Ha Noi, Vietnam
To continue with our journey in Vietnam, our entire group was coincidentally heading north. How lucky we are to have made a group to travel with for nearly 3 weeks! Our group was split between two overnight busses, and Sloan, Flo, Cameron and I were on one together. We had every intention to get off the bus at Ninh Binh, a supposedly beautiful region with national parks and more caves to explore. However… we all woke up in Ha Noi, an hour north of Ninh Binh. Oops!
So, since all of us decided that THIS was the one time we could all simultaneously fall into a deep sleep on a night bus, we rolled with the punches and started roaming through Vietnam’s capital city of 8 million people with no plans or accommodations. At 5 AM. Off to a great start.
We were lucky enough to find a great hostel, the Vietnam Backpacker Hostel, that let us check in early, so we got to sleep in until a decent hour. Once we were actually awake, the four of us decided to get coffee and wander around aimlessly. I decided to order an “egg coffee” which is apparently a delicacy in Vietnam, and to my surprise it was really delicious. Probably my favorite coffee I’ve had in Asia and we’ve been big coffee drinkers over here.
For being the capital city, we weren’t overly impressed with Ha Noi. As I’ve said before, neither Sloan or I are really interested in big Asian cities and walking around here was honestly more worrisome than enjoyable. For a city of 8 million people, there are more than 4 million motorbikes (that’s a fact, not a hyperbole). To cross the street, you basically have to close your eyes, run, and pray that you won’t get annihilated by oncoming traffic.
That night a group of us left the hostel in hopes of finding the Harry Potter bar we’d heard about. This was a bad idea for a number of reasons, but mainly that a moon festival was taking place, so the already ridiculous traffic was on steroids. See above pictures. Those are taken in the middle of an intersection that apparently becomes an absolute free-for-all at night.
Moreover, the Harry Potter bar ended up being only slightly Harry Potter themed and only served non-alcoholic butter beer… as a true HP fan, I felt slighted.
The next morning’s walking tour was just as underwhelming, so we decided to accept defeat and spend the rest of the day in a coffee shop keeping up with our journals. We’ve been loading so much into our days that we hadn’t caught up on journaling or blogging in a while. Then it was goodbye Ha Noi and hello overnight bus!
Ha Giang Province, Vietnam
Unfortunately, Ha Noi was the end of the road for most of our United Nations group to travel together, but Sloan and I were lucky enough to get to stick with Flo a little longer. All three of us had heard about this amazing loop in northern Vietnam through the mountains and rice paddy fields that was off the beaten track, and a much more authentic alternative to the popular Sa Pa region. To explore this region, people rent motorcycles and set out for anywhere from 3-7 days. We knew we were interested, but that was the extent of our planning, so our common theme of getting on a bus with no real plan continued.
The overnight bus was an experience in and of itself. The seats are more like personal beds packed in tight and stacked on top of one other like bunk beds. We were the first ones on the bus and, with the assumption that few people would be heading to an area as remote as Ha Giang, the three of us sprawled out on the back row of five adjoining beds. It soon became clear that comfort was not a priority on this bus ride as they packed us like sardines. We ended up with two random Vietnamese men in between us, and there were people even sleeping on the floor, lining up and down the aisles. Imagine when we stopped for a bathroom break and you literally had to step on strangers to get off the bus… and that is not an exaggeration. This is surely not America. After a bumpy 6 hours, we were abruptly woken up by neon lights and were kicked off the bus at 3 AM.
Welcome to Ha Giang province! Thankfully, Flo had a slight idea of where to, so we lugged our bags through the pitch black night until we got to QT Hostel. After a minute of knocking on the door, a woman opened the door, and without a word or a question ushered us to bedrooms. These beds must have been glorified concrete slabs, but hey it was better than sleeping on the street.
Happy to finally see the sun after a rough night of sleep, we made our way to QT’s Motorbike Shop where we met our ride for the next three days, a Yamaha Sirius 110cc semi-automatic hot rod. As we were about to leave, we met an Australian girl, Ash, who was about to start this loop by herself so we invited her to join us. Not your average biker gang, but we played the part!
**Also, it turns out that Ash, who is from Sydney Australia, has a white pitbull named Rudy. For anyone reading who doesn’t know, my two dogs at home are Willow, a white pitbull, and Rudy, the dog Sloan and I adopted in college. What are the chances of that?
With an already late start and 68 miles ahead of us, the last thing we wanted was the early afternoon rain that we got. Between stops to take shelter, two separate lunch breaks, and numerous stops to take pictures, we didn’t make the best time… 68 miles might not sound like much, but when the whole drive consists of winding roads through mountains and valleys, while adding in the frequent potholes and occasional wrong turns, it took us all day.
