VENTURING SOUTH on DRZ's

YES!!

I'm SO in!

I look forward to this Andrew, fire up a new Vietnam RR, just post it here and folks will find it. Don't forget to hit up 'Bun-Bo-Nam-Bo' in Hanoi, right smack in the Hoan Kiem area (west of the lake)... excellent cheap eats and beers.

Cheers Boys!

All my old internet friends coming out of the woodwork...AWESOME!

Not sure but I did grab 20,000,000 from the bank the other day....I'm looking to spend about 10,000,000 DONGS on hot clapped out piece of junk

I even built some racks for my Wolfmans. Hoping I can chuck it right over the tail and lash down with some duct tape. Hopefully the airline is okay with this being my "Suitcase". Just got them back from power coating today so they will definitely be the nicest part of my scooter.

Thank you sir for the recommendation! We will hit it up for sure. I'm still debating the RR thing...depends on how good the internet is. I might just make a collaborative video.

I do have one question for you. There is a province in the North where you are supposed to get some kind of permit or something to travel in...what is it called and where/how do you get this permit? THANKS

Yes.

You need, or I should say... are 'supposed' to have (Ed 'Lalo' didn't bother and many others don't bother) a permit to travel through the Northern 'Ha Giang' Province - that borders China to the north. The challenge, is that when you do the northern loop backwards, or counter-clockwise, you have to enter the province before you even arrive somewhere that will issue you one. (Ha Giang city is an easy place to get one, but that is when you are entering from the opposite direction).

We got our permits at the hotel below in the amazing mountain town of Meo Vac:

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The piece of paper... Ummmm, the Permit:

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I seem to remember they were $10 per person and they just added this onto the price of our hotel room. We never had to show the permit once we obtained it, never saw Police nor got pulled over.

I'd say get the permit for piece of mind, but it is entirely up to you. The Ha Giang province borders China to the north and it is absolutely stunning, probably my favourite roads and mountains of Vietnam - wish we had spent more time up there.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Hey Andrew... see Posts #17 and #20 here (when and how we obtained the permits):

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=939561&page=2

(I don't mean to hijack your thread..., I guess I could PM this to you...)

VIETNAM???? Thud...

This will be fraught...FRAUGHT I TELL YOU...with Daniel Craigish hijinks...and I have associates in a few towns around there...ok they work for UPS and could possibly get you mailed back in a couple of days if it gets bad, but still...:)

Lord Have Mercy on Romanousky!

I might do an RR just to hear your antics Mr. RC! Good to know you're still around...One day I'll make it through OKC

I somehow got unsubscribed from this one, lol, so I need to figure out your itinerary, lots of riding this Spring planned, although not yet up in your neck of the woods. I guess you copped a job and worked enough to finance this new junket :). If you start a new RR I'm in...just let me start your fan club thread ROFL.

If you ever do make it up here I've got a spare room for my fan club manager.

Actually, I posted my resume online when I flew into LA and by the time I rode back to Oregon I had an interview lined up and was sitting behind a computer screen designing sawmill machinery within 5 days of my return....The first 6 months were really really tough and I couldn't get my mind off of traveling. So then I started a small business to keep me even more busy which has funded some new orange toys and I am about to give the DRZ a complete overhaul including some exciting new parts in preparation for RTW....

I predict you shall one day make Old Spice Commercials...I mean, as long as they can remove all the scars and miles from your head :).

I mounted an ADVMonster lightbar on my RT last night (pops a chest flex pose)

Back on track!

Here we go again! Can't wait, you guys are hilarious!

Why is spending money on excessive amounts of lighting SO MUCH FUN and I don't even like to ride at night???

Neither do I, lol, but sometimes my timeline gets horked and I have to make up time at night, and by golly if i"m gonna hit a deer I want to see its eyes smoking from 6-7k lumens of awesome right before I bite it

That is just flat out good funny! If you start a "currently on Rick Chucks mind" thread I will gladly follow.

Romanousky

Just read this end to end over the last couple of days.

If only my boss knew that he's paying me overtime to read your ride report and fund a new DR650 I might get my ass fired and start an adventure of my own.

I had to laugh when I saw the picture of your desk because it is a pretty close approximation of mine.

Please report on any future shenanigans in case I don't get fired.

Also take it easy on your liver. The way you were going through SA I didn't expect it to outlast your tires.

Epic Hi-jinks! Loved the ride report. Thank you for posting this even though there were probably times that you didn't want to. I am even more pumped that I read the last four pages after you got home and figured out that you and Al are back together again. Like Butch and Sundance... or something.

I've got 2 semester of my ME degree left, we need to find that 6 month a year job like you were talking about earlier in the report...

I'd slap a nun for one of those jobs, lol (staring at a project plan 600 rows deep) :huh

Gooooood morning, Vietnam!!! Dude, Romanousky.... We're patiently waiting for some updates from your 'Nam trip

I knew this was going to come up eventually. I appreciate the interest in the new story but I didn't write anything down and I don't recall all that much. There were definitely some exciting times worth mentioning so I guess I will be forced to do a new ride report. Warning; it will mostly contain photos with few words and any over-the-top or illegal activities will be referred to as H&B and strictly omitted.