Join Vietnam’s Greatest Adventure | The Ha Giang Loop Tour

This episode we are touring North Vietnam by way of motorbike. Look at these views. These are some of the most scenic, most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen. You're not going to want to miss this one. What's up everyone? Today I am flying solo. My wonderful fiancee decided to stay back on this leg of the journey. So while I went on a motorcycle adventure in the north rural part of Vietnam, she stayed back in Hanoi to get work done and get spa treatments. Let's be real. The Ha Giang loop is one of the more quintessential experiences when you're traveling through North Vietnam. It really is an exhilarating experience getting on a motorbike and traversing through what feels like the untouched parts of Vietnam. There's remote villages, dramatic cliffsides, mountainous regions, jungle regions, all of these really unique and interesting small towns that you get to go through. This is some of the more impressive landscapes that I've ever seen. For three or four days you get to experience the beauty of North Vietnam every minute that you're on that motorbike. So let's talk a little bit about how to book this tour. If you do some google researching you're probably going to end up on some tour agency website like Get Your Guide or Viator. These companies will set you up with a great tour, don't get me wrong, but you're going to pay a little bit extra. So I would recommend if you want to save a dollar or two, book directly with a Vietnamese tour agency. I went with an agency called Chestnut Travel. They set up not only the entire motorcycle tour adventure but also the transportation to and from Hanoi. The actual motorcycle tour that I went on was called Hong Hao and they were great. They really prioritized safety and when you're traveling on busy mountain roads in and around trucks and cars and other motorbikes, it's important that your tour agency has safety in mind first. One of the things that you'll have to decide up front is whether you will be the one actually doing the driving of the motorcycle or whether you'll go with an easy rider option which essentially is just you sitting on the bike of a local Vietnamese guide. One thing to note however, is that you should have an international motorcycle license. All I had was an international driving permit which does not allow you to ride a motorcycle overseas. They told us we would be fined 1 million or 1.5 million Vietnamese dong every single time we got pulled over. So I decided to go with the easy rider option. In retrospect, I kind of regret that decision. I think it would have been a lot more fun to actually drive the motorcycle myself because my experience on this tour, we only actually encountered one police checkpoint but it allowed me to get some really impressive footage while I was on the back of the motorbike and just being able to enjoy the countryside without worrying about the safety of the driving and whatnot. I could kind of just chill in the back there and take in the beauty of North Vietnam. Since I opted for the easy rider option, I did have to pay like an extra $30 for that. So the total price for me as an easy rider option came out to be about $250 for the entire experience. So a little bit about the transport from Hanoi to Ha Giang. The tour package that I went with came with like a VIP sleeper bus thing. All these tours in Vietnam are kind of like organized chaos. You never really know exactly where you're going or what you're doing and the drivers rarely speak any English. They always get you to where you need to go but you never really know what's going on half the time. So originally, I get in a van. They take me to a place where there's a bunch of people waiting and then all these big giant buses pull up and then they read off names of who gets on which bus. The goal is to be able to get some sleep on the way up there. It's about a five-hour journey. Originally, they put me in a sleeper bus that sucked. It was not good. Like the legroom was awful. It was really cramped. It was uncomfortable. Not my favorite. And then maybe about 45 minutes, they told me to get off the bus and then get on a different bus. Well, plot twist. Got to put in a different bus. This one's a little more spacious though. And it was comfortable enough to actually get some sleep on the way up there. We arrived in Ha Giang probably about 3.30, 4 a.m and got a little bit of rest at a local hostel. The hostel was clean. It was nice to get the shower in the morning. There was breakfast prepared. Your tour guide leader found you and put you in a group and we took off. Once we took off from Ha Giang, it doesn't take long before you start getting out into the countryside. It was a pretty gloomy day when we started and after we went through the city, we started to get up kind of on these really windy roads up towards the top. The first stop was at Quan Ba Heaven's Gate. It was the first major viewpoint offering panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and you get to hike to a little lookout up there. While it was cloudy, it was still really impressive sights and any chance you get to kind of get out, stretch your legs is welcome after sitting on the back of a motorbike for a few hours. At this point, we're now just kind of in the thick of the countryside. There's no real cities anymore. You definitely feel like you're out there and the landscapes are starting to get more dramatic and you start getting a taste of how cool and interesting this whole trek is going to be. We stopped off at a town called Yan Min for lunch. A little bit about the food on the Ha Giang tour. The food is