Life Changing travel experience - Ha-Giangextreme motorbike loop, Vietnam

in #travelblog6 years ago

Okay! To start off, the trip to Ha Giang was my dream since the beginning of my travels in Southeast Asia. I had long awaited for this moment to happen yet I naively thought this would be easy, and it turned out to be physically and emotionally exhausting! We started off at the main Ha Giang village, it's a little town with just enough places to stay at, a relaxing and caring vibe with surprisingly sweet local people that smile at you while you walk around the streets, unlike the highly touristic & chaotic Ha long city or Hanoi.

The whole loop takes about 4 to 5 days depending on your capability and your preference. I must stress the fact that you need to be an experienced bike rider. The best option to choose a motorbike would be semi-automatic, as the roads are quite dangerous at some points from the landslides and rockfalls. We have done the loop in the summer season so we only needed a raincoat, even though we didn't use it as much. Also, I was the passenger on the bike, and people have mentioned that it is safer to ride solo around these gigantic mountains and hills.

We headed off to our first destination which was Yen Minh, and I unluckily caught a cold from the aircon in our room, which was just what I needed to start of my dream trip, although that didn't stop me from continuing with the 6-hour bike ride through the mesmerizing mountainous views of the Ha Giang Province.

Driving around these beautiful hills was the most amazing experience I've ever had. My partner and I would stop at every corner to take a photo or just scream from happiness from witnessing the amazing views, the authentic village side of the North Vietnamese Province or even just the fresh smell of untouched nature.

The road conditions were not always pleasant, we had stumbled upon a few tricky landslides, rocky roads, and roads being blocked by cows and goats. The first few days we drove at the speed of around 30 km/h, just to be on the safe side.

We stayed at a hostel in Yen Minh and its worth mentioning that the hostel or hotel businesses are still being developed in the Northern part of Vietnam, the villages have not been popularized by the tourists yet so you experience every moment as authentically Vietnamese as possible.

Although the Vietnamese tribes in northern province are of different ethnic tribes and you will clearly see that as you keep going up north to Dong Van District.

Before we started our trip throughout the Ha Giang Province, we were advised by some of the travellers who have previously done the loop, to bring some toys or sweets with us to offer the kids in the villages as they felt sorry for them because, they saw them play with rocks and sticks, swimming in a puddle of mud and enjoying that.
I've got to say that, I was a village kid from Kazakhstan and i disagree with their thoughtful opinion about how sad of a sight it was because I remember playing with a specific part of a bone from the ankle of a sheep or goat as a toy and being the happiest kid ever. I was raised as a child exactly like that and I don't ever remember being sad about it, cause I didn't know any better. And besides, what better than playing around with other kids in nature and creating games out of nothing? Let me know if you agree with me on this point.

I will post about the next trip tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed this and if you want me to write more about my experience in Ha Giang loop then comment below and i would gladly share more with you all! BC40A507-51A5-4B03-93AB-90B6ED99A17E.JPG95A18A56-C5A9-4320-B5B6-17F3A1E5F06F.JPG29BFF4D5-8504-4F69-B17B-16F5E1F28A18.JPG3F3A546B-69FD-4612-BC58-4D528CA727C6.JPG2627641E-44AA-43AE-8BC1-67C56472FA95.JPGCE8BA6A8-7EBB-4BF2-941E-0596FB831523.JPG

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