First Road Trip of the year 2019

It was the 01.02.2019 a hot and sunny day, a perfect day to get out the busy city and hit the road.
After around a week of preparation and deciding where to go we got everything ready and just wanted to “break free”.

Day 1

After getting gas, strapping on the backpacks and feeling ready for this journey as we headed out.
The first destination is: Ma Da Guoi - 167 km away - only us and the road.

Passing through the different outskirts of HCMC, we took a ferry over to the less crowded districts to get as fast as possible out of the city.

Everything feels different already -

the smell the people, the vibe. It’s almost like you enter a different habitat when you leave HCMC. It feels refreshing.

As we drove along the Backroads we felt a slight hunger approaching us and we went for a little food-hunt for the most well known Vietnamese dish “Pho Bo”. An outstandingly tasty broth with rice noodles, fresh herbs and either beef “Bo” or chicken “Ga”. We finally came across this small street food restaurant in this tiny town we were passing through and it was perfect! CHEAP, DELICIOUS AND UPLIFTING.

After the meal we made our way further north again going along the TL 769 with less traffic, no trucks and barely any cars. Only motorbikes, villages, trees, fields and a few bugs hitting your face join you along the way. :D

PRO TIP: Get a good helmet for the road some decent sunglasses and a scarf! That saved my life during the trip more often than I can count!!

Intersection TL 769 on to QL 20

Stopping at this huge and busy intersection where the TL 769 meets QL 1, the main highway north, we thought “yes”, it was a great decision to take the Backroads. Since we didn’t want to drive along this overcrowded with crazy bus drivers and speeding trucks, highway, we took the more relaxed QL 20 - straight ahead we go!

Hitting the Ho Tri An Reservoir & break time in the shade

One of the biggest reservoirs in Vietnam and a cool place to stop by to get a drink as well as a drive through the back alleys to get to the water and breath in the fresh air.

HOT > BURNING > HELL > VIETNAM SUN

As we melted on the bikes during midday this break was fantastic to recover some energy and get back on the road shortly after.

PRO TIP: SUNSCREEN - just put it everywhere and use it whenever you can! Bring extras!

*especially if you are a snowflake like creature, like me and your skin turn just read like a lobster :D.

The mountains -

we started to get closer and closer to our destination. From the Ho Tri An Reservoir it is roughly 42 km to Ma Di Guoi and our first guesthouse.

Ma Da Guoi & Cat Tien National Park

Surrounded by mountains, trees, fresh rice fields and the general smell of the countryside, we get to Ma Da Guoi, a small city in the middle of nowhere.

Right next to a small lake in the center of the city we decide to get a guesthouse.
Bright smiles and happy faces welcome us as the only guests for the night.

WE ARE BEAT and its just 2:30 pm

It feels like we drove all day and night, that’s how tired we were after this first tour and out in the bursting hot sun. We crash on our hard but comfy beds and literally pass out.

Luckily, I set an alarm for 4 pm or we probably would have slept till morning.
At around 4 pm, we get ourselves up and ready to discover the surroundings. We had the plan to go and take a look at the Cat Tien Nationalpark and the Heaven Rapid.

It’s about 20 km from Ma Da Guoi to the Park entrance, but who would we be if we just drive there straight away. So, we get ready and try to find the most off track roads we could find and heck yeah it was off track.

The river crossing -

as we make our way through we stumble upon a riverbed and my map just says ….yeah it’s this way - both of us looked puzzled. - How we gonna get across without getting out engines completely soaked? - But as we are standing there, with question marks as a face, this Vietnamese guy on the other side with his bike, loaded with coconuts just looks at us and drives on. I bet he was thinking, “Man, these crazy foreigners can’t even do that.”

Rattling, scratching, cracking sounds, splashing water as he just casually passes by and looks at us with a smile.

My mate had enough, he will risk it all and conquer the river! He takes all his courage and pushes on - into the water….I see him falling …….but no, he uses his momentum and rushes out the water, past the rocks and up he goes. Celebrating his victory - “I beat you nature, yeah, take that river!” - he screams.…..seconds later Mr. Coconut comes back, drives through the river as it was nothing. - “Crazy foreigner, like monkey in the forest.” - I now have no choice, act cool, take your bike and hit it!!!!! JUST DO IT!!! JUST DO IT!! AS Shia Labeouf tunes in my “radioheadstation”-

AND I FREAKING DID IT!! DAMN RIGHT! :)

Just on the other side the guy is awaiting us with a big load of Pomelos, freshly harvested and ready to go. I am like, HALT, STOP, let me buy one. We exchange goods and smile. He is happy, we are happy, everybody is happy.

Cat Tien National Park -

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As we arrive at the entrance of the park we see, well, nobody. Nobody was here to help or tell us where to go. Furthermore, we have to take a boat to get across the river, but none were operating for a bike transfer that late of the day. So, I pop out my drone ( her name is Shiva) so I will be calling her that from now on and take some nice videos and photos from above.

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Close by, we find this huge restaurant/hotel kinda place where we decide to get some food. The waitress was actually speaking almost fluently English and asks us where would like to sit. As the place is completely empty we pick a good spot near the balcony.

We order - it arrives - And it was fanfreakingtastic! Four different dishes, 4 drinks and some good chats later we pay around 550’000 VND for it all and be off on our way back to the guesthouse.

Time is running out and we are running low on energy-

Night falls and we are still far from home. It’s never easy nor that outstandingly nice to drive at night in Vietnam, but we did it anyways.

PRO TIP: DO NOT DRIVE AT NIGHT.
Especially on the highways, just get up early and drive all day and you will be fine.

No street lights, no real roads, potholes, rocks, crazy drivers and rain accompany us the 20+ km back.

We make it to the guesthouse around 8 pm and are just read for a nice hot shower and a good night’s sleep.

The time has come to close my eyes and I start dreaming of tomorrow.

PS: Hope you enjoyed the first day of the trip! Be ready for some more crazy stories and Tips along the way. Cheers and thanks for reading!

TheHelix

Prices:

Ferry Price: 3’000 VND each
Food 1: 25’000 VND each
Twin Room 200’000 VND
Gas: 70’000 VND full tank
Drinks: 40’000 VND

Freedom on the road: priceless