#RideVietnam Day 1 - Singapore > Ho Chi Minh - Taking On The BMW R1200GS Navigating Through Ho Chi Minh Crazy Traffic To An Orphanage

First day of our trip was.. Intense - in a few different ways. Physically, mentally and emotionally.

05:15AM

Never had to pack and bring over 110KG worth of baggage for a trip.

I was the one who came up with the idea of using these fashionable bags to store most of the children clothes and toys cuz I thought they were damn hardy but I WAS WRONG cuz two of the bags actually tore due to the weight and then the zip spoilt so everything fell out.

What a way to start a trip 😂

Plus, we look like we're relocating back to our hometown in Vietnam or smth.

We had initially collected about 150KG worth of clothes which obviously exceeded the check in baggage limit, not having mention our personal bags full of gears.

Mel still can secretly giggle behind cuz she know confirm exceed the weight but I still act blur

7 checked in bags in total; 2 bags storing our gears each to last us from the city in Ho Chi Minh to the mountains in Sapa, and the remaining 6 are packed to the brim with children clothes and toys. The check in counter staff was shocked to see the amount of things we were bringing over but she was the sweetest lady who helped us tape our freaking fail torn bags too.

We even resorted to stuffing some into our Arai helmets to bring as much as we could over 😂.

Despite being allowed to exceed the baggage limits by quite a bit, and carrying on as much as we could, we still had to leave some clothes behind and donated it Salvation Army instead.

I had to wear my riding boots because my bags had literally zero space left to fit anything. Not even tissue paper.

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And off we scooted from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh!

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08:23AM

After grabbing some shut eye during 2 hours+ of flight time, we arrived at Ho Chi Minh airport and the first question I received from the Customs officer wasn't the usual

"How long do you stay in Vietnam?" or
"You come here for holiday?"

but

"Your mother or father is from Vietnam?"
😂😂😂

My last name, Phan, happens to be common among Vietnamese, hence he thought there was a chance I was local haha but nope, I'm pure Singaporean Chinese, born and raised there :)

Next, Mel and I braced our arm muscles to carry all the baggage off the belt.

Two petite girls who aren't exactly strong, struggling to carry all the bags while laughing and dropping it halfway while getting up the trolley, it was hilarious. The uncles standing at the side also just laugh only.

Well, what matters is we managed to collect all of it!

Luan, Bang, Mel, Myself

The friendly peeps from Touratech Vietnam heard that we were coming to Ho Chi Minh to visit so they came to pick us up from the airport and helped load all the baggage up into the truck! :D

Went to check out their very cool container office located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh city and there, we have our rides for the day waiting for us - The BMW R1200GS.

This adventure motorcycle weighs more than 5 times my weight, and man it just looks huge!

Our fellow Singaporean Tommy Lee from Touratech gave us some really helpful tips on riding the GS and in Vietnam

Neither Mel nor I have ridden it before, nor are we used to handling such heavy tourers, but Touratech Vietnam thinks we can handle it so yes! We're going to ride it to the orphanage through the insane traffic.

Found some adorable newborn puppies before moving off

Geared up, GoPro Hero 7 Black checked, Cardo comm sets paired, and off we go!

No doubt we were intimidated by the size of the beemer but wait a minute.
Boy.. Do we look good on the GS or whaaaat? Hahahaha.

The second we entered the main road, we were engulfed by a sea of motorcycles. Thank God for tinted visors to hide those nervous eyes.

Looking all calm and cool on the outside but underneath that helmet, I was screaming through our the Cardo comm set like some chicken while Mel was quietly trying to calm her nerves. HAHA.

Learning to handle the BMW R1200GS in Ho Chi Minh's erratic traffic was pretty intense. The adventure bike was surprisingly smooth when we're on the move, steering felt light and easy to manoeuvre too but it was the that traffic got me gritting my teeth.

There was so much going on at once; people crossing the road, cars cutting across your lane, bikes carrying heavy loads of goods riding in the opposite direction, dog/chicken dashing across etc.. And all I was trying to do was ride straight to the orphanage.

