Hallo again and goodbye...
At last, after nearly three months of silence, we are posting our final blog update covering Vietnam, China and Hong Kong!
At the end of the photographs we have listed a few statistics and biggest lessons learnt for those of you who have a taste for numbers and facts and closure (e.g. mileage, costs, biggest mind-shifts, tips for bikers, etc.).
Thank you for reading our bikingasia blog and for having been part of the journey. Deo volente there will be another…

At last – passing the 10 000km mark...
Somewhere in China our ododmeters clicked over and we found ourselves racing for the end - keen for rest and for being still...

Vietnam...
The tenth most populated country in the world - a dollar-mad people – a war-fixated nation - a country of deafening noise and a hundred million motorbikes.
We loved Vietnam for its spectacular caves and karst formations and for its endless coastline; we hated it for the trucks and the hooters and the mad traffic of Highway One. We loved it for the cool highlands of Dalat and the beautiful women in silk au dai, but dreaded the freezing Himalayan winds that buffeted us head-on every day.

The Vietnam War
The Vietnamese consider themselves a nation of proud and victorious soldiers. An example of their cunning and resourcefulness is the Cu Chi tunnels - a 350km-long labyrinth of tunnels complete with underground kitchens, schools, hospitals and emergency escape routes. The tunnels provided a refuge for 3000 villagers, and despite being bombed, gassed, flooded and poisoned, they managed to evade the Americans for 8 years.
A bat in the claustrophobic darkness of the Cu Chi tunnels

A sketch of the tunnels showing an emergency escape route into the river

An abandoned tank in a southern town

It’s a tough life in Vietnam if you’re an animal or inanimate…
A general lack of compassion for animals, the environment and even other people is a constant theme throughout South East Asia.

A pig squashed into a scooter-basket – often their backs are broken to ease the courier’s job
Dogs destined for the wok – some already dead, squashed against the wire-mesh


Cobras and scorpions drowned in rice wine – ‘it boosts your virility’ they say.









Chickens tied upside down by their feet, beaks scraping tar as they whiz by

Betting on bloody cock-fights – a national pastime

Coral reefs stripped for a pittance - the sad loot lining the coastal roads

Fossils do not escape the plunder – hundreds of ancient stalagmites and stalagtites for sale along the way.

In the coal-mining towns there is no attempt to contain air-pollution. Coal-dust hangs like a black veil in the air – covering everything and everybody in fine black soot.