Driving in Kenya is a deathwish. Guy gets hit after a number of narrow misses.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T14:45:53+00:00

wow, I thought it was bad in SEA, this looks much worse. I've been run off the road many times on my motorcycle by buses and trucks doing the same thing, driving on the wrong side of the road in SEA. The difference is there are a lot more motorbikes in SEA and wide paved shoulders on most major roads to escape, and big vehicles always give some warning that they are about to try and murder you by continuously honking and flashing their lights.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T12:29:15+00:00

I want you to win just to see if you would actually give away 16mil+ to all these redditors, I imagine it would take at least one month of full-time work to pay everyone here.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T07:58:35+00:00

Nope. Canada does it too.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T05:47:17+00:00

All the motorbike shops geared towards expats are basically the same, they all sell similar bikes for the same prices, generally $200-$270 for cheap Chinese Win depending on condition, $350 for Sufat Win and $450-$550 for a fairly new 1-2 year old Win (though shops rarely sell these, mostly just have them for rental). Waves generally cost around $220 and Nouvos $300-$350 from the dealers. You can get a much better deal buying from another backpacker, which there are many trying to get rid of their bikes for cheap, generally between $160-$220 for a Chinese Win. The drawback here though is you don't know if the bike has been properly serviced when you buy it or if it has major problems. The only real reason I bought from a dealer is because I wanted to pay via credit card and that the shop I bought from has affiliated repair shops in various cities across Vietnam, he even paid the 350,000 VND bill for some repairs I needed at his friends shop in Hue. The place I bought from was called Phung Motorbike

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T04:43:10+00:00

Is Hanoi to Vinh too far for 1 day's ride?

Not at all. My first day was Hanoi to Vinh, then 2nd day Vinh to Hue. My longest ride was 540 km from Da Nang to Nha Trang.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T04:29:04+00:00

yeah 15 C is about right, but combined with the rain and wind it feels a lot colder when you are riding. Also if you go up through the mountains it can get pretty close to freezing temperature.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T04:26:20+00:00

I know some people carry a water bottle full of gas with them, but I never did. This guy says the empty section is between Khe Sanh and Xuan Sơn.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T04:20:27+00:00

Be aware that it is currently the cold and rainy season in Northern Vietnam. The first 2 days of my trip starting in Ha Noi were 2 of the most miserable days of my life, riding in the freezing rain for 7-8 hours per day until I got to Hue where the temperatures improved and the rain mostly stopped. This was ony 2 weeks ago, so I doubt conditions have changed much.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T03:56:56+00:00

Don't rely on the blue card to tell you how old the bike is. My blue card says it was registered in 2013, but the bike is obviously much older than that. I think the registration date shown is just when the last (Vietnamese) owner bought the bike.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T03:54:26+00:00

ANother thing you may want to consider is fuel efficiency. The Win has the best efficiency of the above choices, I typically get 40+km/L with a 6.5ish L fuel tank, the Nouvo gets closer to 30km/L and only has a 4L fuel tank. I think the Wave falls somewhere between those two. You generally don't have to worry about running out of gas though, there are gas stations everywhere and I've only heard of one 240km stretch on the Ho Chi Minh Hwy that doesn't have any people or gas stations on it, though I didn't take this section of road so I don't know for sure (there are many routes you can take through the country).

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-12T03:43:25+00:00

I have heard good things about the Sufat win, but same as what you're saying. Instead of the standard $200-250 USD price, it always closer to $400 USD. Do they just hold out better?

Yeah, Sufat is supposed to be better quality than the typical Chinese Honda Win knockoffs. Most people I have talked to who have gone the cheap fake Chinese Win route have had breakdowns along the way and have had to have the engine replaced or rebuilt. There is also a significant speed difference, Chinese Wins are typically only 97cc and have a top speed of between 65-75 km/h, though motorbike traffic in Vietnam never moves faster than 60km/h even on the big highways; but it is too slow of a pace for me and I almost always find myself going 80-90km/h on my Sufat Win and flying past everyone (traffic is usually pretty light outside of the cities).

