ON ROAD OR OFF ROAD? BY THE BACKROADS’
NORTHERN VIETNAM TOUR GIVES YOU THE
CHOICE OF BOTH .
M
ike and Angela, of By The Backroads
(formerly Britton Adventures) have been
organising tours in Vietnam since 2004 and
even after more than 20 tours there they still
consider it one of their favourite places to travel by
motorcycle. Their next tour is March 22 – April 03,
2020 and for this one they’re offering something
that will appeal to be both road and dirt riders alike.
Mike reckons that one of the things you notice
when travelling in northern Vietnam on a
motorcycle is how much is going on. Around every
corner there is sure to be something of interest laid
out before you. Craggy limestone outcrops, tiered
rice paddies, verdant jungle, silted rivers, craggy
mountains, tea plantations, crops of maize on near
vertical faces, and so much more. And then there
are the locals and their livestock; people walking to
market with their wares to sell; whole communities
in the fields planting, tending or harvesting their
crop, villagers herding stock especially buffalo; man
and beast ploughing a rice paddy the old fashioned
way; the list goes on, and all of it so different from
our everyday experience here in NZ.
Then there is the food… Vietnamese cuisine has a
reputation for being both fresh and delicious, and
this is certainly true in even the small-town
restaurants according to Mike and Angela. Between
them and their Vietnamese colleagues, they know
what dishes appeal most to western palates, so
there is no fear of being served a dish with
ingredients of unknown origins!
92 KIWI RIDER