Vietnam for 4 weeks December 2025

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Great pictures. Some of the roads look err interesting. Is the new year celebrated there?

In Hanoi last year there were hundreds of thousands of people around the lake in the the old town out for the new year celebrations.a massive firework display at the far end where I was stood for a couple of hours.
The year before there seemed to be millions of people in the centre of ho chi Minh down the main part of the touristy part all the way down to the river for the huge firework display. I stood there for hours too amongst so many people.
It was incredible.
It was also quite mad after with thousands of cars and scooters all trying to get back out. I'm glad I was walking.

 

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Chris and I had a pretty good ride today.
We started off at a Vietnam war memorial.
Then it was mostly main roads jousting with many busses and lorries again. Along the route I did take us to a few local tourist sites close to the main road.
There was a Japanese pagoda just down the road from a road that had massive over 100 year old pine trees lining each side.
An amazing amount of tourists there as well.
Then down some gravel roads to a beautiful waterfall.
Quite a few metal staircases to get down there but it was worth it. We were the only people down there as well.
Chris was quite amazed by the rainbows in the water spray.
Back onto another road that was built as a bypass that had many very steep hills all the way along it.
We had wonderful views of the surrounding mountains and many coffee plantations. Loads of tarpaulins laid out everywhere with tons of coffee beans drying out in the sun.
I Had the best 'pho' that I've had for the whole trip this morning at a small roadside cafe.
It's a beef soup with vegetables that has a few variations countrywide.
Delicious with a couple of the Vietnamese baguettes.
We carried on for a couple more hours as I'd like to get to Da Lat tomorrow.
There's a lot of touristy stuff to do there and in the local area.
Tried a couple of homestays but no rooms available. I had another look at Google maps and decided to head more into town. The next homestay is called the "Harmony botanical garden stay" looked interesting. So we duly headed into the city during rush hour.
The usual free for all at each junction but we are getting better at managing them now.
Then the route took us down some narrow back alleys with twists and turns all the way down. Finally after following the route it came to a dead end and I realised we were there. The young lady had to give me a pull backwards on my bike to get out of the wrong entrance and we enquired about a room each. We were told we'd need to be in a room shared with other people which to me sounded like a dormitory.
So I asked to take a look at the room.
It turned out to be a shared building with 3 bedrooms a kitchen and living area. 2 toilet/shower rooms.
2 bedrooms with a double bed and ours, a shared room with 2 massive queen sized beds.
The whole resort is built on a very steep hill and is quite frankly just incredible.
We then asked about some dinner and ate some great local food with the family. It was just superb.
Talking to the couple who owns it and he told us it took him 3 years to build the whole place. It's quite beautiful.
What a great day in lovely sunshine.
And I got another screw in my tyre too yesterday.

 

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After packing this morning I tried to pay the lovely owner and she wouldn't give me a price again. She said yesterday to me to just pay what I thought it was worth. I offered her 400,000 dong which is the going rate for a reasonable place.
We had dinner with her family last night too and she wouldn't take any money for that either. When I gave her 400,000 dong then Chris tried to do the same she said no 400,000 for both of us including the dinner last night.
That's about £13.60.
In the end I gave her 700,000. And I felt guilty at that amount.
There really are some beautiful and totally amazing people in Vietnam.
Off we went.
The usual mix of atrocious pot-holed roads to sublime new tarmac again today.
Absolutely stunning views of the surrounding mountains and the rice fields in the valleys.
Many more coffee plantations on the hillsides and roads with even more coffee beans drying out in the sun.
At one point I tried to get to an interesting looking waterfall that was highlighted on Google maps . We tried to navigate to it and ended up riding about 10 Kms down a concrete road that turned into a narrow mud track. Some very rutted and very steep parts.
Good fun on s fully loaded bike .
We got to the end and there was no sign of said waterfall just a gate and fence around another coffee plantation.
Thanks Google maps. It looks like it may be one that you need to hike too as there was no sign of a road going near it.
We carried on along some more great roads.
I then took us to a great waterfall next to the biggest Buddhist statue that I've ever seen. Quite impressive.
It's called the elephant falls for some reason.
After this as it was now 4 o'clock we decided to head to Da Lat to find a place to stay.
A couple of homestays we stopped at were either a little rough or one in which the rooms hadn't even been made up yet after the previous guests had left. So I took us to a hotel that I'd stayed at 2 years ago.
It's a lovely place and reasonably priced.
A very posh Italian restaurant just down the road provided some dinner.

