5 Days Motorcycling West to East Northern

Destinations: Hanoi - Mai Chau - Son La - Than Uyen - Thac Ba Reservoir
Total riding distance: About 942 km
Estimated riding time: Average 05 hours/day
Road conditions: Challenging road
Highlights:

• Stunning scenery
• Challenging roads
• Thac Ba Reservoir
• Colorful ethnic minorities

Summary: This motorcycling trip reveals a different route to get from Son La to Thac Ba. It offers adventurous riders stunning scenery and great tribal culture exploration. The route is not yet popular thus you do not share the roads with other tourist but mainly share the roads with the locals who are on their Honda to the farm. The perfect itinerary and the support crew ensure you get the most out of the trip in terms of comfort, enjoyment and adventure.

Day 1: Hanoi - Mai Chau
Leave Hanoi around 8.30am, we ride our motorcycles west to Mai Chau, an area of beautiful landscape and home to the Thai ethnic minority. We will ride on road No6 passing expansive rice paddies and scenic villages. We will have a stop for refreshment before tackling 70km of undulating road with great view of mountains and valley. We will reach Mai Chau at noontime. We ride straight to Pom Coong, a peaceful village of White Thai ethnic minority where we have lunch, dinner and spend our night in a traditional stilt-house of a Thai family.

After lunch we will have a short rest and then take a leisure ride toward Ma River. We will take a short boat ride upstream Ma River to reach a remote Thai Village. Relax and have interesting conversations with the villagers before we walk back to the dock.
Return to Pom Coong Village for dinner and overnight.

Activity: 170km riding
Meals: Lunch, Dinner

Day 2: Mai Chau - Son La
Breakfast at the home-stay before we embark on a beautiful ride up north to Son La. The road is in good condition and the scenery is stunning. We may take frequent stops to visit minority villages of H’mong, Black Thai,… or to take photos. Lunch will be in local restaurant en route. The highlight of our ride today could be the tea plantations in Moc Chau Plateau, where you find the best green tea in Vietnam grown along the roads on hillsides. We reach Son La in the afternoon.
Dinner and overnight in Son La.

Activity: 187km riding
Meals Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 3: Son La - Than Uyen
Breakfast in the hotel before heading to Tuan Giao, a small quiet town located at the junction of Road 279 to Dien Bien Phu and Road 6 to Muong Lay. We will take Road 279 heading to Than Uyen where we overnight in a small hotel.To day we ride 162km on smooth road with beautiful scenery and interesting tribal villages along the way. Lunch stop in Tuan Giao.
Dinner and overnight in Than Uyen.

Activity: 162km riding
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 4: Than Uyen - Thac Ba Reservoir
Today we will ride through a beautiful area of Yen Bai Province.The first stop is Mu Cang Chai, that has been long famous for its stunning rice terraces. After here we ride to Nghia Lo for lunch. After lunch we continue on Road 32 down to Van Chan where we make a turn left to Yen Bai Town.From Yen Bai we ride 13km more to reach Thac Ba Reservoir. We stay overnight in a homestay on the bank of the lake.Enjoy the quietness of the lakeside after a long riding day of 173km.
Dinner and overnight in Thac Ba.

Activity: 173km riding
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 5: Thac Ba - Hanoi
Breakfast in the homestay. We have time to swim or rowing boat on the lake before heading back to Hanoi . Stop in Viet Tri for lunch. In the afternoon, we ride straight back to Hanoi . We reach Hanoi around 6pm. Trip finishes.

Activity: 250km riding
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Note on client safety:
We reserve the right to deviate from this itinerary for any reasons, including road and weather conditions or for any other factor which may influence client safety.

Includes:

• Travel insurance
• Support van for the ride
• Honda (or Yamaha) 110CC (automatic gear)
• Helmet
• Gasoline on tour
• English or French speaking guide
• Accommodation as indicated in the itinerary (based on twin shared)
• Home-stay permission
• Meals as indicated in the itinerary
• Water & Snacks
• First-aid kit
• Entrance fees & Sightseeing fees

Excludes:

• Surcharges for other languages speaking guides, during festive seasons and peak season surcharges, which will be advised at time of booking
• Personal expenses
• Visa
• Air-ticket
• Tips

Details of the excursions please contact the travel consultants at adventure@vietnamjeeptours.com or call direct to (+84) 909602370

Visit www.vietnamjeeptours.com for more of company special deals and extensive Vietnam adventure offers.

