Vietnamese guy rides motorbike for 600 days to at least 30 countries

Riding a nearly 10-year-old Wave around the world in 600 days... That's the "crazy" plan of 30-year-old Tran Dang Dang Khoa.

On June 1, the young man from Go Cong will officially embark on a challenging journey to fulfill his life's dream.

Young man Tran Dang Dang Khoa.

20 year dream

Since childhood, Khoa was naughty and was often punished by having to stand facing the wall. At that time, there happened to be a world map on the wall. Not knowing what to do to kill time, the little boy could only… look at the map. Being punished so much also meant that the little boy almost knew the map by heart, knew where the countries were, and imagined how he would get to those countries…

Khoa's mother worked at the district library, so after school Khoa often went to the library to read books. Knowledge was gradually accumulated, and the dream of exploring countries around the world also grew from there.

However, at that time, his family was still poor, and it was not until he graduated from university and owned his first motorbike that Khoa began to realize his dream. At first, it was just short trips to Vung Tau, Phan Thiet, Da Lat... then it became long trips across Vietnam.

In 2013, on a trip across Vietnam, passing through Lao Bao, I heard some people at the border gate inviting me to go to Laos for fun, so I went. On the way, I stopped by Cambodia and then returned to Saigon. I found that traveling by motorbike abroad was interesting and not too complicated, if I had already gone close, why not go further to find new feelings and challenges? Thinking and doing, a week before Lunar New Year 2015, Khoa invited a friend to take a bigger trip: riding a motorbike around six countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore in 21 days.

After this trip, Khoa became quite famous in the industry for his articles about how to handle things when traveling abroad, how to deal with car damage, about paperwork, how to drive...

“Riding a motorbike means you can truly “live” every kilometer you travel, you can freely stop whenever you like, you can actively drive into corners where there is no public transport, you can find beautiful and safe places to camp, enjoy nature, not to mention sometimes it can be cheaper than taking public transport or a plane,” Khoa explained the reason for choosing a motorbike.

One person - one motorbike - one dream

Eight years of countless trips of thousands of kilometers by motorbike in and out of the country through all kinds of terrain: sand, mud, forest roads, highways... The accumulated experience was enough for Khoa to decide to fulfill his life's dream: riding a motorbike around the world.

Hearing about this plan, many people, even veteran backpackers, shook their heads: Going by faith? “That’s right, I believe in and understand my bike, know its capabilities and limitations. I believe that it can overcome the desert between Pakistan and Iran, the harsh winter in Europe, or crawl across the Andes of South America… As long as I go carefully and don’t give up. Many people in the world also travel with much older bikes, so there’s no reason why Vietnamese people can’t do the same,” Khoa shared.

Although he said it like that, to prepare for the trip, Khoa spent two years researching the route, paperwork, visas, international vehicle passes (carnets)… Currently, Khoa has applied for visas to Pakistan, Europe and India. For the remaining 4 countries: Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, he will apply on the way. When arriving in France, he will apply for visas to Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile and Australia.

“When I applied for a Pakistani visa, when I told him about my plan, Mr. Sumair Mustansar Tarar, Counselor of the Pakistani Embassy, ​​was very interested because he had also driven a motorbike from Pakistan to China, North India and Iran. So he asked an employee to bring the visa from Hanoi and gave it directly to me and invited me to dinner. He also wrote me a letter of introduction to go through the land border gates,” Khoa said.

… And money?

The plan was detailed, but the last and most important thing was: Where was the money? According to estimates, this 600-day trip would cost about 45,000 USD (nearly 1 billion VND). The cost was so high that Khoa had to find a sponsor.

Thanks to having gone through many impressive trips in the motorbike discovery tourism community, Khoa has a relatively good reputation. Combined with careful planning, Khoa is able to prove the feasibility of the plan and convince three large companies to agree to sponsor about 2/3 of the total cost.

“The special and pioneering nature of the trip - being the first Vietnamese person to travel around the world by motorbike in 600 days like this - was also an important factor for them to agree to sponsor. My job was just to take pictures and videos to post on Facebook about the trip, if possible, to include them in their products. That's all,” Khoa revealed.

Why not buy a new car for peace of mind? Khoa explained that he spent four years of university walking and taking the bus, and in 2009 he got his first motorbike and has been riding it ever since. This 2008 Honda Wave has so many memories: applying for jobs together, rolling on roads across Southeast Asia together... so Khoa decided to take it on the upcoming journey.

“I was able to make my dream come true thanks to the help of my parents, friends and sponsors. Therefore, I have committed that 100% of the money from the book after the trip will be given to poor children, maybe to build a bridge for children who cannot afford to go to school, so that they can continue to fulfill their dreams,” Khoa confided.

According to TNO