Easyrider Vietnam

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Easyrider Vietnam. It’s one of those things that people who’ve done it will immediately ask you if you’re going to do it once they hear you’re in Vietnam. The reason is because it’s an awesome adventure and 100% not to be missed.

What is Easyrider Vietnam?

The term is a generalisation for guided motorcycle tours, typically where you are a pillion passenger on the back of the guide’s motorcycle. In our case I wanted to ride the bike myself, so Carly was my passenger and our guide – Mr Thong, check out his website Easyrider Hoi An – carried our backpacks, strapped to the back of his. We bumped into the charming and easy going Mr Thong on the streets of Hoi An, negotiated a general route, duration and price and the fact I wanted a bike to ride. All no problem and after paying a down-payment (the majority was paid on completion of the trip) we set off a day or two later. Easy.

The Essence of Easyrider tours

The essence of the adventure is the guide taking you away from the main roads, away from the tourist trail and into the local communities and ethnic minorities. We’d been on the road no more than 10 minutes – I was just getting used to the bike – when he turned off down a path and before we knew it we were on a 2 metre wide path going along between paddy fields, full of people working the land (by hand or by buffalo). Mr Thong would stay ahead a sufficient distance so we could see which way to go, but not so close that it felt like we were just following his tracks. Perfect.

A Vietnamese Mindset

One of the first places he led us was into a roof-tile factory – well a small kiln, storage area and open space full of women bent over, using feet to push down a slicer into the wet clay to form the square tiles. Mr Thong had a right giggle at an old women slugging away cutting tiles – her usual job was in a restaurant which was temporarily closed and so now she had to do this. It was a glimpse into the day-to-day interaction and humour of the Vietnamese people, who love a good laugh. He thought it hilarious she was actually doing this back-breaking work – which it kind of is if you think about it in a certain way. Different mindset to the Western mind for sure.

Get A Good Guide

After the tiles there was a visit to a peanut oil workshop, numerous paddy fields, a local market, a war memorial, the Cham towers of My Son, local villages, scenic viewpoints, etc etc – all with our guide Mr Thong giving information, history, background and stories along the way, as well as translating for us as we chatted to the local people.

The quality of the guide will surely affect your overall experience when embarking on an Easyrider trip – when we were thinking about it in Hoi An before we set off we made sure we chatted away with Mr Thong to test his English, check how we got on and if we thought we could trust him. We recommend him, he made the experience what it was.

Some of the highlights of Easyrider Vietnam:

– Lunch & dinner in local restaurants, with the guide ordering the best local dishes and paying the locals going-rate. Delicious food.
– Handing out sweets to an ethnic minority community of local children (and some of the adults), in exchange for their big smiles, beautiful faces and time
– Taking an impromptu dip in a waterfall plunge pool hidden by the side of the road
– Learning about the day-to-day lives of some of the poorest communities in Vietnam
– Cruising through wild jungle, mountain passes, down a part of the Ho Chi Minh trail. The scenery was just amazing…
– Getting to know our guide Mr Thong, his family, his life history and his infectious laugh
– Getting behind the scenes of everyday Vietnam
– Not seeing another Western person for the entire trip!

Easyrider Summary

We arrived at our destination – Hue – pleased to take a hot shower, but saying good-bye to the bike, the adventure and Mr Thong was done with sadness. It’d been a fantastic, memorable ride. Easyrider Vietnam? You should do it!

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