It doesn’t get any curvier than this – the mountains north of Hanoi

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I have always dreamed of riding a motorcycle through . Vietnam is made for motorcycling and enduro touring. One breathtaking view after another, beautiful rice terraces, endless bends and countless unpaved roads. We rode around 1700 km in 10 days through the beautiful mountains north of Hanoi. Over half of the route was on the smallest mountain roads and dirt tracks.

The first question for me before the trip was whether I should plan the tour myself or go on a guided tour. As the author of Kurviger.de, there is of course a lot to be said for planning it yourself. However, after looking into the subject a little more closely, it became clear that it is difficult to plan an off-road tour in Vietnam yourself. Most of the unpaved roads are not marked on any map. There are certainly no signs. During my research, I came across several providers offering off-road tours in Vietnam. After contacting several providers and comparing their offers and reviews, I finally decided on Mototours Asia.

I was able to join a group of 12 Australians who planned a 10 day tour with Mototours Asia in May 2017. Each tour is customized to the needs of the group. My group was looking for off-road and adventure, perfect! That’s exactly what I was looking for.

Mountain pass in Vietnam

Vietnam and Hanoi

The flight from Frankfurt to Hanoi takes around 11 hours if you can find a non-stop flight. Otherwise the flight will take longer. You can compare flights here, for example. The time difference is +5 hours to . Due to jet lag, it is advisable to arrive a few days in advance. This gives you enough time to get used to the country and the foreign culture.

Vietnam is the perfect place to escape the German winter, as the weather in winter is very suitable for a motorcycle tour. The best time for a motorcycle tour through Vietnam is September to November. The period from December to April is still well suited. May to August is not quite ideal, as the summer in Vietnam is very hot and humid, especially in the rainy season, most off-road roads are difficult or impossible to drive on.

Vietnam and Hanoi are definitely worth a visit, with or without a motorcycle tour. In addition to the motorcycle tour, I recommend planning at least one week for a regular vacation. If you have never been to Southeast Asia before, then you should definitely prepare yourself for a bit of a culture shock. Hanoi is the capital and second largest city in Vietnam. With around 8 million inhabitants, Hanoi is not exactly a small city. The traffic in Hanoi is crazy and seems very chaotic at first. However, after a short period of getting used to it, Hanoi is a very nice place to stay, with its many small winding alleyways, great cafés and some of the best cuisine in the world. Since my trip to Vietnam, I have been hooked on Vietnamese food and am always on the lookout for “phở bò” (noodle soup with beef) and “ɓǔn ca᷉” (grilled pork with a sweet soup and rice noodles).

Travel tips for Vietnam

Vietnam, or Southeast Asia in general, cannot be compared with a Western country. You should definitely inform yourself before your trip and prepare accordingly. By the way, cell phone reception in Vietnam is phenomenal, the provider “Viettel” is operated by the government and offers 4G almost everywhere, even in the most remote parts of Vietnam.

Visa and documents

With a German passport, you can stay in Vietnam for up to 15 days without a visa; a visa is required for a longer stay. The e-visa for Vietnam can be easily applied for online and is generally sent by email within a week.

Get an international driving license in good time. This is easy and inexpensive at the district office, remember to bring your driver’s license and passport photo with you.

Security

Before traveling to Vietnam, you should definitely check the usual travel warnings, e.g. from the Foreign Office. In general, however, I felt quite safe in Vietnam and didn’t hear of any major problems such as theft etc. from other travelers. Of course, the usual petty crime is everywhere.

Health

I would recommend a visit to a doctor, preferably a specialist in travel medicine, before you travel. You should definitely check whether vaccinations need to be refreshed or new vaccinations are recommended for your destination. The Robert Koch Institute’s vaccination calendar also provides an overview of recommended vaccinations.

International health insurance, including repatriation, should definitely be taken out. I personally found the medical care in Vietnam to be surprisingly good and inexpensive. However, I would prefer to have serious injuries/illnesses treated at home, for which repatriation is essential.