Full Day - Explore Mekong Delta by Motorbikes

Destinations: Saigon - Long An - My Tho (Tien Giang)
Total riding distance: About 190 km
Estimated riding time: Average 05 hours/day
Road conditions: Mostly rural paved road
Highlights:

• Private tour.
• Beautiful natural scenery & quiet road.
• Take a boat trip on Mekong Rive

Itinerary:
In the morning, our motor riders will pick up at your hotel in Ho Chi Minh City and depart to Can Duoc Market - a stunning rural market (40km). The scene changes from bustling streets with buildings and noise to peaceful rice paddles with cottages and small houses on the way – in the open air of “steel horses”.

Then take a rural route to My Loi Ferry. Some stops en route to see farmers working on paddy fields. Cross Vam Co river by the ferry then ride to Go Cong then Tan Hoa (25km). Have some stops en-route to visit an incense workshop, through some remote villages and reach Tan Thanh beach for seafood lunch. Then continue riding from this Mekong Delta beach to My Tho(45km), the heart of the Mekong Delta.

Arrive My Tho, stop by the bank of Tien Giang River. Take a boat trip on Mekong River to Phoenix Island where local handicrafts and sweets from coconut are being produced. Enjoy fresh seasonal fruits and traditional live music and songs performance. Take a short ride to a typical local house to taste some homemade honey-tea. Proceed by small sampan boats through the small canals and side arms of the river to observe the daily life along the river banks with a stop and short leisurely walk at the Turtle Island.  Ride through Rach Mieu suspension-bridge for a breath-taking view of the Upper Mekong and transfer to Ho Chi Minh city (70km).

The trip ends at your hotel.

Activities:

• 190km motorbike riding.
• 03 hrs boat trip

Meals: Lunch


Includes:

• Travel insurance
• Vehicle support
• English/French speaking guide
• Meals as mentioned
• Accommodation based on twin share
• First aid kit
• Entrance fees & permit
• Honda motorbikes (Wave 110cc, Future 125cc….) with helmets & riders
• Water & snacks on touring
• Boat trips

Excludes:

• Surcharges for other languages speaking guides, during festive seasons and peak season surcharges, which will be advised at time of booking
• Personal expenses
• Visa
• Tips

Details of the excursions please contact the travel consultants at adventure@vietnamjeeptours.com or call direct to (+84) 909602370

Visit www.vietnamjeeptours.com for more of company special deals and extensive Vietnam adventure offers.

3 Days Taste of Ho Chi Minh Trail

Destinations: Hanoi - Mai Chau - Khanh Village - Hoa Lu - Tam Coc - Hanoi
Total riding distance: About 475 km
Estimated riding time: Average 05 hours/day
Road conditions: Beautiful quiet road
Highlights:

• Awesome scenery
• Homestay in villages
• Beautiful quiet road
• All inclusive

Summary: This trip offers a stunning motorcycling route with great exploration of nature and culture of northern Vietnam. The trip is organized for first time rider and easy adventure.
The legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail was the supply line used by North Vietnam to link North and South Vietnam during the American War. Soldiers, ammunition, weapons and supplies were carried by hand, bicycle and truck for hundreds of kilometers through the otherwise impenetrable jungle that covered Vietnam’s mountainous border with Laos. Recent road work that follow original sections of the trail have changed this.

Day 1: Hanoi - Mai Chau
In the morning we take a short bus drive the Ho Chi Minh Trail Museum on the outskirts of Hanoi. The museum is a great place to learn about the historic trail which we will ride on. After the visit to the museum we will jump on our Minsks and spend sometime to get familiar with the bikes.

Now, let’s begin our adventure. We will ride on Highway 6 passing extensive farming lands comprising a sea of paddy fields split by tree-lined roads punctuated by limestone karst scenery.

After a light lunch in Hoa Binh Town, the capital of Hoa Binh Province, we cross two short mountain passes then descent to the mountain valley settlement of Mai Chau.

Dinner and overnight in a stilt house of the Thai people.

Activity: 140km riding
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 2: Mai Chau - Canh Nang - Cam Thuy - Khanh Village
Say goodbye to the villagers we then head south on a beautiful winding road which follow the banks of the Ma River. After 2 hrs riding along the river we have a stop to see Fish Ferry Stream which is a great mystery of nature. It is a stream with thousand of big fish peacefully swimming in sallow water. We jump into Ho Chi Minh Highway and head to Khanh village, which is home to Muong ethnic minority.

Diner and overnight in a local house.

