Lost in Vietnam's amazing highlands!︱Cross Training Adventure

http://vietnammotorbiketours.com Day 9 in the Top Gear Tour series with Vietnam Motorbike Tours! Time for us to get lost in Vietnam... Departing Son La in the morning, we head east over the Hoang Lien Son Range in Vietnam’s northwest highlands and its highest and most brooding mountains. Everyone is still pumped to get on the bikes and continue to see the real Vietnam highlands. A very comfortable night in a posh hotel at Son La. Further down the road with Vietnam Motorbike Tours we are in the region of the Thai minority group who have an interesting custom. Once married the women have to wear their hair in a bun for the rest of their lives. And this creates problems given almost everyone gets around on scooters. So some women just have their helmets perched on their hair bun, where there's pretty much no protection at all. Others cut a big hole in the helmet and add this extension. Again, probably not great for safety but it means not getting hassled by the cops. Oh and just in case marriage comes up when chatting with someone in Vietnam, if you are over 30 and single and are asked if you are married sometimes it's just easier to say yes, otherwise people will feel sorry for you. Not having a wife and children is considered bad luck according to Vietnam Motorbike Tours staff. The views are simply stunning, and eventually we have to call a halt to get a good look before someone runs off the road trying to do two things at once. Or in my case three things at once as I try to hold a camera as well. There's the usual excellent buffet Vietnam Motorbike Tours breakfast while our faithful support crew load our luggage into trucks and provisions into the support van. Time to get lost in Vietnam! We are way up north near the Chinese border in the amazing highlands so now head east over the Hoang Lien Son Range, Vietnam’s highest mountains. These are actually the eastern tail of the Himalayas so we'll be twisting our way across the rugged highlands all day. As usual instead of the highway we are taking a bewildering array of back roads to see regions of Vietnam that very few travellers ever visit. Earlier in the series we mentioned there are more than 50 minority groups in Vietnam. In this area these are mainly the H’Mong, Dzao and Tay people. The Hmong are particularly well known for their bright coloured tapestry and when we stopped to check out the views the locals popped over to check us out. Vietnam Motorbike Tours say the Hmong mainly live in southern China, Vietnam and Laos. In Chinese history they were subject to genocide as they were regarded as subhuman. In Laos they are still persecuted today but thankfully the Vietnamese government has treated them reasonably well.
A few of us were discussing the pros and cons of Vietnam Motorbike Tours versus organising your own trip. I'm sure others would see it differently, but man it's so much easier this way. No problems with the cops because everything has been taken care of. No getting lost. No problems if there's a breakdown. I guess you would have more freedom travelling independently, but after all these years the guys have tailored the tours so well I doubt any of us would want to do anything differently than Vietnam Motorbike Tours. I've always shunned packaged tours when travelling but feels nothing like a packaged tour... just passionate riders sharing an epic journey across Vietnam. And everyone I spoke to felt the same way. If you've been following the series you know that Toby Price has been travelling with us after his exceptional second win at Dakar despite a broken wrist. But we have another celebrity on tour with us as well. Yet another beautiful spot to stop and soak in the views. Our sharp eyed drone operator spots a cave on the other side of the river. Much of Vietnam consists of limestone which erodes to form very unique mountains, caves and underground rivers.
VMT website: http://vietnammotorbiketours.com
Vietnam Motorbike Tours Email: info@vietnammotorbiketours.com
Adventure Oz on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/secretgardenproject
Intro song: YT Nation from playonloop.com
All other songs: https://www.purple-planet.com
Thanks to Youtubers Seven Cinematic, Only Free Stock Footage, JW, and The Travelling Dukes who offered their Vietnam drone footage under the Creative Commons License.

We ride the roads and see the Vietnam sights that mainstream tourism is yet to discover... Sadly this won’t last forever, so join us soon to ensure your opportunity to adventure ride some of the best country back roads in southeast Asia! Vietnam is one of the safest countries in Asia, however, small scams can happen so you still need to aware.
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