Day 3 Ha Giang Loop

Wow this ride is a commitment. The hips and but are feeling it today. Just a short ride this morning to our first destination.

Who doesn’t love a cave visit especially when it’s fenced off and has signs saying no entry. Well I assume that what they say.
But Tuong is through the fence so we all follow him. This cave is massive. Many stairs going down into it and so it was obviously a big deal once. We get to the bottom and the stairs continue up and up and up. Eventually someone asked how many more ups. Just 5 minute more, ok. There is a massive Buddha at the top. Amazing!
Going down again though the steps are wet, muddy and slippery, but we all made it with the help of our phone lights, crawled into a amphitheatre, where we all turned our lights off absolute black. So freaky. Made our way over a boardwalk that had definitely seen better days and finally out through the barbed wire fence.

We were all so hot by now it was good to get back on the bikes for some breeze. We’re taking some sort of short cut this morning and cripes it’s a bit rough. Lots of road surface missing so it’s rough as guts in places. I’m amazed nobody’s got a flat tire. I just hung on tight and tried not to fall off.

Next up was a gorgeous lookout overlooking the M road. A windy section we are heading down to get to lunch. The views are everywhere here, just when you think it couldn’t possibly get any better, another vista appears, and the mountains go on and on and on.

Lunch today was amazing, everything was so tasty. But the towns are all down low in the valleys and it is really hot.

Bamboo rafting after lunch. Usually you could swim here but they have had so much rain in the last week the current is too quick and it looks pretty stirred up so not too inviting.
We all pile on to two rafts and the second one starts sinking straight away. Graham, Rosie, Jack and Simone were on that raft. It was hilarious, Rosie started screaming but she didn’t move. They all eventually abandoned ship and got the next boat.

The water was surprisingly cold so I had my feet in it on the way up. So good.

Tuong told me there were beers when we got there which I thought were free so I got everyone one. Should have known better. Then just as we were leaving we had to pay. Neither Graham or I had any money with us so someone else had to shout. I didn’t feel too bad. 8 beers for $13. It didn’t break them.

More beautiful stops for amazing view for the rest of the afternoon. One of which was on this tiny little track, with a massive drop on one side. Lucky they are all great riders. One of our group a french man called Phillip is riding himself. Tuong tells him, My friend you listen to me, low gear and don’t stop. Think we all pretty nervous for Phillip but he was all over it.

Our home stay tonight is a delight. Set in the bush with a beautiful river next to it. Gorgeous rooms and a gold fish pond right outside. The bar and restaurant are ten steps away from our room and it’s a very well stocked bar with 2 Batman who can whip up any cocktail you like.Read more