Activity: 160km riding
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 3: Khanh Village - Nho Quan - Hoa Lu - Tam Coc - Hanoi
After breakfast at the home stay we ride to Hoa Lu, the ancient capital on Vietnam which date back from 9th century. After here we have a stunning ride on village road to Tam Coc, the well-known “Halong Bay on the rice field”. We will have a relaxing boat trip on river. Lunch in Tam Coc. After lunch we ride back to Hanoi.

Arrive in Hanoi around 5.30pm.

Activity: 175km riding
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Note on client safety
We reserve the right to deviate from this itinerary for any reasons, including road and weather conditions, frequency of visits to a village, or for any other factor which may influence client safety.

Includes:

• Travel insurance
• Support vehicle
• Honda (or Yamaha) 110CC (automatic gear) 
• Helmet
• Gasoline for the ride
• English or French speaking guide
• Homestay permission
• Meals as indicated in the itinerary
• Water & Snacks
• First-aid kit
• Entrance fees & Sightseeing fees

Excludes:

• Surcharges for other languages speaking guides, during festive seasons and peak season surcharges, which will be advised at time of booking
• Personal expenses
• Visa
• Air-ticket
• Tips

Details of the excursions please contact the travel consultants at adventure@vietnamjeeptours.com or call direct to (+84) 909602370

Visit www.vietnamjeeptours.com for more of company special deals and extensive Vietnam adventure offers.

3 Days Deep into Mekong Delta

Destinations: Saigon - My tho - Cai Be - Vinh Long - Cantho
Total riding distance: About 385 km
Estimated riding time: Average 05 hours/day
Road conditions: Mostly rural paved road
Highlights:

• Private tour.
• Beautiful natural scenery & quiet road.
• Culture Exchange at homestay
• Take a boat trip on Mekong River

Day 1: Saigon - My tho - Cai Be
7.30 AM - Depart from Saigon to Tan An Town by motors through the peaceful villages. The scene changes from bustling streets with buildings and noise to peaceful rice paddles with cottages and small houses on the way - in the open air of “steel horses”.

Stop for a rest in My Tho. Lunch in local restaurant. Keep riding to Cai Be along the sides of Tien River to enjoy the tranquil rice fields, orchards, water buffalos, ducks swimming in the same rivers.

Arrive Cai Be in the late afternoon. You, with your motorbikes, will take a boat to the Vietnamese Tradional Ancient House, which is one of the nicest and oldest in the South of Vietnam remained intact over hundred years old and after so many turbulent occurrences in the war time.

Enjoy a welcome dinner will be prepared by friendly local host with warmness to get your energy back. Homestay in Cai Be.

Activities:

• 180 km motors riding (5 hours)
• 30 minutes transfer by boat
• Culture Exchange at homestay

Meals: Lunch, Dinner

Day 2: Cai Be - Vinh Long - Cantho
After early breakfast with Vietnam bean coffee, start your day with the motor rides on the island. It is a great chance for you to meet the local villagers, farmers. A short cruise on Tien River to visit the most unique floating market of Southern Vietnam. Disembark in Vinh Long pier in late morning; we head for Cantho on your motors with stops on the way to experience the daily life in the Mekong Delta region.

Overnight in Cantho.

Activities:

• 90 km motors riding (2.5 hours)
• 2.5 hrs boat trip

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 3: Cantho - Cai Rang - Saigon
6.30 AM - Ride to Ninh Kieu Pier to take a boat trip to Cai Rang floating market, one of the busiest fruit market in Southeast Asia. We have a long distance cruise & walk on a quiet country road to take in the magnificent scenery and get close to the locals as they go about their daily routine. Back to Hotel for breakfast. Then we will have short visit to Can Tho central market and Binh Thuy ancient house whose design is a combination of Vietnam and France with interesting involved stories but also a garden with various flowers and fruits, including a wide range of orchids and a record cactus.

Heading back to Saigon by 1A highway on your “steel horses” with stops for rest. Lunch en route. Arrive your hotel in Saigon in late afternoon.

Activities: 

• 215 km motors riding (6.5 hours)
• 2.5 hrs boat trip

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Includes:

• Travel insurance
• Vehicle transfer as program
• Accommodation based on twin share
• English/French speaking guide
• Meals as mentioned
• First aid kit
• Entrance fees & permit
• Honda motorbikes (Wave 110cc, Future 125cc….) with helmets & riders
• Water on touring
• Boat trip

Excludes:

• Surcharges for other languages speaking guides, during festive seasons and peak season surcharges, which will be advised at time of booking
• Personal expenses
• Visa
• Tips

Details of the excursions please contact the travel consultants at adventure@vietnamjeeptours.com or call direct to (+84) 909602370

Visit www.vietnamjeeptours.com for more of company special deals and extensive Vietnam adventure offers.

