Day 51! Another amazing day on the Ha Giang Loop! And another day of spontaneous planning and plan changing. I’ll definitely need a small break from riding once I get to Sapa but once I’m there I’ll have officially driven “all” of Vietnam! Pretty crazy to say!

After a long day yesterday, I was looking forward to a full nights sleep. But to my surprise I was woken up at 5:30am by, what sounded like, a bugle call echoing through the entire town!

This then woke up a symphony of roosters, chickens, dogs, you name it. I also thought I heard cheering, but that could’ve been the sleep deprivation.

I asked my homestay family what it was later on and they said it was a military alarm!

I eventually fell back asleep to this, very off pitch and rhythm, rendition of Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik. But much to my displeasure it happened again at 7am. So I guess it was time to get up!

It was a misty morning, so I waited around till 8am hoping that it’d go away.

It wasn’t fully gone, but I decided to set out for another long day of driving!

Also another random tidbit, one of the easy riders (the person who drives someone through the Ha Giang Loop if not doing it solo) staying at the homestay told me my bike was from Ninh Binh because my license plate has 35 on it!

The clouds added a mystical effect to the ride and luckily they weren’t covering the roads! So I welcomed this addition to the scenery!

The first leg of today’s journey was a 54 km ride from my home stay to the Lung Khuy Cave. Since I left so early, there were very very few tourists on the road and honestly very few vehicles whatsoever!

This made for a calming and peaceful start to my day!

The roads for the majority of the first hour were wide and winding, which made for a fun combination!

But as I got close to the cave I was taken down a side road which was narrow, gravely, and filled with of pot holes! This road brought some great views and since it was so early in the morning, I was the only one on it! I also saw a pig roaming around too!

My Google maps told me to drive to the cave, but I was stopped 1.2 km from the entrance and told I needed to park and walk.

This walk turned into a very steep hike for the entire 1.2 km. On top of it being steep, it already was very hot so I was sweating my butt off on this climb!

I made it to the top and paid 30,000 Dong to enter the cave, where it was nice and cool!

It definitely wasn’t the craziest cave I’ve ever been to, but it was still impressive! The formation of stalactites and stalagmites fascinates me and there’s so many varieties of them!

The cave unfortunately is very short, so I hiked back down to continue on my journey for the day!

My next destination took me down another tiny, sketchy road and as I was driving around there were a lot of locals at work on the fields along the mountain side! They were mostly very excited to see me driving by and yelling hello at me!

I also passed by a number of kids today who either yelled hello or made goofy faces at me.

As I came to the end of the small road, a bigger, new road appeared… and it was a strange connection of these two roads.

I had a fun time winding down this new road and continued along for a quick ride to the next stop, Quan Ba Heaven Gate!

I originally stopped at a spot with very few tourists and had an amazing view of the valley below. But then I made my way a minute or two down the road and the viewpoint was PACKED! It was a gorgeous view but way too many groups were just starting their journey so it was full of people.

The next stop was my final one of the Ha Giang Loop, which was such a crazy feeling! And the stop was none other than… Ha Giang!

As I approached the city I saw a group hanging out near a gas station, so I went up and asked them if they had seen any police check points today (I wanted to avoid them at all costs because I didn’t want to have to bribe them… and also I had NO cash to bribe them with). They said YES and it was just down the road, the only road to Ha Giang.

While pumping gas I hemmed and hawed on my decisions and eventually decided to just try and talk my way out of any “fine.”

(I should add, technically it’s illegal to ride in this country without an international drivers permit (IDP). However, I have it and the US IDP doesn’t work in Vietnam. But even if you have it the police will sometimes still try to make you pay them)

I approached the police check point and was ready for the worst… but the universe was on my side today and they didn’t even get up out of their chairs to stop me! I just drove right on by!

With my luck, I tried to warn other riders about the police when I stopped for pics. One of the times I pulled over for a quick picture and ran into none other than Brian and Steve from the day before, kinda crazy! So I let them know and went on my way!

I saw one more stop closer to the city but this time it was on the opposite side of the road and they ignored me again! So I ended up having a police free Ha Giang Loop, which is rather rare as the police presence has only gotten more severe over the past few years!

I guess not having money manifested no cops!