 

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We are staying in Da Lat for 2 nights as I mentioned.
So this morning we had a nice fried egg baguette from a street food cart just up the road with coffee.
Then we set off for a little sight seeing locally.
It ended up being a waterfall fest in the end. The first place we went to was a waterfall that had an alpine roller coaster that goes down to it. There are also zip lines and many other activities in the valley here. The entrance fee was 250,000 dong £8.50
I killed an hour or two.
Then we headed south to find another one that was recommended on style motorcycles route maps..
The first part was on a superb bit of tarmac down through the local hills. The views were outstanding and there were a few very posh looking resorts with golf courses etc along the hillsides.
The main road wasn't quite so pleasant . Heavy traffic and the usual diabolical driving standards.
We got to the waterfall and paid the entrance fee. Another 40,000 dong each. About £1.36
Courtesy bus down from near the entrance for 15.000 dong. So about 50p.
Really splashing out today. The waterfall was incredible as were the surrounding rock formations in the gorge. We explored and climbed about on the rocks. Then Chris decided to walk back up the rocky steps to the top. I guess he couldn't afford the fare on the bus
Bloody hell.
It was a long way up.
I was seriously sweaty and knackered by the time I got to the top.
Bastard......
We set off south to another one that was about 30 minutes away.
A huge dam holding back a massive reservoir was on the way there.
We got bum steered by Google maps again onto a dirt road but back tracked and found the entrance. It was all a little old and overgrown but we stumbled down the rough little path and found it. Another nice one in a pretty little valley. We then did the long slog back up the valley in heavy traffic to get back to the hotel. Crazy drivers trying to run us off the road as always.
Going to ride into Da Lat to find food tonight.
It's dangerous in daylight, what could possibly go wrong.

Actually it wasn't too bad.
It's really quite nice in the centre, the lake and surrounding areas are very nice with it all lit up at night. I found a little restaurant that did superb food. All cooked in front of us, their attention to detail if some of the meals they were preparing was beautiful to watch.
We only had a burger each but it was exquisite. Chris had his in a charcoal black bun. He was quite surprised that it was a soft bread, bless him.
On the ride back there was a big house fire with half a dozen fire engines there. It didn't look good with the plumes of smoke billowing into the air. I can still see some smoke from our hotel a km away.

 

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A very long day today.
We left Da Lat at just before 07.30 .
It was a pretty good ride for the first half. Lovely mountain roads again through many coffee plantations. It almost seemed as if nearly all of the mountains and hillsides were cultivated with coffee bushes.
Also just about every other available space had a tarpaulin down with tons of coffee beans drying out in the sun, this included many roads and the centre of road junctions.
The traffic at this point wasn't too bad and it was relatively easy to pass trucks etc on the mountain roads.
There were some great views from the mountain passes again, very high up above the valleys, and a quick break for a coffee at a shack on the pass summit.
As we descended it was getting warmer and back on the main roads towards Ho Chi Minh city the traffic was back to its usual madness. It was getting hotter all the time and I stopped at lunchtime for a bit of street food. A couple of the lovely bread rolls with some pork did the job for me. Chris wasn't so keen so I gave him a bag of crisps from my top box. A little later we crossed a bridge over part of a lake. There were many boats and what appeared to be living quarters out on the lake. At a large stop by the bridge chus got a little lunch. I wandered around looking at the fishermen's catches in their large water tanks. There were some very big fish in this lake by the looks of the catch here.
We pressed on and then got pulled by the police again. They said we were doing 61 in a 50 section. After a bit of negotiation I got them down to 1,000,000 dong this time and we had no choice but to pay up. Robbing bastards. Corruption at its best yet again.
The slog into the city was mayhem. Traffic was atrocious with long lines of trucks. Many many cars and an unbelievable amount of bikes. Add on long stretches of chaotic roadworks to boot . This and the 30° plus temperature made it a hell of a drawn out journey.
After 9 hours on the road we finally made it to the hotel I'd pre booked. We unloaded and then had to park in an underground carpark with hundreds of other bikes as there was no parking at the hotel. At least it was only 100 or so metres away.
We had a great meal by a street called walking street, the area here is so full of night life it's quite incredible. Afterwards we found a bar with some good live music so Chris could have a few beers. And we could watch the thousands of people walking by. A very pleasant evening was had.