But damn, those views were unparalleled. I’ve never seen scenery like this before in my life. Between the rounded mountain peaks scattered along the horizon, the lush green rice paddies and dense jungle, and the huge valleys with small villages tucked along the river, these are views that I’ll never forget.
Our lack of urgency came back to bite us, but not before witnessing the most incredible golden hour as the sun dipped below the mountain tops. As we were gawking at the sky, we realized we still had 18 miles to go and no sunlight to guide us. Coincidentally, these were the worst road conditions of our entire three day trip, and more rain surely didn’t help. We drove through 100-ft. patches of washed away road that was replaced by uneven gravel, all while trying to cover everything but our eyes from the rain. Somehow we managed to get through unscathed. We made it to QT’s Guesthouse in Du Giu, Vietnam right in time for cold beer and dinner. Highly recommend using QT for anyone looking to do this loop; it truly made our first two nights seamless.
We were absolutely beat from the driving and the lousy night of sleep from the day before, so we had an early night in the unique loft-style dorm, where the beds were separated by large mosquito nets.
All four of us woke early the next day and got straight on the road for today’s 94 mile journey. Despite how incredible yesterday was, nothing could have prepared us for the beautiful drive ahead of us.
We had to backtrack a little this morning to get out of the Du Giu valley and it was the perfect way to start our day. Since we’d driven through this area the night before in the dark, we had no idea what we’d missed… particularly the several hundred foot cliffs that separated us and the valley floor. Lucky for me, while Sloan was busy trying not to drive us straight off a cliff, I had a wonderful time watching the breathtaking scenery go by.
Skipping breakfast left us hungry and desperate for a good meal. Flo, our Pho-fanatic friend, was craving exactly that. Pho is a typical Vietnamese soup with fresh rice noodles, cilantro, fresh vegetables, and your choice of chicken, beef and spices. It’s delicious and the best places to get it are usually little shacks that I’d hardly consider restaurants. Not to mention, it’s typically less than $1 for a massive serving. So that’s what we got today, and even Flo admitted that it may have been the best one he’s ever tried.
Update – we’ve been craving this exact Pho for the past two weeks and nothing compares.
With so much ground to cover today, we tried our hardest to limit our photo stops, but some views were just too good to resist, especially the Ma Pi Leng Pass. After the full journey, I would argue that this was the most stunning view on our entire trip. The road hugged the top of a mountain, cut through terraced farmlands with locals hauling off grain on their backs, and offered a birds-eye glimpse of the isolated villagers going about their lives hundreds of feet below. Sloan even found a way to make a friend all the way up here by sharing cookies with a local boy.
Ma Pi Leng Pass
Our home for the night was in Dong Van. We stopped just briefly enough to drop our bags, stretch our legs, and drink some water before setting out for an add-on drive to the Chinese border. We didn’t even bother finding a place to stay for the night before getting back on our bikes. The 38-mile round trip was quite the adventure. We circled through more 180-degree turns than we could count and dodged busses and cars whose drivers thought they owned the road and showed zero regard for motorcyclists. Unsurprisingly, things get more chaotic the closer you get to China.
We got within a few hundred meters of the border when we were stopped by a landslide that had covered most of the road with huge rocks and debris. The road was extremely narrow and was conveniently on the side of a mountain, so there was no alternative route. We had made it so close to the border, though, that we weren’t willing to turn around just yet. I got off the back of our bike and watched as Sloan inched his way along the cliff on a narrow patch of dirt, followed by Flo and then Ash. Sloan and Flo made it without issues. Ash, not so much. Everything was going fine until her bike stalled right before the final drop-down onto the main road. When she went to start it again, she gave the bike some gas, but since it was still in first gear, she took off down the steep decline with no control of the bike. In what was likely the most impressive ninja move I’ve ever seen, just as the bike hit a rock, Ash was somehow able to pull off a Jackie Chan barrel roll over the handlebars and come out relatively unscathed. I genuinely thought she was about to drive right off the cliff, but she stoop up, brushed herself off, and was a little shaken, but not stirred… Best news though, we got it all on video for our loyal followers back home.
Anyways, we made it to the actual border with the help of two local men, who spoke absolutely no English but communicated with pointing, grunts, and laughing at our lack of understanding. It’s funny how even after someone finds out that you don’t speak a lick of their language, they think that either repeating what they said or slowing it down will suddenly make you fluent in Vietnamese. Regardless, they were extremely helpful in leading us up a steep, unmarked path to a marker that physically divided Vietnam and China. So I guess you can say we were in China for a few minutes, that is until we saw multiple granite pillars with a black skull and crossbones on them… even with no border control, it took no further convincing for us to get out of there.
We found ourselves in the darkness again on the ride back to Dong Van, and despite a few aggressive bus drivers, we all survived the ride.
