Motorcycle 101

For those who have visited Vietnam, you would know that the motorcyle forms an important mode of transport in this amazing country. Young and old alike can be seen riding these nibble "creatures" along the road, sometimes almost recklessly. It is surprising to see large amount of motorcycles taking up almost one lane.

In my earlier posting, I have highlighted that these people can really pack a lot on such a small vehicle besides piling up to even four people to a motorcycle. Besides transporting people, they also service as a cheaper version of the pickup truck. I would like to share two photos to illustrate what I mean.

Trip to Mai Chau, Hoa Binh, Vietnam - 2008

I and the rest of the foreign students went on a day trip to visit a Thai minority tribe in Mai Chau valley. Mai Chau is located in Hoa Binh Province, a four-hour journey west of Ha Noi, about 130 km away.

We set off at about 7.30 in the morning in a 12-seater van. The journey took us in a south-western direction across Ha Tay Province before entering Hao Binh. The most striking sight in Hoa Binh is the large land allocated towards the cultivation of sugar cane. Another sight which caught my attention was the numerous stalls along the route selling the locally brewed wine Ruou Can (pronounced as z-out kern).

As we climbed the last ridge at the end of the four-hour trip, the driver stopped at the top of Cun Mountain for all to take photograph of Mai Chau located in the valley below us. Therefore, we proceed to Lac Village (Lang Lac in Vietnamese), the abode of the Thai minority. Contrary to what we thought, the villagers are able to speak only a smittering of Thai. This is a small village of not more than 50 houses, mostly stilt houses. Before lunch at noon, we went round the village to look at the handicrafts on offer and also take photographs of the padi fields and the surrounding area.

Lunch was served communal style with all of us sitting on the bamboo covered floor of the stilt house. We were served rice cooked in bamboo, steamed fresh water fish, grilled boar meat, chicken, buffulo meat and vegetables. The main spices used for the dishes are ginger and lemon grass. At the same time, we also arranged for one hour cultural dance show performed by the villagers to accompany our lunch. The meal for the 11 of us including the entertainment totaled about $20.

During our conversation with the female owner, a night’s stay at the stilt costs only S$5. A note of caution, it can get really cold during winter. Fortunately for us, the weather was sunny which is a changed from the chill in Ha Noi. Following lunch, some of us continued on our exploration of the village while the rest decided to take a rest in the stilt house. Shortly after 3pm, we departed the village for our trip back to Ha Noi.

Ninh Binh Province - 2008

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Some of the foreign students including myself made a day trip to Ninh Bình Province to see some of the tourist sights there. This is the holiday period as the nation celebration the 30 Apr 1975 liberation of the South and also May Day.


We left Hà Nội at about 7.30am. The route from the Academy took us through Nhốn before making our way through Hà Tây before hitting Highway 1 which leads to the South. The journey took us about 2½ hours before we reached our first destination Tam Cốc. This is a scenic place which visitors are taking on a boat ride through limestone caves. You could say that this is the freshwater or inland Vịnh Ha Long (Ha Long Bay). Not sure if it can be compared to Guilin in China as I have yet to see the place.


We boarded a small water craft at the quay which took us on a three km trip through three caves. The return trip took approximately 1½ hours. Our craft was helmed by a middle lady and her son. In the course of our conversation, I found that foreigners are restricted to two to a craft while the locals are allowed to sit up to four persons. It was also revealed that a new boat costs about 3 triệu (3m) Việt Nam đồng. There are an estimated one thousand craft at Tam Cốc.

On the journey through the slow moving river (could not figure why they call it a river as it is pretty small to me), I discovered that padi are planted on both flanks giving the landscape a wide patch of greenery which end abrupt against the limestone outcrop.


For lunch, we had mountain goat’s meat which is a specialty at Tam Cốc. The meat is cooked in several styles such as barbeque, hot plate, salad style. The meal for the 14 of us cost about 3m đồng (US$187/S$300). After lunch, we proceeded a short distance to visit Bích Động. This is a temple complex built into the limestone outcrop. It is said to be one of the most beautiful cave in Việt Nam.


On our way back, we stopped at the old capital Hoa Lu. It was the capital for 41 years from 968 - 1009 before Lý Thái Tổ established his capital at Thăng Long, which is present day Hà Nôi. As time was short, we only visited the two main temple complexes.


After a long day, we left Ninh Bình at 4pm and reached Hà Nội at 6.30.