The Ha Giang loop
"Are you doing the loop today?" he asked me.
Half an hour later, I was on the back of his motorbike and we were off.
The Ha Giang loop is a slightly-off-the-beaten-track road trip in the northernmost province of Vietnam. Most people do in 3-5 days, but I had planned to be there at least a week. I arrived on a bus from Hanoi planning to do the loop by public transit, but when I met Sam that morning at the hostel, we decided to go together, at least for part of it.
Almost as soon as we got out of Ha Giang city, the landscape began to change. We were in the much wilder mountains and hills of the north, driving up switchbacks to beautiful viewpoints, down cliffside roads, past trucks and other bikes and local people walking with large full baskets of corn or rice or other plants. The first day took us to Yen Minh, via two mountain passes to the Heaven's Gate viewpoint, and a two hour stopover to hike the longest, hottest kilometer of my life to some neat caves. We stayed in a homestay which was mostly run by the 12-year-old daughter of the homeowner, who was very charismatic and spoke impeccable English. We had a big traditional family dinner there that night with the family and the other dozen tourists who had also stopped there, and tried some corn wine.
The second day took us to Dong Van, the biggest city in the province after Ha Giang, via Lung Cu, where we went to the northernmost point in Vietnam and stopped at the Chinese border. The road to Lung Cu and the northernmost viewpoint was absolutely breathtaking. Some of the blogs I had read didn't really put much emphasis on going there, which I think is a shame as it was one of my favourite drives we did.
On the third day, Sam left on the bike. He only had three days to do the loop, so he was heading back to Ha Giang. I had much more time and Dong Van seemed like a good base, so I stayed for a few nights. After I hiked a peaceful, quiet mountain road one afternoon, I had a fun experience at a local restaurant. The place was run by a husband and wife, and had a 3 or 4 long tables in the back and an open "kitchen" at the front. It served local fare: a noodle soup called bun suon mang, and some wet noodle wrap dishes (bahn cuon and gia le). I ordered bahn cuon to start, and the husband gave me a bit of a nervous nod, then peeked out on the street to look for his wife. When he couldn't find her, he fired up the appliance used to make the wet noodle dishes: a large drum with a thin, paper-like cooking surface on top. Cooking the dish involves spooning some of the liquid mixture onto the drum, waiting until it cooks, putting the filling on top, and wrapping it up. His wife had made the dish for Sam and me when we were there the previous night, and it was obvious that she was the one who usually made it, as he completely messed it up a few times when trying to make it for me. He was laughing about it and I think some of the other customers were making fun of him. After that, I asked for a noodle soup (much easier to make), and two local guys invited me to eat it with them. One of them fetched me a beer and I raised my can up for us to knock them together before we drank. One of the guys must have really enjoyed that because he did it every time he took a drink after that. No one in there spoke a lick of English, but it was still really fun to eat with local people.
The next day, I hiked what was purported to be the most beautiful mountain pass in Vietnam: the 20km Ma Pi Leng pass between Dong Van and Meo Vac. One of the main reasons why I wanted to come here was for this. Most people do this pass on their bike as well, but I didn't have one, so I walked it. I met and chatted with a few local people along the way, and when I saw a sign for something called the "Sky Path", I knew that had to be my route. Sure enough, it took me several hundred metres above the main road, through rice fields, to lookout points and along narrow cliffside paths. It probably set me back by an hour or two, but it was easily worth it. Unfortunately, when it rejoined with the main road, I was 3km past the cafe where I had planned to stop for lunch, so rather than backtrack and add 6km to my day, I soldiered on for the final 8km to Meo Vac. It was a tiring but awesome day, and a clear highlight of the loop for me.
The loop was easily my favourite thing I did in Vietnam. The scenery was amazing and the people were the friendliest in the country, in my experience. Almost everyone smiled, waved, and said hello, and people seemed genuinely glad (and sometimes surprised) to see me. I even chatted with a teenage girl for almost half an hour about life in Canada, as she translated for her mother, while I was on a hike in Ha Giang city. It was a week of unique experiences, and I hope it stays just as great when more tourists inevitably catch wind of it.
Half an hour later, I was on the back of his motorbike and we were off.
