NORTH VIETNAM - Cycling the Ha Giang Loop

After spending the winter in Kyrgyzstan it was time to move on. China was not opening its border to tourists, so we booked a plane tickets to fly over the Middle Kingdom. A couple of hours after leaving Almaty we set foot in Hanoi, our doorstep to South East Asia where we would spend at least half a year.

The contrast with Central Asia was brutal. First, the weather. We were quite used to the cold and dry days of the Kyrgyz winter. Here was the perfect opposite, hot and humid. It didn’t take us long to make our minds: we preferred the dry one. Spending the first few days in Hanoi, another thing stroke us: the use of the scooter as the first and main way of transport for all Vietnamese. They pack their motorbikes with as many things they would have put in a van or a pickup truck, making the scooter look like a mushroom. We were far from being the most overload even with our 60kg! It reminded us of the over-filled Blue Nissan in Iran. Good memories. Another big surprise was the food. To say it nicely, the food in Central Asia had a poor diversity and was mainly about meat. Here, it is a paradise ! The food is healthy, vegetarian options are not a problem at all and it seems the variety of different dishes is infinite. Without saying that eating in the street is very cheap, around 1€ per dish.

After taking our marks in the buzzing capital, we finally assembled our bicycles and brought them to a bike shop for a little well-deserved maintenance. Changing both chains after 11000km was needed. In the meantime, we hopped on a bus for a 3h ride east to the Vietnamese coast and the famous Ha Long Bay. We knew the place was worth only a short visit and didn’t want to cycle there to spend only a day in the bay. Good choice was made: we didn’t really like Ha Long. After spending 7 months in Central Asia with very few tourists, being in a packed cruise following hundreds of people was anything but our cup of tea. The weather was not welcoming and except for the first evening when we had an amazing setting sun on the limestone towers, the next days were wet. After 2 nights in this tourist city, we took another bus to get back to Hanoi and our beloved bikes. The next day we were off for discovering the North of Vietnam.

Cycling in Hanoi was easier than we imagined. People are used to all types of two-wheels, so they stay focus. One hour after our leaving, we got caught by the pouring rain.

We thought « OMG, after cycling for 12km we already have to stop an hour to wait for the end of the rain… South East Asia is gonna be a challenge » We are now happy to tell you that we were wrong and had no more rain for the next days (Well, almost...)

Anyway, we continued north, aiming for the Chinese border and the famous Ha Giang loop. Being hosted by locals on their farm, discovered the Ba Bé lake and rice paddies, stayed in a disgusting homestay, and left the flat region of Hanoi to start climbing. One thing we didn’t anticipate: communication with locals was very hard. We realized that even with Google translate it was challenging, due to bad translations and pronunciation challenges. We read that each sound have 6 different tones. Contrary to other countries we crossed without speaking the language, we always found a way to communicates. Here, even the body language is different!

After a week of cycling north, we reached the famous Ha Giang Loop. This multiple days loop is usually done by motorbike starting and ending in Ha Giang City. A lot of tourists ride it by convoy as a new rule forbids foreigners to drive a scooter without an international license, giving more jobs and money for locals. We were afraid to be surrounded by backpackers and were pleasantly surprised to see only a few groups, riding on the opposite way. It’s not a surprise why this particular road brings people from all over the world: the landscape is jaw-dropping! The narrow road zigzaged between thousand-meter mountains covered by jungle and when deeper canyons with green rivers at the bottom. A movie set. We spent four days on the “official” loop, with a bluebird sky and pristine views, juggling between wild camping and cheap homestays. Finding a spot for the tent appeared to be harder than we thought. The steep terrains force the inhabitants to farm every square inch of flat area, leaving no part unused. During the entire time, we had sight on the border with China, just across the valley behind a 4m high steel fence…

After reaching Ha Giang, we continued cycling to Lao Cai, a big border-city with China. On the way, we stopped at Cinnamon Lodge. First, we smelled something: a nice and sweet smell. We wondered what it could be. I general, the flavors you smell on bike-touring... are not that great haha. Then we started to see a lot of bark drying on the side of the roads. We tried to guess what it was. Then suddenly we made the link between the name of the lodge and the smell: they are growing cinnamon here ! It was a bit like the Ananas, we didn’t know how cinnamon was harvested… Well, now we know: it’s from a tree and they cut the tree and strip it off from its bark. Then they dry it under the hard sun and finally sell the dry bark to factories. Speaking with the Vietnamese, they told us it was mainly exported to Europe and Western countries and not consumed here. Interesting to realize that, like coffee beans in a lot of parts of the world, some products have too much value to be consumed in its origin country. It has to be exported. We set up the tent in the middle of the cinnamon forest and fell asleep with Thai marvelous smell.

The next day we started cycling at 5 am and arrived at Lao Cai by midday. On the other side of the river, another flag was floating: China's. Out of curiosity we went to the bridge linking both countries and were surprised to see so many Chinese crossing it both ways. A bit sad for us to be that close to China but in the meantime: without a visa you can not cross. We had other things on our minds. The weather forecast was scary: 40 degrees minimum for the next week… We will have to wake up early. Next day was 5 am as well when we started the biggest climb we had so far in Vietnam: 30km with 1500m of positive gain in altitude to reach the famous village of Sapa, up in the clouds. The climb was long and hard, the heat gradually raising with the time passing by. Good thing we started early, by midday we reached the city, completely soaked. Sapa is a very touristic place, both for locals and foreigners, but for two completely different reasons: locals come to see Vietnam’ highest peak, Fansipan, culminating at 3143m and tourists come to see the terraced rice paddies. During the 24h we stayed in Sapa, we couldn’t see either of them: the clouds were everywhere in the mountains around the village.

That’s the beauty of traveling by bike in our opinion, by cycling every meter between points of interests, you see and discover way more than the “must see” points that are most of the time deceiving. We met some European tourists coming for 2 weeks in Vietnam and who were planning to spend 4 days in Sapa, in the clouds… we couldn’t imagine their deception.

After the buzzing village, we continued northeast to the Laos border.

Took us a few more days of waking up at 4am to reach the last Vietnamese city: Dien Bien Phu. Another point of interest: the area is famous for a battle in 1954 between French colonists and Vietnamese communists. There was a very interesting museum with a lot of artifacts and real-life scenes. This city was for us mainly a « bye-bye Vietnam » stop, before continuing our trip through the next country : Laos. But you have to earn the right to cross the border as it lays 1000m above the Dien Bien Phu flat fields, in the mountains. As usual now, we woke up early and started our way up. Around 7 am we were already halfway up when dozens of trucks started to drive up and down the tiny mountain road. We realized that near the border was also a massive quarry and the day work started. It gave us one more reason to reach quickly the border.

Just before midday, we were stamped out of Vietnam and had to cycle 8 more kilometers in no man lands to finally arrive at the Laos border: new country, new adventure. We loved our month in NorthVietnam and we will come back for a second stay in the southern part of Vietnam after Laos!