 

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We Spent yesterday in ho chi Minh.
We went to the bike shop first thing to sort out replacement cases for ours that burnt in the shipping vans fire.
The guy took us to a shop and the guy duly bought the 2 biggest ones we could find. he also paid for 2 smaller bags that we could use as hand luggage. Tied the bags to the bikes over the seat. Chris needed to get his to the hotel as he flies home on new years day. mine was being left at the bike shop as I'm going off to the meekong delta for a night before I return to ho chi Minh for my flight home on Saturday.
That sorted we got breakfast and the went for a long walkabout.
We walked to the war remnants museum and spent a couple of hours there, it very sobering to see all the pain and suffering caused in the whole country by the war. As for the long term damage caused by the Americans to the countryside and the people it's amazing that they have recovered as well as they gave to become some of the loveliest people I have ever met on all of my travels.
I won't go into the details here about the atrocities that occured but America should have been held to account for the war crimes that took place.
Truly awful.
After we wandered more and then did a bit of shopping at the famous Bén thãnh market place. A bit of haggling to get T shirts and Chris got a few items too for his family. I will have another look when I come back for my final evening.
Back to the hotel and out for the evening.
Walking street was a hive if noise and people. The bars and clubs with dancing girls and live music.
Loud and amazing.
Then we took the long walk in traffic and people towards the river for the new year fireworks.
The main wide shopping road had a large stage at one end with a boy band playing. the crowds were sat watching screens all along the boulevard as some were so far back you could barely see the stage. We say for a while when we got nearer the river. The fireworks were great and we then walked back to our hotel.
Chris got his cab at 5am to the airport.
I'll be packing my stuff soon.
A nice but exhausting day in a very hot city.

 

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I had a ride down to the Mekong delta today. A very busy road most of the way down. Very hot too.
It was mostly On main roads, so lots of traffic and traffic lights.
I then turned off and headed into the delta Islands themselves. They don't look all that big on the map but are quite large and where there are no bridges there are a few ferries.
Quite good fun and the fare is usually about 30p .
I tried quite a few homestays that looked nice but the first 4 or 5 were fully booked. I checked again on booking.com for availability after this and found what looked like a nice place. Luckily I was on a bike as it turned out it was a couple of Kms down a very narrow concrete or dirt path, as were a few of the others I tried earlier.
Google maps did it's usual misdirection again .
A guy came out of a house and pointed in the direction I should be heading, I figured he'd seen it before.
It's lovely here though and after booking in and taking a shower I had a coffee. Sat around for a bit then took a canoe out for a while on the narrow waterways. It was lovely.
I think there may be mosquitos around tonight as the room is rustic and not sealed but there is a mozzie net over the bed.
Dinner is ordered and I'm looking forward to that.
There seems to be mostly European people staying here.
I Nodded at a few
I may try a different route back to the city tomorrow but whatever I do it'll be very hot.
Last day on the bike tomorrow.
I'm relaxing in a hammock now having a nice cup of coffee

 

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[grantmac]

If you’re looking for T Shirts etc. to take home then try Saigon Centre just up the road from Bahn Thahn market. It’s a bit quieter, less tourists and you can get a better deal. I bought a shed load of stuff last time. Great quality, clearly same as the original they just run a few 1000 more off the production line and they end up in the market. A few great caps as well and don’t forget to get a pair or 2 trainers.