Many diseases are transmitted by mosquitoes. So make sure you have good mosquito repellent, mine ran out on site and it was difficult to get a new one. I would therefore recommend that you stock up on all the necessary medication beforehand. In my opinion, your first-aid kit for Southeast Asia should definitely include DEET-based mosquito repellent, painkillers and Imodium

Money

The Vietnamese currency is called “Dong”. Currently, €1 is equivalent to around 25,000 dong. Most retailers also accept US dollars, but usually at a poor exchange rate. When I travel, I always withdraw money directly on site using my Visa card at a Visa machine in an official bank branch. I don’t exchange money at any bureaux de change. A credit card with low fees for foreign currency use and a good exchange rate is recommended. I have an account with ING and am absolutely happy with it, even when making payments abroad I have never had any problems. I try to spend the money before my return flight, usually taking a small bill home with me as a souvenir of the trip and using it as a bookmark.

Markets

There are many markets in Vietnam where various products are on sale. As a Swabian, I was naturally on the lookout for one or two bargains in Vietnam. My idea was that since many clothing manufacturers produce in Vietnam, it must be possible to buy these clothes cheaply locally. You can almost forget about finding high-quality goods of Western standard at reasonable prices. The street markets sell cheap counterfeit products. Mototours Asia took me to a store (not a street stall) that probably sells original goods. But the prices were almost at German level. But the quality was perfectly OK, I bought a pair of jeans that still serve me well today.

Travel guide

Vietnam is a great country. You should prepare yourself, but don’t let it drive you crazy. A good travel guide such as the Lonely Planet or the Stefan Loose travel guide can also help you prepare for your trip and really get you in the mood for the adventure.

The mountains north of Hanoi

Getting to know the group

The day before the tour, I was able to get to know the group. During the first cold wheat bowl together, it quickly became clear that this is a great group. The group is traveling with Mototours Asia for the third time and meets every two years for a motorcycle tour in Southeast Asia.

On the morning of the start of the tour, we are driven to the garage together, which is a little outside so that we don’t have to drive through the crazy city traffic of Hanoi. We mainly had 250cc Hondas (CRF) for the tour, but also a Kawasaki 250 KLX. Motortours Asia also offers tours with larger motorcycles such as the BMW 1200 GS and 800 GS. Each group is accompanied by at least one tour guide and one mechanic. The mechanic was able to solve all problems quickly during the tour. With 13 motorcycles and 1700 km, much of it on unpaved roads, minor technical problems do occur from time to time, but we didn’t have any serious problems.

Off we go in the direction of Ba Be Lake

We secured our luggage to the bike and set off. I was lucky that the group opted for a support vehicle, so we were able to stow all the heavy luggage in the van and only had to take our luggage with us for the day. On the first day, we drove on small roads out of the city of Hanoi and into the mountainous region in the north of Vietnam. Despite the low volume of traffic, the first few meters on Vietnamese roads are not so easy. There are virtually no traffic rules, and when in doubt, the stronger driver wins. But the Vietnamese have a completely different mentality when it comes to driving, most of them are quite relaxed and try not to drive around other road users. However, a defensive driving style and a clean line are essential, especially on larger roads. You should be able to brake within sight at all times, even on bends.

From the second half of the day, we are rewarded with the first mountain passes and the first meters of gravel. We slowly but surely work our way towards our destination for the day, Ba Be Lake. I feel like I’m in a National Geographic documentary and still can’t quite grasp the beauty of the country. On the first day we drove 220 km, which took us 8 hours including short breaks. We spent the first night with a host family (a so-called “home stay”, meaning you stay with a family and not in a hotel) and were greeted with a gigantic balcony, cold beer and fantastic food. The house offers a wonderful view over the rice fields, Ba Be Lake and Ba Be National Park.