delicious but you do eat kind of the same sort of thing for lunch and dinner every single day. Essentially, they'll bring out like a thing of rice. They'll bring out like these kind of like egg pancake-y omelet things and then they'll bring out like a number of meat dishes and vegetable dishes. They bring everything out family style so you get to eat with everybody that's a part of your tour which is a great time to kind of get to know everyone by sharing a communal meal. All the lunches, all the dinners, all the breakfasts are included in the tour charge and they are really delicious and they give you more than enough food. If you do want something to drink like a cola or a beer, something like that, you do have to pay extra. Look what I found. The cutest puppy. After lunch, we continue towards Tam Ma Pass. Tam Ma Pass is known for its winding roads, steep curves and stunning views of terraced rice fields and rugged karst mountains. It's also a popular spot for photos particularly of the iconic hairpin bends that characterize this stretch of the road. What I really appreciated about all of these stops that you make is you get to kind of interact with the locals there. You'll see all of these kids in their authentic garb and they're so curious about you. They come up to you. They'll say hi. They'll want to take a photo with you or get in the shot when you're taking a video. Just being there and kind of experiencing this rural Vietnamese culture was really special. We were going through such kind of remote villages that you would see children all over the place. They would be at all of the rest stops. They would be just along the side of the roads playing and it turns out that it's in such a rural area that kids don't even go to school. So that's why you kind of see them everywhere which is just crazy to think that there are actually entire villages, entire towns of children that don't have any formal education. After we left Thanh Ma Pass, we were on these windy mountainside roads for a few hours and then we came down into this town and visited the Palace of the Hmong King. The Palace of the Hmong King is a historic landmark originally built in the 19th century. It served as both a residence and administrative center. Today the well-preserved palace is a popular tourist attraction offering insights into the history, culture, and lifestyle of the Hmong people amidst a stunning mountainous setting. The palace was cool. The architecture was interesting. It was fun walking around there but I thought the coolest part of this experience was hanging out near the parking area where all the little shops were and you could really kind of interact with some of the locals there. There were kids playing the flute. It was really rewarding just to be able to observe the local people kind of interacting with each other and going about their daily tasks. Everyone there just seemed to be just really happy and beautiful and it was a fun experience just to kind of be around it. We traveled a bit further to the town of Dong Van. Dong Van was a very kind of lively and modern feeling city for North Vietnam. I was expecting more of like a village and this actually felt like a city, like a proper city and it was really lively. This was like a fun town to be in for a night. We had to shower and relax for a little bit and then we went to our first dinner. The dinners are so much fun. This is where you really get to connect with the people in your group as well as like the tour guides. It's pretty much the same spread of food that you'll find at lunch, maybe a little bit more at dinner, maybe a little bit more variety but the food is delicious. The highlight of the dinners is definitely the happy water. Happy water is essentially just a local fermented drink made from rice or corn that is very alcoholic. So you take shots of this. The locals there like they love their happy water and each like region or even village that you go to will kind of brew it or make it like differently than everywhere else and they kind of take pride in that which is cool and everywhere you go it kind of tastes a little bit different. Does it taste good? No, no it's awful. It's gross. I mean it's a shot. Like every time you're taking a shot it tastes like s*** but it's okay. It's a ritual. It's part of the experience. And then they lead you in a traditional like cheers. So our tour guide Lo led us in the first cheers. Are you ready? And then by about the fourth or fifth shot we were all kind of taking turns like leading the round of cheers. So it was a really fun festive atmosphere. So after our bellies were full of happy water and Vietnamese cooking we decided to head out for some karaoke. We all knew that we were going to go to karaoke this night and so we all kind of expected to kind of turn it up and just to have a little bit of fun when we're out there and fun we had. We made fools of ourselves singing silly songs. It was a really good time. I'm not traditionally like a karaoke guy but if Backstreet Boys comes on you know I'm jamming out. After dinner I decided to walk around the city a little bit. Just walking up and down the streets was a really rich experience as well. The kids are so friendly. They kind of just come up to you. They'll say hi. Like one of them offered me like some of the snacks which was cool. High five bro. What do you got there? Oh yeah. Those are good. Thank you. And then kind of in the town square area they had like a party going on and they were doing what seemed to be like these authentic Vietnamese dancing. It was so much fun to just observe and to be a part of this festive energy. The town of Dong Van is really a vibe. Like