A bowl of Pho noodle soup could be had for only VND3,000, while a glass of bia hoi (local draft beer) went for a meagre VND500. Children tended to be shy, but the brave ones could always be counted on crying out ‘Lien Xo’ (Soviet) when foreigners walking past. Russia’s SAM missiles were still on display in Hanoi’s public parks, and Lenin’s statue dominated the diplomatic quarter.

Aside from a few brave entrepreneurs, Hanoi’s expat population consisted solely of diplomats and students. No motorcycle rental companies or tour operators operated out of Hanoi while most of the roads outside the city were single-lane dirt roads with no guardrails. There were few cars on the streets of Hanoi, save for the occasional Russian Lada, and Hanoi’s trams had only recently stopped operating.

The only motorcycles available for rides into the countryside were all former ‘Iron Curtain’ steeds such as the Belarusian 125cc Minsk, the Czech 350cc Jawa, the Russian 175cc Vodkhod, and the East German 50cc Simpson. Because these ‘Iron Beasts’ were so temperamental, no adventure was complete without a few mechanical hiccups. The founder of Explore Indochina wrote a 100-page repair book for his bike of choice, the 125cc Minsk, and in 1998 he set up the famous ‘Minsk Club Vietnam’. Because of the extensive coverage this club received in the Lonely Planet, the only reliable source of information prior to the advent of the internet, it sparked a surge in interest in motorcycling throughout Vietnam.