Travel plan idea blog

Easy Rider motorbike guides in Vietnam

Mark Gilbert from Bloomberg writes a very interesting article about his Easy Rider motorbike tour of Duong Truong Son, the Truong Son Road, known outside Vietnam as Ho Chi Minh Trail. While the recap of the Vietnam War seems a bit forced, I recommend this article for the travel aspect:

We spend our first night in Jun, a village that's home to members of the M'Nong tribe, expert fishers who build their houses on stilts to store their livestock beneath.

A pig fight that breaks out 4 feet (1.2 meters) below my mattress at about 3 a.m. is, thankfully, quickly over. We've brought a Polaroid camera, so in the morning we present the local chieftain, Buot, and his wife, Mai, with photographs of themselves. Instant photos prove popular everywhere we stop.

There are about 70 Easy Riders motorbike guides based in the southern town of Da LatHiring (an inexpensive domestic flight away from Ho Chi Minh City) an Easy Rider costs $60 a day per person, which covers all food and accommodation. Easy Riders have numbered blue badges and ride proper motorbikes, not mopeds. Helmets are required and Easy Riders are safe drivers who speak fluent English.

Posted by James Trotta at February 10, 2006 2:03 AM