Hello cyclists!
This December I’m starting my first tour from Hanoi through the north of Vietnam to north Laos, then I will go through the south of Laos and renter Vietnam from there then end somewhere near Saigon.
I have been travelling by camping for several years so I know a lot about packing light and camping/living in the road but I’m looking for any advice I can get whether it’s routes, navigation apps for IOS, border crossings, essentials to pack (especially what tools I will need, bearing in mind I hope to stay on paved roads where possible) and if anyone knows anything about where to buy second hand bicycles in Hanoi, that would also be really useful. I’m a bikepacker in that I don’t have cash to splash on expensive gear so please remember that too!
Thank you in advance!
:)
Hello,
I was in SE asia last year
I didn't like cycling in central Vietnam it's too noisy. And I had pourring weather there. Hard, even impossible sometimes to find a quiet place to pinch the tent... There is people everywhere.
North of Vietnam seems to be hilly but a bit less noisy
If you need a bike LamVelo in hanoi is a nice place. My GF bought her Surly LHT there, He has Surly frames, and some great branded grear but others MTB too.
Laos is awesome! One of my favorite country so far. People are superfriendly and it's a peacfull country, you can camp almost everywhere and there is plenty of wonderful dirt and sometime tricky roads. We cycle the center and the north and it was really nice.
I'm travelling since 2015 with the best ios app called mapout . excellent, you can draw your path offline in your tent ! lovely swiss app.
Enjoy !
https://mica.bike