Within the space of a week or so, I've had a bit of a yard sale to get some money together for the flights. I sold an assortment of items that I'd accumulated and weren't really using....watches, swiss army knives, a guitar (I have others), my Nexus tablet that wound me up so much on the last trip...anyway so far I've raised enough to cover the flights which are around £700.
For anyone visiting Hanoi, I can't say how much I would recommend the Hotel Tirant in the old quarter, near Hoam Kiem lake. The staff are outstanding. The first time we went, I sat down to breakfast one morning, groggy and waking up. Suddenly I noticed a few people around me, and the place had gone quiet. One of the staff presented a birthday cake in front of me that said 'Happy Birthday Mr Neil' in icing, and the staff stood in a line and sang Happy Birthday to me. No-one had told them it was my birthday, and I know certain hotels check guests' passports for the birth date and look out for that sort of thing, but it was a great touch and really appreciated by me. Bella, a lovely girl who runs the place, seems to know every guest by name, including when they are leaving and what they will be doing while they are there. The hotel itself is super clean, and when we are out on motorbike tour for a week they hold on to our suitcases and surplus luggage at no charge. Honestly, you couldn't ask for more.
So, on to the NB3 arrangements. If I'm honest, on NB2 I crammed too much into a short space of time. I'm not referring to the trip itself, more the days off work and travel arrangements either side of it. I finished work on Thursday at 5, loaded up the car, drove to Dartford to stay at Del's so we could fly out from Gatwick the next morning. It took until midnight to get to Dartford, and we were up at 6am. Then it was drive to Gatwick and fly out, arriving at Hanoi at 6am on Saturday. I can never sleep on a flight so was already pretty shattered by this point. We had 24hrs in Hanoi before setting off on the bike tour. The following weekend we returned via the overnight 'sleeper' train from Lao Cai to Hanoi, getting back at 6am (why is it always 6am!) and flew back at midnight the next day. On arriving back at Del's in Dartford I think I had an hour or two sleep then drove back up 5 hours to home in Lancashire. I was at work the next day.
Overall you will probably agree, the schedule was a bit tiring. The trip felt like it was over in a flash and I had no recovery time before going back to work. Also, doing this blog 'on the fly' while we were away felt like it took too much time away from the trip itself. Therefore on NB3 I'm just going to do notes while we're away and do the blog when we get back. In a way, that prolongs the trip since you get to relive it for weeks afterwards as I do the trip report for each day.
Well, glad to say that this time it will be much more relaxed. And thanks to my missus too. I'll be flying out on Friday 26th Feb from Manchester to Heathrow, then on to Hanoi. We're on the bike tour from Sunday to Sunday the next week, then I fly back Hanoi - Heathrow - Manchester on the 11th March. Got all weekend then to recover before thinking about the "W' word.
I was a little excited to find out that the long stint from Heathrow to Hanoi is on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Apparently they are much better for combatting the effects of jetlag and general effects of aviation, plus the seat pitch in economy is supposed to be more generous. It's given me another reason to look forward to that flight, and might help me feel just that little bit less knackered.
So as of last night, my flights and hotel are booked. Just the tour deposit to sort with Hung at Flamingo Travel now, and then we're all set!
To celebrate, I whipped up this short, simple video of some of the off road section we did on NB2. You'll no doubt be amused by my idiotic tactical dismount at the end, along with Jim laughing at the result. All good fun. Next time, more revs!
As some of you may know, I'm definitely the 'kit monkey' of the group. Any excuse to change kit, or research and buy something that might do the job better. Well this trip is no exception...
Since NB3 will include much much more off-road than either of the two previous trips, I decided my Aldi motorbike boots (£29.99) were not up to the job. In fact, they have so little ankle support as to be a liability if you're thinking about off-roading in remote foreign lands. The most likely part of you to get injured in an 'off' is apparently your extremities (feet/ankles/legs and hands/arms). Therefore I felt that something with more support was in order. Ideally you'd want something solid like motocross boots, but the problem is whatever kit you are wearing on a trip such as this, you are wearing it all day - every day for a week. Any discomfort will get magnified as that week progresses, and what might be a minor rub here or there will turn into open sores and risk of infection when you're in the tropical south east Asia climate. So you need plenty of support, and all-day comfort.