The Ha Giang loop is a slightly-off-the-beaten-track road trip in the northernmost province of Vietnam. Most people do in 3-5 days, but I had planned to be there at least a week. I arrived on a bus from Hanoi planning to do the loop by public transit, but when I met Sam that morning at the hostel, we decided to go together, at least for part of it.
Almost as soon as we got out of Ha Giang city, the landscape began to change. We were in the much wilder mountains and hills of the north, driving up switchbacks to beautiful viewpoints, down cliffside roads, past trucks and other bikes and local people walking with large full baskets of corn or rice or other plants. The first day took us to Yen Minh, via two mountain passes to the Heaven's Gate viewpoint, and a two hour stopover to hike the longest, hottest kilometer of my life to some neat caves. We stayed in a homestay which was mostly run by the 12-year-old daughter of the homeowner, who was very charismatic and spoke impeccable English. We had a big traditional family dinner there that night with the family and the other dozen tourists who had also stopped there, and tried some corn wine.
The second day took us to Dong Van, the biggest city in the province after Ha Giang, via Lung Cu, where we went to the northernmost point in Vietnam and stopped at the Chinese border. The road to Lung Cu and the northernmost viewpoint was absolutely breathtaking. Some of the blogs I had read didn't really put much emphasis on going there, which I think is a shame as it was one of my favourite drives we did.
On the third day, Sam left on the bike. He only had three days to do the loop, so he was heading back to Ha Giang. I had much more time and Dong Van seemed like a good base, so I stayed for a few nights. After I hiked a peaceful, quiet mountain road one afternoon, I had a fun experience at a local restaurant. The place was run by a husband and wife, and had a 3 or 4 long tables in the back and an open "kitchen" at the front. It served local fare: a noodle soup called bun suon mang, and some wet noodle wrap dishes (bahn cuon and gia le). I ordered bahn cuon to start, and the husband gave me a bit of a nervous nod, then peeked out on the street to look for his wife. When he couldn't find her, he fired up the appliance used to make the wet noodle dishes: a large drum with a thin, paper-like cooking surface on top. Cooking the dish involves spooning some of the liquid mixture onto the drum, waiting until it cooks, putting the filling on top, and wrapping it up. His wife had made the dish for Sam and me when we were there the previous night, and it was obvious that she was the one who usually made it, as he completely messed it up a few times when trying to make it for me. He was laughing about it and I think some of the other customers were making fun of him. After that, I asked for a noodle soup (much easier to make), and two local guys invited me to eat it with them. One of them fetched me a beer and I raised my can up for us to knock them together before we drank. One of the guys must have really enjoyed that because he did it every time he took a drink after that. No one in there spoke a lick of English, but it was still really fun to eat with local people.
The next day, I hiked what was purported to be the most beautiful mountain pass in Vietnam: the 20km Ma Pi Leng pass between Dong Van and Meo Vac. One of the main reasons why I wanted to come here was for this. Most people do this pass on their bike as well, but I didn't have one, so I walked it. I met and chatted with a few local people along the way, and when I saw a sign for something called the "Sky Path", I knew that had to be my route. Sure enough, it took me several hundred metres above the main road, through rice fields, to lookout points and along narrow cliffside paths. It probably set me back by an hour or two, but it was easily worth it. Unfortunately, when it rejoined with the main road, I was 3km past the cafe where I had planned to stop for lunch, so rather than backtrack and add 6km to my day, I soldiered on for the final 8km to Meo Vac. It was a tiring but awesome day, and a clear highlight of the loop for me.
The loop was easily my favourite thing I did in Vietnam. The scenery was amazing and the people were the friendliest in the country, in my experience. Almost everyone smiled, waved, and said hello, and people seemed genuinely glad (and sometimes surprised) to see me. I even chatted with a teenage girl for almost half an hour about life in Canada, as she translated for her mother, while I was on a hike in Ha Giang city. It was a week of unique experiences, and I hope it stays just as great when more tourists inevitably catch wind of it.
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ReplyDeleteFirstly, would love an edit function for typos. Secondly, would really appreciate if deleted posts were fully removed. Thirdly, great post! And still waiting for those pics!!
ReplyDelete