Nan Ti

[Ha Giang motorbike loop 4 days]
After 3 cold days in Sapa, we went further north but to the warmer Ha Giang, which borders on China. The landscape is also characterized by mountains that line up next to each other. Due to the breathtaking scenery that Ha Giang has to offer, the "Ha Giang Loop" is popular among tourists. This represents a round tour, which is completed with the moped within 4 days. Since the ride is also challenging and dangerous, there is the possibility to book a driver with the motorcycle (easy riders)

Minh and I decided to do the Ha Giang Loop on our own, i.e. we rented a scooter and naively drove off. In retrospect we overestimated ourselves a bit... We stayed in homestays on the way, i.e. we were at different places every night and it was uncertain where we would end up and what we would see. But it always ended very well, we had warm water, plenty of food and relatively warm accommodation.

The area in Ha Giang is so incredibly beautiful. I can't find the words to describe the beauty and complexity. It's definitely one of the most beautiful things I've seen live in my life so far. The feeling of adrenaline from the challenging ride coupled with the breathtaking views and incredibly friendly people are just some of the things we encountered over the four days.

We weren't entirely unscathed. We fell four times and I hurt my leg as well... But it's still okay somehow😅.

It was also cool that our crew kept growing. The second night Sagar, Chris and Yohan joined and with Jerome we were six.

We were in caves, at waterfalls, drove uphill and downhill through the mountains, through small remote villages, were stopped twice by the police who wanted to see our driving licenses, of course we went hiking and talked a lot with the locals. We even went to a kindergarten and played with the children there. It is pretty handy to be able to speak Vietnamese. We get to learn and experience much more by being able to speak to locals.

The farewell from our little travel group at the end of the loop came so suddenly. The challenges on our journey welded us together so much that every day that we survived was celebrated like an unbelievable victory.

In reflection I'm glad we did the trip as we were very flexible and it was adventurous. But I'm also glad that we're still alive, even if that sounds a little bit exaggerated. We were already living at the limit because the route was very scary sometimes

One thing I take away from many (see the pictures) is that I'm incredibly grateful that we can travel. We are so privileged in so many ways - most notably financially and educationally. I have the feeling that the world is at our feet, there are hardly any limits. We can travel anywhere, learn and work and do what we want.

The trip has sometimes shown me to appreciate my life and my opportunities more - this also goes hand in hand with a certain responsibility that I bear for my environment and surroundings. I definitely take that as a motivation to push my future projects forward.

It's so fascinating how much I learn from traveling and being on the road. I could still write novels here about the lessons and impressions, what I get from them on the meta level, etc. But I'll leave it at one lesson per post and end with a quote: the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

Lovely greetings, your Kim and MinhLes mer