Well, I think we found the answer. I picked up a pair of Wulf Trials Boots recently, at £118 they didn't break the bank, and since they are designed for trials there is a bit more articulation than you would get with MX or Enduro boots. I actually rode my VTR1000 in to work today with them on and it wasn't a struggle. However they are built like a tank and have good ankle support. Just need to keep wearing them in and getting them comfy before the trip.
Another thing I wasn't happy with last time round was my luggage arrangements. I used the panniers provided by Flamingo, the green leather things that were tough as a nuclear bunker but problematic in other ways. First, they are joined, which may seem obvious but that means when you lift them off the bike you're lifting pretty much all your luggage in one go. That means it's heavy. They are heavy enough on their own, unladen, so when you add in 20kg of kit for a week they become heavy and cumbersome to carry. Sods law dictates I always end up in the top floor of a 5 or 6 storey hotel with no lift, so I'm always carrying these awkward heavy panniers up 5 flights of stairs then down the next day. Lastly, they have a metal backing plate on each side which does a great job in causing lacerations to your shoulders and arms as you carry them. I have scars from these things, seriously.
So, out with those, and in with something else. I am a great fan of Ortlieb and Overboard kit, and also Kriega, but none of that is cheap. I don't have anything already that will do the job for this trip, and in all likelihood anything I buy won't get much use aside from on the trip. So I found Lomo who supply the diving/kayaking community with wetsuits and dry bags. On trips around Europe, we've seen plenty of Lomo dry bags attached to the back of touring motorbikes so it should be decent kit. After some weighing up of sizes and capacity, I ordered a couple of their dry bags for the princely total of about £33. Absolute bargain. On arrival the kit is very tough indeed, and since the webbing handle straps go all the way around and underneath the holdalls they are potentially tougher than Ortliebs where the handles join the dry bag and are bonded/RF welded on and may eventually split.
30 litre Holdall. This will get attached to the back seat/rack with cargo straps and a bungee net. Spacious enough on its own for a weeks worth of clothing with room to spare. Opens across the length of the bag so you don't have to unload all the contents every time you use it unlike many dry bags. Very well made and tough, plus only £20!!!
20 litre dry bag - probably won't need this initially, but as the trip progresses and you accumulate worn clothes, presents and so on this will give me some space to move into. Can attach this to the metal rack where the panniers normally sit, and still have a pannier rack free on the other side. Again, very tough PVC type material, should not tear or split, and an absolute bargain at around £10!!
At this point you might think I'm finished with the new purchases...you'd be wrong. For the last two years I used a Kriega R20 rucksack for valuables and living space during the day. That basically means a place for bottled water, sunblock, hat, shades, cash etc. After the first day of NB2 it got lashed to the back seat under a bungee net and stayed there the whole week. That made getting into it a bit awkward since the bungee net got in the way of the zips. The main reason for doing this was because there's not much point having a mesh jacket so you can stay cool, when you have a rucksack on your back blocking half the mesh. It doesn't work or ventilate properly. That led me to thinking how to downsize the amount of stuff I had in it, so I made a list and came to the conclusion that the contents would fit in a small waist pack (who said bumbag?!). There was then only one real choice: Kriega. They make the excellent R3, a single 3 litre fully waterproof waist pack. They also make the superb R8 which as you can guess is 8 litres split across two packs. If I'm honest, the R3 would probably suffice, but when I saw that the R8 even comes with Kriega's tool roll (normally costing £20) I was sold. The plan is to either use it as intended, or if the off road gets really rough it can easily be lashed to the back seat. The main point is that when you're off the bike, all your cash and valuables can be removed and taken with you conveniently.
So there you have it; got a Kriega R8 on order :) I'll let you know how this one goes.
That's enough of an update for now. I'll leave you with some Kriega porn.
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