Final Thoughts

Monday, 11/18/2024

Notwithstanding the horrible travel home and the crappy welcoming I got from the cats when I arrived, the trip was an amazing experience.

The motorcycle riding was fantastic, even with the sometimes forced pace we had to keep, and the places we stayed were always decent, and some were wonderful.

The people were always amazing; smiling, kind, and helpful.  The food was good, though I did tire some of the repetitive nature of the meals.

I would highly recommend a visit to Vietnam to anyone, and Laos is also amazing.  Both countries have several options for tours and with a little effort, both could be travelled on your own without much trouble.

The scenery was fantastic, lots of natural wonders to see, and quite a bit of history from various centuries to be had in many places.  And I did not even get to the south part of the country, so still so much more to see.

At no point did I feel unsafe or unwelcome, and while some people were maybe indifferent to my presence, most were happy to talk and some were outright excited to talk to and assist me.

While a few might have done so in hopes of a tip or something, many seemed willing to be of assistance for nothing other than the kindness they wanted to show others.

I look forward to going back someday as plenty of stuff I did not get to see, or did not have time to check out as thoroughly as I would have liked.

Some number from the trip to put it into perspective.

Flights = 16,671 miles (26,829 km)

Motorbike Riding = 1845 miles (2969 km)

Cars/Busses = 489 miles (787 km)

Boats = 74 miles (119 km)

Trains = 493 miles (793 km)

Walking = 130 miles (209 km)

Green (Motorbikes), Yellow (Cars/Bus), Orange (Train), Blue (Boat), Red (Plane)

I hope you enjoyed coming along on the trip with me and appreciate some of the photos that accompany this written account.

I will have a video for each day available on my YouTube channel when I can make myself sit down and edit it together. (I am about 2.5 years behind on editing - Yikes!)

Until then I hope you have the opportunity to get out and explore some of this world yourself! 😀

Chris