The Journey – Motorcycle Diaries
Thursday
Arrived in Hanoi last night and went out in search of motorcycles first thing. I found a shop just off one of the main highways that run through the city and already started to lose my nerve. One look at Hanoi traffic is enough to instill fear even in the most experienced rider, but in all of my years, I have never even touched a motorcycle. Tony, the shop manager, was a nice guy and seemed determined to sell me a motorcycle. Days ago, that was the plan: Get to Vietnam, buy a motorcycle, and drive it all the way to Ho Chi Minh. What was I thinking? It’s almost 2,000 km and takes more than 30 hours to travel – and that presumes that you know where you are going and won’t get lost. It is tempting all the same because it is so affordable – only $400. What an experience it would be too. Clouds are in the sky and I’ve heard stories about Vietnam’s rain. What would it be like if I were on the road and got stuck in a monsoon? I need to think more about this.
Friday
Had a good long think yesterday, through the night, and into this morning. Work presents a problem. There is also the matter of my visa and having only 30 days to explore Vietnam (28 as of today). I had planned on going first to Ha Long Bay, which is by all accounts out of the way. Were I on vacation I might view the situation differently but I cannot put my work aside for so many hours over so short a time. Have decided not to purchase a motorcycle.
What if I hate it?
Instead, have decided to rent a motorcycle from Tony for about $10 a day. Will tough it out and ride to Ha Long Bay and back – assuming I survive the trip – and re-evaluate from there. He was a good sport and gave me a lesson on how to ride the motorcycle and I took a few small trips down the street and back to get a feel for it. It feels unnatural and terrifying. Have I lost my mind?
But if not now, when? This is an obstacle I need to clear in my life or I will never forgive myself.
Need to hand off a passport as collateral in order to take the motorcycle but can pay when I return – if I return. Apparently, I don’t need a license, insurance, or any other kind of documentation. Fifteen thousand people die annually in Vietnam from traffic accidents of which more than half are motorcyclists. Tony doesn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that my experience riding motorcycles amounts to the three minutes I spent going up and down his street in front of his shop and almost crashing each time. I find him far too nonchalant with handing off his property to me – something which, were the roles reversed, I would deem unwise – but perhaps he knows something that I don’t. Have told Tony that I will be by tomorrow morning after I check out of my hotel to make the ride to Ha Long Bay.
Have told myself I need to buck up a bit. If the old ladies that tear through the Old Quarter like they own the place can do it, damn it, so can I!
Saturday
Woke up sick to my stomach and with my legs inexplicably dragging me back to Tony’s shop for the third time in the last three days. I feel like there should be more science to this but, instead, it is old-school bungee ropes keeping my bags from flying off into the road. Tony was good about attaching a holder for my phone so that I could follow the GPS while I ride but other than that it is just me and the motorcycle and terror and hope. I kind of felt like I didn’t get the send-off I deserved since realistically for Tony and the other people at his shop this would most likely be the last they would see of me and, were I to meet my grisly demise along the way, they were in the position of being the last souls to know of my whereabouts.
Suddenly I was in the middle of a laneless highway with hundreds of cars, trucks and motorcycles all jockeying for space. The first hour was utter terror and a sheer white knuckle ride as I navigated through the eastern side of Hanoi with every square inch of highway taken up by someone trying to get somewhere faster than someone else. I was on edge the whole time with my heart beating out of my chest but suddenly, as I reached the eastern fringes of the city and the traffic began to thin out, I crossed a bridge surrounded on both sides by rice paddies barely visible in the fog and a calm suddenly came over me. For the first time, I told myself ‘I can do this’.
The GPS had me on the fastest route to Ha Long Bay and eventually took me up to a major toll road for automobiles only. Something felt wrong when it became clear that I was the only motorcycle on the road because there are so many motorcycles here in Vietnam that that almost never happens. Came to the toll booth where I was stopped by policemen. This was it, the jig was up. I had made it about 40 kilometres and been on the road for just over an hour and I was certain my motorcycling days were coming to an end. Still, there was something comforting about that. No doubt they were going to ask me about my motorcycle license and the registration on the motorcycle I was riding, so I was pretty sure that they were going to cart me off to jail. I said that I was going to Ha Long Bay but I have no idea if they understood. They told me to get off the motorcycle. They motioned over passed a fence by a grassy ridge and told me to go that way and not to ride my motorcycle on the autoroutes. I hightailed it over to the dirt road and got back on my way happy to not be imprisoned though feeling that it might have been safer for me had I been.