There was a mile marker 0 in Ha Giang, so I had to take a quick picture of it before heading to find an ATM and food, I was famished!

I found a restaurant for a cheap and quick bite to eat and then headed to a nearby cafe to relax and enjoy a cold smoothie while planning on my course of action.

Since it was only 1:30pm by the time I finished my smoothie, I decided Ha Giang was not going to be my end destination for the day.

My next major place I’m planning on going to is Sapa, a popular mountain town. From Ha Giang, Sapa is a 5 hour, 230km ride on the highway, which is very long.

So to shorten my ride for tomorrow and get to Sapa sooner, I planned on heading to the halfway point, Lang Pho Rang. I didn’t book any accommodation but I found a couple I could choose from if any of them were closed or fully booked.

I had already driven over 100km over the course of 4.5 hours today with winding roads. I’m not sure what really possessed me to drive more, but I mustered up the energy and the butt strength to keep going. And I’m glad I did!

I didn’t stop much on this ride because I just wanted to enjoy it and decompress after the strenuous Ha Giang loop. The first 50km were a nice open high way with some nice views but nothing really notable. It was one of the nicer highways I had been on and there weren’t a lot of cars either!

I stopped for gas at the halfway point, 60km in, took a quick break and then kept chugging along! With around 30/40km left I pulled off to the side of the road to give my butt another break. I was semi questioning why I decided to keep driving after Ha Giang, but I was already so close to my new end destination that there was no point in stopping now.

And this is when the drive got really good!

All of a sudden the highway took me up a winding mountain with no one around! And the views were just amazing! It felt like I had my own personal mini Ha Giang Loop!

This really made the drive worth it and in the golden hour of the evening, it dazzled in the sunlight!

This gave me the boost of energy I needed to finish out my ride and I arrived at the hotel I was most interested in staying in (it had glowing reviews from other bikers and locals)!

When I got there it looked kinda closed. But I found the owners in the back and they told me it was 200,000 for the room (no negotiation this time sadly). I paid and asked the lady where I should go eat. She told me to go lie down and her nephew would come show me to a restaurant after he got back from school.

This seemed like a solid plan to me, so I went to my room to shower and rest!

Before I could even get into the shower I heard a knock on my door and it was the nephew asking me if I wanted to play table tennis with him! I told him I would be very game after my shower and we met back up 10 minutes later!

His name is Phat and he’s a very kind 12 year old and he’s INSANELY good at table tennis. He had a fun time whooping my butt and then I let (who he called) his aunt play him a bit too and I watched in awe as they hit the ball back and forth! Their grandpa joined them too and apparently he’s the one that taught them!

I was a bit confused because his aunt is 15 years old… so I’m curious if she’s actually his aunt or it’s a translational thing.

Around 6pm, Phut asked me if I was hungry and we set out into the town. Phut and I chatted as we walked to a restaurant nearby. His English is very good for a 12 year old but he enjoys practicing with guests! I had to use Google translate a few times but it was very nice hanging with him.

The restaurant wasn’t fully open yet so Phut showed me around the towns square a bit and we chatted more!

Phut loves playing table tennis and football (soccer). He also loves hanging out with his friends too! He told me the reason he loves school is because he gets to meet new people and likes his teachers a lot. For a 12 year old, he’s super put together and held his own chatting and hanging out with someone over double his age!

Eventually we wandered back to the restaurant where I got an amazing plate of con with a hodgepodge of different foods along with it. I tried teaching Phut that word but I’m not sure it stuck.

He ended up sitting with me while I ate which was super kind of him. I offered to buy him dinner but he said he’d eat back at home.

After I finished, we wandered back to the hotel and chatted a bit more along the way.

Phut told me about a ping pong tournament in a few weeks near Sapa, so if I’m still around I might go and try to cheer him on!

He also asked me to wake up at 6am and eat breakfast with him… I might be letting him down on that one though, sorry Phut!

I went back to my room and called it an early night after an exhausting 8 hour day of riding!

I definitely made the right choice in stopping here! I got to meet a super nice kid and I saw some spectacular views today. It feels very accomplishing finishing the Ha Giang Loop safely and without getting stopped by the police! And that I did it solo is definitely a badge of honor and a memory I won’t ever forget!

Tomorrow I’ll set out early to Sapa where I should be meeting up with a familiar face!

– Elie