The Ha Giang Loop
Ever since the start of my travel, I’ve been hearing about one place more than any other from travellers coming in the other direction - the Ha Giang loop. People have consistently raved about it as the highlight of their trip, so I felt I had to see this place. Ha Giang is a small (and fairly uninteresting) town, but the loop of roads nearby are phenomenal. Roads and trails wind like ribbons through lush green and raw white limestone mountains for endless kilometres, and they’re only really traversable on motorbike. You can choose to drive yourself, but I chose the easier option like most people: being driven by an ‘easy rider’ - an experienced biker, most of whom grew up in one of the many indigenous villages nearby.
Much of the loop I likely could have driven myself, but there were some section I would have struggled with and I was really glad to be able to just enjoy the views without worrying too much about the difficulty of the hill climbs of the state of some of the less well kept roads. Indeed, the selling point of Flipside, the company Carla and I went with, is that they avoid the big roads and therefore most of the tourist traffic, giving you a much quieter and more local experience of the area. Naturally, this also meant some thin paths through corn fields and some bumpy paths next to steep drops with no safety barriers, which my easy rider, Duong, handled with ease (no pun intended). They also ensure group sizes are small, and our excellent group of 6 (Farai, Ella, Alex, Sage, Carla and I) really bonded both with each other and our easy riders. It was such a good experience to spend consistent time with a group that was half Vietnamese, and better understand the lives and experiences of local people. Even with a language barrier we found ways to laugh and joke together, and to ask questions and learn about each others lives.
Much of this exchange happened over delicious food (almost the same combination of dishes every meal, but delicious nonetheless) and what the local call ‘happy water’. Happy water is home-brewed rice wine, slightly different at each location and taken as shots accompanied by loud toasts. Anything is an excuse for another toast - some good examples included another easy rider coming to our table to say hello, someone saying something funny, or it being more than a minute since we last had a shot. Naturally there were many shots and we were all a little tipsy by the time we went to bed each night, but also encouraged an early night and a good sleep and we were all in good enough working order by the next day to get back on the bikes.
As well as the main event of riding bikes around the loop, we also stopped at several coffee shops with incredible mountain views, all chipped in to take some food to a local indigenous village in need of some support, went close enough to the border to see China from afar, hiked some short trails to waterfalls we swam in and explored some caves. The caves on the final day of the loop were a particular highlight, with some unexpectedly challenging sections with space for crawling only and a flooded cave with pristine water, underground waterfalls and brilliantly dramatic limestone formations to navigate while a little tipsy on happy water. After recently feeling a little travel burnout, I really started to feel my excitable self again on the loop. I think I’m still in need of more rest long term, but it feels good to have my energy back for now.
The biggest compliment I can give the loop is it reminded me of my time on the Inca trail. A small group of people, exploring mountain paths that provide new and beautiful views at every turn. I can see why so many people have raved about it as a highlight of their trips - despite going in to it with high expectations it’s certainly highlight of mine. I leave with many happy memories of a special part of the world.