Vietnam, February 2025
An extraordinarily beautiful trip lies behind me. Paul asked me if I would be interested in riding a motorcycle through northern Vietnam in February. Off-road. I was very hesitant, but then decided to go for it. A very good decision.
Vietnam is blessed with magnificent scenery. The rice terraces alone look amazing. Then there are the mountains, winding roads and, especially in the north, the limestone hills of the karst landscape. Then the foreign vegetation with palm trees, banana trees and many other plants and the water buffalos that are so foreign to us.
And then the friendly people. People smile at us everywhere, the children on the street wave at us because we look foreign and everywhere we go we are welcomed as if we have always belonged.
There were three of us. Paul from New York and I from Berlin have known each other for a long time. Paul brought along his colleague John from Seattle. John has a lot of off-road experience, but he couldn't really put it to good use on our tour.
Our guide was Kim. He is Vietnamese in heart and soul, very warm and open. Kim has a lot of experience as a tour guide and was able to show us many things, patiently answered all our questions and told us a lot about the customs and traditions and was always there for us. He knows the area like the back of his hand and guided us along the smallest roads. All without a sat nav. Kim also knows the small off-road trails and is a good off-road driver. That was less of an advantage for us.
Quang was our driver. He transported our luggage and was also there for emergencies, although we didn't have any ourselves - another group had a problem in between where he stepped in briefly.
We booked a tour with Vietnam Motorbike Tour Experts.
Chung provided us with information in advance and also listened to our wishes. We wanted asphalt, easy off-road routes and no mud. Due to the weather, this meant that we were mainly on the road. The tour started in Hanoi and took us in a wide arc to the northwest, along the Chinese border to the east and then back to Hanoi. In total, it was just under 1600 kilometers. The weather wasn't all that great. We had a lot of rain and wet roads. The clouds hung over the mountains and so we mostly had dense fog and wet conditions at higher altitudes. We were only able to see the sun on one day. But that didn't really matter because of the sheer amount of impressions.
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The roads are often dirty from the soil that is washed onto the road by the rain. You have to be very careful on a motorcycle not to skid. Everyone honks. Not because you're in the way, but to draw attention to yourself. Many scooter riders have no rear view and enter a road without looking. Trucks and buses make themselves known with powerful horns. It takes some getting used to. Apart from that, the rules are simple: look out for each other, see what the others are doing. This works even in the supposed traffic chaos in Hanoi. Don't make any unexpected movements and watch out for each other. And it works. The only thing that requires nerves of steel is that everyone comes within a few centimetres of each other.
Scooters are today's bicycles and everything is transported on scooters. We saw living pigs, chickens, sprawling sugar cane reeds, large stacks of tires, an entire convenience store on two wheels and even a scooter across the back. And of course the whole family (two adults, two children). Even the younger ones have scooters these days. They ride relatively slow electric scooters. We didn't have anything that fancy when we were young.
All pictures in three minutes
The city suits me like Berlin. Colorful, loud, very busy, lots of traffic and everything you can imagine. The city can be modern with high-rise buildings and wide streets and it can be old with small houses, winding narrow streets and street stores. On the day I arrived, I strolled through the old town, looked at a temple and watched a changing of the guard at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. In the evening, the three of us (John, Paul and I) went out for dinner together.
The first day of the tour. We are curious to see how we will make it out of Hanoi. But it works perfectly.
The weather isn't great, but the many impressions make that a minor matter.
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Wir erreichen die ersten Aussichtspunkte. Viel zu sehen ist wegen des Wetters nicht. Aber wir ahnen, was da so alles zu sehen sein wird.
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The third day is more or less dry and the sun is even shining on the way.
In the morning, Kim takes us on narrow paths high above the valley and we get a little off-road feeling and magnificent views of the valley below us. Later, we also drive through a tea plantation.
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We drive on from wet and foggy Sa Pa to the Chinese border and then carry on to a small homestay.
We also have fun with water buffalos.
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We continue on to Mèo Vạc.
We arrive in the karst region, where there are lots of pointed hills in the landscape. It looks very beautiful. But again, the weather doesn't play along and we are on wet roads almost all the time.
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We proceed to Lake Ba Bé. In between, we fight our way through some mud. The evening is very special in a homestay by the lake with guests from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the three of us.
Quang is not with us today. He dropped off our luggage, but then had to take a participant from another tour back to Hanoi.
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Something else very special. We drive across Lake Ba Bé into a river and through a cave. The bikes are on a small boat, as we are.
In the afternoon, we first have a little adventure due to a technical problem and then a muddy challenge.
And in the evening we are challenged at dinner. With live beetle larvae.
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It's already the last day of the tour. We first head back towards Hanoi on small roads. Then there are a few very nice dyke paths along the Red River before we plunge back into the traffic of Hanoi.
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I fly from Berlin to Frankfurt and from there directly to Hanoi. It's a very long flight at around 11 hours. That's why I opted for business class. You can lie down and at least get some sleep. Departure from Frankfurt in the early afternoon, arrival in Hanoi in the morning with a 6-hour time difference. Most of the time it's dark outside and you can't see anything.
The return flight is similar. However, this time we fly via Istanbul. First a night flight of 11 hours from Hanoi to Istanbul and then another three hours back to Berlin. At least I can look out of the window a bit.
