Ma Pi Leng Pass

There are many winding mountain roads in northern Vietnam. Some of them we explored by "motorbike". Here in the north, the "motorbikes" are semi-automatic scooters which really helps with the steep roads.

Ma Pi Leng Pass is a very beautiful road connecting the towns of Dong Van and Meo Vac. When you stop near one of the villages here, you can see the clouds climbing up between the hills, flowing through the valley and continuing their way up to the mountain top. It looks peaceful and mystical.

The road was first built by Yao, Hmong, Tay and Lolo people, ethnic minority groups who live in the mountains. Nowadays, the road is in a very good condition. There's only one big problem: landslides, probably mainly happening during rainy season. Landslide sometimes means very big rocks just fall down onto the street and sometimes it means there's a river of mud running over the road. Really wet, deep mud, not solid enough to walk on.

The day we left the very north, there was a landslide which covered the complete road, not even SUV cars could drive through the mud. Luckily, after about an hour of waiting an excavator showed up to clear the road.Read more