It took us a few tries, but we finally found a place where we could crash for the night.
We hooked up with another group of five travelers to go and grab dinner, which made things that much more difficult. For a remote city in the middle of nowhere Vietnam, we could not find anywhere to feed us all. It got to the point where it felt like they didn’t even want our money. I guess we missed the memo because it felt like every single person in northern Vietnam had converged in Dong Van for the weekend, so everywhere was absolutely packed. We must have tried 10 restaurants before finding a “western” restaurant that served strictly Vietnamese food… and French fries. My highly anticipated sweet potato fries were literally just French fries that had been… wait for it… sweetened. Well played, Vietnam.
Another early night was in order as tomorrow would be a long haul.
Ahhh nothing says good morning like our fifth consecutive breakfast of bread and flavorless, cold fried eggs. Luckily the coffee made up for it, so we had some fuel for our day.
Mentally, we were looking forward to another day of beautiful weather and great views, but physically our butts had taken a beating from the bumpy roads and uncomfortable seats. Thankfully, the road quality was in our favor today and we were able to make great timing.
The first half of our ride was going really well until we rounded a corner and saw a man laying on the side of the road next to his bike. We didn’t think much of it at first because we had seen this a few times before and it ended up being a man a little too tipsy to drive, but this time it was a little more serious. We pulled over and noticed his blood-stained jeans and immediately realized that this was not okay. He spoke no English, and to be honest he didn’t say much at all, but we started to go to work on him regardless. Luckily Flo travels prepared with a first-aid kit, so we were able to cut the man’s jeans at the knee which revealed a really deep gash on the side of his leg. Sloan, being the Eagle Scout he is, wasted no time applying a tourniquet and cleaning/bandaging the wound. It wasn’t pretty, but it was as much as we could do with a little roadside first aid kit. Luckily, the man was able to ride on the back of another man’s bike to find real medical help, so our job here was done.
The most confusing part was that no one else stopped to help this man! A fair amount of cars drove by and instead of offering the man a ride they’d slow down, stare, some would even take pictures.. and then drive off. That was a little disheartening to watch.
From there we continued the drive a little shaken up. We stopped for lunch along the way and chose a restaurant with a lot of locals enjoying their food. That’s always the best sign of a good restaurant, “do as the locals do.” The food we saw on everyone else’s tables looked delicious, but there was a clear difference between what they got and what we got. Sloan, for example, ordered rice and fried chicken and what he got was rice with diced up chicken neck with a significant amount more neck than meat. Think chicken wings, except instead of the wing, it was neck. Something about this concept just made it so unappetizing. We did get some really tasty snap peas with a chili soy sauce for dipping. These Vietnamese love their chili pepper flakes and we were not complaining.
After lunch, the rest of our drive was backtracking. We’d driven a part of this route on our first day, so we made great time and didn’t need to make any more stops for photo ops. As we made our way back to Ha Giang we felt the nice, cool mountain weather we’d been enjoying turn into intense humidity and we were forced into the realization that this trip was coming to an end.
I can truly say, without a doubt, that this was my favorite thing we’ve done on this trip, and maybe the most beautiful & exciting thing I have ever done.
Ash left earlier than us, so Sloan and I got what we thought was our last dinner with Flo to end our 3-week journey with him. It was actually quite sad to say goodbye to our last group member and officially be on our own again. Miss you already, Flo!
Sloan and I had another overnight bus to catch back to Ha Noi, and we waited for this at QT’s hostel. QT is an interesting guy.. not your typical Vietnamese man. He wears a big chain, has a lot of tattoos and basically seems like he runs Ha Giang. When we got to his hostel, he was sitting around with his family and friends enjoying a meal. He welcomed us in and encouraged us to eat, even though we’d just gotten dinner. As boisterous as he is (his catch phrase that he repeats quite often is “I’m not cute, I’m not a cutie, I am Q-T), he’s a very hospitable man. Almost too hospitable… right as we were getting on our overnight bus, he forced the whole group to take 4 shots of rice wine.. and you can’t really say no to QT.
The rice wine seemed to work on Sloan, who passed out before the bus even started moving. I, on the other hand, was up for over an hour tossing and turning. Another girl, Steffie, who had also been at QT’s taking shots was awake next to me, and all the drinks were catching up to us. We needed to pee so badly that I literally had to make our bus driver stop and let us go in a random home to use the bathroom. Damnit QT.
Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Our overnight bus dropped us off in Ha Noi at around 4 AM and our bus to Ha Long Bay left at 7:45, so we definitely didn’t want to sit around in a bus station. We convinced Steffie and her boyfriend Gideon, who were from the Netherlands, to come with us to the hostel we’d stayed at here before, as they had a bus to catch at the same time. The four of us slept on the lobby couches until our wake-up call, and just like that we were off to another new place.