Homestays, staying with friends

Vietnam is a poor country. Especially away from the big cities, many people have no access to clean drinking water or sanitary facilities. As a European, it’s hard to imagine. My visit to Vietnam opened my eyes in this respect. The overnight stays with various host families were always great, you sit together in the evening and can talk to the host family and get an insight into their lives. Most of the homestays we stayed with were set up by Mototours Asia and are a good way to support the people in the mountains, as the homestays bring tourists to the mountain region. We slept in a mattress dormitory with mosquito nets over each bed, as is customary with the host families.

Since this trip, I have been trying to support people in developing countries with microloans in areas such as “water and sanitation” and “education” on Kiva. With microloans, you lend small amounts of money to people in developing countries to achieve a goal, e.g. to build a toilet or dig a well for clean drinking water. The money is then paid back over a period of time and you can lend the money to someone else. I personally believe in the effectiveness of microcredit. Microcredits help people to help themselves. Incidentally, a microcredit bank was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

People of different ethnic origins live in Vietnam. The different peoples sometimes differ greatly in their traditions, clothing, language and traditional dishes. Our first family belongs to the Tay people. In Vietnam, around 90% of the people belong to the Kinh people, while the other peoples belong to ethnic minorities. On our journey through the mountains, we will meet people belonging to the Tay, Thai, H’Mong, La Chi, Lo Lo, Nung and Dao.

Crossing the Ba Be Lake

The next morning we head out early and cross Lake Ba Be in several small boats. We have breakfast on the boat, Vietnamese pancakes with bananas and honey, the mountain honey is a dream and cannot be compared with our honey. The boats take us and our motorcycles across the lake and along the adjacent river to a remote road in the mountains. From there, the first longer off-road part begins.

It all starts quite inconspicuously, the surface slowly deteriorates and at some point you can no longer speak of a road surface. We slowly wind our way along the mountain. After an hour, we turn off onto a small goat path. We follow this for about two hours. This was the first tricky section. In places we had to help each other up the mountain and we had our first fall over. But the climb was worth it, we had lunch at a viewpoint overlooking a valley full of rice fields and then cycled through the mountains for a few more hours on small unpaved paths. The vastness of this country is unbelievable, we sometimes drive for hours without passing through a settlement.

We spend the night with a host family again. We will all remember the meal that night for a long time, as the family serves us a real feast. In Vietnam, food is traditionally eaten on a carpet on the floor, with everyone getting a small bowl and various dishes in the middle. The host family belongs to the Tay people. The host family’s house is located on the edge of a rice field, in an idyllic valley surrounded by the best motorcycle roads.

Towards the Chinese border

The third day starts with a phenomenal view and great off-road roads. We slowly wind our way along small paths through the mountains and climb the first mountain from a valley with a small river and are rewarded with one of the best views of the whole tour. We continue to a mountain village where members of the H’Mong people live. Here we have a delicious lunch and can recover from the heat in the shade. At over 35° and comparatively slow off-road speeds, the shade was a real relief.

Further on, we cross a dilapidated-looking wooden bridge, the kind you usually see in a movie. Every wooden beam looks as if it’s about to give way and we’ll end up in the river below, along with our bikes. Somehow, however, the bridge held us all up.

So far we have always refueled our motorcycles at ordinary petrol stations, but today there is no petrol station on the way, but the route is too long to get by without a fuel stop, so we refuel at a “village petrol station”, although the word petrol station doesn’t really fit. A roadside stall selling all sorts of things, including plastic bottles filled with fuel. While filling up, we joke about what might be in the bottles. About half an hour later, we had our first breakdown. Tao our mechanic was able to solve the problem within a few minutes, the reason: “water in the carburetor”. I wonder how it got in there? Two water-filled carburetors later, we arrive at our destination for the day.

We spend the night in a nice hotel near the Chinese border. Here, however, you immediately notice that the clocks tick differently. After arriving at the hotel, our passports are confiscated in order to apply for a “special visa” for the stay near the border. This is required if you are staying in the border area with and must be applied for at the local Chinese embassy. A short time later, we receive our passports and visas back and can relax and get on with our evening program.