5 Days Deep into Mekong by Motorbike

Destinations: Saigon -Long An - My Tho - Ben Tre -Tra Vinh - Soc Trang- Can Tho- Long Xuyen
Estimated riding time: Average 05 hours/day
Road conditions: Mostly rural small paved road
Highlights:

• Private tour.
• Beautiful natural scenery & quiet road.
• Culture Exchange at homestay
• Xeo Quyt Revolutionary Base

Summary: Ride deep into Mekong Delta of Vietnam, discover the lives on water of local residents, walk through fruitful orchards, boat trips on branches of Mekong river, dine and stay at local hosts. This trip is an easy adventure on motorbike for those who wish to discover the beautiful Southern part of Vietnam on motorbike with a moderate level of physical efforts. A trip of the lifetime awaits, so pack your luggage and let's hit the roads.

Day 1: Saigon - Long An - My Tho - Ben Tre
Morning, Our guide with motorbikes will pick you up at your hotel in Saigon and depart to Can Duoc, belongs to Long An Province on dirty off-roads. This town is known as the land of jasmine rice, sticky rice in the country. Take a short ride westward to visit Ancient Rach Cat Fortress, one of greatest fortress in Vietnam built in 1903 by French.

Then ride eastward to visit an ancient house with 100 columns. Here we will enjoy tea and fruits offered by the owner of the ancient house. Continue riding to Cho Gao (or Rice Market), passing through quaint villages and dragon fruit farms.

Arrive in My Tho - the heart of the Mekong Delta, stop by the bank of Tien Giang River. Have lunch then take a boat trip on Mekong River to Ben Tre. En-route visit some local families, taste honey-bee and enjoy fruits then visit some workshops producing coconut candy.
Overnight at local house in Ben Tre.

Activities: 4.5 hours riding, homestay
Meals: Lunch, Dinner

Day 2: Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Soc Trang
After breakfast with the friendly host, start to ride from your home-stay to Mo Cay, ride through coconut plantation, water palm fields and cross Co Chien River by ferry to Tra Vinh city.

Arrive at Tra Vinh City - a pretty tree lined town with a large population of ethnic Khmer, have lunch at a local restaurant then take a short break. In the afternoon, pass Khmer villages & short pause at Khmer temples before riding to Cau Quan and take ferry to the small beautiful Island named “Cu Lao Dung”. On unpaved roads with tiny orchards along riverside, we can stop a while for break & taking photo then do riding further 3 km to another ferry to Dai Ngai, Soc Trang province.
Overnight in Soc Trang.

Activity: 5 hours riding
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 3: Soc Trang - Can Tho
 In the morning, take a short city tour of Soc Trang to visit Khmer Museum, Clay Pagoda, and Bat pagoda where hundreds of bat hanging on the top of the trees before taking rural roads to Can Tho. Stop for lunch at a local restaurant.

Arrival Can Tho city, we continue riding 10kms  to Cai Son canal for home stay. Check in thentake a slow ride along the path of fruit orchards and sometimes you may alsohear the birds singing, cocks warbling at sunset. Pay visits at  one orchard, small woodwork shop, tree garden laden with fruits, rice fields. On the village roads, we maycatch many interesting scene of children bathing in the river, ladies rowing boat to bring fruits home after harvest. This is a great time to enjoy the full of plainness, quietness of the southern countryside and hospitality of the Mekong delta locals. When night gradually falls, ride back to the local house for home stay.   Dinner at the local host.

Activities: 4 hours driving , homestay
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 4: Can Tho - Long Xuyen
6.30 AM, wake up early for simple breakfast with Vietnamese coffee (with or without condense milk). Take a boat trip to Cai Rang floating market, one of the busiest fruit market in Southeast Asia. We have a long distance cruise & walk on a quiet country road to take in the magnificent scenery and get close to the locals as they go about their daily routine.

Back to homestay for check out. Then we will ride back to Can Tho city for  a short visit at Can Tho central market and Binh Thuy ancient house whose design is a combination of Vietnam and France with interesting involved stories but also a garden with various flowers and fruits, including a wide range of orchids and a record cactus.

Late morning, we depart Can Tho and head to Long Xuyen City with stops at Thot Not’s crafts village & famous Bang Lang Stork Garden. First stop en route is the crafts villages of Thot Not District such as Di Tho lop village (Lop is a tool made of bamboo to catch fishes), Ba Rui cookstove (made of clay) village, and Thom Rom net village. Then next stop is at Bang Lang Sanctuary of Thousands of Storks.
Overnight in Long Xuyen.

