The Home Stretch

May 18. Phong Nha to Vinh. 248km.

The road up to Vinh along the Ho Chi Minh trail was not nearly as scenic as the rest of the trail. It was a nice easy ride to Vinh; probably one of the first incident free rides for the five of us! 

Vinh itself was nothing special either. Just another city to stop in for one night to sleep. We checked into a pretty decent hotel and spent the night watching movies.

===

May 19. Vinh to Ninh Binh. 201km.

From Vinh we took the A1 highway up towards Hanoi. Unlike the rest of the A1, this stretch didnt have any roadworks and hardly as many trucks flying past, trying to run you off the road. A welcomed change.

Sonny, Scott and I stopped off at a Big C for lunch while Charlie and Aaron continued on to Hanoi, making it there in one day. We opted for a more relaxing final ride to Hanoi, getting in earlier in the day. This was the last day we all rode together.

===

May 20. Ninh Binh to Hanoi. 98km.

My last ride together with the guys was barely even spent riding together. Scott was having some issues with his bike so we stopped off at a mechanic in the morning before heading off. He decided to get a coffee, so I joined him. Sonny, not a coffee drinker, decided to continue on ahead.

Not far up the road, Scott had to pull over again to get his bike looked at by a mechanic - I didn't realise and kept going.

I ended up taking a wrong turn and getting onto the motorway. I passed a cop on the side of the road, half thinking that I would be stopped because I was pretty sure motorbikes can't go on the motorway. He didn't even look at me. 

I made great time, blasting along the big, smooth, open motorway - top gear, full throttle. 

I made it into Hanoi, and with my phone not picking up a GPS signal, I had to navigate to the hostel the old fashioned way - with a map. After a good hour of riding around the busy streets of Hanoi, I made it to the hostel Charlie and Aaron were already staying - first one!

I could breathe a sigh of relief, I had made it.