1,800 km, 9 cities.
This is how I left Ninh-Binh to arrive in Hanoi.
Several alternatives arose regarding the trip.
I will reflect on this for a while.
And while writing, I will take turns making financial calculations, analyzing risks and other factors.
Bus
One option is the bus.
Experience so far shows that a bus here can cover a distance of 50 km in one hour.
The first stage of 377 km took 8 hours, the second 210 km took 4 hours, and previous trips confirm this pace.
Just as a reminder, the journey ahead of me, I am now on the second stop of it.
That means, from now on, I have to spend another whole day on the bus.
I don’t want to waste time looking at ticket prices in advance, because how much each section will cost depends on a lot of things. It doesn’t matter what kind of bus, which company, and what time of day or day of the week I travel.
So, based on the prices of bus tickets so far, I calculated an average price and used that.
The price of all bus tickets, the total cost of this form of travel, is about 3.3 million VND (42,000 HUF, 132 USD).
For the sake of comparison, I also calculated what awaits me after Hue, because I can calculate the other methods this way too.
From Hue to Saigon, my costs will be about 2.2 million VND (28,000 HUF, 88 USD).
Pros:
- zero risk
- easily calculable costs
Cons:
- I am time-bound
- can be inconvenient
The bus is an easy-to-calculate, cheap solution. If I have to choose this, the savings will be a halo around the bus and I will even love all the pains of the bus.
Motorbike rental
I love motorbikes, I have mentioned this several times.
Traveling by motorbike can be minimally different in terms of time than by bus. So time does not play a role in the decision.
Motorbikes can also be uncomfortable, especially with two backpacks, during a trip lasting hours. Still, if I had to choose between the bus and motorbike at the same prices, I would choose the motorbike without hesitation.
Motorbike rental is only possible with a company that hands over the motorbike in Hue and picks it up in Saigon. This is a one-way rental.
The price of this, as I saw on the street today, is 10 USD (3,200 HUF, 250,000 VND) per day.
For me, it costs approx. You need a motorbike for 34 days, so the rental fee is 8.5 million VND (109,000 HUF, 340 USD).
You also need petrol, the cost for this section is roughly 700,000 VND (9,000 HUF, 28 USD).
This solution therefore costs 7 million VND (90,000 HUF, 280 USD) more than the bus.
A solution that should be strongly avoided for financial reasons.
Pros:
- the feeling of freedom increases
- I am not bound by time
- The motorbike can also be used for roaming around cities
Cons:
- more difficult to calculate costs
- unknown problems, engine maintenance
- risk of accident
- I don’t have the right driving license, high risk of fines
- significantly more expensive solution than the bus
Based on the numbers, renting a motorbike is complete madness. It’s a shame that every part of me wants to ride a motorbike.
Buying a motorbike
I met someone in Thailand who told me how worthwhile it is to buy a motorbike when you arrive in Vietnam and then sell it when you leave. The reason for this is the easy administrative work.
I can imagine the downside, but I won’t analyze this risk in depth now. If I were to buy something, I would trust that it wasn’t a stolen vehicle that would then end up on my neck. Because there are certainly such stories in the contract stories that can be written on the side of the road.
So, you buy a motorbike, use it for a few days, weeks, and then sell it.
Child’s play.
I have the least information for this solution. I did look at a few motorbike groups, but the prices vary so much that I have no idea what a good(!) motorbike might cost. Let’s not forget that this is a heavily used vehicle market. These are vehicles used by tourists and locals, or rather used to death. I assume zero or minimal maintenance, hidden defects, last-minute lifespans.
But let’s start from the assumption that I can buy a vehicle for 10,000,000 VND (130,000 HUF, 400 USD).
There is also a lot of risk around the selling price. According to some information, a good approximation is a sale value of around 80%, while others say 50%. I don’t think it is very likely that I will sell it for the same price. 65 is halfway between 50 and 80, so I calculate with that.
In other words, buying and selling a motorcycle would cost me 3,500,000 VND. The total cost would be like this, calculated with the fuel calculated in the second solution.
4,200,000 VND (54,000 HUF, 168 USD)
The advantages and disadvantages are almost the same as renting a motorbike. Owning one increases the risks in my opinion.
Based on the estimate, buying a motorbike is double the cost of the bus.
By the end of writing and analyzing, there is no doubt about how I will travel.
The bus is the rational choice. Interestingly, I don’t even regret it now.
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