Road Trip Day 1. June 25th.
We leave Saigon with a late start to wait out some small storms passing over. I'm anxious to get a bit out of the city insanity so we can relax and cruise and enjoy some fresh air. I've been fixated on Google maps for the last fews days, planning, and I'm eager to execute and see where we land. Our first destination in mind is Mui Ne but the delay means we'll just ride until twilight starts to set in and find a hotel. Leaving the city limits wasn't as harrowing as I thought it would be, but Nicole had a few close calls due to an issue (we discovered later) with her bike. A bit shaken, we slowly make our way out of town while clenching our handlebars. Unfortunately Google maps set us out on a highway that is autos only, so I have us backtrack to a main road that looks like it leads to a ferry crossing the Nha Be River. The motorbike traffic gets really dense here so I take it as a positive sign of going the correct direction. Hopefully not just into the water or off of a cliff.
Riding in close proximity to other bikes doesn't bother me so much, and we pay our fare and zoom onto the barge. I take this opportunity to refresh my mind on the route ahead. Although road names are legible, it is still rather difficult to retain and differentiate one Tran Dung Hao from another Tran Phung Nguyen. The moment I put away my phone I am already struggling to remember any names, so I begin to rely on road contour and landmarks. Approximate 70 degree turn onto Thanh something, should cross a small stream and then it's hopefully 6 kms to the next turn; check again when it's pertinent. But then I find that the small stream is a big one and I have to adjust my sense of scale accordingly.
Amazingly, we make our way to the main coastal highway and I can let autopilot take over, at least for the guidance bit. My manual pilot is now fully directed to avoiding buses and oncoming traffic. Fortunately we find a basic vegan restaurant--look for "chay" and you'll find a good selection of tofu-based mock meat options. Some taste funny, but you'll find some favorites. This sort of cuisine is prevalent in Vietnam due to Buddhist influence, but expect some dry spells if you're going through the more rural backroads.
Nicole and I pass Ba Ria and I pull over to check our position. We are still pretty far from Mui Ne and night is an hour away, so we decide to turn around and hunt for a Nha Nghi (commit this to memory if you're looking for a hotel on the fly). Fortunately we find one just down the street from the town center and call it quits, but not before my center stand sinks into the dirt and I burn my ankle on the piping hot crank case. Bring on the battle wounds, Vietnam!
Journey stats:
Saigon to Ba Ria in 80km.
5 hours with stops.
Route notes:
The TP Ho Chi Minh - Long Thanh - Dau Giay express highway is off limits to motorcycles. We took the ferry across at Cat Lai to DT769 and QL51 towards Vung Tau/Ba Ria.
Pro tip: when planning your route, get in the habit of memorizing names of cities along your path. Sometimes you'll reach a fork in the road and the sign might show an arrow diagram with two obscure cities on either end. Even if you have trouble recalling the actual names of these towns, one will usually stand out as more familiar. Go with your gut but check your work when you make the turn. You should see a tombstone-shaped marker every kilometer which tells you which highway you're on as well as distances to upcoming towns. If you have any doubt or the marker's paint is totally weathered, stop and ask a local by simply saying the name of a city. Sometimes the road names on Google maps are incorrect, too. DT740 might also be called something like TL11 for instance, as I found out later. But no matter--if the city destinations match up, it'll do.
We leave Saigon with a late start to wait out some small storms passing over. I'm anxious to get a bit out of the city insanity so we can relax and cruise and enjoy some fresh air. I've been fixated on Google maps for the last fews days, planning, and I'm eager to execute and see where we land. Our first destination in mind is Mui Ne but the delay means we'll just ride until twilight starts to set in and find a hotel. Leaving the city limits wasn't as harrowing as I thought it would be, but Nicole had a few close calls due to an issue (we discovered later) with her bike. A bit shaken, we slowly make our way out of town while clenching our handlebars. Unfortunately Google maps set us out on a highway that is autos only, so I have us backtrack to a main road that looks like it leads to a ferry crossing the Nha Be River. The motorbike traffic gets really dense here so I take it as a positive sign of going the correct direction. Hopefully not just into the water or off of a cliff.
 |
| Nicole glaring at me. "What the hell sort of mess did you get me into?" |
Amazingly, we make our way to the main coastal highway and I can let autopilot take over, at least for the guidance bit. My manual pilot is now fully directed to avoiding buses and oncoming traffic. Fortunately we find a basic vegan restaurant--look for "chay" and you'll find a good selection of tofu-based mock meat options. Some taste funny, but you'll find some favorites. This sort of cuisine is prevalent in Vietnam due to Buddhist influence, but expect some dry spells if you're going through the more rural backroads.
Nicole and I pass Ba Ria and I pull over to check our position. We are still pretty far from Mui Ne and night is an hour away, so we decide to turn around and hunt for a Nha Nghi (commit this to memory if you're looking for a hotel on the fly). Fortunately we find one just down the street from the town center and call it quits, but not before my center stand sinks into the dirt and I burn my ankle on the piping hot crank case. Bring on the battle wounds, Vietnam!
 |
| Nicole's sweet ride. |
 |
| Clean enough, I says. |
Saigon to Ba Ria in 80km.
5 hours with stops.
Route notes:
The TP Ho Chi Minh - Long Thanh - Dau Giay express highway is off limits to motorcycles. We took the ferry across at Cat Lai to DT769 and QL51 towards Vung Tau/Ba Ria.
Pro tip: when planning your route, get in the habit of memorizing names of cities along your path. Sometimes you'll reach a fork in the road and the sign might show an arrow diagram with two obscure cities on either end. Even if you have trouble recalling the actual names of these towns, one will usually stand out as more familiar. Go with your gut but check your work when you make the turn. You should see a tombstone-shaped marker every kilometer which tells you which highway you're on as well as distances to upcoming towns. If you have any doubt or the marker's paint is totally weathered, stop and ask a local by simply saying the name of a city. Sometimes the road names on Google maps are incorrect, too. DT740 might also be called something like TL11 for instance, as I found out later. But no matter--if the city destinations match up, it'll do.
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