According to Google Maps, the ride from Tony’s shop to the hotel I had booked in Ha Long Bay takes just over three hours. It took me seven, but I made it. By the time I arrived I was completely shattered and in need of rest and my ass was still vibrating from riding on that engine the entire day. It was a seemingly endless journey but an amazing one. It threatened to rain the entire ride and was misty and dark all of the day but real rain managed to hold off and I arrived as dry as when I left. I had my share of dodgy moments along the way with the occasional muddy or crowded street, but once I found the right road I breezed through most of the villages along the way. Most of the towns around Hanoi looked kind of the same, but once I broke free of the big cities of the north the landscape began to change and the roads were open and the next thing I knew I was riding over bridges and over rivers that ran through rice paddies on either side with just a few small huts visible off in the distance. As I approached Ha Long Bay the urban sprawl gave way to lush green hills covered in palms. Thank God for the QL18 highway. It was ridable and went almost directly all the way from Hanoi to Ha Long.
I feel like I jumped a massive hurdle. It was a trial by fire and I emerged exhausted but not defeated, and most importantly I arrived alive. And now, sleep.
Sunday
Before today I had never heard the word ‘karst’, but that is the term for these mountains of limestone that spring straight up from the water. Ha Long translates to “descending dragon” – a more appropriate and descriptive name for a place has never been found.
Took the motorcycle out into the town and over the bridge to the town on the far side of the bay and back and was treated to some of the most amazing views I have ever seen in my life. There is an impressive road that travels out in front of a section of newly developed homes and looks out directly over the bay. In the bay are many small fishing boats and a perfect panorama of these limestones karsts rising out of the mist. Compared to the seven-hour ride from the previous day, today’s journey was an easy one but still not without its moments of terror. What made the journey slightly easier is that, perhaps because it was a Sunday, or perhaps because of this crazy virus that has come out of China, there was very little going on and very little traffic. There is a massive amusement park here called Sun World and it was completely shut down. Very few shops were open, but thankfully there is always a place to get at least a noodle soup. Plus, if I need anything, now I can just hop on the bike and quickly ride over to just about anywhere and pick up anything I need from a Circle K or a VinMart which is very convenient. I have also discovered that it can’t cost more than about 7 dollars to fill the tank of this contraption and, for the money, it gets excellent mileage.
Tuesday
I survived the return journey to Hanoi and feel larger than life. The return trip was pretty smooth and instead of taking seven hours only took five. Tony was gracious and I collected my passport and went on about my day left to wonder why it had taken me so long to give this whole motorcycling thing a chance. Mothers pass their worries onto their children, I guess.
Before leaving Ha Long Bay I took a cruise out on a boat. It was touristy to be sure but was a good opportunity to get out onto the water and into the bay. Me and another Canadian were the only ones who took the opportunity to actually do any swimming. The water was brisk but tolerable – I’ve swum in worse. The views were majestic and they served a delicious lunch of local food on the boat as well. To visit here is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and should be on every traveller’s bucket list.
News from our guide on the cruise was that the island of Cát Bà on the far side of the bay which is a popular tourist destination has been closed off to all passport holders of any country with even a single case of this new virus. Whatever is going on, the Vietnamese are taking it very seriously.
Friday
For the bargain price of $15 per night, I have a room at the cutest little homestay in a tiny village just outside of Ninh Binh. Xi Un is the young girl who understands a bit of English and she was the one who showed me to my room and helped me get settled. She is the cutest thing as she runs around the little homestay complex attending to 101 different jobs. One minute she is helping me to my room, then charging over to the laundry area to fold sheets, then running over to the dining area to take someone’s order, and then off to the kitchen to put it all together. I almost feel bad trying to flag her down to get her attention because I need something but then when I do, I find our interaction so comical that I almost want to stop her again to ask for something else. When I ask a question she responds with a smile, a bob of her head, and an exasperated “yes!”.
