Vietnam: Part One (Ho Chi Minh and Starting our Motorbike Adventure)

We were finally both in Vietnam! Kyle made it to the hostel around 10:00am, and immediately we were off on our errand list. Our next big adventure: buying motorbikes and riding them along a 2,600 km (1,600 mile) route from Ho Chi Minh City in the South to Hanoi in the North! We had heard about it from another couple that we had met in Turkey. The whole thing sounded long, complicated, freaky, and a little dangerous, but it was exactly what we needed to take us a little further out of our comfort zone!

The main mode of transport in Vietnam is by motor-bike/scooter. There are actually more than 50 million of them in the country! They congest every possible horizontal surface in the cities, including the streets, sidewalks, parking lots, public parks, etc. They are used for everything from moving construction materials to bringing home groceries, and are often even the "family" vehicle." We saw as many as 5 people on the same scooter, and 3-4 is a regular occurrence!

To find the perfect bike, we reached out to some local dealerships, joined some Facebook and WhatsApp backpacker groups, and looked to hostels for additional information. We were on a time crunch (with our visa issues, we actually only had 27 remaining days in the country) so we narrowed our search to the 2-3 closest places that responded to our requests. There are several places in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) that specialize in flipping motorbikes among tourists. They are very supply-oriented, and the bikes often are moved within a couple days of each place receiving more inventory (from other backpackers who completed their journey and are selling). The bikes are beat up, have countless miles (literally the odometers have stopped counting), and have been crashed in every Vietnamese city at some point, probably. They are almost exclusively Chinese knock-offs of quality Japanese brands (Honda and Yamaha) and are a Frankenstein-like composure of parts from their plethora of repairs over the years. On top of that, the Vietnamese salesmen know that #1: you likely don't know how to tell the "good" bikes (re: crappy but functional) from the bad, and #2: you're likely on a timeline. They use this to their pricing advantage. Luckily, the Vietnamese people LOVE to barter, and we were well practiced from our recent time at the bazaars in Turkey. After trying several motorbikes out (including a couple of manual Honda Win knockoffs that were really sweet), we ended up with a pair of Yamaha Nuovo 125-cc automatic scooters.

You may be asking, at this point, "why didn't they just rent scooters instead of buying them?" We were asked this often as we went along. We had several reasons for buying. First, was the price. Not only did we have the ability to barter to get a deal we were comfortable with, but we also knew we'd get to SELL them at our own set price too. If we played our cards right, we just might break even at the end (this would take a lot of luck, time, and skill so we'll see how it works out). Second, was that we did not want to deal with bogus (or real) charges that may come with returning a rental vehicle. We knew that the journey was going to be long and arduous and that it was going to test the limits of whatever we were riding. Having to pay for scratches or dings or any part replacements at the end was not something we wanted to deal with. Finally, we wanted to have some fun with the bikes and trick them out as we saw fit. If we wanted to change paint colors then so be it! All of this, along with negotiating a buy-back option with our seller (their partner up north would buy back our bikes for 60% of the price if we could not find another buyer) made it a no brainer.

The motorbikes were dropped off at the hostel after being fitted with luggage racks, and they even threw in bungee cords, helmets, rain gear, and a phone holder on Kyle's bike. Allegedly they even gave the bikes a full service and inspection, but we would learn really quickly that this was likely false advertisement. In hindsight it would have been good to know this: different from Western culture, in Vietnam things are typically sold as "broken," where the responsibility is on the buyer to fix up the item post-sale. But we'll get to that. For now, we had the bikes and we were a giddy (not to mention nervous) to be starting our journey the next day. We did some quick shopping that evening to fit out other necessities (Kyle upgraded helmets, we got emergency snacks, etc) and went to bed early knowing that we wanted to beat traffic out of the city the following day. (We also had some fun that day, hitting the famous Ben Thanh market, trying our first egg coffee, and finishing the night with some fried rice and Saigon beers).

The next morning we were up at dawn and on the bikes on our way out of the city! We left some baggage at the hostel since we knew we'd be back there in ~4 weeks and we did not want to carry so much on the road. HCMC has a population of ~9 million people, and most of them are early risers so even at that time of the day traffic was already starting to build. Based on some information from a blog we used to route plan (check out the Vietnam Coracle if you end up doing the same journey!) we were taking the "back door" out of the city to avoid some of the worst of it. After a slow, careful start that included a few missteps (including getting lost a couple of times, ending up on a bridge that didn't allow motorized vehicles, etc) we were out of the city without a scratch!

Here it would be good to explain the absolute batshit craziness of Vietnamese traffic:

• In their traffic system, there is a hierarchy of vehicle prominence. At the top are passenger vans and busses, followed by freight trucks, followed by regular vehicles, followed by motorbikes who, despite being the main, preferred mode of transport, are shooed away like flies around the larger vehicles. That hierarchy matters too: the passenger vans and trucks rule the roads and you are absolutely, unequivocally expected to get the hell out of their way.

• The Vietnamese traffic system has well marked, with both signs and road paint, lanes and directions of travel. These don't matter. Not even a little bit. They can't be counted on at all is what we're trying to say. All vehicles traverse all lanes, and at the same time a motorbike is whipping past you in the shoulder, a semi could be coming straight at you using the wrong lane.

