Here are comments and reviews from our customers about short motorcycle rides in Vietnam on Ho Chi Minh trail. Please click on the links to learn more.

We would be grateful if you can forward your comments to Lonely Planet Guide book at talk2us@lonelyplanet.com.au

Mr Don Conning | ~2,000 km | 10 days Honda XR400 ride

Mr Larry Hall | ~1,500 km | 9 days Honda motorcycle ride

Ms Crystal Wreden | ~1,200 km | 9 days Honda motorcycle ride

Mr Mike Misurka | ~1,200 km | 9 days Honda motorcycle ride

Mr John Tu Moran | ~1,000 km | 8 days Honda motorcycle touring

Mr Ruben Gamoo | ~1,600 km | 13 days Honda motorcycle touring

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Mr Don Conning (10 days on Honda XR400 bike, ~2,000 km)

----- Original Message ----- From: Facebook
To: Offroad Vietnam
Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 3:53 PM
Subject: Don Conning sent you a message on Facebook...

Don sent you a message.

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Subject: Don Conning - Finished Tour

Hi Anh,

I finished the trip in Saigon District 7 by 12:30pm today; we had lunch and then Thoi drove with me straight to the front door of my house.

The tour was fantastic and Thoi acted in a very professional manner from Day 1 all the way through Day 9. He is a fantastic guy and my expectations of my guide were far surpassed. Thoi's riding capability is excellent and his knowledge of Vietnamese Landscape; Culture and History made him the ideal guide; I call him Number 1 Guide.

This will not be my last Tour with Offroad; next time I will do the Northern Highlands of Vietnam; I will try and bring some friends.

Actually the amount of interest my trip has gathered amongst people in Saigon is amazing; many people have expressed a very sincere interest.

Thank you and Best Regards,

Don

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Full name: Larry Hall
Address: U.S.A.

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Mr Larry Hall (9 days on Honda road bike, ~1,500 km)

----- Original Message -----
From: LWH
To: 'Offroad Vietnam - Tour Inquiry'
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 3:58 AM
Subject: RE: Quick Question
Anh, I trust all’s well.

Below please find my comments on our trip. Sorry I’m late it getting this write-up to you.

All the best,

Larry

http://www.cnhinews.com/node/298

My comments:

In September 2007, I came across an article in the Wall Street Journal that described the increasing popularity of motorcycle trips down the Ho Chi Minh trail. The article went on to chronicle the growth of Vietnam and the risk that the country would lose, perhaps forever, relicts of their past as the pace of commerce and modernization continued on their hurried pace. I had the impetuous I needed. I convinced my six “Wild Hog” friends that we should organize a trip. So began my journey.

My research led to Anh Wu and Offroad Vietnam (http://www.offroadvietnam.com). I had several organizations at the ready who, I thought, could accommodate our trip, but after a few email exchanges and many Skype chat sessions with Anh, I knew I found the company that would help us experience a trip for the ages.

Over the course of the next eight months, Anh answered every question thoroughly and patiently. He provide me with references from all other the world, who also answered my questions without delay. Without fail, every reference provided me with glowing reports on the thoroughness and professionalism of Anh and Offroad Vietnam.

We paid our deposit with confidence and secured our dates. And, after Anh received our deposit, the service, support, and endless emails and chat sessions continued with the same timeliness and thoroughness. We knew we had the right organization, and I honestly believed Anh would make certain we had a wonderful experience.

In early August 2008 we successfully and safely completed a 9-day trip down the Ho Chi Minh trail with six members of the “Wild Hogs.” One of the ‘Wild Hogs”, a renowned newspaper editor, created a blog that documented our trip. Please see http://www.cnhinews.com/node/298 for the blog. The trip and Offroad Vietnam exceeded our expectations by a very wide margin. From the tempo of the trip to the quality of the bikes, we knew exactly what to expect, and in every case our experiences proved more enjoyable, educational, and rewarding than we imagined. Our accommodations proved more than adequate, and the quality and diversity of our meals made the trip particularly rewarding. The price for the entire trip seemed more that fair. We received tremendous value from Offroad Vietnam. We can’t say enough about our guides, Minh and Ngoc. As expected, in the end, the quality of our guides made the trip. Their knowledge, personality, and genuine concern for our welfare made the trip a complete success. Minh and Ngoc have tremendous pride in their country and they made certain every question received an honest answer and that we had an opportunity to experience firsthand the very best asset in Vietnam – the people.

I highly recommend Offroad Vietnam to anyone with a sense of adventure and a desire to work with a first rate organization. And as Anh did for me, I will provide additional details on my experiences to anyone who asks.

My hat goes off to the team at Offroad Vietnam for a job well done!

On behalf of my fellow “Wild Hogs”, thank you to the team at Offroad Vietnam for a truly extraordinary experience. We wish you nothing but the very best.

Larry Hall

LWH@msn.com

Full name: Larry Hall
Address: U.S.A.

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Ms Crystal Wreden (9 days on Honda road bike, ~1,200 km)

Ngoc is a great guide; I felt so safe and comfortable taking a solo trip with him and I learned a lot about Vietnamese history and culture. He was also very patient when teaching me how to ride the bike, even when I fell three times the first day. I definitely had a very unique and amazing experience riding around the twisty little mountain roads, dodging chickens, bicycles, goats, buffaloes and the more common large speeding truck.

Anh Wu was also great in helping me organize and book the trip; he patiently answered all of my many, many pre-trip questions and helped me with my visa. I can't wait to come back for my next trip!

