23-25/05/2023 Ha Giang Loop
Ha Giang
The Ha Giang loop is a circular route in the far north of Vietnam, on the border with China and is best explored on two wheels. You will drive through stunning scenery, gigantic mountains, glorious rivers, and stunning rice terraces. The region simply has it all.”
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Are we riding ourselves?
Waking up at 7 a.m. after arriving in Ha Giang at 11 p.m. last night from a two-day-trekking trip in the rice fields felt a bit stressful.
Blake and I were determined to ride our own motorbikes (which are scooters here) for the next three days. This means we would go without an “easy rider” (a Vietnamese guide who would drive us). After all, we had both ridden motorbikes several times before, last time on the Hai Van Pass from Hoi An to Hue. We felt pretty confident with this decision – until we saw the bikes… they were semi-automatic bikes which
- I had never ridden before (you need to shift with your left foot and break with your right foot) and
- Blake had a big accident with in the Philippines, which ended up with getting stitches in the hospital.
So we weren’t happy, to say the least. All the Vietnamese guides tried to convince me to ride an “easy rider” (at someone’s back) or go on a motorbike with Blake driving. But the fact that they only asked me and not Blake made me want to ride my own motorbike even more.
Making use of our international driver’s license for once
Furthermore, they were quite surprised that we had both brought our international drivers license, which – apparently – only a few backpackers own. However, mine was only valid for cars. Mind you, this was the very first time in the past 10 months that someone had even asked us for our international licenses.
Who do I look alike?
So what do you do when you don’t have a valid international driver’s license for a motorbike in Vietnam? Exactly, get a fake one! The guide started scrolling through his phone going through lots and lots of photos from other travellers’ IDs with the words: “Let’s see who looks like you.” And then he gave me an international driver’s license of a Russian woman whose only similarity with me was that she was white as well.
Funnily, after the first half an hour on the road, the local police did stop us where I had to show them “my ID”. To my surprise it worked and they waved me through!
Incredible scenery
The entire drive was breathtaking! In a group of seven we drove through massive mountains, vast valleys, rural rice fields and cool corn fields. Everything felt very raw and untouched. A lot of times local kids came running onto the streets to wave to us or to high-five us. It was so amazing!
Vietnamese homestays
Both nights we stayed with different local homestays. There we enjoyed a family dinner with shared veggies, steamed rice, meats and tofu.
So worth it
All in all we drove for 360km in those three days. If you don’t feel confident driving yourself, there is always the option of an easy rider (which most of the people did). But either way: do it!
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