Vietnam: Part Six (The Ha Giang Loop)

Because we hadn't had enough fun (and punishment) on our bikes, we decided to add another side-quest to our adventure: the Ha Giang Loop. The Loop is sometimes called the Ha Giang Extreme North Motorbike Route, both because of the extreme driving conditions and because it is at the northernmost tip of Vietnam. The Loop consists of a circular highway that has multiple smaller branch roads feeding to smaller communities of mostly ethnic minorities. The highway cuts through the most mountainous part of the country (this is why we couldn’t take Sabrina and Nash, they had a lot of spirit but likely would not have been able to make it) and can be completed anywhere from 2 days to a week, depending on what route you take, how much you can drive in a day, and how many side roads you venture out onto. We only had time for 3 days, but packed in as much as we could during that time. The Loop is also popular for easy riders (hired out guides where you ride on the back of their bike rather than taking your own). However, we knew that we wanted to do it ourselves, and after over 3 weeks on scooters we felt pretty comfortable.

To get to Ha Giang, the namesake town of the Loop and it’s starting point, it took a 6 hour bus ride from Hanoi. The bus had a funky disco type theme, with shag carpet walls and color changing lighting overhead. Also, shoes were not allowed to be worn (they had to be taken off beforehand) and the walkway was a giant squishy mat, which those without a seat could lay on for the ride (our bus ended up being packed full and had people strewn across the entire aisle most of the journey). On our pit stop on the way out, at a little roadside café, they had a basket of mismatched sandals waiting for people to walk around outside in (because everyone had taken off and stored their shoes since they weren’t allowed on the bus). It was actually quite a relaxing journey, and it felt good to be on the inside of the crazy passenger bus rather than outside on a scooter in its path of destruction, which we had been so far.

In Ha Giang we stayed one night in a Homestay, which is where we also rented scooters (they were 250,000/day each, including insurance for a total of ~$32 for all three days). Our host pointed out a street with a couple of cheap rice eateries, and that’s where we went. All along the Loop, the cheapest food options tend to be these rice shops, where they heap steamed rice onto your plate and then let you select from a large array of toppings, most of which include some sort of chicken or pork. We found one that looked good, and the little old man running the place watched closely as we prepared our dishes, showing us how to properly mix fish sauce and chili for dipping. We also ordered a Sprite, as they had a big sign advertising it. However, they didn’t have any on hand and seemed confused by what we wanted. Finally, the little old man’s little old wife went next door and came back with…not Sprite. Instead she had brought us a salted-lime flavored drink that was horrendous, but we gulped it down as she watched us and told her thanks.

We spent the rest of the night moving a couple of essential items over to our dry bags to leave the rest at the hostel, and we were up bright and early the next day for breakfast before we started our journey. The scooters we rented were nicer and newer (sorry Nash and Sabrina) and semi-automatics, so we were able to get a lot more power as we started our ascent up into the mountains. Our first day we went from Ha Giang all the way to Đồng Văn. On the way we passed really cool landscape and the Heaven’s Pass viewpoint. The whole way we kept stopping at the same viewpoints as a group of Vietnamese easy-riders, and exchanging waves along the way. We even followed them along a shortcut/scenic route that branched off the main road. We passed many villagers working the rice fields, and kids yelling “hello” as we passed. We stopped a couple of times for coffee and food (somehow getting chicken strips by accident when ordering).

We made one major detour towards the end of the Day One route, and that was to go to the Lung Cu flag pole. This flag pole is a giant monument on top of a mountain just a couple of kilometers from the Chinese border. From what we learned (historians correct us here) it’s basically a giant middle finger to China that represents Vietnam’s independence from their powerful neighbors to the north. The flag pole is a pilgrimage site that a lot of Vietnamese travel too, and there were a ton of locals there when we arrived. We also arrived in the middle of a nasty thunderstorm, so our stay was short (especially after Kyle started panicking because all of Nicole’s hair was sticking straight up. Helmet hair or lightening? We will never know). We rode the rest of the way in to Đồng Văn from there, weaving through pretty epic scenery full jagged, jungle-covered mountains spearing into the sky around us.

We arrived in Đồng Văn without a place to stay and started asking around the various homestays on one of the back streets. The first couple were out of our budget but the next one we went to was cheap, so we decided to stay there (without even seeing our room). They had us ride our bikes through the house to park them out back, and when we got there a bunch of other bikes were already waiting. It was the Vietnamese easy-rider crew we had seen all day long, and they immediately invited us to dinner that night! After dropping our stuff off (we slept on mattresses laying on the floor in a simple wooden room with bug nets) and freshening up (we had to share bathrooms with the group) we walked around town a bit. Đồng Văn has an “ancient street” with cool shops in some renovated architecture that mimics the old style. We sat and watched some ladies playing volleyball in the open square, and then explored the market. In one back alley there were groups of men playing some sort of combination between pool and poker, but left quickly as there seemed to be frequent angry arguments as cards were flipped over.

