Our Motorbike Tour with Phu

We met Phu from Hoi An Motorbike Tour Adventures in 2018 when we did a 1 day motorbike tour of the Hoi An area. Although I was a bit hesitant on the motorbike to begin with, Larry and I both ended up loving this way of touring as we had an unobstructed view of our surroundings, we went into the rice fields and small villages where cars couldn’t go and we could stop almost anywhere for pictures. So from this 1 day, easy travelling tour, we decided it would be interesting to do a 3 day trip with Phu into the mountains along the border of Laos (in the central highlands).

We quickly learned that this would be a very different tour. Phu explained that we needed more powerful bikes and experienced drivers who could handle the mountain roads and the less travelled portions of the Hoi Chi Minh trail. I rode with Phu and Larry rode with Ca. Phu explained that Ca didn’t speak English but that wasn’t important as he was very experienced and very strong. Ca was so much more than that – he was amazing with Larry.

And so it began, our monkey bum adventure. Was it a difficult 3 days – absolutely. Did we have an amazing tour – absolutely. This write-up and our pictures just touch the surface of our time with Phu and Ca. The pictures were taken when we stopped, but there was so much more that we saw and experienced along the way.

Now to set the stage for our tour. We travelled almost 500 km in 3 days, we were “on the road” by 8:30 each day and we would stop around 4:30. Before dinner we would do a walking tour of the town we stayed in. The many stops that Phu arranged along the way not only helped with monkey bum, but also gave us insight into the central highlands (past and present) and the people of the minority villages. We were not travelling in tourist areas – Phu indicated that some bikers travel this part of the Ho Chi Minh trail but they move through quickly with few stops along the way. There were challenges travelling in these non-tourist areas, but we saw and learned so much – but more about that in our next blog.

As expected, monkey bum set in big time on day 3, especially for Lar. Phu made more “comfort stops” along the way which helped a lot. What we didn’t expect was the challenge of getting on the bigger motorbike, with our duffle bags pilled high at the back – this meant less room to maneuver around the driver, the higher seat and the gear. We were truly pathetic getting on and off the first day, but by day 3 we almost looked like we knew what we were doing. I soon learned that hands on the knees was the easiest way to ride – gripping the side or holding onto Phu for that many hours were not options.

Rather than try to cover everything in a single blog, I will write a second blog with more commentary on what we experienced and the many faces of the highland people.

A special thank you to Daniel Gibson who introduced us to the camera vest – it was the only way to carry the camera safely on the bikes, and to have ready access to our cameras when we stopped.