I took the train in from Hanoi which was simple, efficient and affordable. The moment I arrived I rented a motorbike from a shop at the station. Whereas it took three days in Hanoi to overcome my own anxieties and come to an agreement with Tony, here I simply handed my passport over to the attendant and asked for a motorcycle. I was off and on my way in five minutes. Any shop, it seems, will rent a motorcycle for as little as $5 per day and noodle soups are everywhere – what a country!
Here in Ninh Binh, I am confronted, once again, with these mighty karsts rising up into the air. Unlike in Ha Long where they rose straight up out of the water, here they rise straight up out of the land. And, instead of being surrounded by the sea, they are surrounded by jungle palms and small villages. There are many places to park the motorcycle and visit, and many things to do on the tourist itinerary, but they are in no way comparable to simply being aboard the motorbike and riding around in this amazing place. The Vietnamese have devised ways to separate the visitor from small amounts of their money at every turn if you let them and some attempts can be quite sneaky. At one moment you will be met with a barrier and told by a semi-official looking attendant that you can go no further and must station your motorcycle and pay a fee only to ride around it and be met with the same situation another 100 meters down the road.
As wonderful as the well-worn tracks and sights are in this region, I find it just as pleasant to ride out into some of the more far-flung areas nearby. Besides riding from my village back into the crowded and hectic Ninh Binh town, at one point I rode my motorcycle out into the fringes of the area and crossed over a large bridge that spanned a river and I could see the whole Tràng An area in the distance. It was magnificent to be riding in amongst this dreamlike landscape, but to then step back and see it from a completely different point of view took my breath away. There were smaller bridges, often nothing more than a few floating planks of wood and with tolls to pay in order to cross, all along the way – the Vietnamese, it seems, have developed their own form of baksheesh.
Out in the countryside, traffic was often light and the riding easy but, along some of the more touristed routes and in towns, the traffic would pick up and the rides became more challenging and occasionally even dangerous. Motorbikes are the preferred method of transport in Vietnam but there are some cars and they are an absolute terror on the road. The reason they are such a problem is a combination of them being big and clumsy by comparison to the motorbikes and the fact that nobody is paying very much attention to other riders. I feel as though I am the only rider who looks around in all directions while riding. Most of the locals don’t have mirrors on their motorbikes and the basic rule of how to ride seems to be to always look forward and stay on your own course. I imagine the theory is: if you look forward to where you are going you may be a menace to other riders but at least you will be safe and, by extension, if everyone is following that maxim then everyone is safe. The reality is, however, that not everybody is safe and it seems to be the tourists who take the brunt of this carelessness. While riding through Tam Coc, I witnessed one couple go sliding into the pavement when a motorist inexplicably began to perform a U-turn in the middle of traffic. The couple from France, with not even a second to brake and bring their motorbike to a stop, was forced to bring their motorbike to the ground lest they go crashing right into the car. They went sprawling into the road scraping knees and elbows along the way. Thankfully, the speed limit everywhere in Vietnam is low and the couple was okay but for their scrapes and bruises. It drew an audience and I stopped my motorcycle to check on them. The Frenchman was furious and ready to tear apart the Vietnamese driver who emerged from his car with a grin that seemed to underly just how flippant he was about this kind of situation. It seemed as though, to him, this was just another one of those times where a reckless tourist got in his way. I saw the whole incident and it was clearly the fault of the man driving the car. I had a couple of near misses myself whether it meant coming to a few hard stops or almost losing control while travelling over roads that weren’t as well paved. The wheels of the motorbike do get unsteady fairly easily if the road isn’t well paved. While travelling down some smaller paths deep into the jungle I even nearly got the motorbike stuck in the mud. Dirt roads are difficult for the motorbike and muddy ones are a nightmare. There is enough rain and wet to go around in Vietnam and if a dirt road floods even a little bit you’re not likely to get anywhere fast trying to ride them.
Saturday
I have decided to take an overnight bus south to Hue, so today was my last opportunity to explore Ninh Binh. I packed up my gear and hopped on the motorbike for one last ride through Tràng An before returning it to the station. The sun was shining and the palms jangled in the breeze as blossoms from the trees blew all around me. I was in heaven. I have become a half-decent rider and instead of having my hands gripping the handlebars tightly I could now drive with one hand on the accelerator and the other lazily in my lap as I sit back in the saddle and relax to a point where the traffic seems meaningless, I am one with the road, and I can just enjoy the ride without worrying about my safety. In all of my travels and all of my adventures, why did it take so long for me to discover the joy of exploring the world like this?
