Central Vietnam, set in the middle of the S-shaped country, central Vietnam is where much of Vietnam's formative past has been played out. In Thua Thien-Hue Province, the ancient imperial capital of Hue was once the heart of the Nguyen Dynasty and the old capital city. In Quang Tri Province, the Ben Hai River marks the 17th parallel, which was used as the demarcation line between North and South Vietnam in 1954. The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and the Vinh Moc tunnels were the scene of heavy fighting during the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, Quang Nam Province is the location of the sixteenth-century silk route trading port of Hoi An and My Son Sanctuary, the sacred remains of the ancient Cham civilization.

In the past, it took a great deal of time to travel from Thailand to central Vietnam since there was no direct road connection between them, and the roads which were there didn't all qualified as roads you could do with a road going motorcycle. Today, however, traveling to central Vietnam from Thailand has become much easier, there's highway number 9, stretching from Mukdahan Province in Northeast Thailand, through Savannakhet in central Laos, to the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, and ending at Tien Sa Port in Da Nang City, but we will did not travel that far, our destination is the city of Hue.

A few activities you do on a motorcycle are likely to bring you into such close contact with non-motorcyclists as camping. Even though you might be surrounded by car traveling campers with loud kids scaring off all wildlife within a 10 kilometer radius, it's you and your motorcycle everyone will be peeking out when you not looking.

Defy their expectations by setting up camp quietly, especially if you arrive at night. Besides being a great way to show non-motorcyclists that there's a genuine human being under your leathers, getting to know other people from other places is part of the fun of camping.

Riding abroad, especially in neighboring countries, brings another dimension of pleasure to your biking. Compared to Thailand, motorcycling can become far more enjoyable.

Positives include emptier roads, a greater pro-biking attitude and, if you visit the right spots, an abundance of brilliant routes, happy people – they seem to wave to anything on two-wheels – and scenery.

Life is of course different in these countries and you need to be mindful and prepared for this before you set off. Having problems hundreds of kilometers in a country of which you not speak the native language can be much more difficult to cope with. Doing your very best to prevent them occurring in the first place, or at least reducing their impact is important to enjoying biking in foreign zones to the full.

It isn't much of a surprise if we happen to have the chance to visit a place we have longed to visit. Certainly, it is a surprise when, impulsively and within seconds, a decision is taken to set out for a certain destination.

The thrill of learning something new at Doi Mae Salong, my destination before me, was overwhelming. The motorcycle was rented and primed and ready; the traveler was primed and set to get going on the road; the freedom of travel was soon being experienced.

Along highway 110, Chiang Rai-Mae Chan road, my motorcycle glided along smoothly. I remembered the rental guy saying: “Take special care when you ascend the mountains; the road is particularly steep”.

A short distance from the city, I couldn't help but stop the motorcycle to enjoy the sight ahead. It was something I hadn't seen in years. Around a dozen people, toiling in the field, stopped work and gave me their warm, welcoming smiles. They asked me questions like, “Where are you from? Which way are you headed? Won't you get lost? Why are you taking our photographs? Will you return to Chiang Rai?” I smiled in return, finding it hard to keep up with their questions, before waving farewell. This must be what is called “roadside friendship”, I supposed.

If you're thinking of booking a motorcycle holiday this year, with hotels, transportation and routes all taken care of by someone else, then take heart – there's more choice than ever before. Not only are there more tour operators vying for your business than there used to be, but the range of destinations is growing too. Want to visit China and ride up to Mongolia? You can this year. Take a cruise ship up to Borneo, then ride a bike around the island meeting people from Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia? No problem. Tibet? Goes without saying. Half a dozen companies will guide you through Asian countries, and if you fancy riding in the mountainous area of North India, you can do that too.

But it's not just exotic locations offering greater choice than even before. You might think that there's nothing new to see in countries like Thailand, or Vietnam, but greater competition has spurred the motorcycle tour operators to offer new destinations this year – Thailand and Vietnam are both big countries, with plenty of good bits that most of us have never yet seen.

As ever with organized tours, they don't all do it in quite the same way. Some try to keep daily kilometers low, others include long days of over 350 kilometers. Not many insist that you ride as a group all the time, especially over longer distance, just giving everyone a rote map and leaving them to make their own way to the hotel or next destination. A lot of riders prefer this – you can go at you own pace and stop whenever you like, secure in the knowledge that you'll meet up with the rest of the group at day's end. Whichever company you go with, a guide on a motorcycle is part ot the package, though now increasing numbers are offering self-guided tours as well – they book the hotels and work out the routes, which you then ride on your own. Which way suits you depends on what sort of holiday you want.