It took us 30 minutes to navigate through 10KM but most importantly, we arrived at the Christina Noble Children Foundation (CNCF) orphanage safely!

So thankful to also have Touratech Vietnam join us along for this meaningful visit and assisting us with transporting all the donated goods over.

Giving is not just about making a donation.

It's about making a difference.

I didn't know what to expect at my first orphanage visit but during the three hour visit at CNCF, I've learnt that they're actually so much more than just a children's home.

It's a Non-Profit Organization (NPO) founded by Christina since 1991 that not only provides a loving home for thousands of vulnerable abandoned children,

but they heavily invest in educational activities, vocational training, and job placements to give these kids a bright future as they strive to maximise the potential of each child.

They're also the only one in Ho Chi Minh who provides medical care and nutritional rehabilitation.

Social and community development programmes are constantly being introduced to help these kids adapt well in society.  All of these are things that no child should ever be deprived of.

Witnessing the efforts of the volunteers at CNCF has taught me how much each of us as an individual could contribute in one way or another, to help change the lives of these children.

Learning about how so many children had to grow up in heavily disadvantaged environments didn't only encourage me to explore ways on how we could play our part in protecting these vulnerable young ones, but it also served as a strong reminder to never take what we have for granted.

I'm sharing all of the above on my own personal accord because I truly believe that every child deserves an opportunity to learn, grow, live and be loved. 

After all, we were all once a child too. 

There's so much more work that can be done for the less fortunate but with each and every one of our efforts put in, we make progress while countless lives are being transformed.

If you'd like to learn more on how you could help a child in need, you can check out this site. 

Still digesting everything I learnt and saw at CNCF, we returned back to Touratech Vietnam's office  to pick up the two KTM 390 Duke that we have originally rented from KTM Vietnam for our entire ride through Vietnam.

If you're confident to take on the BMW R1200GS, Touratech Vietnam offers customised tour that includes the bike rental. Rates are subjected to the tour package so feel free to check them out.

Thank you guys for arranging the BMW R1200GS and showing us that small girls can ride big bikes too! Hehe.

What a way to start off our #ridevietnam trip!

Time to sleep.

Tomorrow, the ride up North begins!

[Singapore. Ho Chi Minh.]

[Mileage Clocked: 23KM]
[Terrain: Tarmac Roads]
[Traffic: Erratic, Congested - Jammed up like sardine]

[Temperature/Weather: 26°C/Sunny/Humid]

Next stop: Da Lat

#RideVietnam - Preparing For The Ride In Vietnam

Kicking off 2019 with a new adventure!

Each time I travel or tour on a motorcycle, I try to visit places or countries I've never been before to expose myself to new environments, collect different experiences that never fails to broaden my perspectives and stretch that learning curve.

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Having ridden in quite a number of countries across Southeast Asia; from Singapore, to Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Cambodia, I realized I've never ridden in Vietnam before!

I briefly visited Ho Chi Minh city just once about a decade ago, and that's about it.

pc: thannien news

One thing I vividly remember though was how impossible it felt crossing the roads there. Traffic was non-stop, and they came in all sorts of direction. It seems like there isn't even a little pocket of time to cross the road without getting hit.

If crossing the roads already feel impossible, how about riding a motorcycle there?

So YEAP. That's what I'm gonna do! #RIDEVIETNAM.
#cuzlifeisaboutembracingchallengeshaha

pc: reddit

I've long heard about how captivating Sapa Valley is and have always wanted to visit that place.

I began doing my usual travel research, and multiple other beautiful sights across Vietnam slowly started to unfold.

Only then did I realize how underrated this country is, which further motivated me to explore Southern Vietnam all the way to the North, on two wheels! Not just until Hanoi, but all the way to Sapa, Lao Cai, which is literally right next to China ;)

Due to time constrains and other work life commitments, I had just 10 days to complete the approx 2,500KM journey. Doesn't sound like its a lot but because the routes are mainly B-roads and mountainous off roads, it could take 8 - 10 hours to complete 250KM.

