return postage paid envelope and of
course, your passport.
If you do live in Sydney, I’d just rock
up there with the above and come
back two days later to pick up the
passport complete with visa. We
delegated one of us to drop off and
another to pick up – and that worked
really well.
LICENCING
REQUIREMENTS
While Vietnam has signed the
International Driver's Licence treaty,
they are yet to implement it – and so
this means that if you're planning to
ride a motorcycle in Vietnam, (unless
you have enough time sit a local
exam) - you're going to be effectively
unlicensed. Is that a problem?
Not really, in my experience. It’s
vastly more important to have the
right insurance and the right attitude
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Obey the laws and be respectful and
the police won’t even look at you. Ride
or behave like an idiot and you will be
dealt with accordingly.
The guides from Vietlong Travel
will always ride at a safe speed
and they’ll be able to deal with
pretty much any situation. But just
remember that if you ride like a twat,
you’re in a Communist country with
a very stern police force which will
deal with you summarily.
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Please read the following very carefully
as insurance for motorcycle travellers is
sometimes very subtly excluded from
travel insurance policies – and this
applies as a general rule to riding in
other countries, not just for Vietnam.
No matter how boring, you must
read your Policy Disclosure Statement
(PDS) very carefully to determine what
the insurer's licencing requirements
and capacity restrictions are.
DO NOT purchase a policy that
requires you to be licensed in the
county in which you're travelling.
DO purchase a policy that only
requires you to be licensed to operate
the same category of bike in Australia.
You’ll see plenty of policies that also
restrict the capacity of motorcycle you
can ride, so ensure that your insurance
policy covers you for the capacity of
bike you’ll be riding – which in this
case will be 250cc.YOUR VIETLONG
TRAVEL GUIDES
As I said above, the guys from
Vietlong Travel are provided to act
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interpreter and mechanic, and they
give great menu recommendations.
By the time you’re back in Hanoi
these guys will feel like friends and
like us you’ll probably want to take
them home with you at the end of thetrip. I can't praise the extra value that
guides offer highly enough; they are
invaluable at seeking out those local
roads and off-the-beaten-track points
of interest. English is not commonly
understood outside of the major
towns, so if you have a situation
arise during your trip a Vietnamese/
English speaking guide can translate
on your behalf.YOUR MECHANIC
I've done four motorcycle trips around
various Asian countries where we
have paid a few dollars a day extra to
also have a mechanic join us. On all
occasions we’ve had minor issues arise
that we could have dealt with, but
thankfully didn't have to.
Unless you're okay with repairing a
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spend the money! Of the seven riders
on this last trip, four of us had issues
that became the mechanic's problem. I
could have repaired that broken clutch
cable in about an hour, but it took our
mechanic just 15 minutes to sort while
we drank coffee. On this trip, your
mechanic will of course be included.HOW DIFFICULT
IS THE RIDING?
It might look intimidating, but riding a
motorcycle out of Hanoi on Day One
will show you a rhythm that really does
make sense once you adapt.Typical Vietnamese village.
You’ll see a lot of stainless
steel, like the rooftop tanks.