SE Asia - Cycling Tour -advice/suggestions

[RadicalEdward]

So, I've decided that this year I'm going to travel to SE Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos)
I have a ridiculous amount of leave and work are pushing me to take some of it before Christmas

I'd like to do a cycling tour through some of the region - does anyone have any suggestions?
Some of the tours that are out there look pretty worthwhile - but not having been to Asia before I'm hesitant to throw that kind of money down without any second opinions

So my questions are -Has anyone done this before? or not done this and regretted/not regretted it?
Any suggestions for things that are "must see" or "must do"?
Anything I should take with me?
Rent a bike? Buy one there? Take my own?
Any training before I leave <-Ha! Maybe I should just train with a humidifier on all the time

I've travelled alone before -but only within Europe and/or other majoritively English speaking countries, so I figure that the best way to assimilate within the culture is to do a tour of some description - put some structure in there while settling into whats acceptable and whats not before striking out on my own
and I'd desperately love to include cycling in there

Probably looking at getting over there in October - maybe landing somewhere like Bangkok and heading out Domestic flights/buses/trains from there?


this will be my first REAL holiday in... 5 years??
**SUPER KEEN** Ridiculously excited/bouncing around/etc

..and I haven't even bought my tickets yet

[indysteel]

I don't have any advice, but Vietnam is on my bucket list, so I'm extremely jealous. I know of at least one person on roadbikereview.com's forum that did a supported bike tour of Vietnam. I'll try to dig it up and post a link.

[blue_angel]

So, I've decided that this year I'm going to travel to SE Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos)
I have a ridiculous amount of leave and work are pushing me to take some of it before Christmas

I'm dying to do a trip like this! Unfortunately I don't have any suggestions, but I hope you'll share your findings.

[Kiwi Stoker]

You might want to start in Malaysia first. Most people speak English and it will give you are fair idea about cycling in that climate and region, while being a "safer" start.

In Vietnam, which is lovely BTW, not many people speak English. We had to ask the hotel staff or point to a map to tell the taxi driver where to go. The cities and traffic is chaotic- lots of motocyclists etc. There seems to be an unwritten rule, whoever honks loudest you give way to. Bikes are the bottom of the food chain and give way to everything. However out in the country it's great. Hue is a must see (the old capital where the empreror used to live), Hoi An the rustic riverside village outside of Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh city is even great. Lots of resturants, businesses and apparently more commerce orientated than Hanoi in the North.

There are heaps of cycle tour companies in Vietnam with and they will supply bikes- most likely mountain/hybrid road bikes. You can of course bring your own pedals and saddle and being a tour company they should be well maintained.

If you are thinking about bringing your own bike I am not sure how well buses or trains would go, and whether the bike would be handled well. That's why I think it would be better to rent from a tour company instead, Saves having to haul it around with you.

I haven't done a bike tour in Vietnam- we were only there for short stays, however I have cycled in Malaysia and had a great time and cycling is becoming big as a sport (and not just a mode of transport) with plenty of locals out on Pinarellos etc. They even had a Malasyian Navy Cycle team!

[Jaclyn]

I cycle toured thru Cambodia a few years ago. I had signed up with a small tour group out of New Zealand. Unfortunately, they failed to get enough participants and they cancelled the trip. It was hard for me to get two weeks of vacation so I decided to go on my own anyway. And I'm so glad I did - it was a fantastic experience.

I flew in and out of Bangkok and spent a few days there. SpiceRoads Bicycle Tours offers various options (www.spiceroads.com/). I couldn't fit my schedule with their schedule, but I continue to receive emails from them and think they offer some great value tours.

I flew to Siem Reap and stayed at a small French owned inn. It was ridiculously inexpensive (about $30/day including breakfast and often an afternoon beer, daily laundry etc). (Note: You can spend $1,000/night at the luxury resorts but I do not recommend it in a country where the per capital income is less than $400/year.) I bicycled daily to the Angkor Wat temples. Because I was there longer than the typical 2 days on a bus tourist, I was able to return to various temples at different times of the day with different light. I often had the temple to myself! The temples of Angkor are a must see.

My inn did have bicycles available, but I had a folding Bike Friday.

Because tourism is so important to the economy of Cambodia, especially Siem Reap, many people speak English. The US dollar is the official currency, too.

My only regret is that I didn't spend another week there to visit Phnom Penh.

Traveling by myself forced me to interact more with various people. It was an incredible experience. Go, and post about your experience when your return.

[indysteel]

Here's the thread from RBR that I mentioned.

[NadiaMac]

I went on a tour in Thailand and Laos (mostly Laos) a few years ago, with Redspoke. We started in Chiang Mai, rode through Thailand to the border with Laos, took the river boat downstream (highly scenic), then rode about 400 miles to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. You can see some pictures/narrative on my blog.

The trip was pretty cool. I rented a mountain bike for the tour, which was not necessary despite dire warnings of crappy roads-- my BF did the whole thing on his ritchie breakaway road bike from home and was fine, albeit a bit bumpy/muddy at moments. While our trip was supported, there was a couple on the trip who had toured in Laos and Vietnam a couple of times earlier without support and managed just fine, despite the pretty serious language barrier in the rural areas. We ran into other cyclists who were traveling without tour support as well. I am happy to provide more info if you are interested.

After riding in Laos, we went to Siem Reap, Cambodia for just a few days and rode out to Angkor Wat and around town on rented bikes. This was a really nice way to explore the ruins and bike rental was inexpensive- about 2$ a day.

[RadicalEdward]

Thanks everyone!!
sorry, been busy trying to arrange things -so looks like I'll do a tour (as in Tour, like -pay retarted amounts of money to people to give me directions) because my partner feels uncomfortable with me just going it alone, it's a fair call and I'm ok with going in a group, I just wish they weren't so expensive :P


Will check in with more info as things develop

[alexis_the_tiny]

Welcome to my side of the world! ;p Here's a blog I found really informative about cycle touring in the places you mentioned: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/inching.

If you want a sort of launch pad to go to various places from, I'd suggest Malaysia or Singapore. You'll find both places to be a good start point to being introduced to South-East Asia, plenty of English spoken and quite modern, also lots of budget flights to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam.

If you do want to try cycling in Malaysia which, is beautiful, huge and amazing, have a looksee at my late friend's blog. He rode in Malaysia alot and did a 10 day solo tour from the south of Thailand to Singapore. Link is here

Either way, good luck and I hope things work out for you!!