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How to tackle the Ho Chi Minh Trail by motorcycle
Ants Bolingbroke-Kent gives hard-won advice on riding the Ho Chi Minh Trail… without the tribulations
In the spring of 2013 I saddled up and set off from Hanoi on a rip-roaring motorcycle ride down the remnants of the legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail. Riding alone on an aging, pink Honda Cub known as the Pink Panther I spent the next two months following what remained of the web of roads, tracks and footpaths that had once been the fulcrum of the Vietnam War; the means by which Ho’s communist north had funnelled men and machines to fight – and beat – the American-backed south. Formerly a 12,000 mile labyrinth that spread through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, today the Trail is fast being swallowed by time, nature and development: I wanted to explore it before it was too late.
Here are my top tips for those tempted to ride the Trail themselves.
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1. Choose your route
In the last 15 years a brand new highway, The Ho Chi Minh Highway, has been built over old Trail routes between Hanoi and Saigon. If you want the easy option and are a novice biker then this is the option for you, since you can ride the 1,000 miles without ever leaving tarmac or Vietnam.
If you want a tougher, more authentic Trail experience then follow one of the old Trail routes over the Annamite mountains into Laos. For the Full Monty, add Cambodia to your trip. Don’t even think about exploring the Trail in Laos without using Laos GPS Map. For Cambodia and Vietnam, you can get away with using a regular map or a local data SIM in your smartphone.
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