Ho Chi Minh City

Motorbikes, motorbikes and even more motorbikes. As you leave the airport at Ho Chi Minh City that is the first thought that enters your mind, everyone seems to own a motorbike. Apparently, it is legal for there to be 2 adults and 2 children on a bike, but that is a minimum as far as I could see.

The drive into the city, even at 06:00 in the morning, shows just how vibrant and busy a place Ho Chi Minh is. The parks were already full of locals taking exercise or just simply taking an early morning walk. The apartments in the city are generally small so people take the chance to get out at any time into one of the many green spaces available, they also escape the heat of the city which builds during the morning.

Our hotel is in a superb location, very close to our planned start venue of the Independence Palace and within walking distance of a number of restaurants and bars. A short taxi ride will take you downtown and offer even more opportunities to eat and drink.

Day 5 Danang to Mang Den 342 Kms

We decided to break the journey to the Cambodia over 2 days, as the border crossing we are using closes late afternoon and we wanted to make sure everyone arrived in time.

Today’s route begins with a drive over the Hai Van Pass. This is the highest pass in Vietnam (500m above sea level) and is the final section of the Truong Son Range stretching to the sea. Hai Van means “Sea Clouds”, since the peak of the mountain is in the clouds while its foot is close to the sea.

The “Ho Chi Minh Trail” is currently being worked on after a number of landslides, so is not usable for the event. We will use the motorway south for 120 Kms before heading west towards the border with Cambodia. The highway runs through some typical Vietnamese countryside with some lovely views of the rice fields in this area, not at all the typical boring motorway run.

The route uses a lovely pass as we pass into the Kon Tum Province, the road has great views and will provide strength building for those crews without the luxury of power steering, before we drop down into the town of Mang Den and our hotel for tonight.

Mang Den is currently transforming itself into a second Dalat to try and attract some of the holiday business, it shares the same climate and altitude.

Day 7 Banglun to Siam Reap 478 Kms

This region of Cambodia is much flatter than Vietnam and the roads tend to be straighter, which makes finding suitable regularity sections a little more difficult, but a nice section of smooth dirt road will give us some competition for the day.

Cambodian roads are not bad, but only two cars wide, and the local traffic is generally very slow, so progress is not always great, but it gave us a chance to look around.

A resort overlooking the mighty Mekong River at Stung Treng will provide the mid-morning coffee and snack stop and although we won’t have too long to sit and enjoy the views there will be time enough to get a flavour and enjoy something to eat and drink.

Apparently, Cambodia still has both Tigers and Elephants, and although unlikely to see a Tiger, the countryside was perfect Elephant territory so you may get lucky.

A second coffee and snack stop in the town of Preah Vihear, with a good quality fuel station close by, will break the journey, but the stop will not be too long as we want to get to Siam Reap before darkness falls.

The final run in to Siam Reap took us close to Angkor Wat, the world-famous temple site which crews will have the opportunity to visit on their rest day.

Day 8 Siam Reap Rest Day

Angkor Wat is considered to be the world’s largest religious structure and was built in the 12^th century by King Suryavarman II and is dedicated to the god Vishnu.

Time should be found in the rest day by everyone to take a visit.

Day 9 Siam Reap to Nakhon Ratchasima 441 Kms

Today is a border day so an early start will be needed, but breakfast will be ready at the hotel before we leave.

Our route takes us north to the border crossing into Thailand at O Smach, through the area where the infamous Khmer Rouge retreated to as their regime began to crumble.

One feature of the past is a large man-made lake at Chog Kal which was constructed by the Khmer Rouge to try and ensure sufficient water for three rice harvests a year.

The border at O Smach is quiet and the agents on both sides will help crews look after the vehicle paperwork. Everyone will need to have their fingerprints taken at the Thai entry point, but otherwise immigration should be quick and easy.

One thing that can cause a delay is finding the chassis and engine numbers on the vehicle, something for crews to remember for next year, know where they are or make up a metal plate showing the details. One other thing to remember is that Thailand drives on the left, as in the UK and it will take a few kilometres to get used to the change.

Once through the border and into Thailand the change from Cambodia is clear. Thailand seems far more “westernised” than either Vietnam or Cambodia, with instantly recognisable brand names, huge petrol stations and very wide main roads.

This area of Thailand is very flat, so the roads are straight and wide, which makes progress much faster than in the previous countries.

