Solo Ride – Vietnam

The plan for day two sounded simple enough: spend a bit of time in Ho Chi Minh City in the morning, pick up the bike around midday, and ride to Cat Tien for the night. It kind of half worked out…

I woke up at 10am Vietnamese time – which is 4am back in England – so I didn’t feel too guilty. I had a quick walk around the hotel area, but there wasn’t much going on, so I jumped on a motorbike taxi straight to Tigit Motorbikes. They were expecting me and had everything ready to go. I picked up a few extras: fabric panniers so I could carry more gear, a gel seat cover to save my backside over long distances, and a poncho – just in case.

Once the paperwork was sorted, it was already lunchtime, so I grabbed my first phở of the trip – and was not disappointed!

Then it was back to Tigit, where they helped me download a Vietnamese mapping app and loaded the official ‘Tigit Motorcycles’ route from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. From now on, all I have to do is follow the purple road.

I stopped to grab a few essentials (toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant – glamorous stuff!), and it was 2pm by the time I finally set off.

The first bit of the journey was getting out of Ho Chị Mình city – and being frank here, it was a pretty grim experience. Big thundering lorries, roads jam packed with motorbikes – and the fumes…. like breathing straight from an exhaust pipe.  It took a long time, but eventually the road opened up and the gọing got much easier.

One early lesson: speed is not your friend on Vietnamese roads. A nice stretch of tarmac can suddenly turn into a pothole-filled mess without warning. At first I wondered why the locals were riding so slowly, but it didn’t take long to understand – anything faster just wouldn’t be safe.

As I finally left Ho Chi Minh City behind and the road opened up, another problem loomed – the ominous, ever-darkening skies above.

The weather is hot and humid and something big was definitely brewing.

I felt a few spots of rain and decided to keep going anyway – the sky ahead seemed brighter than the sky directly above – I kidded myself that I might outrun it. But 30 mins later it hit. I managed to pull under a shop awning just in time before the road turned into a river. I threw on the poncho, but there was no riding in that kind of downpour. The rain was torrential – next-level stuff.

About an hour later it eased off and, with it now being around 4pm, I pushed on. 

Then came the next surprise: it gets dark much earlier than I expected (nothing like good preparation, eh?). After another hour or so, the light was fading fast and my app said I still had 120km to go. The bike’s headlight wasn’t exactly confidence-inspiring, and I realised that pressing on would be a bad idea. I’d passed a few motels earlier but they didn’t look too appealing, so I searched properly on my trusty iPhone app and found a hotel about 10 miles ahead in a town called Dinh Quán.

When I got there, the app took me down some very quiet back streets and deserted roads – and when I arrived at the destination there was no hotel to be found! By now it was fully dark and I was feeling tired, wary and more than a bit fed up. I turned back towards what looked like the town centre, spotted a glowing Motel sign and decided to give it a go. Thankfully, it was just what I needed – basic, yes, but with a bed, aircon and very friendly owners who made me feel instantly welcome.

After a quick shower I headed out to find food and came across a tiny place where two locals were eating rice with cabbage and beef. It looked great, so I asked for the same. The owner was lovely – he and his wife laughed and smiled when I told them it was delicious in (very poor) Vietnamese.

Back to my motel in this little town I’ve never heard of and back to my room with no windows and plain white walls. There is a basket with towels on a side table, and when I move it a little lizard looks startled and then darts off… a friendly companion for the night!

So, a mixed day. I didn’t make it to Cat Tien, but I learned a few things that should help for the rest of the trip.

Tomorrow I could either head to Cat Tien as originally planned – or I could bypass that and go straight to the next port of call on the purple road: Da Lat. Da Lat is a beautiful city in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, famed for its cool, misty climate, pine forests, flower gardens and coffee farms. With French-style villas (from its colonial past), lake views and fresh mountain air. It’s known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’ – which sounds like it might just be the perfect antidote for today!