- Tempo of the tour and the stop-over: Great, since I got to decide when I wanted to stop. :) Everything was flexible.

- Transportation: I loved the bike (and the electric starter), and totally want to buy one now. The jacket and pants were really useful when I fell.

- Accommodation: Decent and clean hotels, but most of the time cold. There was freakishly cold weather when I went on my trip though, so I think everyone else in north Vietnam was cold too.

- Food: I gained 2 kg from eating so much. The food was good, and Anh Ngoc could find me yummy vegetarian food even in the most remote places-not an easy thing to do in Asia!

- The organization - Guide services: Anh Ngoc is the best!!!

- The price: I heard that there are cheaper tour companies, but for me this professional, hassle-free and customized trip through the HCM trail was worth every penny.

- How did you know about us? My dad picked this trip out as something he wants to do, but I got to go on it first since he's always stuck at work. :D

Full name: Crystal Park Wreden
Address: An American residing in Malaysia.

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Mr Mike Misurka (9 days on Honda road bike, ~1,200 km)

I signed up for the 10 day Ho Chi Minh Trail motorcycle tour for January 2008. I flew into Hanoi via Bangkok on Air Asia and took a taxi for $12 US into Hanoi. I met up with Ngoc and made plans for the following morning then toured the Hanoi Hilton and walked around the lake before getting some sleep. We got underway the next morning and started the ride. The bikes are decent shape and are plenty fast enough for the small, winding roads in rural Vietnam. Since you're sharing the roads with buffaloes, kids, ducks, bicycles and everything else, speed isn't an issue. It's just nice to ride along and enjoy the countryside. Accommodations were good enough for that part of the world...hot water, a clean room and clean beds. Food was for the most part very good and lots of variety. The last 2 days were rained out so we switched to a taxi. As a guide, Ngoc was very, very good in his English and translated everything for us, as well as caring for the bikes and doing all the planning. This was the first organized tour I have gone on and learned so much more than I would have if I did it on my own. I would recommend this tour for anyone wanting to explore Vietnam and see a culture that is still fairly unspoiled from tourism. What I would like to see changed is to spend more time exploring the Vietnam War relics and sites and less time in the cities such as Hue. I didn't find the cities particularly interesting and I would like more time to visit the tunnel area and DMZ areas. I was also a little disappointed in the nightlife as most places serve warm beer and everything seems to close by about 10PM. I was hoping for more of a party atmosphere like Thailand and Vietnam is very conservative and work attitude. Also, I didn't know but you should be aware that the government tries to control a lot of things, especially having "guests" into your hotel and it would be nice if their attitude was a little bit more open-minded. All in all, a great culture tour but a little bit of a letdown as far as nightlife and excitement goes.

Full name: Mike Misurka
Address: CANADA.

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Mr John Tu Moran (8 days on Honda road bike, ~1,000 km)

All in one it was a good time and the sites were beautiful.

- Tempo of the tour and the stop-over: The tempo wasn't a problem. In fact for the most part the ride amount was good.

- Transportation: The motorcycles are smaller than advertised on the website, this is not so much a problem, especially in the towns were a bigger bike wouldn't be as nimble and able to get out of trouble! It was just disappointing at first, if the website were changed this wouldn't be a problem. (OV: We did have several bike options, the bike you had was a GL Pro 160cc which is our standard bike option, sorry for any misunderstanding here.)

- Accommodation: In the hotel at the Gulf of Tonkin my room smelled musty. Other than that the accommodation was good, I enjoyed the Thai stilt house in Mai Chau, as well as the hotel in Hoi An.

- Food: The food was good though the website says only alcohol is what you need to pay for but all drinks are a la carte.

- The organization - Guide services: Ngoc was an awesome tour guide, I can't say enough about how great he was, professional, knowledgeable, fun and understanding whatever your paying him is not enough.

- The price: The price was reasonable, though I felt what I payed for wasn't what I got because the website listed a different itinerary, it was disappointing to not get to see Khe Sanh and Hamburger Hill which is what the website lists in its itinerary! (OV: The reason we didn't see Khe Sanh was we went to Vinh Moc tunnel and needed to get the two Russian riders to Danang for their flight back to Moscow)

- How did you know about us? I found you on the Internet.

Full name: John Tu Moran
Address: 3524 NE 79th Ave Portland OR 97213, U.S.A.

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Mr Ruben Gamoo (13 days ride on Honda road bike, ~1,600 km)

Dear Anh Wu,

The thrill and adrenalin rush from my motorbike trip still haunts me. I can't thank you enough for organizing and planning such a memorable experience. It was my first introduction to motor bike touring and it will definitely not be my last.

The logistics of the trip was handled very well despite the adverse weather and road closures that were due to the landslides and floods. Thus the journey never failed to surprise me!

The trip opened my eyes to the real Vietnam, it allowed me to soak in the breathtaking sights. I was mesmerized by the simplicity of the hill tribe people, the openness of the community that we passed through, and the generosity of some of the people that we encountered. Not forgetting my encounter with some my favourite animals "the pigs" and the "water buffaloes"!!!!!!

My endless photographs captured the undeniably beautiful landscapes and "the forgotten Vietnam"…along my journey. The ability to handle the bike on different types of road conditions was an added bonus to my confidence as well as to my riding skills.

With a great guide beside me and the vast land ahead of us we rode without any expectations. We received a lot more. Memories will be plenty.

"The Ho Chi Minh Trail allows you experience Vietnam from the North to the South through the Central Highlands. It was an unbelievable experience. Everybody should try it"

Full name: Ruben Gamoo
Address: MALAYSIA