19/3/2025

Buon Ma Thout to Dak R Lap district

ATD 0830
ATA 1200
Ride time 3.5 hours

I want to be at the ouksirts of Saigon no more than 2 hours away on Thursday 20/3 so that on Friday 21/3 I can return the bike to Dragon Bikes in Saigon by lunch time.

I wanted to ride further for 4 hours today but there were no accommodations I could find online. So I opted for this place which turned out to be not so great.

The ride was nice and again it was chilly.
The hotel said it had AC on booking.com but the room only had a fan. The receptionist could not understand what I was saying even with Google translate and kept on saying Agoda. A Vietnamese who spoke some English translated for me and I was finally shown my room but with no AC.
I sent a email to Booking customer service but looks like I was ignored.
The customer service by these OTA's are becoming really shitty.

In the evening I didn't feel like riding out for dinner. As I was standing outside the guesthouse, a young Vietnamese staff appeared and I asked her whether they could cook me anything for dinner. She was very obliging and cooked me some noodles with eggs and vegetables.

Tomorrow is a long ride to my final destination before Saigon.

pics

20/3/2025

Kien Duc to Thu Dau Mot.

ATD 0710
ATA 1150
Ride time 4.75 hours

Today is the second last day of riding my tour.
It was a boring ride on highways most of the time. Didn't stop much.

Today's hotel is much better! Comfortable and with AC! yeeha.......
It's not so much the AC but what I don't like is being charged for something I did not get. It's the principle!

After I woke up around 5ish in the morning I checked my email and there was no email from booking.com on my complaint. I send them another email again and I got a reply within a few minutes. Said that as the reservation was facilitated by a "partner company" and not booking.com directly they can't do anything. WTF!
Reservation was made on booking.com's app and now they wash their hands.
I am going to give a stinking review for the property I stayed in so that others are aware of this cheating tactic.

Learned something new today, don't make a reservation on booking.com which says "partner offer" facilitated by booking.com partner company.

My experience with all these OTA's not all positive. Agoda in Japan charged high foreign currency exchange rates.
Booking "partner offer" is BS and you have no recourse if there are problems. If you see "partner offer" stay clear!

Tomorrow will be a short ride to Saigon of less than 2 hours. I want to return the bike by lunch time.
Going to stay at my mate's apartment for a night (21/3) and then leave for SGN airport on morning of 22/3.

pics







Hotel I am staying at. Quiet nieghbourhood. No shops nearby. I asked the reciptioninst to order online chicken rice.

I’m surprised this is the first time you’ve encountered this sort of misrepresentation, which I find quite common whether “partner” lodgings or not. In my experience, Booking.com works we’ll much of the time, but abysmally at other times. Customer service is difficult and generally unsatisfying—my recent experience includes promised refunds which never arrive. And your suggestion to steer clear of “partner offers” is definitely on target.

The real problem is that there are no practical alternatives, since other booking agencies like Agoda, Hostelbookers or Airbnb are (IME) even worse, without the wide selection. You haven’t lived a full life until you show up for a pre-paid accommodation, late and exhausted, only to find they don’t honor the booking or pricing—this has happened to me about once out of twenty bookings at Booking.com. More minor issues, like no A/C or different rooms, bath or bed arrangements, are more common, at least in the places I travel.

Wishing you good luck with the remainder of your trip and with your father’s health.

@markharf,

I am trying to recall in my 10 bike tours all over Asia and with each tour at least 4 weeks, I don't remember encountering this sort of misrepresentation.

Sure, hot water is a hit and miss thing but I guess i can make do with that. But the AC thing this is the first time I encountered it.

Yeah, I hear you when you arrive at your hotel after a long ride and they tell you your room is not available. I mentioned my experience in the city of Buon Ma Thout and I had to hunt 3 hours till it was dark to look for a shitty room.
In that hotel I put a towel over the pillow to sleep as the pillows looked yellowish and had hair! And the mattress was thin as fark. ugh.......

I concur that there are no real alternatives to the OTA's like Booking.com or Agoda. I did use Trip.com in Japan on 2 occasions but their selection is limited. And Trip.com's customer service was much more responsive though.

Now at the tail end of my tour and I have unfinished business in Vietnam! But it will have to be on the backburner as my next trip is to Bali and East Java, Indonesia in July for 30 days.

Thanks for the wishes!

I don't normally drink but I am ordering a with my mate tomorrow evening!

I find myself using Trip.com more and more as there is usually a pretty good selection and when the same hotel is listed on Trip and Booking.com, 9 times out of 10 it is cheaper on Trip. Just my experience. Agoda was the worst: turned up to my booked room, only to be told that the hotel had stopped dealing with Agoda some time ago as they never paid the hotel!

@ouroboros2015,

I will have to check Trip.com when I look for accommodations instead of just relying on Booking.com and Agoda.

One thing I don't like about Agoda is that their reviews don't feel genuine and they use AI and I did not like their foreign exchange rates when I was in Osaka last year.

Booking was my de facto choice until recently.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

21/3/2025

Thu Dau Mot to Saigon

ATD 0830
ATA 1000
Ride time 1.5 hours

Final ride today.
Heavy traffic all the way to Saigon. Not a fun ride.

Dropped by at my mate's place first to dump the bags and then lunch.

After lunch around 1330hrs rode to Dragon Bikes and returned the bike.

Had dinner and with my mate in the evening and next day 22/3 took a Grab to SGN airport for my flight home.

Total mileage 2991km and about 800 odd kms is making my way back to Saigon.



View of Saigon from mate's apartment

I would like to return back to Vietnam again and most likely start from North to South and then do the Ha Giang loop again.

I have heard reports that the Ha Giang loop is heavily policed and the cops will ask you for money even though you have the correct IDP for motorcycle.

As I have been to Vietnam 3 times now, I prefer to do other countries such as:
Bali & East Java, Indonesia
Tokyo, Japan,
Kalimantan, Indonesia
India,
Pakistan.
China (have to get a local Chinese driving license though to be able to ride there)
New Zealand (my mate in Saigon who is a Kiwi will ask if I can rent a bike from his brother. Maybe it will be cheaper than renting from a bike rental shop)
I would also love to do South Korea though it is difficult to rent a bike there.
And the ultimate...... South America

Looks like will have to scratch Pakistan off my bucket list.

Pakistan does not recognize the IDP for 1949 Geneva convention. So that means my travel insurance does not cover me in Pakistan.