It is one of the holiest towns on the road along the Ganga in the Garhwal Himalayes, the meeting point f two rivers that have mythological importance and have been revered through the ages – the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanka. The first, which starts as a trickle at the Gaumukh glacier, reputed to be the source of the Gaga, joins the Alaknanda to form the Ganga, the holiest river in India. The Ganga then flows through Rishikesh Haridwar, Allahaad and Varanasi to finally meet the Bay of Bengalnear Kolkata.

But it is in Devprayag that the Ganga takes on its majestic form and the confluence is so revered that bathers risk the vicious, combined pull of the two rivers and bathe in and worship the river on the bathing ghat at the confluence.

Devprayag, a peaceful and simple town, is the ideal getaway for those who find Rishikesh with its busy bazaars too frenetic. Here the bazaars have little alleyways where you’ll find lethargic cows, giggling schoolchildren racing each other, and holy men making their way to pray at the rivers.

“You're responsible for what's in front of you.” The moment I heard that succinct sentence I was wondering what they meant with it. In traffic Taiwan is very similar to Thailand, it seems everybody has at least one scooter.

As newly arrival to Taiwan I was wondering if it would be a good idea for us to do some motorcycle touring on the island. As I stood on the sidewalk I watched three scooters and a truck blatantly run the red light across the street from us. On the chaotic streets of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, it resonated like a Buddhist chant rather than a one-liner and the stakes seemed considerably higher than just a sprained ankle in the snow.

The motorcycle we selected for this trip was a rental Kymco Venox 250, Riding a 250cc in any of the scooter nations, the Kymco Venox was a blast to ride among the scooters. Kymco's proven 250cc V-twin, 8 valve DOHC engine provides the power, a 5-speed gearbox delivers it to the road. This one fuel injected, so it was more responsive than the version I tested before. It's heavy for a 250, but I was bummed I couldn't use it for the entire tour.

We traveled to Hanoi, which means something like city in the bend of a river, and Hanoi was the former capital of Vietnam that was created over 1,000 years ago, in addition to having been under the communist rule and at the same time accepting the capitalist system.

Vietnam, and the city of Hanoi in the north of Vietnam is from any country in Southeast Asia a big motorcycle touring experience. We entered Vietnam from Laos and crossed the border at Tay-Trang border crossing.

Set along the Red River, or Song Hong, Hanoi, a town surrounded by breathtaking beautiful lakes, Hanoi was in earlier days known as Thahn Long or the City of the Soaring Dragon. It contained the most intact French colonial structures, having survived bombs by the Americans and attacks by the Russians. Some of these French classic areas are at the old church, Dong Xuan Market, Hanoi University, the theater, and the Long Bien Bridge of which the originally-built was constructed under the direction of the same architect who designed the Eiffel Tower.

Far away in Thailand's northwestern most province of Mae Hong Son and deep within its misty mountains, lies a cute little town called “Pai.” It is a place where diverse people, be it low-land locals or hill tribes, live peace-fully and harmoniously together.

For this trip a somewhat bigger displacement motorcycle is advisable, 250cc or up will do fine. From Chiang Mai, take Mae Rim – Mae Malai Highway. Turn left to route 1095 from Mae Malai. Pai is another 100km away. Because the road is extremely steep and curvy, the ride will take roughly four hours. If you travel during the rainy season like us, it is highly recommended that you check the road condition ahead of time as it often gets cut off by heavy rain during the monsoon season.

The trip can be extra challenging if you are afraid of heights, or if you easily of balance by doing multiple curvy corners and bumpy roads.

The key is to do as the locals do – taking pleasure in the leisurely pace of life, tasting a variety of snacks, from spicy dips with sticky rice, to crunchy rice cracker treats, to Pho or barbequed chicken, and washing it down with cold beer Lao while taking in he sunset on the horizon. (Pho is Noodle Soup chicken)

With this in mind, time spent in the city of Pakse could involve slow cruising speed thorough neighborhoods with colonial architecture, remnants from a period when the French used the city as an administrative center at the turn of the 20th century.

First I need to say I not like to promote commercial places, but the Champasak Palace Hotel is not only an accommodating place to stay, but is also a landmark in its own right. Its majestic structure is an eye-catching example of the type of grandeur commissioned by Chao Boon Oum, prince of Champasak during the late 1960's when Laos was still a sovereign Kingdom.