Category Travel
One of Vietnam’s most famous landmarks is Halong bay and the thousands of limestone islands (often called karsts) that stick up from the turquoise waters. There are plenty of operators that run boat tours to the bay, most of them out of Halong city. We tried to skip the crowds by taking a tour from Cat ba island instead. To get the most out our experience we went for a somewhat more expensive option and took a two day tour with a night on the boat. This worked out really well, we only had nine people on our boat, we … Read the rest
The night bus arrived in Hanoi around four in the morning. Still groggy with sleep I rode my bike to the hotel which was completely dark. I rang the doorbell hoping someone would answer. After a few minutes the hotel owner, who I must have woken up, let me in and quickly ushered me to a room. I slept for a few hours then took the motorbike out to the airport to pick up Renegade Wife. Since she was tired after her early morning flight, we took it very slow during the day, just wandered around the Hoan Kiem lake … Read the rest
I normally don’t get hung over when traveling, I don’t know why but seems to work whenever I’m abroad. Yesterday I relied on this a bit too much and partied a bit too hard with some friends from the hostel. I had planned to take the bike and just ride around in the national park but when I woke up I was in no state to ride a motorbike. So, I skipped that and joined another cave tour instead. The Phong Nha cave is up the river from the village so the tour starts with a 45 minute boat ride … Read the rest
Phong Nha national park is home to the largest cave in the world, Hang Son Doong. It would be extremely cool to go there but it takes seven days and costs 3000 USD per person which is just not feasible for me right now. There are plenty of other caves in the area however, and I visited two of them.
The Dark Cave is set up as an adventure, they kit you out with a life jacket, a hard hat with a light on it, and a climbing harness then send you off with a guide. The trip starts with … Read the rest
Today I didn’t have time for any real sightseeing, instead I hit the road and headed for Son Trach, a small village that works as a kind of hub for people visiting Phong Nha national park. By the main highway it’s fairly short and quick but I decided to take the scenic route i.e the Ho Chi Minh highway.
Getting there took a bit of trouble because the road was crossed in several places by the remains of mud slides and rock falls.
The way up 
One of the rock falls blocking the road. I did actually manage to pass
Hue is very close to the old demilitarized zone so there are a few military remnants in the area. The most interesting for me were the Vinh Moc tunnels, about 100 kilometers north of Hue, where an entire fishing village went under ground. On the way out, I happened upon a big communist monument of some kind. There wasn’t any information in English available but it looked cool with the big flag and everything. I will say though that the 40000 Dong entrance fee was a bit steep for a five minute visit.
Compared to the Cu … Read the rest
When I woke up this morning it was raining heavily. I waited until it had settled down a bit then got on the bike and headed to my next goal, Hue city.
I’m sure I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, this is a really gorgeous country to ride through. Sure, sometimes you will be on the noisy and crowded expressway racking up the miles, but as soon as you get into the countryside, the landscape becomes really photogenic. So, despite the rain, I stopped a few times to take pictures
Leaving Danang 
Flooded road that I had to
Hoi An is a very relaxed city, compared to Ho Chi Minh it barely counts as a city at all. The main draw is the ancient town, a fairly large area of small, old houses that counts as a UNESCO world heritage. It’s a bit touristic as almost all the houses have been turned into shops and restaurants, and most of the people you meet there are foreigners, but it’s very atmospheric none the less. I spent a good portion of my first day in Hoi An just walking around randomly in the old town. It felt really nice to … Read the rest
Before this trip started I made a rule for myself that I should not ride more than 200 kilometers a day. Today I broke that rule by a large margin. You see, in order to get more time in Hoi An and Hue I needed to get there as fast as possible, so instead of staying over in some beach town I decided to go as far north as I could in a day, hoping I could reach Hoi An by nightfall. My backup plan, in case I got too tired, was to take a hotel in Quang Ngai.
I … Read the rest
There are a few sights inside Daly city but the main draw is the surrounding nature. The general recommendation for seeing said nature is to join an easy rider motorcycle tour, but since I have my own bike I decided to combine the motorbike tour with the ride to my next stop for the night. Before setting off however, I went sightseeing in the city, starting with Hang Nga Crazy House. It’s a building with very unique architecture and while the architect still lives there you can walk around and explore it.
Photos of various angles of the Crazy House