The beaches, the food, landscape and the Wild. If you’re looking for a great area to cycle tour, or just to visit on your two weeks off, than you could do a lot worse than South Eastern Asia.

The countries I’ll be documenting are; Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Having recently gotten down and dirty for the better part of five months while biking 5000km in a mix of freeway, rural roads, cities and single track motorcycle paths, the following is a general report.

I’ve graded these countries mostly from the cycle touring point of view, however, much of this information relates to other vacation choices as well.

So, whether you’re living in a tent on the beach or happier with some room service, there’s enough room for everyone here.

Vietnam

The first country on this world tour, and certainly one of my favorites from day one. Spending nearly a month here beforehand in Hanoi, which is the major center for the North, I chose to begin here so I wouldn’t miss an inch of this tropical coastline.

Is Vietnam cheap?

During my 60 days or so here, I found the country and it’s people to be quite inviting and energetic. By far the most cost effective country on the list, I felt it actually spoiled me for the places yet to come, finding myself constantly comparing the prices and quality.

$20 Canadian will get you a hotel palace for the night in Viet for example, in Canada it’ll get you a dresser drawer.

Most of the traditional meals are between $3-4, but if you get tired of Pho and want some North American treats, you’ll pay four times that amount to fill up. Everywhere and everyone advises strongly against drinking tap water in any foreign country and no exceptions here either. I used it to boil noodles but the list ends there. Five litres of Aquafina ran me around $1 at the big C and not much more through independent retailers.

As for biking equipment, a bike and camping gear, this was by far the lowest price perhaps in the world. My Acoca mountain bike ran me six-million dong, and an additional two million for spare tubes, a luggage rack, tire, multi tool, chain lube, and a few extras meant I had all I needed for under $500.

My luggage bags turned out to be a set of motorcycle panniers, due to the off-set of the summer season diminishing any inventory these stores had stocked months prior.

These proved a great option, at a larger size, water proof and durable for only $30, and a regular set of proper touring panniers running $150 per side.

Although I could’ve bought a used 125 cc motorcycle for less, I was happy I found a bike my size in this place, because it wasn’t easy.

A single person tent, end to end measuring up at nearly exactly 6′ earned it’s keep by fitting on picnic tables, bus station benches, hotel room beds when they proved too yucky even for me to sleep on, and durable enough for sleeping on straight concrete a few times.

Camping gear here was at par with Canada’s prices, yet not always with quality. I had no complaints with the items I bought, but only after sifting through several stores and products, I found a few things that felt half decent.

Name brands from North America were far pricier than they were at home, and I chanced unfamiliar labels not only with camping gear but the bike as well. Neither let me down even once.

Hotels, homestays and campgrounds if you can find them are a must, unlike other free range countries, Vietnam likes their guests to be accounted for nightly, and such places will snag your passport until your check out time at noon the following day.

Due to the time of year I visited; October/November, I was usually the only resident in any hotel or resort I stayed. Getting my passport returned was never a hassle.

Pricing ranges from $5-25 for the majority of places, and only a few weren’t worth their money. On the lower end you’ll find Nga Nhia’s; which are smaller, budget hotels with basic necessities such as wifi, air conditioning, a bed and a shower which was rarely hot if even room temperature.

All in all, you get what you pay for if not more, I had five star resorts a few times for only $10 a night.

During my time here, I had decided to get some vaccinations at a credible, private practice, due to the price difference. Three rabies shots run $600 in Canada but come in under 1/3 of that in Nam. Many others do as well.

Are Vietnam’s beaches any good?

With several thousand km’s of coastline on the Eastern shores, beaches and attractions are plentiful. Development of many areas has been slow to catch up to Thailand, and as the quality of life improves here, so follows the clean up and taming of the shoreline. Notable areas include; Cat-Ba Island, (which is the poor mans Ha-Long Bay), Da Nang and Nha Trang among hundreds of lesser known fishing villages by the water.

What time of the year is best to visit Vietnam?

I planned to be there outside of the rainy and hotter seasons, but I still feel like I ran into both those conditions quite a bit.

Tourist season is largely Chinese New Year, which is usually around a month, starting January or February, so trying to be anywhere around Asia on those dates is tough, but this Covid-19 stopped people in their tracks. Leaving me with mostly free range everywhere I went.

If it hadn’t been for the drawback, I was told the hotels are sold out entirely for a month due to millions of travelers getting out and about.  Finding a place to stay can obviously be hard at such times but so can finding something to eat, drink or even go.

Is Vietnam a good place to bike or cycle tour?

I loved this place. From the super low prices, to the extremely friendly people, to 45 cent beer, my expectations of Vietnam were surpassed at every turn. I advise heading Southbound, as the tail wind will push you along and make things a bit easier.

Widely available stores and restaurants as well as all kinds of fruit stands along every highway will save the day again and again as your needs come and go.

As for bike parts and such, every small town has a repair shop of some kind, and all you have to do is say Xe-Dap to a few people and point out a broken spoke or whatever seems to be bugging you and if you’re polite-a motorbike escort to the front door.

Quality parts? Sometimes, but at the very least you’ll get something cheap until you find something better.

During the Fall season, there’s not many bugs to speak of for the most part, other than roaches and ants, but I expected more. After researching poisonous snakes and spiders, I was sure I’d run into more than just the one cobra, but he had already been spoken for in the field when he was introduced to a farmers hoe.

I wish everywhere in the world had a bike lane designated on their highways and roads, as far as I’m concerned there was nothing more welcoming. The entire shoulder was marked off as reserved for bikes and motorcycles, giving me a few degrees of separation from the heavy trucks and regular daily traffic.

Is Vietnam a good place to buy a bike?

Yes, and no. I’m 6′ tall, and finding one at the end of the summer season wasn’t easy for me. I knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park, but I didn’t expect this kind of trouble.

Having tried to figure out a purchase before even booking my ticket to Hanoi, my forward thinking was drown out and lost in translation. The bikes I found online were no longer offered in my size, and paying top dollar for brands I’d never heard of wasn’t an option.

I settled on an aluminum frame mountain bike rather that the steel touring variety out of necessity and spent an evening balancing my gear out and making things fit.

For the price, this Acoca Nitro 10 has fit the bill. Quality Shimano parts paired with a Taiwanese frame has me wondering why anyone would spend a few thousand dollars to buy something only slightly different? My only complaint is the use of cheap spokes for the rims, but after replacing each one on the rear end, usually on the side of the road, I’m pretty much an expert.

In hind sight, being in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh city would’ve been a way easier starting destination, purely in terms of all out variety and many different options for finding the right bike to set out with. Many of the ex-pats are down there over Hanoi, and they bring more business with them. Several high end bike outlets exist there and the prices are very reasonable.

 How does Vietnam stack up against the others?

Culture/friendly people……..A

Roads bike able…………………....A

Scenery and quality of trip…….A

Cycle culture……………………………..B

Mix of modern and old school…..B

Cost effective……………………………A+