A terrific trip, with all my thanks to Nhung Bui A brilliantly organised trip with plenty of variation and a good balance between rest and exploration. I hadn’t quite imagined just how beautiful and exciting Vietnam would be, and so it exceeded each one of my hopes and expectations for this trip by tenfold. A lot of my praise for this trip can be credited to Nhung, who went above and beyond in her duties.
This was our first organized cycling trip, and it was very enjoyable. The group was larger than I expected (18, whereas I had thought we would be about 12), but everyone got along well and our tour leader, Tung, was very efficient and attentive, friendly, patient and entertaining.
There was also more city riding than I expected, through some rather hairy motorbike traffic and roundabouts. Tung and Lee, our tail gunner, shepherded us through them, but it took some guts at first to weave through the scooters and cars and buses. Note that red lights apparently don't apply to motorbikes; they just sail on through. We got used to it after a couple of times and in the end it was rather exhilarating. Some riding on main city streets and bridges, too, and through towns and suburbs. All in all the tour was a bit more urban than I'd hoped. But I suppose if you want to see all aspects of Vietnam... Riding through the rice paddies and the countryside and along back lanes, on the other hand, was quite enchanting. Little children ran out to call "Hello!" everywhere.
I see this tour is rated as 3/9 for activity level. I would say more 5/9, and that's without the (very enjoyable, if you're up for it) 10-km uphill ride one day. On the other hand, the bus is always available and there was no shame in taking a day off.
We missed the Whale Island tour because of a typhoon, but Tung and Exodus rearranged everything seamlessly. The Halong Bay overnight boat tour was a real delight, as was the overnight train to Hanoi. And Hoi An and Hanoi were wonderful, particularly the pedestrian streets (no motorbikes!) on the weekend in Hanoi.
We could easily have skipped the boat trip to the overcrowded beach and hike up to the viewpoint on Halong Bay, however, and the kayaks were uncomfortable, at least for the person in the stern with no back support.
The meals were good, even for us vegetarians, the bikes were clean and very well maintained, and there was lots of juice and water and fruit provided at the frequent rest stops. Nice that they didn't insist on handing out plastic bottles of water! The bus was comfortable and the driver and bike mechanic were friendly and very competent. Definitely a 10/10 for organization.
What a great way to see a country! I am not really a 'tour' person but this was an excellent experience because we got to experience many more things than we would have on our own. I'd love to do another one.