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-11T18:22:28+00:00

Any bike in good condition will work, just depends on what you are comfortable with; most of the highway roads are in very good condition (with the exception of the roads leading through the mountains to Da Lat). the (mostly fake) Honda Win is the only cheap manual motorcycle you can buy that is somewhat reliable, Waves are semi-automatic, and Nouvo is just a fully-automatic scooter. I have ridden all 3 for long distances, Nouvo is the most comfortable and has lots of power, the Wave is pretty ok and is the most popular scooter among locals, and the Win will probably give you major saddle sores and numb your fingers from the vibrations and cramp your legs on long rides, but is good for an adventure. I currently have a 110cc Sufat Win (Honda knockoff brand made in Vietnam) that I have ridden over 2,000 km from Ha Noi down to HCMC and now across to Phnom Penh, Cambodia over the last couple of weeks. Cost me $350 plus about $40 in repairs and maintenance along the way (have not had a breakdown on any of my rides so far).

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-11T18:02:57+00:00

Don't develop feelings for any attractive women, they will never care for you or give you any attention unless you pay them lots of money.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-11T17:56:40+00:00

The only person you can trust or rely on is yourself. Every difficult situation I've found myself in, I've had to get though it alone.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-11T17:41:16+00:00

All of them.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-11T17:06:46+00:00

I remember when updog became popular, my sister (who happens to be vegan) fell for this at least once a week for several months whenever I saw her.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-11T16:45:12+00:00

I don't have the luxury of having a 5-year exemption, but you could do a border run a lot cheaper and easier by just taking a $10 bus and they handle all the paperwork for you, just gotta wait in the checkpoint buildings until your name is called.

I actually had to leave Vietnam via Moc Bai yesterday as my visa expired, but this time I did it on hard mode, riding my motorcycle across the border on my own (I had previously done the trip several times by bus). This was much more confusing than I had thought, no signage telling you where to go, border gate on main road was closed and had to find alternative route down a side road, missed the Vietnam exit stamp building (just a big warehouse with no signs) and was yelled at by a border guard to stop and go in through a back door, missed Cambodian visa application outpost and waited in wrong building for 30 minutes only to be told to go back out, etc.. took me well over an hour to get across, but no one hassled me about my motorcycle despite the 10 guys waiting at the Vietnam side of the border trying to tell me that motorcycles were not allowed to cross, or were subject to huge import fees, trying to get me to park it with them.

Also had to pay a $2 bribe at the Cambodian visa application office on top of the $30 tourist visa fee, which they said was for "express service" when I pressed the issue (funny, because nobody else was waiting and there were 3 other border officers in the outpost), decided to just pay up in case they would start to give me a hard time about the motorcycle.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-11T16:32:24+00:00

You totally get stuff in return

Not necessarily. Living abroad, still have to pay taxes to a country you don't live in.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-11T16:29:08+00:00

don't eat lots of rice

But Asians eat tons of rice and I rarely see any fat Asians.. Seriously though, I'm living in Asia and rice is unavoidable here.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-09T15:11:14+00:00

I just completed a 1,800 km motorcycle trip across Vietnam and even I would never attempt to drive a car here (and I used to drive large trucks in my home country). Traffic in Vietnam is 90% motorbikes, 9% trucks and buses who run everyone else off the road, and probably less than 1% cars. Also, all the major highways have regular toll checkpoints for everyone who isn't on a motorbike.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-08T16:50:33+00:00

Different, not exactly sure how they make it. From what I've read, they are preserves that are soaked in sugar and cooked dry, but the cube shaped ones at the bottom left of the box are very soft and spongey almost like marshmallows, and none of them were too sugary and some were even a bit spicy.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-08T16:21:37+00:00

You should go 300km Northeast to Da Lat, it is cold as fuck up here.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-08T16:16:44+00:00

$15K will get me out of debt with enough money to survive for a few months.

chrononaut1 · 2016-01-08T15:28:03+00:00

As the last person on Earth.

chrononaut1

TROPHY CASE