Along the slope

The day begins with small, winding mountain passes. In Europe, these roads would be an absolute motorcycle paradise and overcrowded with bikers hungry for curves, but in Vietnam we ride for what feels like an eternity without meeting another vehicle. We wind our way along fantastic bends and views until we suddenly turn off onto a small path.

Our guide warns us that the next section is very challenging and everyone has the choice of either taking the road or the narrow path. The path leads directly along a 400 meter high slope. With the best view and maximum concentration, we wind our way along the path and try not to look down the slope. Once we have mastered this obstacle, we take a break and rest before continuing.

The gecko back

We have a tough off-road day ahead of us. After breakfast, we meet the mechanic who straps a rope to his motorcycle for the first time. He explained to us in his usual relaxed manner that he would use it to tow motorcycles stuck on the next stretch up the mountain. Fortunately, we didn’t need the rope, but it was a really tough 40 km over very steep roads with slippery stones and mud. This road is considered absolutely impassable after rain, so we were very lucky that the road was halfway dry.

The destination of the trip is the so-called Gecko Ridge. We couldn’t believe our eyes, the Gecko Ridge is a mountain ridge with a slope several hundred meters high on both sides. The path became extremely narrow, about 50 cm wide in places, so you couldn’t put your feet down next to the bike without risking a possible fall. Our tour guide stopped just before this section to make sure everyone was feeling good and ready for the next section. Everyone could decide whether they felt ready or not. There was also the alternative of getting help from the tour guide or having the bike transported to the other side. We were all very excited and couldn’t really believe it. A couple of us asked for help over the Gecko’s back.

It was an incredible experience for all of us and it was one of the craziest things I’ve ever done, but it was definitely worth it. The rest of the day is relatively unspectacular. We drive along the Black River to our host family, who belong to the Thai people. The host family is located in a remote mountain village in a fantastic landscape. Our host family grows green tea and we had the chance to enjoy a fresh green tea, fantastic

Plan it yourself or take a guided tour?

For me personally, the trip was incredibly beautiful and I would travel to Vietnam again at any time. Having been here, I have to say that, especially for an off-road trip, I would recommend everyone to book a guided tour instead of trying to make their own way. We had two crashes during the tour, both a skid on a paved road. In both cases, help was on site within a very short time. One of us fell awkwardly and had to go to hospital for an X-ray to make sure nothing worse had happened. Within a very short time, a transport vehicle was organized to the hospital and the motorcycle was towed away. Without the guide, we would have been completely lost at this point.

The most beautiful places on the trip were so remote in the mountains that it is extremely difficult to get there on your own or to even find out about these places. In some cases, our guide organized special permits so that we were allowed to cross an area at all. The mountains north of Hanoi are anything but touristy away from the main routes and we hardly met any other tourists on the whole trip, apart from the few parts of the main road where you meet a few tourists, typically on an old 125cc Minsk.

Especially in the mountains, people don’t speak any English, the tour guide was our link to the local people. If we weren’t quite sure whether a road was passable or not, the tour guide usually knew someone who lived nearby and could provide information about the current road conditions. We learned a lot about the history and people of Vietnam. I only really realized this after the tour when I was talking to other travellers who mainly went along the typical tourist routes, how much more I took away from the tour about Vietnam. During the tour, I gained an understanding of how people live in Vietnam, especially in the mountains.

Tour overview: kurv.gr/ebfcB
Please note that, unlike the other travel reports here on the blog, this is only a very rough depiction of the route we actually took. Most of the roads we traveled on are not listed in OpenStreetMap and some of them are not passable without a special permit.

Our group during a short break

After the tour

After the tour, there is a relaxing contrasting program to rest tired muscles and recharge your batteries. I took a boat trip from the island of Cat Ba. From there you can sail towards the famous Ha Long Bay. From Cat Ba, however, it is nowhere near as crowded. I opted for a short trip with an overnight stay on a small boat. You can really switch off here, enjoy the view and just let yourself drift. Mototours Asia organized a boat trip for me on a small traditional boat. It was the perfect end to my trip to Vietnam.

Boat trip from Cat Ba towards Ha Long Bay