We plan is to use some of the facilities at the Chang International Circuit in Buri Ram for a test section, together with a lunch stop in the main grandstand. The circuit is amazing and there is also a great Kart track and drift facility on site.

After fun at the track and a nice Thai style lunch we will head for our overnight halt in Nakhon Ratchasima, following the fast straight roads in this area, to get ready for another long day heading north to Mae Sot.

Day 10 Nakhon Ratchasima to Mae Sot 574 Kms

Leaving Nakhon Ratchasima, we head west across the flat straight roads. Corners and junctions are rare in this area, but there will be a nice mixed surface section through a sugar cane plantation to begin the day.

A stop for coffee and the toilets at a PTT fuel station is next on the agenda, we will use these service stations on the event as Passage Controls as they all feature good quality fuel, the ability to pay by credit card, a coffee shop and a 7-11 store to stock up on everything you shouldn’t eat in the car. The toilets are also very good, an important feature on long distance events.

Our next regularity section will be in a quiet area with concrete roads which will make a fun section.

Heading towards the city of Nakhon Sawan, you pass a number of roadside stalls selling sticky rice in bamboo tubes, which is popular with local farmers and truck drivers. The sticky rice is mixed with other sweet ingredients and is known as Thai Valium due to its ability to make you sleep after eating it. Apparently, the farmers eat it so they can sleep in the afternoon then continue work in the evening when the heat has gone. It may be best not to try it as there is still half a day driving ahead of us.

Lunch will be in a quirky café near Nakhon Sawan, before we head into more hilly country on the run in to our overnight halt in Mae Sot, close to the border with Myanmar.

The road into Mae Sot was very slow due to roadworks, but these should be completed shortly and the run in was the first experience of twists and turns in Thailand.

The hotel in Mae Sot was in the city centre and enjoying a walk around the town before dinner should be a nice way to unwind.

Day 11 Mae Sot to Chiang Mai 449 Kms

The route for today uses the road running alongside the border with Myanmar, so expect to see a more visible army presence.

Farmland close to Mae Sot will provide a nice little section on a variety of road surfaces, but the landscape changes as we head north and the roads away from the main road are far too rough and rocky for anything but a 4×4 vehicle. However, the main road is quiet and traffic-free and a really great drive.

On the way north we pass a large Burmese refugee village, populated by people who have fled the regime over the border and co-exist very happily alongside their Thai neighbours.

Our lunch stop today is in a lovely riverside restaurant in the town of Mae Hong Son before we head east towards our next overnight halt in the city of Chiang Mai.

The road from Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai has been much improved and is nice fast sweeping road for much of the distance until the outskirts of Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is the largest city in Northern Thailand, and the second largest in the country. It is home to a famous night market, a short distance from the hotel and a large number of Buddhist temples for those wanting something more spiritual.

A rest day tomorrow will give crews the opportunity to explore the city and visit the night market to secure a few bargains to take home with them.

Day 13 Chiang Mai to Nan 354 Kms

Leaving the hotel we will navigate the early morning traffic, which should be not too bad as we are heading out of the city, to a Sports Stadium where we plan to have a test section to start the day.

From the Sports Stadium we head east around the top of the city on fast roads before heading into the Thai countryside again. This area produces rice, garlic and pepper in large quantities, it seems that anything grows in Thailand as the soil is so fertile.

We now head away from the normal tourist routes into some really interesting and challenging roads for some short regularity sections to keep crews on their toes.

One downside of being away from the tourist area is the lack of potential coffee stops, but we found one which was just opening and are willing to cater for the group. However, there is a lot of medicinal cannabis grown and sold in this area, so you may decide to avoid the brownies just in case.

There will be another short regularity section before lunch in the town of Phayao. The area around Phayao is known in Thailand for the dinosaur remains found here, but we didn’t see any as we headed into the town.

Lunch will be taken in a restaurant on the side of a large lake and in February, when the event will be here, the sky is clear, and the views will be lovely.

A final section through rubber trees, with changing surfaces and many junctions should test crews feeling sleepy after their lunch.

We will break the afternoon up by stopping for coffee at a great little roadside kiosk. A short chat with the owner produced a promise of more staff on the day to speed things along. The coffee was really good though.

The final run in to Nan was along good main roads to our hotel for the night, a recently opened hotel with helpful and friendly staff and a large restaurant for the group dinner.