Wednesday
Hue was wet and rainy for the duration of my stay and I could not justify renting a motorcycle to explore beyond the city. Travelled by train to Da Nang which is not far away but the city is right by the beach and for good reason as, unlike in Hue, the sun shines in abundance.
The beach competes with the motorcycle for my attention. It is a city beach but it is clean, not overly crowded, and the waves are fun to ride. Still, one cannot stay out in the sun all day so I rented a motorcycle to explore the surrounding area. There is a wonderful mountain on a small peninsula called Tho Quang that seemed worth exploring and the ride up offered majestic views of the sea and the city. Approaching the mountain, however, there were military-style gates with attendants barring the way. They were determined not to let me through and, from what I could gather, my motorbike did not have a strong enough engine to be allowed passage. Still, as I tried to get an explanation, many locals on seemingly similar motorbikes rode right on past without so much as even stopping.
Da Nang is a big city and it was challenging to ride. But now that I have become a more competent rider I found the challenge fun. I covered several kilometres riding out along the coast out toward the airport and then through the centre of the city.
Friday
Rented a motorcycle again and rode out to Hoi An for a night. It was a great ride down the coast and through the countryside. I am now able to make the rides in the time that Google maps estimates which meant that I arrived at my accommodation earlier than expected. I booked myself a small guesthouse just off the beach in a small resort village which is just one road, some dirt paths, and some bungalows and restaurants by the beach. The sun was shining and I was happy to be back on the motorcycle feeling more at home there than holed up in my room so, instead of settling in, I hopped back on and rode into Hoi An town.
Hoi An is a picturesque little town made up of small island communities connected by quaint little bridges. Tourism has been here for a while and the town has its share of coffee shops and boutique hotels. It is well designed for walking and riding through the crowded streets was a bit of a challenge and, in all honesty, I preferred to be riding out in the countryside and the small villages than hanging around town.
When the afternoon came around I hopped into the ocean for a swim. Put off doing my work because I was having too much fun. It is not hard to convince oneself that they deserve a day off when life is this fun and easy.
Thursday
I didn’t rent a motorcycle in Nha Trang. Although there were many opportunities to do so, I couldn’t justify it as I was simply enjoying myself too much. The weather was sunny and temperate every day and the beach and its waves were too inviting so that I spent most of my days splashing around in the water. I booked accommodation on the top floor of a modern high-rise overlooking the sea for $50 a night. The splendour of the sunrise pouring through the floor-to-ceiling window was enough to put a smile on my face and the desk looking out the window made the workday fly by. Daily, I would travel into town to get some of the best noodle soups I had had in the whole country and would snack all day on mango and pomelo that I could buy from the local fruit sellers.
Was sad to move on from Nha Trang but I only had 30 days to explore Vietnam. It is not enough. Took the bus into Dalat which is up in the mountains in the interior of Vietnam and its climate is nothing like what I had been experiencing for the last few weeks. Dalat – this land of 10,000 greenhouses – has retained much of the influence of the French from back when Vietnam was French Indochina. Instead of the tropical fruit I was finding in the beach towns, Dalat was famous for its strawberries and its wine. Instead of rickshaws, there were horsedrawn carriages in the park and swan-shaped pedalboats floating in the mountain lake on the eastern side of town.
Rented a motorcycle and went riding into the surrounding areas. This was a version of Vietnam that I did not recognize. I had grown accustomed to the palm trees and rice paddies, but here all of that was replaced by pine forests and waterfalls. The smell of those pine trees harkened me back to my youth and spending summers camping in the forests around Wellfleet and along the shores of Cape Cod half a world away. No ocean though. There is something about the power of that smell. Pollution tends to have a dampening effect and pushes only the more acrid urban smells to the fore, but up in the mountains away from town there was none of that and all of the more natural fragrances were able to radiate unfettered.
Saturday
I’m not all that moved by Mui Né. It’s one of the most touristed places in all of Vietnam and the number of high-end resorts that line the beach front make it feel more like Florida and less like the Far East. Where there are places to stay, there is no town to speak of and white tourists outnumber locals here and there seem to be more places to buy smoothies and hamburgers than there are noodle soups. It’s a windy place and famous for its windsurfing, but the beach is either inaccessible or not all that fun to play in. All that wind blows the sand over from the beach into the road and over to various parts of town where large dunes have piled up. Some of these are even so large that they have become tourist attractions in themselves.
