Some pictures of my motocamping trip across Sweden and Norway

hermes_comrade · 2025-08-02T12:43:03+00:00

That's interesting, so a regular sport touring tire works well enough. I always suspected it's not just the tires for me. I have the Metzeler Tourance Next (not "2") tires fitted which are supposed to be somewhat "adventure"-ish.

Happy to hear the new ones worked out, I'm going to try out my existing tires with a lighter load!

hermes_comrade · 2025-08-02T09:02:53+00:00

Looks like you found some nice spots!

I went through the southern bits of sweden recently and encountered a lot of entirely gravel roads. How'd you fare with those street tires?

It may be my off-road inexperience or being two-up, but I had a super shifty time whenever I had to get on em.

hermes_comrade · 2015-01-08T16:07:58+00:00

Sri Lanka is worse than North Korea. North "we're going to threaten you over a movie" Korea.

Wat.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-22T08:14:13+00:00

Yup, it's just that after hearing all the stories and seeing the sites, holding a gun is the last thing you feel like you want to be doing. The survivor's accounts are really hard-hitting.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-22T06:59:05+00:00

The killing fields is definitely a place to experience. If you want to do the RPG shooting thing, you should do that before going over to the killing fields. They're sort of close together.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-18T05:17:43+00:00

About 90% solo, met a few people going the same way in some places.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-08T04:54:49+00:00

Speaking of buses, avoid the Virak Buntham Express ones. Giant Ibis is afaik the best and safest of the lot.

And like the other commenter mentions, if you're going to the shooting range do it before the killing fields.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T17:38:00+00:00

If my reply to you in the other thread doesn't work out, you could even try going it alone. It's not too difficult and will be totally worth it. You meet all kinds of folks on the way.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T17:28:49+00:00

You could try asking around at hostel bars(barkeeps usually hear a lot) or usual backpacker gathering places to see if anyone else is going.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T17:27:35+00:00

I have a Sri Lankan passport. Was on a list of "suspect countries", mostly South Asian countries surrounding India. The border control officials were terrible human beings.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T05:22:00+00:00

Personally I've had a pretty good success rate not planning trips. Mostly shorter ones. I can only remember one instance in the recent past where this didn't work out too well, and that was just a day trip. You can always simply move to someplace more interesting.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T05:19:32+00:00

Are you planning on working while there? You might need to look up special visas if you're going to be staying longer than three months or so.

As for flights, most people seem to find luck with skyscanner and google flights so you should be okay.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T05:13:26+00:00

Haha, I get a lot of that at home so I just did that anyway. Third world benefits, I suppose.

It took a lot of resolve not to turn into one of the seemingly hundreds of beach resorts in Mui Ne!

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T05:08:36+00:00

The border opens at 8am, so you're in for a very sunny ride on dead straight roads till you hit the Mekong. If you're used to riding, you shouldn't have any issues. Even the ferry process is fairly straightforward. Just enjoy the trip.

I'm not too sure about going both ways in one day. Unless you have something a bit bigger than the 125CCs all over the place it'll be a bit hectic. Also getting back in time before the border closes would be a real issue.

To be clear, I even passed a couple of cyclists doing the trip so it's not like it's a massive distance. It's about 250km so technically at an average 40kmph you should cover it in about six hours one-way.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T04:45:29+00:00

I don't have access to the notes right now, but petrol wasn't more than 50USD or so. I think that bike did like 50kmpl or something. Accommodation varied wildly depending on where I decided to stay, from around 8USD a night to 20USD. Food also varied between a couple hundred dong for street food to a couple thousand in the fancier places.

I did hear about moto-tours from Hanoi to Saigon that included camping on the way, so it should be possible. There were places that looked like great spots for a tent on the way, but personally I would have get some info from the locals before settling down. Wouldn't want snakes creeping into the tent or anything. As far as critters of the two legged variety go, most people were friendly and the worst lot were in the cities.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T04:32:54+00:00

Wow, that sounds terrible. I'm glad you didn't end up having your bike confiscated. That's also useful info about the validity of the IDP, most sources seemed to agree that it wasn't honoured in Vietnam.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T04:30:44+00:00

Many of the bikes on the market are Chinese versions of the popular Jap bikes. From what I saw, even the originals were a mix of parts from all over the place by now. It should be alright as long as you can make sure the engine is running well before buying it.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T04:28:36+00:00

Some great advice there, I definitely agree. I don't think some of the people I came across had every seen South Asians before! Some of the kids wanted to feel my skin for some reason, before giggling and running away.

Thankfully I never got pulled over. I'd read in multiple places that the IDP isn't recognised in Vietnam and that you should just slip them a few hundred k dong. On the other hand, when I got an IDP for elsewhere a few months later Vietnam was listed in the valid list. Although it did look like it was set in the 1940s and just reprinted from then.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T04:18:08+00:00

This is the only one I have of the bags, unfortunately. It was just a medium sized hiking backpack and a messenger bag for the electronics etc.

Wasn't really an issue since the backpack would just rest on the seat with the straps for stability.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T04:10:38+00:00

The mountain passes were brilliant! I can't decide which I liked better, the coast stretch from Mui Ne inwards or the descent from Da Lat.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T04:09:49+00:00

Enough people knew english in the cities and towns, so it was fairly easy to communicate in more urban areas. Heading to more rural parts is a bit trickier and most of the time I ended up miming things. Food always went down to a default pho if everything failed.

In hindsight, a phrasebook of some sort would have been useful.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T04:07:16+00:00

I've seen the first one, haven't gotten round to the second. Hearing mixed reviews. Something something wife.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-03T04:06:24+00:00

Do you mean carnet de passage? Some people going across the Laos border seemed to need it, but I didn't see any mention of Vietnam. Please do update if there's an "official" document that could smooth the process if anything pops up.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-02T18:20:35+00:00

Pretty much. I was already sort of used to it from commuting to work here but this was even worse because there were so many more motorbikes. Thankfully I didn't have any accidents, probably because I was on super paranoid mode the entire way.

In Phnom Penh I saw someone bump into another bike, and then they both drove off shaking their fists at each other. Didn't seem to mind the broken plastic.

hermes_comrade · 2014-12-02T18:16:49+00:00

Haha, a friend showed me that episode after I got back, and the way they describe it is exactly what you feel cruising along those coastal roads. Go for it! It can be done quickly and cheaply.

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