six-up riding

[angler]

Makes me wanna go and visit,just curious,how much did it cost you for staying 20 days out there?I heard it's pretty affordable.Nice pics BTW 

Getting there is really the only cost - once there it is cheaper than being at home.  I think I found tickets for $1300 a piece and a portion of the trip was for business so it was deductible  .  We stayed in the 2-star range for hotels for $30/night or less usually.  The only place we got burnt by lodging was in Hanoi - do your homework and pay a little extra if you go there.  We spent two nights over $60/night, but it was a serious swanky place. If you have to stay in a Western style hotel, expect at least $100/night especially in the well known chains.  I don't really do chain hotels, even stateside. Food is basically free and so is beer  . I remember like the 2nd night in country we went out with 4 work friends, ordered tons of food, stayed like three hours, killed a case of the local San Miguel beer and the total tab was less than $40 for the four of us.  That was an expensive meal. Liquor will cost you, except for rice wine (more like vodka) but still cheap.

You can rent all manner of scooters from your hotel for less than $5 per day. Formal gas stations are few and far between, but you start to notice that every roadside stall outside of the city has 1 liter bottles full of a reddish liquid, which would be petrol - mixed or unmixed based on the scooter. Getting out of the major cities is pretty extreme, but riding around the country side was pretty spectacular and easy to do.  Remember yield for no one (unless they are bigger than you) and use your horn frequently - or you'll get hit for sure.  It helps to pay attention to their driving style and learn fast.  The first few trips in the city, my girlfriend was pretty overwhelmed riding her own bike.  Maps are mostly fiction, but the locals are super helpful and signs are pretty good.  We did many days over 100km on 125cc scooters.  If I had it to do over again, I would hook up with Hingh (Dalat Adventure Tours).  He can put together multi-day motorcycle trips complete with lodging.  Excellent guide and getting outside of the cities is definitely the way to go.  For single days, it was $30/day for a guide and two motorcycles.  It is not a heck of a lot more to tack on lodging for multi-day trips. 

To sum it all up, if you are not extravagant and eat street food except for dinner, you can get by on $25-$30 per person per day, including lodging.

[somegirl]

Very true, I have been there a few months ago. It's amazing though how nobody seems to get into any accidents!

Dunno about Vietnam, but I personally have witnessed multiple accidents in China and Taiwan.  Those drivers are nuts!

Aftermath of a scooter accident in Taipei (rider seemed ok, just shaken up):

[Holden]

Hanoi ... the well known chains.

You mean like Hilton?

[duc996]

Angler thanks so much for the trip details,now i have an idea what to expect.A couple of buddies of mine had mention Vietnam,that's why i wanted to know from somone that just came from there.Basically interested in riding around it and night scenes :-)