With an area covering 327 500 km2, Vietnam forms a huge «S » which spreads itself over the entire length of the Indochinese peninsula and is 1650 km from the North to the South.  Locals describe it as a "shoulder beam", i.e. a bamboo with two rice sacks at it's northern and southern extremities, which does reflect the truth since the North and the South of Vietnam are the two rice granaries...

of the country (The Mekong Delta in the South and, the Red River Delta in the North).

The largest part of the country (East- West) covers 600 km whereas the narrowest width is 50 km. Three-fourths of Viet nam is covered by mountains and forests. One can often see mountains around Hanoi being exploded with the help of dynamite, to create habitable space and to rocks for use as construction material: all those bluffs being blown into thin air!

At the northern border, there are two Chinese provinces (Guangxi and Yunnan).

At the western border, Laos and Prince Sihanouk's Cambodia; 

To the East, Vietnam has a large maritime border (The Chinese Sea) prolonged by a vast continental plateau and the thousands of archipelagos which span from the Bay of Tonkin to the Gulf of Thailand. Be careful not to forget these islands, which remain the centre of heated discussions even today. It is even said that all Geography textbooks of schools across the country had to be recalled by the publishing house because a very important pedagogical omission had been committed. On the map of Vietnam in, those text books, the islands had been!

Traditionally, Vietnam is divided into regional sub-divisions: Bac Bo, to the North, Trung Bo in the Centre, and Nam Bo to the South. These three subdivisions (previously known as Tonkin, Annam and Cochinchine) orbit each around a centre: Hanoi, the political capital of the North, Hué the ancient imperial city in the Centre, and HCMC the economic capital of the South. Each of these regions is specifically characterised.

The North-West is made up of mountain chains jagged with valleys and crossed by the Black River. The itinerary Hanoi- Mai Chau- Son La- Dien Bien- Lai Chau- Sapa is a classic motorcycle trip, weaving through numerous minorities, flooded rice fields, maize (corn) fields on terraces, maize grains put out to dry along the road, orchards, etc. It all resembles a post card. In the rainy season, the water brings chunks of earth and rock with itself on it's downward flow, but the terrain is still ridable. What’s more, the route was repaired a couple of years back. It is here that the highest Indochinese summits can be observed. (Phansipan at 3143m, Phu Ta Leng at 3096m, and Pu Si Long at 3076m). Given this terrain's characteristics, trekking and camping are possible activities, thought not yet well-developed.
The North- Eastern circuit (Hanoi- Langson- Cao Bang- Bac Can- Thai Nguyen) goes through a more savage and less cultivated terrain.

"I love climbing because it feels so good when I stop."
Unknown (HMS?)