Friend works in the fashion business for Patagonia and all thier stuff comes out of Vietnam. When I asked about the T shirts she shrugged and said as long as it stays in Vietnam and is sold on the local markets they tend to ignore it. Nothing they can really do about it anyway
I paid 200,000 dong for the shirts and love them

Just a side note and not detracting in any way from your amazing motorcycle adventure and fantastic write up!

Will be there in 4 weeks as well

 

[TLSgazza]

If you’re looking for T Shirts etc. to take home then try Saigon Centre just up the road from Bahn Thahn market. It’s a bit quieter, less tourists and you can get a better deal. I bought a shed load of stuff last time. Great quality, clearly same as the original they just run a few 1000 more off the production line and they end up in the market. A few great caps as well and don’t forget to get a pair or 2 trainers.

Friend works in the fashion business for Patagonia and all thier stuff comes out of Vietnam. When I asked about the T shirts she shrugged and said as long as it stays in Vietnam and is sold on the local markets they tend to ignore it. Nothing they can really do about it anyway
I paid 200,000 dong for the shirts and love them

Just a side note and not detracting in any way from your amazing motorcycle adventure and fantastic write up!

Will be there in 4 weeks as well

I did get a few T shirts from Ben tanh. I paid 250,000 each for them after some haggling. Can't complain at that price either. That's £8.50 a T shirt.
I'm going to have a look at the Saigon centre tonight when I'm back in the city for my final night.

Dinner on the hopefully less noisy walking street after the new year celebrations as well, the hotel I booked is just off it.

 

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Final day on the bike today. I decided I'd do a different route back to Ho Chi Minh city from the Mekong delta this morning.
The route down yesterday was so congested with really heavy traffic most of the way.
It was the right decision. I crossed over the massive suspension bridge after navigating the small roads back out from the homestay.
Talking of which, it was a really relaxing evening there. I chilled out after dinner in a hammock just reading my book.
Magical amongst all the coconut laden palm trees and banana trees.
I then turned right and followed the road that hugged the Mekong river and decided I'd carry on to the east Vietnamese sea.
It was a nice place to stop and have an iced tea and just enjoy the view of the sea.
There were a lot of people there at the seafood restaurant I sat at, many children were playing in the water too.
I did notice a large off shore wind farm. They appear to have similar problems to other countries in that not a single one was turning as it was hot but there was no wind, even on the coast.
It's lucky they have a lot of big rivers and quite a lot of hydroelectric dams.
The rest of the route was very nice too. Fairly devoid of traffic still in comparison to yesterday's road.
The road into the city was much better too as many of the bridges over the rivers on the way in were for motorcycles only so there were no large vehicles getting in the way.
I dropped my bags at the hotel and then took the bike on its last journey with me as It's pilot back to the style motorcycles shop.
Paperwork sorted and my passport returned to me,
I got my free " I survived Vietnam's roads" T shirt and got a cab with my new suitcase back to the hotel.
I had a final wander around the area and took another look at the market. I didn't make any more purchases though.
Had some dinner and am having an early night as I have to be up at 4am to leave for the airport at 04.50.
It has been a great trip again. On the whole the weather was better than last year. We only had a few wet days in the whole month which was good.
That's it then.
If you want to get away for a proper adventure you can't go wrong in coming over here.
It's also so cheap.
Not counting the flights and bike hire, around £2,000.00.
I changed 40,000,000 dong in the UK. 10% of that went to fuel the police Christmas present fund.
I still have a few million left. So all in it was a little over a million a day for fuel, hotel, food and drink. And a few million for some added excursions here and there.
Bear in mind that one million is £34.00.
I'd have spent more staying at home.
It's quite mind-blowing really.
It's sad to be going home especially as it's freezing at home and my coat got burnt in the van fire along with our cases.
I also managed to ride 4,938.7 Kms. Not bad considering most of it was probably below 60kph or about 40mph.