Day 14 Nan to Loei 383 Kms

Today our route will be away from the fast main roads and follow the border with Laos. This area is more remote and should be almost traffic-free and a really enjoyable and entertaining drive on good tarmac roads.

Being a border area there are a number of police/border patrol checkpoints, but these are normally friendly, and the police seem very happy to pose for pictures with the car, probably broke up a fairly quiet day for them.

Being traffic-free and challenging the roads were perfect for some regularity sections and several short sections were chosen.

Once again, being remote and away from the tourist routes and towns meant finding a coffee stop was a challenge, but we will stop at a viewpoint area where the park rangers were happy for everyone to park and enjoy the view into Laos while having a well-deserved break.

Lunch today will be something very different. We will eat at a small local restaurant with a pathway to its own waterfall. The plan is to serve the local delicacy, an amazing dish of chicken, salad and sticky rice, but the owner will produce dishes to serve all tastes and diets.

The afternoon route continues to track the border with Laos, at one point we pass a village half of which is in Thailand and the other in Laos, and through villages, almost all of which had a checkpoint which was not manned.

One feature of the afternoon drive is the number of Dragon Fruit trees, apparently these are easy to grow and produce a profitable crop for many local farmers.

Today finishes in town of Loei with time to enjoy our last night in Thailand.

Day 15 Loei to Vientiane 190 Kms

We want to make sure everyone enjoys the last kilometres in Thailand, so instead of taking a main road route to the border we will head across country to enjoy a last look at this amazing country. Thailand is a real surprise and so different to images conjured up by holidays in Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket.

After an enjoyable run through empty roads, we emerge on the banks of the Mekong and head east looking over at Laos as we cover the last few kilometres to the border post.

The border is much larger and busier than any we have used before but is very efficient. After having your passports stamped for exit, don’t forget the white immigration slip handed to you as you entered Thailand, then a visit to the customs to have the vehicle paperwork checked and we will be on our way to Laos.

Our next team of agents will meet us at the border and help crews through the process. Although most people will apply for an e-visa before leaving home you will we still need to queue and have your fingerprints taken and an ‘entry permission’ sticker to be added to our passports. Unfortunately, no amount of pre-arrival preparation will shorten this process, but it was, once again, very efficient.

A final visit to the customs window to check the vehicle paperwork and you will enter Laos, the fourth country on this amazing trip.

A short run from the border along one main road will take us to our hotel in Vientiane and the chance to enjoy an early finish and lunch before a chance to explore the city in the afternoon. Tonight there will be a chance to have dinner in one of the many restaurants along the Mekong overlooking Thailand.

Day 16 Vientiane to Vang Vieng 278 Kms

Leaving the hotel this morning the first thing to remember is to ‘Drive on the Right’ after a few days driving on the left in Thailand.

We are planning to have at least one test section close to the city at the start of our journey today before heading out into the countryside around Vientiane.

The region surrounding Vientiane is one of the few areas of Laos that is not mountainous and has a selection of roads, unfortunately many are too rough for anything but a 4×4 vehicle, but there will be a coffee stop in a resort overlooking the Nam Ngum River.

Leaving coffee, we cross the river then head west through rice fields waiting for the rainy season. This part of Laos is dry and has only one harvest a year, so the rains are vital as is the preparation of the fields before they arrive.

We pass by the first dam built in Laos to our lunch halt at a resort currently being re-developed overlooking the reservoir created by the dam. The views are wonderful, and lunch will be some great fresh local dishes. The re-development will be finished later this year and the resort will make a great lunch stop for the event.

For the run in to our hotel there was a choice of two routes, the new Laos-China Expressway, the first part of this road from Vientiane to Vang Vieng having recently been completed, or the old road and enjoy some more scenery. The old road was chosen.

With most of the truck traffic now using the Expressway this is a much nicer approach to Vang Vieng and a chance to take in more that the Laos countryside has to offer.

Our overnight hotel is in the town of Vang Vieng, where an early finish will give crews the chance to have a wander through the town, there is a large market close to the hotel, and a number of ‘Walking Streets’ where no cars are allowed.

Vang Vieng is fast becoming a backpacker’s destination, so the main street has many bars and restaurants worth exploring before dinner.

Day 17 Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang 187 Kms

A later start this morning will allow a more leisurely breakfast before beginning our drive to tonight’s destination, Luang Prabang.