Rented a motorcycle and headed out on a trip along the coast hoping to find reasonably priced accommodation by a nice beach. About 5 kilometres out of town I was stopped by roadside police who were checking documentation. It was a visitor’s tax. Nobody visits Vietnam and goes to the trouble to get the required local license and they know it, so they set up shop outside of town and stop everyone. People who don’t have the right documents can get in real trouble which usually leads to a bribe. The policeman asked me what language I spoke then in perfect English asked to see my license. I handed over my Canadian license and he informed me correctly that it was not the required document and that I needed to have a local Vietnamese license to be riding the motorcycle. I told him that between Mui Né and Hanoi this was the first time anyone had ever mentioned anything about these rules. He seemed cool with it, reminded me that it was required, and let me ride on.
I’m not one hundred percent sure why he just let me go. Many others were turned away and sent back into town and just as many were shaken down for a pretty penny. My suspicion is that he is there more to deter people who have just arrived in Saigon. Because I had already been in the country for almost a month, perhaps he figured it wasn’t worth his time to shake down someone who would just be leaving in a few days.
I went up the coast about 10 or 20 kilometres and then just turned left and headed into the interior. There were vast stretches of open road with no traffic and sandy hills on either side. Came to a sign that read bun rieu cua which is a variety of noodle soup that is topped with a sauce made from the pulverized crabs that are gathered from the nearby rice paddies and one that I had yet to try. It was just a home with a lady who served up the soup while her husband and a few of his friends sat in front, each of them 5 beers into their day and it was only noon. All of them were surprised to see a stranger. There hadn’t been a home for a kilometre before this one and there wasn’t a home for a kilometre after it either. What kind of business it regularly attracted one could only speculate.
Took another left turn and headed back toward Phan Thiet and then, when I hit the coast again, turned right and went down the highway along the coast through to where some of the fancier residences and golf clubs of wealthy ex-pats are before heading back to the little village where I was staying.
Monday
Took a bus to Vung Tau hoping to recapture that beach feeling like I had had in Nha Trang. Checked out just about every hotel along the beach and finally settled on one right at the very end. It’s affordable and I’m on the top floor and can hear the ocean from my room. Think I must have arrived on a holiday weekend or something because it was packed. The surf isn’t nearly as good as in Nha Trang and a rather strong north-south current was sending garbage from further up the beach to where I was playing in the water. I’d be jumping into waves and suddenly an empty chip bag would wrap itself around my legs. Thankfully, today wasn’t nearly as crowded as I imagine all of the families that were here over the weekend have returned to their home city and are all back to work. The beach and the surf were in much better condition and today I’ve spent most of my day out in the sun and playing in the water. Have decided not to rent a motorcycle. The rides around the south haven’t been as exciting as they were in the north and I’m having too much fun on the beach. Sort of feel like I’m at the end too. I can’t believe how quickly the month has flown by. Definitely going to miss this place. Kind of wish I could go back in time and visit with the insight I have now. I don’t doubt that I will someday return to this amazing country.
Friday
I’m leaving today.
Took a bus from Vung Tau to Saigon with a company arranged by the tourist office in Vung Tau and, despite being very cheap, was practically a private taxi. Wasn’t so much a bus as it was a van that made a few planned stops along the way and only picked up a handful of other passengers. I found myself moving all the way to the back when a man got on and he wouldn’t stop coughing. Vietnam has done an amazing job of suppressing this crazy virus that is making its way around the world, but still, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Found myself spending my time in Saigon exploring shopping malls and just trying to stay organized and preparing to move on. Almost cried when I had my last noodle soup. Also took my last motorcycle ride just a little while ago, but it was as a passenger. They have this great app here called Grab. Grab is a fleet of men in green shirts who can whip you around to anywhere in the city in just a few minutes. You can even order food from a restaurant and they’ll pick it up. The app is so full of errands that these guys can run for you that it’s hard to keep track of it all, but for about $5 I hopped on with all of my gear in my lap and got a ride all the way up to the north end of town to the airport.
Won’t be long before my plane takes off.
I wonder what Tony is up to.
