Im glad this thread is having a resurgence as thats how I spotted it. Im heading over that way for 12 weeks in about a fortnight and plan to rent a bike in Vietnam. I went for 8 weeks earlier this year to Thailand and Vietnam but only hired bikes in Thailand for 6 weeks. My understanding is that you cant legally rde a bike in Vietnam as a IDP is not accepted and to get a Vietnamese license you need to be a resident in Vietnam. Is that your understanding or am i missing something??
I went to Saigon, Cu-Chi and the Meekong Delta to Kan Toa whilst I was there and cant reccomend it enough. Like you im planning to start from Hanoi this time and focus on the North before going back to Thailand and Myanmar..... cant wait and this has really got me excited again.
I know what you mean about the weather over there changing. We got caught in a typhoon which developed in a matter of minutes and I was really worried. There were corrugated steel roofs blowing across the roads in front of us, trees falling down and the debris getting blown onto my knuckles was painful. It went fro sunny to nightmare in about 2-3 minutes and lasted about 20 mins that felt an eternity...... I should write a post of that trip myself.
Thanks for posting.
AndyT