Well, we're all now back from Nambusters 3, and what a trip it was.
It's fair to say that NBIII most definitely did not go to plan, but that's adventure biking for you! We had our fair share of challenges along the way, but more of that in the next post...
To remind you what this was all about...we have previously done 2 trips around Vietnam. The first was around the NW, the second in the NE but with more of our friends coming along for the ride. This third trip was to revisit some of the route from the first trip, with everyone from the second trip along plus one new lad to the crew. We would be doing a different route but hitting similar overnight stops, and there would be much more off road.
The route would go something like this;
Day 2 - Mo Waterfall to Mai Chau - 200km
Day 3 - Mai Chau to Bac Yen - 130km
Day 4 - Bac Yen to Song Ma - 200km
Day 5 - Song Ma to Dien Bien Phu along Ma river next to Laos border - 160km
Day 6 - Dien Bien Phu to Sin Ho - 160km
Day 7 - Paso to Lai Chau to SaPa to Lao Cai on China border - 180km
We would then return from Lao Cai overnight on the sleeper train with the bikes as we did last time.
Time to write it all up so you can see what we got up to! Hopefully someone will read this and be inspired to travel. That's the goal after all - to see the big wide world while we can.
So, on with the trip report...
Bryan was good enough to collect me for the run to Manchester airport, where we checked in and had a quick breakfast before catching the shuttle flight down to Heathrow where we would meet up with Jim and Roger. Del, Joe and Phil were already in VN at this point. One improvement over previous years was that Vietnam airlines now run the excellent Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Heathrow to Hanoi, which is a tidy and comfortable plane to be on.
First hiccup of the trip was when I got off the Heathrow shuttle bus and was about to go through security. My printed boarding pass wasn't scanning so I went to fish out the confirmation on my mobile, to discover my phone was missing. I had it a few minutes previous on the shuttle bus so I called it from my other spare phone. Fortunately it was in the hands of a very helpful girl who worked for Heathrow security, and she was able to talk me back through the various one-way doors until it was returned to me! Top lass.
After this we met up with Jim and eventually Roger managed to find us (in a bar). Despite it only being 9am Jim was on the second pint of the day. Hardcore.
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| Bryan and me enjoy an early breakfast at Manchester airport |
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| Meeting up with Jim at Heathrow. Too early for a beer? 9am. |
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| I wouldn't want to be sat next to these two nefarious characters for an 11 hour flight! |
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| Approaching Vietnam border as shown on the 787's in-flight info. 677mph! Get in. |
Upon landing at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, we waited an eternity to get through passport security. At that point Jim realised he had left his glasses on the plane, and after many attempts to talk to the officials it was clear he was not able to retrieve them.
A nice surprise was when we walked through to the arrivals area to be met by this chap with a Nambusters 3 sign for the taxi. It definitely felt like the adventure was about to begin at this point. I think the sign was Del's doing.
After the usual white knuckle ride from the airport to the city we arrived at the familiar Hotel Tirant in the old quarter. I would highly recommend this hotel if you are planning a stay in Hanoi. Not only is it in the quaintest part of the city, it's very clean and the staff are very helpful and friendly. Plus it's not exactly expensive. At this point, having been unable to sleep on the plane and being awake for around 18 hours I was glad we'd booked early checkin and could go straight to the hotel rooms for a few hours rest.
Around lunchtime we met up with Del, Joe and Phil and walked around to Flamingo to sort out paying the trip balance and checking the bikes out. Last year we started the trip just at the end of Tet (Vietnamese new year) and the whole country was at something of a standstill. The bikes weren't quite what we'd booked although it all got sorted out in double quick time by Hung and the staff at Flamingo.
On arrival at Flamingo, owner Hung and our familiar guide Pinky were sat outside the cafe opposite chatting. It was good to catch up with them both who we consider friends now after doing two previous tours.
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| Route map in Flamingo's Hanoi office. Our plan was to go from Hanoi to Dream Waterfall, then Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Sapa then Lao Cai. |
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| NB new boy Roger |
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| Del, Bryan and Jim |
We got the balances paid up and walked around to the garage 5 minutes away. We were pleased to see that the bikes were what we'd expected, and in some cases were better than expected.
Immediately upon seeing it, Joe claimed the KLX supermoto. I was a bit jealous, I have a supermoto background and would have loved it. However, Joe claimed it, it suited him better since it sat a bit lower with the 17" wheels so that was that. Looked very cool though!
I had a regular KLX250. Jim had a Baja XR250, Bryan and Roger were both on regular XR250's, Del a CRF250 and Phil was going to ride the SL230 that he hoped to buy from Flamingo at the end of the trip.
Phil is taking a 6 month break to travel through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. I'm not jealous...
There were a few changes needed as we checked over the bikes, nothing wrong as such just personal preference. My KLX had some goofy square mirrors on which got on my nerves immediately, so I asked for those to be changed. Honestly, I turned around, talked to Phil for a minute and when I turned back they'd been swapped! I hadn't even seen the lad do it. Likewise there was the odd clutch/brake lever that needed adjusting up or down to suit preference, and I believe Del asked for the rack to be taken off his CRF since he would just be using a waterproof bag on the back seat & rack only. Overall no problems to speak of, just tweaks.
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| Outside Flamingo's offices |
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| Mr Phil tries out the SL230 for size |
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| Joe's KLX250 D-Tracker |
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| My KLX250 |
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| At Flamingo's garages which sit alongside one of the busier outer roads of Hanoi |
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| Jim's Baja XR250, or as it would become known 'The Badger'. |
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| Phil's SL230 |
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| Some final maintenance to Del's CRF250 |
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| Err...ok I give up. |
Following making arrangements for the next morning we retired to the hotel to pack bike kit, then met up on the Skyline rooftop bar for a few drinks. I was lagging a bit by this point so started off with a lovely Vietnamese iced coffee!
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| Vietnamese iced coffee |
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| View from the Skyline to the streets below in the Old Quarter |
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| From the Skyline looking across the city |
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| Ginger beard club |
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| Hotel Tirant looks out over Hoan Kiem Lake...just! If only those two or three pesky buildings weren't in the way! |
After a few at the Tirant we headed out into the Old Quarter. Starting off at Bia Hoi corner at the Green Pepper bar, we eventually shifted over to the mexican opposite and finally onto another bar up a side street. Suffice it to say, considering we were setting off on the bike trip the next morning I think we had a little too much. True to form eh! I'll leave you with a few photos for now, you can kind of picture how the night went...
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| WTAF. |
Next up, day 1 - setting out from Hanoi!
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