RideHochiminhTrail.com

ACTIVETRAVEL ASIA (ATA) is offering Great Summer Promotion 2010 in Vietnam and Cambodia. These promotions are guaranteed by luxurious adventure tours, add-on values and reasonable prices.

ATA kicks off Special Summer Promotion 2010 covering all kinds of adventure tours include trekking, biking, motorcycling, kayaking and family adventure in Vietnam and Cambodia. There are eight tours in Vietnam (www.activetravelvietnam.com), eleven ones in Cambodia (www.activetravelcambodia.com) and three others combining between Vietnam and Cambodia. Each tour is provided with unique and special value-added services.

ATA 2010 Summer Promotion

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This trip offers a stunning motorcycling route with great exploration of nature and culture of northern Vietnam. The trip is organized for first time riders and easy adventure travelers.

Motorcycling tour with Activetravel Asia

The legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail was the supply line used by North Vietnam to link North and South Vietnam during the American War. Soldiers, ammunition, and supplies were carried by hand, bicycle and truck for hundreds of kilometers through the otherwise impenetrable jungle that covered Vietnam’s mountainous border with Laos. A testimony to the ingenuity, fortitude and commitment of the northern Vietnamese, the trail slipped from use at the end of the war and was taken back by the jungle. Recent road work that follows original sections of the trail has changed this.

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Continue with Red Spider Group motorcycling 16-day in Vietnam. This entry told their days in the centre and centre highland of Vietnam. Let check it out!

Saturday January 23rd
Today was a day of many experiences. We rode from Dong Ha to A Luoi, via Khe Sanh, the famous and deadly USA base in the mountains of mid Vietnam just south of the DMZ. We started our ride in a shower, then a steady rain and then a downpour. Clearly today was our most challenging ride of the trip in terms of the weather.

Ethnic people village, Khe Sanh, Vietnam

We arrived Khe Sanh after a long and wet ride. All of us recall the name Khe Sanh, one of the toughest and worst places for any soldier of either side during the VN war.  The ride up was steep, cold and wet.  Upon arrival the sun came out and at least started to dry out those of us who did not have rain gear.  We visited the war museum there. It had an impression on all of us but probably Bruce Wingman the most.  We saw the Huey helicopters like the one Bruce Wingman Gouldsberry jumped out of and we saw pictures and stories at the museum that were heartbreaking.

Khe Sanh, Vietnam

One of the most disturbing things was the locals peddling the dog tags of American, British and Australian servicemen who lost their lives in the place commonly referred to as HELL.  While the people we have met along the way so far could not have been nicer or more friendly, to see the dog tags of our lost troops being sold as meaningless pieces of metal was disturbing to all of us. Several of us bought tags, only to get them and find the rightful owners.

After the visit to Khe Sanh, we headed back across the mountains again for about another 100 KM’s. The weather improved and was dry and we followed a beautiful river the entire way through winding roads and spectacular views of a river valley that was simply stunning.  We visited an ethnic village and were greeted….as we have been all week, by very friendly people. Interesting contrasts of poverty, but satellite dishes for TV viewing. We had earlier in the day decided on a picnic lunch….much to the dismay of our Vietnamese team.  We stopped by a bridge and enjoyed bread, peanut butter, cheese and mandarin oranges washed down with freshly made coffee.

contrasts of poverty, but satellite dishes for TV viewing

We continued our travels to the east south east for the balance of the day and made it to A Luoi around 4:30 in the pouring rain after another day of roughly 200 KM’s of riding.

Tomorrow we head for H?i An, on the coast in mid Vietnam. And we are hoping for a dry day!!

Sunday January 24th
Today we start day 6 of our 10 day ride and we are headed for H?i An on the coast just south of the DMZ and near Da Nang. Our 240 KM trip gives us a total now of about 1,100KM’s or about half, give or take, of our 2,200KM trip. Today’s ride was advertised as “the most beautiful ride of the trip” and we must say it lived up to that while at the same time being quite an experience and very challenging at times as you will see in the videos and pix.

Beautiful day on road to Hoi An, Vietnam

In the morning we headed out of A Luoi under a partly cloudy sky which was a relief after the two days of rain. but as we drove into the mountains the slight fog, turned into a huge fog and visibility went down to about 1 tenth mile at many points.  We were climbing, climbing, climbing up the mountains but beyond the guardrails we could see nothing but fog. We knew it was a long way down and the view spectacular but no dice…..could not see a darn thing. Going was slow in the fog and the moist winding roads.  To top it off, we ran into several landslides which had totally wiped out the normal road and passing was through a mass of mud and debris.  Actually running the bikes through the mud as you will see in videos was a quite a lot of fun….and we did not lose anyone down the mountain in the process.

It was slow going and then about noon the sun burst through the fog and lit up a mountain landscape in a half dozen colors of green. The views were spectacular and the ride for the rest of the day was indeed the best we have had….just a bit better than yesterday.  We followed several rivers up and down through the mountains for several hours and went through a number of landslide areas, to frequent to count. Some easier than others but overall some impressive sights.

