Day 1: No One Wants to Collide

• From - To: Happy Zip Motorbikes – Trang An Viewpoint Homestay

• Distance: 137 km, 3:27h

• Routes: AH13 – QL21A

• Accommodation: Trang An Viewpoint Homestay, Superior King Room with A/C 17 EUR per night, including breakfast

In Hanoi's streets, you're thrust into anarchy, where familiar road rules don't apply. Hundreds of thousands of motorbikes flow seamlessly like water in a river. They elegantly navigate around any obstacle – cars, buses, pedestrians, and other two-wheelers, even those moving in the opposite direction. Yes, even head-on! Because to turn left from the right lane, a Vietnamese rider never stops and waits for others to let them through. No one will. So how do they reach a café on the left side of the street? The answer, contrary to our traffic sense, is simple – upon spotting a gap in the opposite traffic, the rider steers into it, gradually working against the current, finding new gaps in the oncoming traffic, and inching closer to the left curb. The oncoming drivers subtly adjust their course, allowing just enough room to avoid a collision.

This is the singular rule of Vietnam's traffic flow, applicable not only in the city but also on rural roads. The essence of this rule is – no one wants to collide. What other rules are needed when this one is paramount in Vietnam? The only rule. And it works perfectly. I tested it myself.

Leaving Hanoi, Google Maps suggests the quickest route – the CT01 expressway (99.8 km, 1:47 h). I strongly advise against this route unless you want to travel with numerous trucks and buses, breathe in their dust, and have an encounter with the local traffic police on your first day.

I opted for the slower, safer, and more scenic QL21A route. However, as soon as I started on the streets of Hanoi, the navigator suggested a shorter route. In the thick of the scooter traffic, I accidentally pressed the wrong spot and was redirected to the QL1A.

Later, I realized it's better to turn around and stick to your planned route. But at that moment, my mind was fully focused on navigating the scooter traffic. I was constantly watching every moving object, its direction, speed, trajectory; trying to understand the behavior of other drivers and what it meant for me, a first-time motorbike rider. Adjusting to shifting gears or braking, I was still calibrating my senses to the motorbike's response. I felt tension, but it was exhilarating. Until, after an hour... QL1A transformed into an expressway filled with trucks and buses.

Stopping at a gas station, I figured out the issue – I hadn't set Google Maps to avoid expressways and toll roads. I had done so on my iPhone, but forgot on the Android I was using for navigation. A valuable lesson.

They say the first pancake is always the roughest. But for me, it was delicious. I chewed it with relish, enjoying the new experience. I'm in Vietnam, on a motorbike, having already completed half of the first day's route! The best part was managing to navigate out of Hanoi, and I loved the ride.

My gaze caught the sky – in the distance, in my direction of travel, a dark cloud had appeared. I decided not to change my route, geared up my Winner, and headed back into the expressway flow. The cloud grew rapidly, and with about 5 kilometers to go, it began to rain. Was it worth stopping to put on a rain poncho when I was almost there?

The second lesson of the day – it only takes a minute of tropical rain for everything I'm wearing and carrying, as well as all the items on the motorbike, to be completely soaked. When I arrived, I was dripping from my clothes, the spare shirts in my backpack, the backpack itself, and even the supposedly waterproof phone holder, pouring about a liter of water from each shoe! Thus, always be ready for rain – cover your backpack with a rain protector at the start of each trip, keep a poncho, shoe covers, and a bag for the waterproof phone case handy. Raindrops on the helmet visor and oncoming riders in raincoats are signs to quickly stop and deploy all rain protection measures. If it doesn't turn out to be a downpour, you can easily remove the protections. But if it pours, you won't have to wring everything out and wait for it to dry.

I arrived at Trang An Viewpoint Homestay in the midst of tropical rain. The hosts greeted me with broad smiles and led me through 10 cm deep puddles to my spacious reserved room. I wrung the water out of my items, hung everything to dry (setting the air conditioner to Dry mode, otherwise nothing dries), and stretched out on the firm double bed. It took an hour for the rain to stop and for me to examine the local map while lying in bed. I was craving a delicious meal and... a full-body massage. I deserved it, right? I had conquered the first 125 km in Vietnam on my first-ever motorbike journey! Despite seeing my dripping backpack and a puddle next to the shoes propped against the wall, I felt happy. I even got goosebumps (the kind they call a skin orgasm).

Recommended by the host, I headed to Tam Coc for dinner. Trang An, where I stayed, is preferred by local travelers, making it quieter than Tam Coc – a town popular with foreign tourists and filled with numerous restaurants. The one recommended to me was off the beaten path, where I was advised to try goat meat – a culinary heritage of the region.

Unfortunately, the recommended restaurant was booked for a local event and I couldn’t get in. But I quickly found another place in the heart of Tam Coc, dining amid the conversations of British and Austrian tourists. As planned, after dinner, I went to Ninh Binh for the perfect massage.

! For a full-body massage, choose parlors where masseuses/masseurs are dressed in short skirts/shorts rather than pants (no, not what you might be thinking...). In such places, the massage is likely to be better as they use not only their hands and elbows but also their knees and shins. Try it out. You'll feel the difference.