less than 5 minutes by hand. It cost me 300,000 dong= $14 US.
Other than that bike has been really good. Starts quicker than my gixxer does. I was a bit skeptical about getting a 110 but it's plenty for over here.
So far the trip has been so amazing..im lost for words everyday it gets better. The people here are super welcoming and helpful.
There are some roads that are just amazing up mountains and some really cool back roads and dirt trails. We stay completely off highway and go the long way. Haven't seen any other westerners in a few days haha
The food here is actually the best. The vegetables and meat taste so.much better somehow.
Not ones without my face in them. I thought it was a thing here not show your face. Or is everyone just ugly as shit? I'm kidding haha. Still got 25 days in Vietnam and then laos and then Cambodia, so there are many more photos to come. I'll get some food pics for ya
Damn you guys are hard to please. There is a photo of a hot girl filling up my friends gas can't you see haha? Don't worry many photos to come still. It only gets better going north I've heard
That's some fucked up shit. BTW if I was ever gonna be executed, going into my 50s, the merciful way to go would be death by a couple hits of extasy, viagra and 6 college cheerleaders. Yeah, that's how I want to check-out.
I'm sure I can arrange that when I travel out there next winter, hopefully without checking out.
So today we went from pagour falls to Dalat and then to Nha Trang.
We were pulled over on the side of the highway and I see this yammah r1 blast past at who knows how fast and then 30 seconds later a Vietnamese police van came down the rode full speed haha.
After Dalat we met this really cool dude on a pimped out Honda win and we pulled over and started chatting without speaking the same language. We followed him down the mountain on some of the best roads I've ridden
I'm in Montreal and whenever I order a phoa or tonkinese (big bowl of soup), I eat it with chopsticks. Your pic has standard silverware spoon and fork?
Honestly everywhere you go there is standard silverware and chop sticks. A lot of people here just use the silverware. I mean let's be honest...eating soup with chopsticks is a retarted idea.
There's still a lot if things left from the French and some buildings, especially in Dalat.
The food here makes %90 of Asian resteraunts back home look really bad. It doesn't even compare.
My favourite food here so far is the pork/chicken rolls. The amount of flavor they pack into them is a joke. Probably cost $0.75 US. If you're into food you will be in heaven. So many tastes, smells and colors. Vietnam is very vibrant.
I really like reading/seeing your story and travels.
I realize many here travel extensively too. I have been to Taiwan and Mainland China several times, for 2-6 week stays each time too. I've only been with locals- no 'tour groups', etc.
While there, I've driven scooters, rode in Chinese State Cars (my father in law arranged), bicycles, walked, etc. while there.
I have whole photo albums in the basement, and yes, I do look them over from time to time too.
I mentioned my wife- she is from Mainland China, and at home we always have her wonderful cooking too.
(we met in the States- UN arranged- just as if you'd meet and fall in love with any other woman)
So when you mention about the tastes and things, I certainly understand what you mean.
I"m not trying to take anything away from your trip.
You're trip is awesome, keep up the good stories and pics, etc.!!
She really sounds like a keeper haha! You lucky man I'm sure you eat like a king at home.
My dad had a Thai girlfriend when I was younger...he was 58 and she was 21 but we won't get in to that. Her cooking was amazing and lots of it too.
Yeh I know you were not trying to take anything away from it. I'm 22 and this is the first time I've left the country and so you can imagine how excited I am about this whole thing! Also for me this is a good way to keep a diary of sorts. I'm excited to share my stories and photos with you guys! I've tried keeping stuff in a notebook but I just can't make myself do it!
I would love to see some of your photos and hear about your stories in China for sure too! You should go get some photos and scan em in and upload them. I'd really like to see!
I hear the mountains and hill tribes near the border of China are going to be amazing.
Today we picked my friends bike up from the mechanic. The fool had bought a cheap ass bike with a Chinese engine in it. It was very close to blowing up and would barely start. He got the whole engine rebuilt for less than $50.....
Anywho we headed out north from nha trang. There was a cool peninsula/mountain I wanted to explore. There was a main road that went around the mountain. I noticed a squiggly little road that went up the mountain and out to the coast. So we hit that up instead.
The views were amazing and we found some backroads and sick trails too. These bikes are so much fun off the beaten track and so easy due to them being less than 100kg.
Also check out this dude carrying a motherfucking fridge on a 125cc...
Here are the rest of the photos today. Yes, I am wearing socks I cut on my arms to stop sunburn.
I hope it's not too many photos guys. They're all so good. We get about 1000+ photos a day out of a go pro. We will have a time lapse of all of vietnam, Laos and Cambodia when we're done and I'll put it up on YouTube
My friend and I were cruising down this road near these dunes and I found this trail to the beach so I turned off and came to a casual stop in the sand. My friend on the other hand hadn't had any expirience on sand. All of a sudden he shot past me screaming and out of control and crashed in to the sand in front of me. I laughed so hard and ate so much chilli I near shat my pants. He was fine and so was the bike my underwear
..not so much
Yeh there's heaps of alcohol...pretty much every store you see sells beer and water because you can't drink the tap water here. They drink a lot of lager here it seems...average price for a beer is around $1 or less. We picked up a case of Tiger lager which we actually have in Australia as an import beer. That was about $15 for 24 beers. We've seen battle of jimbeam for like $15.
Most hotels too are around $10 between me and my friend. Most come with room service and a free mini bar.
There is better phone reception and WiFi in the jungle here than all of Australia too!
Good news - next question(s)
What was involved in getting that bike on the road legally, plates insurance etc... and driver's license? Or are these even considerations?
The timing of your adventure is most fortuitous, as I get first hand info as I'm trying to plan mine :thumbup
Good news - next question(s)
What was involved in getting that bike on the road legally, plates insurance etc... and driver's license? Or are these even considerations?
The timing of your adventure is most fortuitous, as I get first hand info as I'm trying to plan mine [emoji106]
Well every bike when purchased comes with a blue card..with the person name, engine ,Vin number and a plate to match. You must make sure you get this card and it matches the bike...you can't change the name or anything. If you don't have this card it will be impossible to sell the bike and if you are pulled over by police they will assume it is stolen.
As for the license, you can sort out an international license before you come. Most travellers will drive without a license. If pulled up by police you can either pay them off..I've heard to just strap like 200,000 dong to the blue card so when they look they take it and let you go.
My friend and I speak fluent Spanish so if pulled over we will just speak Spanish and they won't be able to communicate and give up. They know enough in English to get your money I've heard. That's if you're unlucky we've seen lots of police and had no trouble.
I saw a yammaha r1 blast down the freeway at 200kmh+ and then a police van came flying past 30 seconds later haha.
Anything over 150cc has a huge import tax and will likely be more expensive than it would in canada. My 110 has been perfect and wouldn't really want much more here
Any other questions you have I'd love to answer!
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