• Everyone merges without looking at the lane they're merging into. They expect everyone else to accommodate them.

• The same thing happens at stop signs and stoplights.

• When turning on a motorbike you often will have a wall of other moving motorbikes blocking your path. You simply have to slowly start moving into this wall and pray that they let you through. It helps when you have a big group trying to do the same thing.

• Let's just not talk about roundabouts, we don't want to give our mothers a heart attack.

• When driving, you use a small cone of vision. Your side mirrors shouldn't be used (many don't even have them), you need only to pay attention to what is going on directly in front of you, slightly left, and slightly right. Looking anywhere else is dangerous...and with all that craziness, do you really want to see what's happening behind you?

• The biggest thing to note: while driving in the US we can anticipate other drivers' actions based on set rules and understanding; in Vietnam it is all about reacting to what is in front of you.

On top of all of this, the honking in Vietnam traffic is truly out of this world. They use their beepers for EVERYTHING. Honking can mean: look out for me, look out for that, look out for you, I'm turning, I'm stopping, I'm passing you, I'm not doing any of that, thank you, or it might just be someone saying "hello." All larger vehicles (trucks, busses, and vans) have aftermarket horns that sound like train whistles, foghorns, clown horns, and even carnival games. No matter what random sound they use, they have one thing in common: they are LOUD and mean get out of my way.

With that in mind, we were happy to make it out of the main congestion. From there, we travelled a busy highway (we mostly had to ride on the shoulder to avoid the big trucks) until we hit a ferry crossing. We followed the crowd of motorbikes directly onto the boat, waited the 5 minutes it took to cross, and took off again on the other side. We were running out of fuel so we made our first gas station stop. Gas stations in Vietnam are still full service, so an attendant fills you up very time. For us this meant we had an audience watch us unload our baggage from the bikes every time we needed fuel. In addition to filling up the bikes, we each carried a plastic 1.5L bottle that we kept full of fuel just in case of emergencies (this is so common here that nobody even gives you a second glance). After that we were off down the road dodging traffic, potholes, and whatever else popped into our path. Some highlights of things we had to swerve around on our very first day: stray dogs, chickens, ox-driven carts, rolling vegetable stands, and countless cows in the road (yes, even on a major highway).

We also had to dodge police traps! There are many police checkpoints around that regulate traffic and transportation, but we have been told they also like to solicit the occasional tourist bribe as well. A way to avoid being pulled over is to NOT dress like a tourist. All of our major driving days, we decided, would include full pants, riding jackets, and generally muted attire. In addition to keeping us from being bribery targets, it also helped us stay safe in case of any mishaps.

We spent about 10 hours riding the first day in total, including stops. We stopped a few times for coffee, and got breakfast at our first "long" stop (we took these whenever our butts were most tired from riding). We ate at a little food market near the highway, and without a menu present we just held up two fingers indicating that we wanted two "meals." This was one of many, many times in Vietnam where we would have to order this way. What we received was a feast: Vietnamese pancakes (eggs with beansprouts and other veggies), plus soup and some DIY veggie spring rolls. After that, we passed by pagodas (temple complexes), rice paddies, big cities, small towns, war memorials, and government monuments. The weather was hot and humid most of the way (the heat index was 105!). We even, at one point, had to stop because of a fire that covered the road with smoke and flaming debris. We waited as it got worse and worse, but it did not clear. We turned around, and when we came back to the road a couple of hours later, it was as if nothing had ever happened, and the way was clear. Why were we back to this point two hours late? The answer: Kyle's bike started having issues.

That's right, you heard it. Less than one day into our journey and we already had some problems. At one point, Kyle's bike would not restart. From our extensive combined history of driving junker cars back home, we had it narrowed down to battery issues. Within minutes of the bike not starting, someone had already pulled over, helped look at it, and led us to the nearest motorcycle repair shop. With so many scooters on the road, the repair shops are EVERYWHERE. You can hardly go a city block or a highway mile without seeing one. Additionally, many locals know how to fix their bikes so if you ever break down, people come crawling out of seemingly nowhere to help. It's a magical experience! But also, for this time at least, it was extremely frustrating. Less than one day into our journey, with bikes that allegedly had full inspections and service, we were already broken down. However, jumping the battery was only a cool 10,000 VND (about $0.40) and we were off again! The glee was short-lived, however, as just a couple of hours later the bike battery was, once again, depleted. Once again, there was a close-by repair shop. This time they spent a little extra time looking over the wiring terminals and the spark plug before giving us another jump (this time it cost 50,000 VND, or just over $2.00). Fortunately, the bike made it the rest of the way that day with no other issues.

We were absolutely exhausted when we finally arrived at our first checkpoint, the coastal town of Mui Ne, but we both felt a major since of accomplishment that we had been missing for awhile. Our biggest adventure yet was well under way!

Also: We will be publishing a "Travel Log" that we kept with daily riding notes. It's brief and informative and is a good way to follow along our route while reading this blog!

Link here: https://www.nebraskanomads.com/post/vietnam-motorbike-travel-log