Wrap up and Reflections

Wendy did not enjoy this tour as much as she did the Bangkok to Saigon in 2016. Maybe it was because she had to take four days off due to illness? She found it to be too fast with not enough thought given to stopping for scenery photos, although the guide did say to yell out if anyone wanted to stop. It was a bit hard when cycling along at 25km/hr though. The one feature of the previous tour was that there was a lot more emphasis on scenery, tourist attractions, and riding more km/day (less bus time). She found Halong Bay a little disappointing as it looked nothing like it does in the glossy magazines and travel shows/docos. Far too many tourists for what was once a pristine environment. Even though the seat/bed on the Reunification Express was not very comfortable, Wendy was happy it was included in the itinerary and that she got to ride on it. 

Making hotel bookings for the others seemed like a good idea at the time as Wendy was able to get better deals using her Booking.com ID because she gets a Genius 10-15% discount. This then meant that she had to do all the liaising with the hotels to ensure everything was OK. Time consuming and a little stressful. Lesson learned.

A lot of time was spent on the bus due to the distances between stops. Perhaps the company should offer an extended tour for those that wish to stop more often; an additional 10 days would have been better? Because we are riding ebikes and not carrying our own luggage, one-night stays are not an issue. We understand that not everyone would be able to afford the extended tour though. Wendy would go back to Vietnam, but not on a cycle tour – maybe a sleeper bus tour to see the highlands.

Greg sort of went with the flow, and although he had seen it all before, sometimes twice, he still enjoyed the tour. He was disappointed that he got sick for a few days, but grateful he was still able to see stuff from the bus on those days. Greg also did not enjoy the long hours in the bus during some transfers. This will probably be Greg’s last Asian cycle tour, after seven, he feels he has seen just about all he needs to. He has enjoyed them all, but enough is enough

The ride distance went from 700+km, to 615km, to 520km, with an actual ride of 338km for Greg and 263km for Wendy. Greg walked 203km, while Wendy only did 155km.