Luke Smith

Hi Digby, I just wanted to write and say thanks for organising such a memorable motorbiking trip.

For anyone unsure whether they should go, I’d like to offer a bit more insight from a recent customer.

Our trip was five days long; our party consisted of 5 blokes aged twenties to forties (!!) and we elected to use the Minsk motorbikes.

We arrived in Hanoi the night before the trip started, and EI arranged hotel rooms in the Old Quarter, basic accomodation in a lively historic part of the city with great food, cheap beers and plenty of souvenir shops.

The next day, we loaded up our saddle bags, left our suitcases in storage at the hotel and headed off to the Explore Indochina HQ to collect our trusty Minsks.

The next five days consisted of both on and off-road riding, with Digby, the guide, tailoring the route to our next destination based on our requests (lots of off-road) and ability (mmm…).

We spent two nights in hotels in small towns and two nights in ‘homestays’ – basically in a ‘dormitory’ in a local villager’s home, which was really fantastic. They were very welcoming and cooked fabulous Vietnamese dinners and great breakfasts.

Highlights of the trip were the local solid coffee at our rest stops, the fabulous Pho noodle soups, the afternoon river cruise on a longboat with beers in hand, floating in the river through a 100m high cave, the unbreakable Minsk, the comfort of having a mechanic travelling with us in case we did break the Minsk….(you are a legend), the incredible scenery and, of course, the welcoming smiles and waves of all the villagers every time we passed through.

Our trip was all-inclusive – the only time we reached into our pockets was to buy beer in the evenings – and we considered it great value, not the least of which was having Digby plus a mechanic with us. You would not be able to organise and do this by yourself.

We had a great time and are already talking about the next trip. Maybe the Northwestern hill tribes and returning to Hanoi via overnight train….