Vietnam

[ssa2]

Looking for some help on finding a bike rental in Ho Chi Minh City. I would rather get out of the city before renting if I can find a good place to rent from. Would love to talk to anyone that has been there.

[Bobduro]

Hi,

We're in Vietnam at the moment. Don't know of any places in particular (so sorry about that) but can tell you that you can hire a bike (quite literally) everywhere, in every hotel, hostel, on every street, and every street corner.

I know of a place in Hanoi where you can buy, sell or rent. Many people seem to buy ($250) here and then sell ($200) in Saigon. They have Minsk, Hondas, vespas, Ural sidecars, dirt bikes and cruisers.

If you contact them they they have some suggestions for Saigon.

Call Humphrey Desmond in Hanoi on (0163) 3717 497 or by mobile on 0932 566 003 or email him at info@vietnam-motorbikes.com. Their website is We sell, buy and rent second hand motorcycles in Hanoi, Vietnam

Hope that's of some help....

[felixbourque]

Thank you for this kind ref guys!

[ssa2]

Yes thanks for that very great report. I thought it would be like that as it was in Thailand and Laos and Cambodia as well. Now does anyone know what I need to do to get my visa taken care of. We got a single entry visa for 30 days but want to go into Laos and Cambodia but have to come back to Ho Chi Minh City to fly back out. I had thought we could cross back and forth for the 30days but now it seems that is not the case. Can this be taken care of at a embasy in Ho Chi Minh city?

[Bobduro]

Glad that of some help.

I can't really help much on the crossing borders on the bike from vietnam, as we've had to leave our bikes parked up in Thailand and fly in, but i can tell you our vietnamese visa took 3 days at the embassy in Bangkok. We have ridden across into Laos at the Nong Khai crossing to go to Vientienne for a visa run and picked our visa up at the border, which i'm told is the same at the Lao-Cambodian border.

The only issue i can envisage will be regarding the bikes. Obviously you'll be running Vietnamese plates on the bikes but I know from others i've spoken to that they needed ALL the bike registration documents (including some sort of green book) to cross borders Shouldn't be a problem, but a surprising number of people we've spoken have rented/bought bikes without any papers and then had problems at borders. Others may be able to tell you more, but I'd guess Humphrey Desmond at Vietnam Motorbikes probably is fairly well informed on that front too.

By the way, it's bloody freezing (and wet) in Hanoi at the moment!!.... Go south, go south!!!

[eddiep]

Hey i road north to south in veitnam in 2008 on a minsk. Amazing month of my asian travels. I brought the bike in hanoi from Mr Cuongs but i know you in the south and looking to rent. I ended up selling my bike in Mui Ne beach to an ozzie who runs a par (pogo pogo's) and a burger joint. Its not far from siagon (a few hundred km's) and i know he does up the minsks and sells them on to travellers. Only dissapointment for me was that he tunes the engines and gets rid of that lovely 2stroke thumping thud that the minsk has!

I met two finnish guys who passed with their minsk into Loas and then got into cambodia from southern laos - so i know it is possible! Apparently it very difficult with a vietnamese bike to go into cambodia first. I was going to try but crashed in Mui Ne, hence the sale!

My advice is stay away from the coast highway 1. just a terrible road. Only good part is the Vam trom pass near Hoi Ann. this section it worth it. Stay in land and you will experience the real vietnam away from the tourists. Especially if you do the Northern ho chi minh road like i did. Had people help me for an hour with bike problems and they would not except my money, later that day got to Sapa (beautiful by the way) who wanted 5US just for pointing the direction. Needless to say i didnt pay him!! Get off the tourist trail and you will see just how beautiful Vietnam is.

Enjoy!!!!!

[ssa2]

Thanks for all the advise. Last year I rented in Thailand for a month. I took bus to Cambodia and then flew up to Laos and rented a motorcycle there. I have found a place to rent this year in Cambodia and I know Laos is no problem renting so we will do all 4 countries this year. We had problem with airline tickets and visas so far. Ticket was for the 19th visa was for 21. grrrrrrr Now we took care of the other problem of having a single entry visa and flying into and out of Ho Chi Minh City and wanting to do the other countries. Crossing the borders with a bike still seems like a lot of work and buying and selling could be as well. Renting is always a problem to have to return it to where you start. But i think we have it under control. Sure glad you mentioned the 3 days for visa as we were thinking of trying to do just that. But we were going to go to embassy in Hanoi to get that changed before we left the country.