Hoi An hotel, Vietnam

We stopped in Thang My for a lunch of Noodles at one of Kenny’s (our guide) favorite restaurants. Then we made it into H?i An which is a major coastal city and a major tourist area. For the first time since we left Hanoi on Tuesday we saw other westerners and, to be honest, we did not like it. We have enjoyed our adventure in the absence of the normal tourist trappings and to see the touristy H?i An was a bit of a shock to our systems.  We took our weeks worth of clothes to the laundry across from the hotel and headed out for dinner. There were many options and this is clearly the best area for dinners we have seen in a week and we enjoyed it very much.

The really big news for tonight is that we will get our laundry done!!!!  Tomorrow we head for Khum Doc and a short ride of about 190 KM’s.

Monday January 25th
Today we left H?i An, a beautiful port city and headed for Kham Duc a small city in the mountains. Our ride today was about 180 KM’s so rather short compared to several recently. Weather excellent today, sunny and puffy clouds to cool us from time to time.  Overall, we would say today was the least interesting of the trip….other than the drive through H?i An and several other cities where our driving skills were tested to the max dodging bikes, trucks, people, road muffins, cattle, and you name it.

My Son, Vietnam

Our first stop were the ruins at My Son where in ancient times the Cham dynasty lived and built  all sorts of temples to honor their Hindu god Shiva. After the visit to the ruins we headed south to Kham Doc for a nice ride in the foothills and lower portion of the mountains. There is a massive dam and road relocation project on going in this area so the biking was challenging again at times much like the mud of yesterday but now gravel…..which is actually lots tougher to drive on. But we all made it with no problems.

Kenny took us to the usual local restaurant for lunch and we hit Kham Doc about 4 PM just in time for a cold beer.

Kenny taking us out for some local food tonight….just like most nights. We hear that we are having venison tonight, and maybe a little pooch on the side!!

So stay tuned and we will keep you up to date.  Tomorrow we head about 250 KM’s straight south along the Cambodian border to Kon Tum. Should be a nice ride if the weather stays nice.

Tuesday January 26th
Greetings followers of the Red Spider Vietnam Bike Trip.  A couple statistics to catch you up on. Today, Tuesday finished our 8th day of riding. We have traveled just short of 1,400KM’s since leaving Hanoi. We are about 1,400 KM’s from Ho Chi Minh City. We have two days of biking remaining that will cover about 500 KM’s.  The last part is our one hour flight from Nha Trang to HCMC on Friday mid day. The trip has been awesome overall and everyone has enjoyed it.

Dave & waterfall

Another couple of statistics. We have been having an ongoing 31 Card Tournament and so far Bruce has won 3 matches, Kenny one and Bill one. The Burrows brothers have bowed out early in each round.  A match is worth $120.00.  Also, our room situation is that there are 5 travelers and three rooms. This means that each night somebody gets a single and the others share rooms. That contest is decided nightly by a cut of the cards and so far Bruce has two wins….including one super suite with a Jacuzzi. So on the side games, Bruce is clearly in the lead……but we have a few days left.

Today was two days built into one.  We awoke in Kham Doc with a downpour. It had been raining since about midnight. Our trusted guide Kenny assured us that our rain would only be on the west side of the mountains where we were and as soon as we got on the east side of the mountains, it would be sunny. So off we went, in our rain gear headed for Kon Tum.

We traveled in the mountains, with a steady rain, a foggy mist and everything looked like a place where King Kong would step out at any minute. In spite of the rain, we enjoyed the ride, beautiful waterfalls and lush jungles on all sides.

Then as we passed over the tops of the mountains, just as Kenny said, the skies cleared the sun came out and the temperature warmed considerably. We shed our rain gear and into our short sleeve shirts and away we went.  Not only did the sun shine, but we actually went from a tropical jungle environment into a desert. It became very dry and dusty and much like the area like southern California around Palm Springs.

In this area we went through a long area where the infamous Agent Orange was clearly used. Across the mountains in nearly all directions we could see areas that are still bare with the exception of a bit of grass.  Old dead trees dot the landscape in these areas.  And, to compound the initial damage that Agent Orange did, the new problem created is that these large barren areas cannot stand up against the rain and therefore collapse into a landslide very easily. Throughout this part of our trip we saw many new landslides like a few days before, but at least this time we did not need to bike our way through mud.

After a nice lunch of BBQ we motored down the road and headed for Dac To, a location where one of the worst battles in the war took place. Hundreds of US soldiers were killed, more than 30 planes shot down and thousands of South Vietnamese solders were also killed. No telling how many soldiers from the North were killed.  We paid our respects at the memorial and headed for our final destination Kon Tum.

In Kon Tum we arrived about 3pm, so we had time to go to the Banhar ethnic village and to a Catholic Church and Orphanage. We met with the headmaster of the orphanage and school and saw many happy kids there.

After this, we had just enough time to go to a sidewalk cafe and enjoy a cold one or two as the sun set over Kon Tum.  Enjoy the video and pix for the day and wish us well on our next phase of the trip, a long ride of +240 KM’s for our Wednesday to the next city which is Buon Ma Thuot.

