Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos - Route Planning and advice
 

I am starting to plan a motorcycle riding/off-road adventure trip to the
following countries: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. I have already been to
Vietnam twice and Cambodia once, however was only riding in Thailand. In
Cambodia did the 4 day temple tour on foot. I am envisioning to start in
southern Vietnam, make my way up to northern Vietnam, then cross Laos into
Cambodia and back to Southern Vietnam. I was thinking 2-4 weeks should be
enough.

I am looking for either tour agencies or guides that I can do this with or
join an existing group. My schedule sees this to be after April 2009 since I
am tied up in a contract until then.

If anyone can start pointing me into the right directions, would be great.

Also, if anyone here has experience in the three countries (Vietnam, Lao, Cambodia), any advice, tips, hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Andreas

Boston, MA and Richmond VA

info@akmconsulting.net

Biking in Vietnam
 

Hey,

I have motorbiked in the North of Vietnam. When visited the country, I had only a short amount of time, and I took about five days to rent a bike in Hanoi and take it to Dien Bien Phu and then to Sapa, where I put it on the train to head back down to Hanoi. I had read that this probably the most amazing thing you can do in Vietnam, and it was even beyond my expectations.

The roads are very new, some were under construction still while I was there, but there were very few vehicles, which made for utterly fantastic riding, and great, varied and interesting landscapes. I would highly reccomend that you do something along this route.

Apparently the riding in Northern Laos is great too. The border crossing there, near Dien Bien Phu, is quite tetchy sometimes, so check if it is open and working properly before you go.

Best,

Bigmonts

Biking in Vietnam
 

Hi there,

I also motorbiked in northern Vietnam and will go to Cambodia this winter.

I rented a Honda Baja 250cc in Hanoi, basically apart from Minsk, that was the only bike I found. The rest were just scooters and similar.
Though old the bike was ok and I did a 2 up tour of nothern part until Sapa.
Couldn't find seats on the train to go back to Hanoi so woke up at 5 am and drove all day Sapa to Hanoi... best day of the trip!
Roads are not bad around Hanoi while not paved in the mountains. The route is cool, you go up and down the hills and see different ethnicity each valley.

Let me know if you need the name/adress of the rental shop where I took the bike and more info about the route. I don't think they have organized tours, but you can ask a guy to join you with another bike, no problem for that ... in Vietnam you'll always find somebody ready to help you...not for free but... you know...

Cheers
Taomorris

I am not sure if you are planning to bring a bike, buy one here or are renting

Cambodia is easy to do by bike, the real issues are taking bikes across the Cambodia Vietnam border. I have until now thought it not possible to do, whereas Laos- cambodia- Thailand is easy as long as your bike is properly registered.

As for riding Cambodia, if you prefer take a guide at $100 per day, do a google search and you get a few companies operating here: "red raid" "dancing roads" etc, but its not really necessary unless you really plan to go off road properly into the jungle

The main roads are much better than they used to be, which in my opinion has taken the fun out of it, but there are still some great off road trips, the Cardomom mountains and Mondulkiri to Rattanakiri. Are good.

A couple of nice trips to do where you don't need a guide on relatively good, if not wide, roads are:
1. Siem Reap - Preh Vihear - Steun treng- Kratie - Snoul - Sen Monorom (mondulkiri) - phnom Penh (about 500km)
2. Phnom Penh - Kep - Kampot - Sihanoukville - Koh kong (Thai border) (about 400km)

Regards,

Mick