Biking The Ho Chi Minh Highway | Hacker News Reader

Biking The Ho Chi Minh Highway

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Vietnam really stands out for me in the world as a place that feels substantially different from the Western world we are used to, yet remains pretty darn safe for a Western tourist.

Given that it is also comparably inexpensive, it really is a fantastic place everyone should try to visit sometime.

Downsides: Lots of people have figured out how awesome Vietnam is already, so you certainly won't be the only tourist.

Also, after you've spent five minutes on a Vietnamese street corner you'll appreciate that riding the Ho Chi Minh Highway is indeed quite dangerous... but just for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with being a tourist.

> Given that it is also comparably inexpensive

I had to pay 150$ for a 1 month visa, so I don't know how they can encourage tourism with such high visa costs.

you must not be USA/Euro/Japan citizen?

Nationality does not matter

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293921-i8432-k6284369-...

It does. Visa on arrival is cheaper for Americans, google it. I paid $15 beforehand online and some fee when I got there. Maybe $25.

there is nothing outstanding about safety in Vietnam, most of south east asia can be packed in the same bucket, with +- same safety, and just different flavors of exotics

If anyone does this, consider getting a 3 month Chinese visa first (they've recently been a pain to get in Vietnam due to frosty but thawing relations - Chiang Mai or your home country are good bets) and continuing either to or from Yunnan in China (where I've lived mostly for the last 15 years, despite being Aussie, and trying LA and London). I've done part of the HCM highway by motorbike, but a lot of cycle touring in the region, eg. http://pratyeka.org/bike/southern-yunnan.html - never took a laptop though, that's nuts!

It's a shame the author skipped the Cham monuments in the middle of Vietnam. It's truly fascinating to see such robust physical evidence of ancient Hindu civilization amongst a modern, Sinitic one. This is part of the real beauty of Southeast Asia as a region. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%E1%BB%B9_S%C6%A1n

My family are actually about to spend a couple of weeks down in Yunnan's Wenshan prefecture on the Vietnamese border. It has great karst scenery, villages historically inaccessible except by boat through cave systems, cliff tombs, neolithic cave paintings, etc. That's just one corner of Yunnan (we also have Tibetan zones, tropical zones, etc.)

Another good option cycling out of Vietnam is northern Laos, toward Phongsali from Dienbienphu - really 'out there' villages, still real - and you can include your bike on boat trips down some of the rivers in the area.

Finally, if anyone's dead serious I am thinking of shipping two Weta trimarans - http://wetamarine.com/ - I sail on Fuxian Lake in Yunnan down to Halong Bay for a sailing/camping exploration of the archipelago before selling them. Been once before by public boat, there's some great beaches!

Bicycle touring is an absolutely fantastic way to see any country, I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in adventure travel. Although if you've never done it before I'd recommend starting in Europe (with its large network of cross-country bicycle paths).

A couple of months ago, I bought a $300 Chinese knock-off Honda Win motorcycle (~100cc) in Ho Chi Minh City and did pretty much the same route as this guy, albeit with much fewer stops. It was pretty incredible. Definitely the best way to experience Vietnam.

A similar highway exists in Thailand, the Mae Hong Son Loop[1], which I also did on motorcycle while I was backpacking Southeast Asia. Also highly recommended.

[1] http://wikitravel.org/en/Mae_Hong_Son_Loop

Glad to hear that it's still possible to do motorcycle tours in VN! I did a northern loop in 2011, it was my first real motorcycle experience: http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/7-day-north-vietnam-ri...

is this the same stuff Top Gear did couple of years ago as one of their special? that was an inspirational episode indeed

OT: Medium's lazy loading feature is super-annoying if you have a less than awesome connection.

agreed.. as if its really benefitisl to show an extremely gaussian blurred placeholder image. at first, i thought they were blurred due to gory content.

As a Vietnamese, I don't want to say the land is awesome or something like that. If you want to go, just go. We do not have good infrastructure but safe enough for tourists.

Great story. It reminds me a special episode of Top Gear [1] when they went to Vietnam and travelled across whole Vietnam by bikes they had to purchase there with the money "producers gave them".

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear:_Vietnam_Special

I really want to do the same trip they did! With less challenges and smaller souvenirs of course.

Very cool. He did not say, but I assume, he was totally alone? That is very brave. And those skinny tires? I would have assumed a mountain bike or something similar?

I would like to do something like this with a group of people.

Why is it very brave? There are tons of people around. It's not like biking through an uninhabited wasteland.

It's been 8 years since I was in Vietnam, but just crossing the street on foot was an adventure. I can only imagine some of the near misses you would have on a bike.

It's really not that bad. You just have to move in a predictable manner so all the motorbikes can judge where you're going to be. It's like a school of fish. You only really have to worry about the big trucks and buses that drive like they own the road. Generally motorists are much more aware than they are in the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r... would suggest that Vietnam is more dangerous.

I spent a few weeks in Vietnam. At one point I saw, within the span of two days, the immediate aftermath of two separate incidents of motorcycle riders crushed under buses. I know it's anecdata but it shook me enough to never want to be there on two wheels.

No need to go with a group. Really it's just like biking around your neighborhood, but then staying overnight where you end up, and then continuing on the next day.

http://daxfohl.blogspot.com/

Note I'm not particularly in shape, not "brave" by any traditional sense of the word, and hadn't ridden a bike in 15 years before my first bike ride, from Poland to Turkey (the above is my second). I have traveled quite a bit before then though.

I'd recommend knobby tires. There are a good number of other riders I met along the way, but only one was using a road bike.

Craig here. Thanks for reading!

Yup, I was alone.

I think a cyclocross bike with slick tires would be the best choice, assuming you want to do 100+ mile days. The 28mm tires were fine–the issue was fork clearance when they started to pick up dirt on the wet sections. If you wanted to ride on the dirt (mud) roads here you'd want at least 35mm.

It seems that you ate a lot of egg bánh mỳ on the trip :)

Awesome article, brought back memories but I'll admit I haven't travelled Vietnam anywhere up north or by any similar mean, just train and buses. I should try the ride by motorcycle sometime.

seems absolutely no vehicular traffic on this route, that would just take out a lot of noise / pain from the ride! Craig, any inputs on that?

Yeah, it thinned out to about one passing vehicle per hour in the most remote parts.

The section I recommend (Day 5, Mile 70 to Day 10, Mile 64) is pretty light on traffic, especially trucks + buses.

Awesome trip. Though even many Vietnamese don't want to travel HCM highway. You make it looks fantastic, now I need to go there too.

Definitely try Nepal next, though I think you'd totally need to change your tyres, the Nepalese country roads are brutal...

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