Ha Giang Loop day 1

First day of the Ha Giang loop today! It's a famous motorcycle ride spanning 350km in the North of Vietnam, and is known for it's scenic views. We set off around 9 this morning, in a group of 8. 6 of us have easy riders, so we have a driver to ride the motorbike, and then two guys are driving themselves. My rider was the youngest of the bunch, (a year younger than me!) but had the best English. He's called Danny and is from a small village of the Hmong people in Ha Giang province. He definitely looks like a biker with long hair, shaved sides and tattoo sleeves, but is very lovely.
Today's intinary was driving along Bac Sun pass, visiting Quan Ba heaven gate, sightseeing Quan Ba twin mountains, driving through Can Ty pass, lunch in Yen Minh town, driving through Tham Ma pass and visiting Hmong King's palace, before staying the night in a hotel in Dong Van town.
First stop was an impressive one. Quan Ba heavens gate is a viewing platform and the highest point in Ha Giang, 1500m above sea level and has stunning panoramic views of winding roads and green mountains, and was enjoyed with a coffee.
After lunch, we drove up along Tham Ma pass and stopped at the top of the road. There we were greeted by Hmong people dressed in traditional clothes and makeup, mainly kids. As soon as I stepped of my bike two little girls ran up and grabbed my hands, asking my name and where I was from. I asked them questions back, but they only knew their names and ages before they repeated the same thing. They then asked if I wanted to get my hair plaited with flowers which I politely refused. I'd heard about this before going on the trip, in lots of places parents keep their children out of school to get money from tourists. Many parents also can't afford to send their children to school as it costs money here in Vietnam so it's hard to tell, but it wasn't something I felt comfortable supporting. Many other tourists also at the stop were taking photos with or just of the kids, shoving cameras in their faces in some cases which made me feel a little uncomfortable, so I found somewhere to sit and watch people drive up the road.
I felt conflicted as this is many of these people's main source of income, and me not paying the kids isn't going to send them to school or change anything, so not sure what the solution is.
In the afternoon it rained a bit so we stopped and put some lovely ponchos on. All the drivers out waterproof trousers on too, which we ignored as most of us were in shorts. But by the time we got to the next stop, all of had soaked shoes and shorts, which was a regretful decision 😅 The last stop for the day was the Hmong (one of the ethnic groups in Vietnam) King's palace. It was particularly impressive as it was just a huge wooden house, however the history was interesting to learn about the history.
Throughout the whole day we never really drove for more than an hour, we'd have stops at either coffee stalls, viewpoints or attractions frequently, where we could stretch out our legs. My favourite part of the day was driving through Can Ty pass, a road along the middle of a mountain overlooking a valley with mountains on the other side, but we had stunning views pretty much all day.
Parts of the roads were pretty bumpy, and there was some stretches of the Than Ma pass where we were overtaking lots of big lorries on small roads. The drivers are obviously pros so it's no problem for them, but I did close my eyes for some parts aha. The 45 mins of rain wasn't ideal as the helmet visor got covered in raindrops, so was hard to see much, but it cleared up on the last stretch to the hotel, and the sun even came out!
We arrived into Dong Van town just after 5, had dinner later in the evening, accompanied by many shots of 'happy water' accompanied with cheers chants led by the drivers. Happy water is the national drink of Vietnam and is homemade wine usually made of rice, sometimes wine, varying between 20-40%. It wasn't the nicest shot but also not the worst , it tastes like rice flavoured vodka.
After dinner we were dragged to karaoke, which we participated in for all of 40 minutes before getting an early night.Read more