The choice of route today was simple, either the main road number 13, very interesting and challenging but with a lot of slow-moving Chinese trucks, or a road opened in 2014 and currently being renovated, which leaves the main road at the town of Kasi and re-joins shortly before Luang Prabang.

Although the main road looked superb, we do not want the event to get stuck in truck traffic, so we will use the road currently under renovation.

After leaving the main road at Kasi the road heads into the hills and through some amazing terrain, with fantastic views across the valley and beyond. The road is challenging and great to drive, although there were a lot of roadworks which are due to be completed before the end of the year. Some parts will make for a challenging regularity section, and these were duly noted.

A viewpoint at the summit will provide a great location for a coffee stop and a chance to catch your breath and use the facilities, before continuing along the downhill sections of this wonderful road and then joining a road coming from the southwest where it becomes faster.

Just after joining the faster main road, we travel through a village where they are still using Elephants for working in the forests, far more environmentally friendly than a tractor and much better at the job.

Re-joining road 13 just before Luang Prabang takes us through a pineapple growing area before reaching our hotel for the evening, a lovely resort on the edge of the town with a range of activities available for our rest day.

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site It was listed in 1995 for its “unique and remarkably well preserved architectural, religious and cultural heritage, a blend of the rural and urban developments over several centuries including French colonial influences during the 19th and 20th centuries”. The town also features some great restaurants, bars, markets and a number of attractions for visitors.

Day 19 Luang Prabang to Oudomxay 212 Kms

On our way out of Luang Prabang we plan to use a driver training centre for a short test section to start the day.

The road out of town has some potholes, but this changed as we moved into the countryside and by Laos standards this is a good road.

As this is a mountainous area there are few roads other than the main one, side roads being almost exclusively very rough and water damaged to use, so we need to stay on the main road through some lovely scenery.

After 100 Kms the character of the road changed as we turned onto a Chinese built road which will take us to our lunch stop in a small local restaurant overlooking a valley.

The afternoon route stays on the same main road before arriving at our overnight halt and something very different.

Nam Kat Yorla Pa is a protected forest region along the Nam Pien River and features luxury accommodation in a natural setting with large windows looking out into the wilderness, but a great restaurant and bar to while away the evening. Everyone should arrive early enough to enjoy a walk in the area or enjoy a Spa or relax by the pool.

Day 20 Oudomxay to Dien Bien Phu 215 Kms

Although this is a border day and usually reserved for transit, we couldn’t resist using the road from the resort for a short regularity section before joining the road towards the border and the final border crossing for the event.

The road to the border is an interesting drive, twisty and hilly as expected in a mountain area, but often narrow in places, particularly in villages.

The locals seem to treat the road as their front room as the houses are built almost onto the road and the families then sit, work, cook and play on the very edge, and sometimes even into, the road.

As we drive along the top of the river valley, we could see below floating bridges connecting one village to another and locals panning for gold, no doubt hoping for the big nugget that would change their lives.

A recently opened guest house by the Nam Ou River will be our coffee stop for the morning, the owners are currently building a restaurant on the opposite side of the road which is due to open later this year. They were really excited at the thought of the classic and vintage cars arriving, something very unusual for this area.

However good the coffee is we will need to move on and try to reach the border before they close for lunch around 12:00. Hopefully, the border closing will soon be a thing of the past as the Vietnam border is remaining open which will put pressure on the Laos side to do the same.

When the border is open the process seems quick and efficient, and we left our Laos agents behind and headed to Vietnam.

The 5 Kilometres between the Laos and Vietnam border is interesting, there are houses and also trucks that have clearly been parked for a while as they had strung up makeshift washing lines for their cabs and their clothes were drying well in the sun.

Once we reach the Vietnam border, we will be reunited with our Vietnam contacts who will be there to help crews through the border process. Once across the border we will head to the town of Dien Bien Phu. On the road into the town, we pass rice fields which grow a very famous type of rice, people from as far afield as Ho Chi Minh City travel just to buy bags of the local delicacy.

The name Dien Bien Phu may seem familiar to many people as it was the site of an epic and heroic battle between the French Colonial forces and the North Vietnamese Army. We should have time to visit an excellent museum on our way to the hotel. The museum tells the tale of the battle and features a fantastic diorama of the battlefield and many artifacts, well worth a visit.

Our hotel for the evening is close to the city centre so there will be a chance to explore and enjoy a nice cold beer before dinner. We have an earlier start in the morning.