Vietnam

So, it's been a while! Things change and don't always go to plan, but I am now back on the road again and currently in Vietnam. I arrived in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) around a week ago and plan to travel around the SE Asian region until next spring. Besides everything else it was a pleasure to leave the English November snow behind and arrive in the balmy warmth of the tropics - my hair's still wet from swimming in the warm South China sea as I write this!

I left the chaos of Saigon two days ago. I was bed-ridden with pharyngitis just before I was due to get on the sixteen hour plane journey here - which wasn't the best situation to be in! And I found the seven hour time difference ridiculous to get used to. I usually don't sleep before 02:00 am, and when that's nine in the morning here it meant that I barely slept for three days. Yet Valium cures all. Lovely pharmacies.

Still, it was shockingly easy to find a bike out here during my four days in Saigon. Below is my little beauty; a 'Honda Win'. I'm pretty certain that the chassis is the only remaining Honda part of the bike, but it's more or less impossible to find a manual bike like this with an original Honda engine. Although it does have a Lifan 110cc, and for those in the know these have a pretty good reputation as far as Chinese engines go - and so far it's shaping up to be pretty good! After literally three quarters of a day haggling I managed to pick it up for around £250.

The little Win loaded up, sans tank-bag. 

Some typical views of Saigon.

It seems that it's pretty popular for Westerners to come here and buy bikes to travel the length of Vietnam (we can blame Top Gear) and literally the day after I bought my bike I managed to find five other guys who are heading the same way.

My map on the table as everyone checks the route out on their phones.

My map wins!

The gang about to leave Saigon. A German, a German, a German, an Israeli, a Frenchman (who's also a doctor) and one English. Only myself and Sean (the other blonde guy) have any motorcycle experience, so the last two days on the road has been 'interesting'. Still, if you're a Vietnamese girl riding a bicycle in the rain and you get run into by a foreigner on a motorcycle then it's for the best that he's a doctor. Onwards!