Myself and my partner are planning an approx 10 day cycle trip from HCMC to Angkor Wat in November 2015. I know that they are a number of organised tours available for this route but we are interested in "going it alone". Can anyone advise where we could each purchase a bike in Ho Chi Minh for our journey?
We're very much in the beginning planning stages right now so open to suggestions and advice from anyone who has done a similar journey or knows the area.
Thanks!
Looking at a map the obvious route is HCM - Moc Bai - Svay Rieng etc. This is a fairly boring, heavily trafficed route although the roads are good.
A much better route is setting Google maps to "walking" & try;-
HCM to My Tho (great ride through idylic countryside) then My Tho - Can Tho - Cao Lanh - Cao Doc - Neak Luong - Kampong Cham - Kampong Thom (via road 71).
Then a fairly bad road with heavier traffic from Kampong Thom to Siem Reap perhaps stopping in Stoung.
If you want to stop in Phnom Penh then from Neak Loung there's a nice country road that runs on the East side of the Mekong rather than using highway 1 on the West side.
Alternatively enjoy good quiet roads by going Chau Doc - Ha Tien - Kampot - Takeo - Phnom Penh & then bus it to Siem Reap.
If it helps click on the routemaps on my index page & I've covered most of those routes/ stopovers at some point;-
www.stillroamin.blogspot.com
Hope it helps.
PS - I don't know what Neak Luong will be like nowadays - perhaps a bit of a ghost town now that the bridge has replaced the ferry crossing.
I don't know the address of the shops but I know some German guys regularly fly into HCM buy good quality 2nd hand bikes for $200, cycle to Sihanukville & then sell them for $100.
Hi, thanks for the response. I'm having a read through your blog and it's great, really helpful! I may have to adjust our route slightly to incorporate some of the places you suggest. Looks like you had a great journey - it's making me wish we had more time to spend there!
Hi!
My girlfriend and I did 2500km on bike in Vietnam 3 years ago and it was great! We started and finished in Ho Chi Minh City and that is also where we bought our bikes. There is a street where they have plenty of shops (around 20 off them) selling second hand bicycles. The street is called Bùi Hữu Nghĩa. We walked from shop to shop until we found two we liked. We managed to bargin them down to half price plus ad a few accessories. We did a local solution for the bags.
We found a nice bike shop a few streets away where we bought a good sadle and a bicycle computer.
We didn't go west from HCMC, only to the tunnels and then turned south. So we can't really help you with directions and routes but stay away from the big roads where heavy traffic goes. They are no fun and dangerous. It's dense populated in Vietnam so easy to find accommodation everywhere.
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