Cassandra Rippon

Last day on the bike today! We had originally planned to do the loop over 4 days, but as we wanted more time in Hanoi, we decided to do it in 3 days and combined days 3 and 4 into one long day. After a breakfast of beef pho and sticky rice, we set off from Meo Vac (with our takeaway banh mis for lunch) around 9am as we were anticipating a long day ahead. We'd also been told by multiple people that the roads we were driving today were in the worst condition, so we left early to give ourselves plenty of time to slow down if the conditions were bad.

The road leaving Meo Vac was terrible - fully under construction with many pot holes, loose gravel, and diggers blocking the road. We drove along this road for a couple of hours, with the road gradually improving with sealed sections, with random gravel and dirt sections. We stopped around 11am for a coffee break overlooking the valleys and winding roads we'd just driven.

We set off again, energized from our coffee break for many more hairpin corners between big mountains and karst rocks. We stopped again at a small village which had the ruins of a French military outpost. We often stopped at viewpoints for a quick break, but learnt that you wanted to avoid the easy rider groups, or you'd get stuck behind 20 poorly driven scooters, and/or blocked in by their scooters at the viewpoint - we found the large groups and lack of respect for others on the road really frustrating and tried as much as possible to stay ahead of any groups.

We continued for a few hours, stopping every now again to take some photos, and to have lunch at a local restaurant. When we arrived at the restaurant, there were a few easy rider groups and locals having lunch. Cass took the opportunity to FaceTime her family, leaving Mike to finish the rest of lunch alone. The locals, seeing Mike all lonely, invited him to have some happy water (rice wine). However, as Mike was driving, he politely declined and offered Cass as tribute. She ended up having 4 shots, while communicating with the friendly locals vis Google Translate. It was lovely chatting with them, even if it was in broken English and via Google Translate! We've found Vietnamese people to be very friendly and welcoming - some of the nicest we've met on our whole trip!

After lunch, we continued to slowly make our way back to Ha Giang. After a failed attempt to off road/mountain bike to a lagoon, we took another break for smoothies around 4pm. We enjoyed the view and called Nate and Vela while we rested before the final stretch. We arrived back in Ha Giang around 5.30pm, during peak traffic, which we thought was the scariest part of the last 3 days. We returned our bike, extremely happy with our time on the road, with the motorbike and that we avoided any "fines" from the police. Overall, the Ha Giang Loop has been one of the best experiences we have had on this trip. The incredible natural landscapes, combined with the small ethnic villages, made it a trip to remember and we would definitely do it all again - 10/10 recommend!Read more