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I have been living in Vietnam for 18 years now, have loads of experience riding here, and am bit crazy to say the least ... not having been out of country for 12 years now, some of my family members gave up and came to visit, I toured them around, they by plane and vans, me on a near new Suzuki KTM 125 road bike , a fake/copy of the Suzuki DL 125, fake but runs great, Denny on a genuine Honda win 100 cc, trying to keep up, we had a blast !!!Best average speed was about 55 kms / hour, not including stops
All around average was about 35 kms / hour including stops
For those who say Hcmc / Hanoi can be done in 2 weeks , you will not see anything !!!
i drove hwy 1 from just north of Nha Trang to Hoi An, more like racing it, 1st day got us just over 300 kms, to Tam Quang just south of Sa Huynh, next morning we drove to Hoi An for 2 nights. This day’s drive was under small rain and cold conditions, not the best for driving
Next we drove over the Hai Van pass to hue, a more leisure drive, cloudy but no rain. The whole time in hue was raining, but it did die out as we left the city…
Hwy 1 road condition is good to very good, but driving this hwy is no picnic in the park, it does take 100 % attention all the time, no sightseeing allowed unless you stop ... no way i would do the whole length from Hcmc to Hanoi on hwy 1, it would be a nightmare ... crazy trucks and buses all over ... lower you attention and get in big troubles
Then went from Hue to A Loui, Hwy 49, 70 kms or so, 2 hours, about 1/3 of the road is under construction, but there is not big truck nor buses on this stretch, only local traffic and construction trucks, way easier to ride slower and see around, great scenery. We bought rubber boots in Hue, and were glad we had them…, It was very cold, had 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pants as well as a good rain gear on, face mask and gloves on…
From A Loui to Khe Sanh to Dong Ha, Hwy14, the famous HCM trail, awesome scenery, very little traffic of any kind, 110 kms, 3 hours is about minimum time to drive this. Still freezing cold at about 15’C
For some unknown reason, all 5 of the decent hotels in Khe Sanh were all filled up, so we headed to Dong Ha, Hwy 9, 50 kms, direct link between Lao Bao and Hwy 1, it is busy , trucks of all size blasting about, most of them overloaded and dogtracking , getting late, so we raced it so to speak, still took almost 1 hour ... slept in Dong Ha, at violet hotel, arrange by tam , from tam's cafe, great place to eat and a wealth of information about travels to and from Laos via Lao Bao
Had to get back on Hwy 1 for a while to go see the Vinh Moc tunnels, the sun came out as we left the caves, then cut across to Hwy 15, the HoChiMinh Highway, which starts at Cam Lo and joins up with hwy 14 just past the Phong nha ke bang national park ..this road is boring, rubber tree plantation most of the way, quite good pavement rolling hills, very little traffic and very few big curves, easy to make time here, but there are loads of police especially near Dong Hoi area.
Dong Ha is about 150 kms from Xuan Son, the entrance of the park, not much there, a few dingy hotels, priced very low, The place to stay there is the Phong nha farmstay, Ben and bich are a treasure of info and help in the area, the staff make you feel at home, it is hard to leave . Ben tells me that probably the best option in town is the Thien Thanh hotel, and that some of the others are now starting to get better, like getting real sheets and such, no english spoken in any of hotels, some local restaurants now have a english menu and do have cold beer thanx to Ben...
The road back,
We took the super scenic hwy 14 tru Phong Nha Ke Bang national park, have to take the western access to the park, same as going to paradise cave, have to tell the gate guard that you r going to the cave ... about 125 kms in the park, total distance to Khe Sanh is 265 kms, no fuel or anything but wilderness in the park, small bikes, do take extra fuel, don't go with a shady bike, you'll cry if you break down. it took 75 kms before we saw the 1st traffic, a park ranger on a motorbike, saw 1 more motorbike 100 kms later, no straight stretch of road longer than 100 meters, most feel like 10 or so meters between them, we could go as fast as we wanted, we averaged 36 kms/hr, we could of easily taken twice that time ... slept in Khe Sanh,
next day saw us do a whopping 390 kms over 10 hours, we were a'flying ... we were trying to get to Plei Kan / Ngoc Hoi, gateway to Bo Y border crossing near the Cambodia and Laos border, as it has a nice ? 3 or 4 star hotel for 12 or 15 usd / night... a treat at this time ... No way i will drive in the dark, so we had to stay in Dak Glei, 2nd time i stay there, a place to avoid staying at if at all possible ...
next leg saw us drive south to Plei Kan then take Hwy14C and road 675 to Sa Thay and Kon Tum, so to avoid the traffic . The road is 70 kms, ½ terrible and ½ loose dirt, not the best driving conditions, am glad I did it, but will not do it again on 675, but would love to do the length of 14C but is restricted
We headed south again on hwy 14, to Chu Se just south of Pleiku where we turned south east towards Thuy Hoa on Hwy 25, We slept at A Yun Pa, this section is good, very scenic and little traffic … 270 kms
Last day was on hwy 25, to Cung Son / Son hoa, where we veered south towards M’Drak on hwy 26 between Ninh Hoa and Buon Me Thuat, down this road to hwy 1 at Ninh Hoa , then 27 kms and was home at Jungle Beach
Total distance, 2320 kms, 12 days in all, 2 nights in Hoi An, 2 more nights in Hue and 2 more at the farmstay, so 6 days driving
Was great, was freezing cold, was so hot, was so much fun, I would do the parts off hwy 1 any day again …
Coffee flowers in bloom gives off such an incredible smell, can’t count how many times we stopped just to smell, how come there is no perfume … or is there?
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Hey, just read your thread, sounds amazing, really keen to do it but concerned about licence, as you're a resident I take it you have licence no problem but what about your friend Danny, what did he do with regards to licence/insurance etc? We have one month visa. Do you come across police much or get stopped many times? Thanks.7
i do not have a license, i keep postponing it , because it is easier to go without, my friends Danny or Stoyd and all of our guests at JB that come around on motorbikes do not have one either ...I have been waved tru speed traps doing 80 in a 40, 60 on a 40, they just wave us tru so far...
i have heard that in HCMc and MuiNe they have started pulling folks over , but not always ...
i also keep 2 X 100 000 vnd in a pocket just in case, then again i hear in HCMc and muine, they have learned to say 400 000 vnd please ...
when they have any kind of stops on the roads, they have lots of locals to deal with,. much easier to get money from them ...no hassle ...
