Having just returned from the long journey through Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Minh, born in 1994, recalled the days she traveled through four countries last year.

This was Minh’s longest solo trip, and the most difficult. 

In 2023, Minh and a group of her friends left HCM City for the north, where they discovered many cities and provinces and visited areas in China. However, after 25 days of wandering in Vietnam and China with her friends, she decided to separate from the group and began a solo trip through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand driving a 150cc motorbike.

She departed from Tay Trang Border Gate in Dien Bien on July 25, 2023 and headed for Laos. On the first day in the land, Minh faced difficulties. Besides the severe weather, Minh said her phone also stopped working and she lost all data when she reset it.

“I left Luang Prabang at 5.30 pm for Vang Vieng. As I did not know the way well, I had to go through many steep passes, while it was dark and deserted and there was no phone signal,” she recalled.

“Only some trucks passed by every now and then. It was cold and drizzling, so I had to stop in the middle of the road, surrounded by thick forests. In order to calm down, I wore my headphone and raincoat and then continued my journey,” she said.

After that, her glasses fell amid the heavy rain and she had to continue riding on roads with landslides. She got soaked after traveling the 670 kilometer road from Vientiane to Pakxe, full of potholes and bumps.

Minh said she drove the motorbike without any break for 15 hours. She got up the next morning with sores on her body and fingers.

In the next road sections, she got lost in dry rice fields, waded through muddy roads, and traveled on dusty roads.

In return for the challenges, she felt great to discover and experience so many beautiful landscapes and original culture of the host countries. She enjoyed majestic, ancient temples and a trip to explore Koh Ta Kiev Island in Cambodia, which she likened to a ‘sleeping paradise’.

Impressive experience

Minh said she stayed in each country 10-15 days to discover their beauty and national cuisines.

After 65 days of discovering four countries and traveling 15,000 kilometers, Minh finished her journey and returned to HCMC from Cambodia, through the HaTien international border gate in KienGiang, on August 5, 2023. 

Minh said she had to spend only VND35 million on the long journey and believes that the trip was worth the money.

Explaining the low travel cost, Minh said one of the reasons was that she chose to travel with a motorbike.

“The motorbike I used needed one liter of fuel to travel every 45 kilometers,” she said. I had oil changed once every 2,000 kilometers."

Minh mostly stayed in the places with low rent, such as guesthouses and dorms. Sometimes, she stayed for free as offered by room booking apps.

She did not eat too much and sometimes had only one meal a day. During traveling, she spent time riding the motorbike, drinking water and enjoying landscapes.

To have an economical trip, Minh prepared thoroughly a long time before departure. She chose a motorbike which did not consume too much fuel and had it maintained.

She also learned how to repair motorbike and brought repair tools with herself, so she could fix problems arising on the way.

Minh revealed that she did not tell her family members about the trip before the departure, as her parents might be worried about her.

However, during the journey, she turned GPS on, informed them about the target destinations in case bad things happened.

Despite incidents, Minh said she was satisfied about the trip and had experienced and learned a lot about trekking.

“If you have to travel between winding mountainous areas, you’d better use a manual motorcycle,” she said. 

Ha Nguyen