Ha Long Bay is Vietnam’s most-visited tourist destination, with over 2,000 islands shaped like mountains rising out of the ocean. Sloan and I were doing a 3 day 2 night tour here, and our first night we were spending on a boat. We signed up with a tour through Seasun Cruises via email the day before and had very little idea of what to expect, but we were promised a 3-star boat so we were just going with it. What we saw at the harbor not only looked like the furthest thing from 3-stars, but I was also slightly concerned that we’d be Vietnam’s version of the Titanic. We were hesitant, but learned firsthand not to judge a book by its cover when the boat’s interior was a lot nicer than we expected. Our private cabin even had a fully tiled bathroom. Not too shabby for a 3-day, $130 package.
The transition from Ha Giang, where we were getting a truly authentic experience, to the outrageously touristy Ha Long Bay could not have been more extreme or, frankly, more disappointing. Our first stop was the Surprising Cave, which wasn’t all that impressive after being in Phong Nha, but beyond that the tours made it that much harder to appreciate. This was the first organized tour that we’ve done in our entire 5 weeks, and after having so much flexibility and freedom in everything we’ve been doing, truth be told it sucked. It’s irritating being ushered along by tour guides, being told when you can and can’t walk, and having to wait for every member of your 20+ person group to finish taking pictures of the 18th consecutive rock formation. Within 30 minutes we both agreed that this would be the first and last organized tour we’d do on this trip.
Our second stop was Titop Island, another touristy area with a manmade beach. The weather was awful and within minutes it started to pour, but it was honestly the best thing that could’ve happened because the beach suddenly went from being packed to empty. A little rain never hurt nobody, so we made the most of it by carelessly swimming despite it and enjoying having a beach to ourselves.
Once back on our boat, we had a big seafood dinner with all the works: crab, fish, squid, and plenty of side dishes. We enjoyed dinner and taught a few other passengers how to play sh*thead, our favorite new card game, before calling it a night.
The next morning was an early wake up call, and it was also ~my 23rd birthday~ !!! Mother Nature didn’t seem to care about that though, because we woke up to more rain and strong winds that caused an itinerary change. We were still able to get in a little kayaking and a tour through Ha Long Bay’s oyster farm before the weather really worsened. One of only three oyster farms in Vietnam, they showed us how they cultivate and harvest oysters for up to 10 years in the hopes of getting a perfect pearl.
We were supposed to go to Monkey Island for the day, but because of the conditions our boat couldn’t get there, so we instead did a hike through the Cat Ba island’s national park. While some of the others in our tour group may have disagreed, specifically the woman who thought it best to wear a skirt, blouse and heels today, we were more excited about the hike than the beach.
The hike ended up being a lot more strenuous than we imagined. At some points we were climbing on all fours to get up the side of the mountain and, after an hour, we reached the top! What a gorgeous view. Cat Ba island was so huge that even on the top of this mountain, all we could see was endless mountains. Even with an incredible 360-degree view from the top, we didn’t see a glimpse of the ocean.
The hike ended up being the highlight of our 3 days, and it was a fun way for me to spend my birthday. We actually ran into Steffie and Gideon during the hike too, which was awesome because we hadn’t gotten their contacts before, so we made a point to do that now and we planned to meet them for drinks tonight.
The rest of the day was very relaxing; we sat in a coffee shop and people-watched for a while. Despite the weather, I was on a beautiful island, traveling the world with with my best friend for the second birthday in a row. It doesn’t get much better than that.
We had dinner and got drinks that night with a few couples in our tour group, plus Steffie and Gideon, and I couldn’t have asked for more.
The next day was just a full day of travels to get back to Ha Noi. We were woken up at 7 AM to have another tasteless fried egg breakfast, and to then be told that the weather was still so bad that the boat couldn’t get to the harbor to pick us up. Perfect. So instead, we spent the day waiting, then taking a bus across the island, then waiting, then taking a speedboat through the rain, then waiting, then getting on another boat, then waiting, and finally getting on our bus back to Ha Noi. A painfully long 4+ hours later through rush hour traffic, we were back in Ha Noi. All Sloan and I wanted was a solid western meal, so you better believe we searched out the best burger joint in all of Ha Noi and indulged.
Overall, Ha Long Bay was not a favorite of ours, but we made the most of it. We were sad to be leaving Vietnam and all of the friends we’d made over the past incredible 3 weeks, but we were fortunate enough to coincidentally meet Flo back in Ha Noi for one last meal (again)! Can’t wait to come visit you in Germany, Flo!
With that, our three weeks in Vietnam were over and done, and we headed to the airport for the next adventure.
A Journal For My Journeys 