Activities: 2 hours cruising, 3 hours riding, 1 hour bird-watching
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 5: Long Xuyen - Saigon
Morning, we will leave our motorbikes at hotels and try a “xe loi”, the local colonial-era cab pulled by motorbike, to see the town before back to hotel and continue on our “steel horses” to ride on back roads and little track by waterway to Ho Chi Minh City via Cao Lanh town.

On the way, we will do a pause at Xeo Quyt Revolutionary Base, an old former soldier will be your local guide and take you into the boundless watery cajeput by rowing a boat. Lunch in Xeo Quyt restaurant, After lunch, continue heading to Saigon via  Cai Be Dist. The trip concludes at your hotel.

Activities: 45 minutes boat-rowing, 5 hours riding.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Includes:

• Travel insurance
• Vehicle support
• English/French speaking guide
• Meals as mentioned
• Accommodation based on twin share
• First aid kit
• Entrance fees & permit
• Honda motorbikes (Wave 110cc, Future 125cc….) with helmets & riders
• Water & snacks on touring
• Boat trips

Excludes:

• Surcharges for other languages speaking guides, during festive seasons and peak season surcharges, which will be advised at time of booking
• Personal expenses
• Visa
• Tips

Details of the excursions please contact the travel consultants at adventure@vietnamjeeptours.com or call direct to (+84) 909602370

Visit www.vietnamjeeptours.com for more of company special deals and extensive Vietnam adventure offers.

A JEEP THING – VIETNAM

By Turtle Little

Since when jeep as an vehicle has become so popular as an icon of strength, adventurous and definitely a life style? The information is now easy to get, just Google it and we will find out a full lists of history dated back during WWI and WWII.

Jeep has its own prestige when the same image is perceived in most of the places it presents. Simply put, it’s only an vehicle to carry first military missions then transform to civil use. However, behind the name there are great stories to tell especially with the Jeep vehicles which are part of the history.

Vietnam

Came with the American troop during the war, the vehicle was considered the king of the battlefield when carried soldiers, wounded men and many supplies for the war, on almost every terrains. The popular scene of the time was the Jeep drove as it’s maximum speed shuttled between cities, battlefields, hospitals, jungles, crossed streams and rivers and of course with gunmen on them.

Perhaps, if put aside the ugly war scene, the vehicle itself is a perfect imagination of what adventure lovers look for with great characters (just like what people would like others to perceive when drive it): casual, down to earth, adventurous, fear no danger or difficulties, courage and open minded.

Finished the war, left by the American troops, Jeep stayed in the country, mainly Southern Vietnam & neighboring country of Cambodia. They were used for endless list of civil missions: as a local bus to carry people, sometime animals from cities to cities (often seen full load of people inside and bulky bags behind), to carry woods in the jungles together with the elephants, buffalos sometimes (thanks for its 4WD), police and firemen patrol vehicles and of course as a part of the history, in the museum (still seen the one in the Independent Palace in Saigon which is the witness of a General capture)

Years after the opening up of the country, the new model of cars started to come into view and Jeep was eventually ended its missions both military and civil tasks. At peak time this is quite a good source of craps to reproduce steel, a Jeep with its original engine could weight hundreds of kilograms of steels – a considerable amount at the time for a humble living standard. Most of the vehicles slowly disappeared and seen only driven by some police department who are waiting to change new patrol cars.

However, as said, Jeep with its beauty never dies (but some over thirty-year-old engines sometimes yes.), when the image of Jeep as a lifestyle once again appreciated by its lovers of all ages, genders and occupations. Seen again on street of Saigon, Danang, Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap Angkor Wat the restored military Jeep carrying foreign travelers from all over the world. What a Jeep trip stands for? May be fun drive, or a little unconventional experience or the feeling of freedom again who many people has forgot? Perhaps there is not only one answer. We feel it and just is enough!

And if somewhere when you happen to read this article you might consider such an experience in Saigon or Sieam Reap – Angkor Wat and need to contact the people who share the same passion. They may be helpful then.

Vietnam Jeep Tours

Mail: adventure@vietnamjeeptours.com  

Ph: (84 8) 6290 6577

Direct: (84) 909 602 370

P/S: Did I mention above that I just finished a trip in Siem Reap, Angkor Wat December last year on a military Jeep M151 A2 drove on the mud roads in the middle of the ancient jungle? Awesome!

Saigon, Jan 2011