Motorcycles are not allowed on highways in Vietnam, and I've no idea how I'm going to survive the city traffic there.

Which makes it...more exciting right? 😂

You know, there was once I bumped into someone who told me he follows my travel blog posts and as much as he enjoys reading them, he told me how each epic trip I take on reminds him to treasure his life even more by NOT going on all the adventures that I've done. LOL.

I was hoping it'll inspire people to get out of their comfort zones hahaha not the other way round. We're now friends and I'm still waiting for him to get on his own adventure.

Ok now back to the ride.

"People may not remember your name, or what you did, but they'll never forget how you made them feel"

Through all these years I've spent traveling around the world, I count my blessings upon having witnessed interesting sights and breathtaking sceneries that sometimes just feel out of this world.
More often than not too, it's the people I meet along the way, that human touch, which makes every trip much more memorable.

With every place that you visit, what you take in when you are physically there, somehow becomes a part of you no matter where you go from thereon.

To add more meaning to this trip which I was going to do alone, instead of just taking in all the beauty that Vietnam will unravel, I decided to give back too, by collecting approx 150KG worth of donated clothes from different households across Singapore, and deliver it to an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh.

It's not much, but it's something I've personally always wanted to do for the less-privileged children.

I had my itinerary all planned out, motorcycle rental booked, reached out to the chosen orphanage that I came across online during my research, made a booking for my visit, and was just randomly sharing with my girlfriend, named Mel :

"Hey babe, I'm going to ride in Vietnam" 

"Wah really? When and with who?"

"Hmm in Jan 2019. Alone lor as usual. #foreveralone hahaha" 

"Really! Wa... I don't mind joining leh!"

"Serious? The ride will be tiring though" 

"Can one la. I just follow you. Woot!" 

So Mel decided to spontaneously join me for this trip, not having a single clue what she just signed up for.

Two weekends prior to the trip, we went around Singapore together, collecting over 150KG worth of donated children clothes and toys.

Even though the items were donated, we combed through every one of it to ensure clothes were clean, not torn or stained, and toys not broken.

To our delight, most of the items were in extremely good condition, some were even new!

Thank you so much, to each and every one of you who were part of this mini donation drive, really. It means a lot!

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How Are We Bringing All These To The Orphanage in Vietnam?

"Do first then figure out how" Mentality 😂

After collecting all the donations, we found out that the freight cost was just way too expensive, it didn't make sense to spend over a thousand bucks to air freight it over. So the most economical method was to purchase maximum check in baggage and check them in, onto our flight.

So yeah, we basically brought all the stuff with us onto the plane - which we're clearly going to exceed the weight limit LOL.

Preparations For The Ride

After having all the donation items neatly packed in place, next!

Packed the necessary items for the motorcycling touring trip... you know, the usual la.. Dresses, make-up, bikinis, multiple GoPro Hero 7 Black cameras to record every unglam moment, and my DJI Mavik Pro drone... basically nothing that would save us if we encounter any problems when we're on the motorcycle 😂

(Of course, we had the necessary protective riding gears, all weather gloves, tyre-repair kit, first aid kit etc)

Been using my waterproof Cardo Freecom 4 and Packtalk Bold bluetooth comm set for 2 years now and I absolutely love it!

Since this time me and my girlfriend are gonna be riding alongside each other, I had another set installed on her helmet too cuz we'd definitely need it for communication on the go.

Apart from enjoying some music while riding and other safety aspects where we can notify each other of things to look out for when we're on the roads, how awesome is it to be able to exchange words and emotions the minute we encounter something out of the norm while on the move!

No need to wait until the next rest point then talk. Can communicate across immediately!

Packed along a whole set of different GoPro mounts too to get footages in different angles during the trip even as I'm riding, cuz I will be doing a vlog for this journey too!

All prepped for #RIDEVIETNAM, with not knowing what to expect (which excites) but when adventure calls, off we go!