Source: peterb.yolasite.com

Vietnam Motorcycling recommendation:
Motorcycling travel guides
Motorcycling tours in Vietnam

Series of blog entries from Burrows Red Spider group describe their great 16-day motorcycling trip in Vietnam with ACTIVETRAVEL ASIA. Let’s follow their trip day by day!

Red Spider bikers over the wood bridge

Saturday Jan 16th

They came from London, Birmingham, St. Louis and Chicgao….that gang of Red Spider bikers. All on a mission, to see new things, to meet new people and to have a great adventure and make friends.  Today we made our first new friend….. JOSEF, who took our group picture at O’Hare. So we promised him a spot on the RS Website. We are enjoying our pre-departure time getting to know one another better.

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HO CHI MINH HIGHWAY, Vietnam — If relentless American bombing didn’t get him, it would take a North Vietnamese soldier as long as six months to make the grueling trek down the jungled Ho Chi Minh Trail. Today, you speed along the same route at 60 mph, past peaceful hamlets and stunning mountain scenery.

The trail, which played an important role in the Vietnam War, has been added to itineraries of the country’s booming tourist industry. Promoters cash in on its history, landmarks and the novelty of being able to motor, bike or even walk down the length of the country in the footsteps of bygone communist guerrillas.

Women on bicycles make their way along a section of the newly built Ho Chi Minh highway near Vinh,Vietnam. David Longstreath, AP

Many sections of the old trail, actually a 9,940-mile web of tracks, roads and waterways, have been reclaimed by tropical growth. But a main artery has now become the Ho Chi Minh National Highway, probably the country’s best and the largest public works project since Vietnam War ended 30 years ago.

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An eleven-person, a 18-day trip with 11 -day motorcycle trip through Vietnam during the hottest part of the year may sound like an endurance test to some, but for John Kerry, vice president of Motorcycle Travel Club in USA. It’s a vacation.

Motorcycle trip on Ho Chi Minh Trail, Vietnam

From August 30 to September 17, Kerry, two guides and nine others will make the 800-mile journey from Hanoi to Hoi An riding small motorcycles down the country’s eastern coast. A combination of off-road and highway riding, their route will take them to sites such as the Phong Nha Cave, widely hailed as the most beautiful in the region; Hue, the imperial capital of feudal Vietnam; and China Beach, the site of the first major Marine landing of the Vietnam War.

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By far, the best way to experience Vietnam is by motorbike. As with elsewhere in southeast Asia, here, the motorbike is king. They are cheap to buy, easy to repair, and they can take you places the tour bus would never dare to go. What’s more, there are no restrictions on foreigners buying motorbikes. All you need is a passport and valid visa, and you’ll receive a title of ownership and a deed of transfer. Rentals will suffice for most, but if you plan on serious bike time, buying is more economical — you can even sell the bike before you leave and recoup most of the expense.

We know the traffic seems crazy. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll learn there is a method to the madness. Travel by motorbike has its dangers, to be sure, and should be undertaken conscientiously. But the vast majority of foreigners come away from their motorbike trek with nothing but great experiences to talk about back home (and maybe a few tail-pipe burns to remember them by).

Vietnam Motorcycling Travel Guide

You can buy a bike almost anywhere, but bigger cities will have a better selection and be more comfortable selling to foreigners. Naturally, it’s best to shop around. When you settle on a bike, insist on taking it for a spin — and to a mechanic for a once over.

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ACTIVETRAVEL ASIA (ATA) will host a group of Burrows Red Spider to take the motorcycle trip in Ho Chi Minh Trail, Vietnam. This trip will start from Hanoi and finish in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in Jan 31, 2010.

Motorcycle tours in Ho Chi Minh Trail, Vietnam

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Riding the Ho Chi Minh Highway on 2 wheels is an excellent way to get off the tourist trail… and the bus. Two bikes, three riders, 800 km, and four days: we made our way from Hoi An to Nha Trang through the scenic Central Highlands.

Easy rider

“You see real Vietnam,” Dung yelled back to me as we sped along the twisting, snaking asphalt of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The jungle was all around us: a jumble of a million different leaves, grasses, textures, shapes, shadows, and shades of green, all enveloped in the blue hue of morning light. Above us, the heavens were a battlefield of lucent white skies and lead-colored rain clouds, sparking lush green hills and bathing others in shadow. I could feel the wind and hear the place: the roar of a waterfall, the electric chirrup of insects, the caws of birds. Off in the distance, a fine mist smudged the jungle’s timberline and the mountains beyond, consuming the road we traveled, as we wound our way into the heart of the Central Highlands.
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I and Hai, my motorbike guide set out for My Son Holy Land, a UNESCO site, and the central highlands of Vietnam to view some gorgeous scenery along the Ho Chi Minh trail, meet some local farmers from one of Vietnam’s many minority ethnic groups, and learn a little about traditional farming and food preparation.

This is what I got to look at all day

My Son was in the middle of a jungle paradise. They called it a “sanctuary,” and it certainly had an amazingly verdant jungle smell and air of peacefulness about the site, despite the numerous tourists already arrived by the time we got there.

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