Then we were off to dinner with our new friends. The group turned out to be a work trip for a banker And his associates from Ho Chi Minh City, and only the banker himself and one other person spoke English. When we arrived to the restaurant, it turned out to be another steamboat/hot pot type meal. There was a large platter of raw red meat on the table, and the banker couldn’t think of the English name for it. He pulled up a picture on his phone of a majestic horse jumping over a fence and showed it to us…so that night we ate our first horse meat. But on the bright side, we were complimented on our use of chopsticks during the meal!

The whole meal the banker kept sending us shot after shot of rice whiskey, along with beers mixed in. While he was friendly, he was also weirdly pushing Kyle to have drinks with his female employees, so we tried to avoid the karaoke after party. We went to our room and pretended to be sleeping while the banker knocked on the door looking for us. At one point during the karaoke session we even heard him blast over the speakers “Mister Kyle, where are you?! We want you to sing with us!” We avoided the group the next morning, but of course we kept seeing them the rest of the route, exchanging friendly waves each time.

Day Two of our Loop route started with the Mã Pí Lèng Pass. This part of the route was simply stunning. The pass is carved into steep cliff faces with a shear drop off to the river a thousand feet below. We were afraid that the weather was going to be bad, but right as we got to this 20km stretch the skies opened up and we had beautiful views. Because of all of the recent rain in the area, a lot of landslides had taken out large stretches of road, which construction crews were already out fixing. We came upon one section that was closed off completely and had several other bikes, including a couple of other American guys, waiting at. After awhile it was clear that we were not getting through, but a local biker with his toddler son on back came to our rescue. He waved for the rest of the group to follow him, and took us on an incredible detour on a narrow concrete path through the mountains. The path was terrifying in parts, with no railing and sharp curves with steep drop offs. It also wove through farms with parts so narrow that leaves from the corn smacked you in the face as you road past. The guy was an amazing driver and it took all of our guts to keep up. When we finally emerged on the main road we thanked him profusely. There were a couple of other construction issues that day, but they mostly included waiting for crews to let us through.

After the construction spots, we made our way through small villages and bumpy roads to the village of Du Gia. This town was recommended by our favorite blogger, the Vietnam Coracle, and the route there did not disappoint. We road through river valleys and high into the mountains, and saw the coolest tiered rice fields in the whole country. In Du Gia we, once again, went in without a place booked. We asked around at a couple of places before deciding on one with a big sign saying “backpackers.” After not seeing anyone for a bit, a 8/9 year-old girl finally came out and took our money (after using some Google translate) and took us to our room. Our room ended up being a mattress on a plywood box, and the door did not have a lock, but it was cheap! We walked around the town and grabbed a quick lunch, before lounging around that afternoon avoiding the rain, which finally came in. We eventually saw the hosts that evening, who cooked us some food (simple fried rice and soup) before we called it an early night.

The next morning we had our alarm set for 5:30am, but awoke at 5:00 to a piercing scream. We scrambled out of bed to see what was going on, and in the field across the street from our Homestay a bustling livestock market was under way. The screaming was coming from a bunch of potbelly pigs on leashes. In addition to the pigs, there were cows, ducks, and chickens. And, unfortunately, we saw a corner that had cages full of puppies. While we had hoped they were being sold as pets, watching a buyer fill a burlap sack with several confirmed our suspicions that they were probably going to be someone’s dinner that evening. We left the town very sad that morning.

To take our minds off of the market, we had epic views again. We had backtracked a little up the road from the day before, and branched off onto a new side road. However, because of the rain the night before we quickly encountered a river flooding over our intended path. We backtracked once again and decided to go on the longer, safer route back home. This route was pretty smooth and simple, but Kyle’s bike was a gas-eater, and we came close to running out a couple of times, and had to go door to door asking if anyone had a bottle we could fill up with (which people, fortunately, did). We made it back to Ha Giang feeling very accomplished, but ready to be off of scooters for awhile. Thankfully we were able to get on a 2pm bus back to Hanoi (which happened to be the same one we had taken to get to Ha Giang, we discovered all of the chairs also had massage functions). We were tired, but the Loop ended up being an incredible addition to our already amazing adventure in Vietnam.