I might just go back there just to hang out. It's a really cool place to go and it's set amongst the beautiful mountainsides of North Vietnam. The town really was bustling when we woke up in the morning. It was kind of a shock actually. And as we head out the countryside just gets more rural and you feel like you're heading into the further reaches of North Vietnam. Our first stop on day two was called Myo Vac. It's a small town located essentially like on the Vietnam-Chinese border. It's surrounded by dramatic landscapes including towering limestone peaks and deep valleys. This area is known for its rugged beauty and traditional markets where ethnic minority groups such as the Hmong, Dao and Tay gathered to trade goods. And of course you get all those really picturesque kind of like windy-esque turn roads. All along here too are like these karst mountains that kind of like just jut up like straight from the land like their own little like mound and you just kind of like see them all over the place. Next we visited My Phi Leng Pass which is one of Vietnam's most iconic and breathtaking mountain passes. The pass is renowned for its dramatic landscapes featuring towering limestone cliffs, deep valleys and the emerald green waters of the Nho Khe River far below. The view from the top of My Leng Pass is considered one of the most spectacular in Vietnam. We stopped off at a lookout above the pass and you could see like this gorge that a river just kind of runs right through. And the cool thing is we actually got to get on a boat and go through that river. But up top I was able to fly the drone and get some really impressive aerial footage of My Phi Leng Pass. And then afterwards we got on the motorbikes and we headed down to Nho Khe River. After parking we took a little tram to get over to where the boats are and then on our way there we saw like a huge dam. On our way to a boat tour. Looking forward to this. Once we got on the boat they started playing like the most aggressive party music the entire time. So it wasn't like the most relaxing boat ride. They're definitely trying to like turn it up. Don't get me wrong we all had a good time but they should probably try and read the room and be like I don't think the energy here is necessarily like Pitbull or Little John. But we made the best of it and the sights are incredible. It was so cool just being able to like hang your legs off of the boat while you're going through the beautiful water and then the gorge is just incredible. Like once you get in it the sheer verticality of the cliff sides like they they just like just straight up and it's so narrow when you're in there. It's really a cool experience like I loved it. I mean anytime you're in a boat's a good time right. After the boat we got on the motorbikes and just more of the same. I don't even have like the vocabulary to explain all of the cool things we're seeing. Everywhere you look when you're on the motorbike it's just picture perfect. It's just the scenery is incredible everywhere you look. I didn't know when to take out the camera when to put the camera away. It just felt like everything was worth capturing. So I got so much footage. So I'm just going to go through a quick little montage so you can see what it was like going from the boat tour to the town that we stayed in that night. Our final destination on day two was the town of Yanmin. We stayed at Tom's Dujia homestay. This place is probably the nicest that we stayed at and it had a killer pool. There's nothing better than after getting all dusty on your motorcycle to be able to hop in a pool afterwards. This felt like more of a bougie experience than anything else on this tour. It was awesome and the town here was like really picturesque. There's this like river that flows through the middle of it and it feels very remote, very quaint. Everything around here really just felt like you were in the thick of it. Like you were so far away from civilization. It really felt like you were experiencing local untouched rural Vietnamese life. Yanmin had some of the most stunning views and is surrounded by picturesque landscapes including rolling hills, terraced rice fields and dramatic limestone formations. Day three. Our first stop on day three was at a waterfall. It looks like Dujia but I think it's pronounced Zuza. Right now I'm on a short little hike to a waterfall. It's supposed to be pretty impressive. Brought the drone for me too. So really stoked to get some footage of the waterfall. Go for a swim. It's early morning but it's hot. It's hot out here. See what happens. You have to hike up just a little bit. Maybe like a 10-15 minute walk up to the waterfall and it's cool. It's not the biggest waterfall I've ever seen. Like you can jump in it which is rad. I always love jumping into a waterfall. But it is pretty darn crowded. Instead of hanging out there I decided to walk up the waterfall a little bit more because it seemed really pretty. After the waterfall we got back on the motorbikes and just went through rural town to like busier town to like scenic dramatic cliffs, windy roads. All the things we've been accustomed to but it all just looks a little bit different everywhere you go. Here's what we got on kind of like more narrow roads that went through smaller villages which was really cool to experience as well. Instead of being on like the side of mountains on busier roads we're on tight roads going through villages like in these valleys with like the mountains on either side of us which is kind of a cool change-up. After lunch on day three we had to say goodbye to half of our tour. There were two different versions of the tour that you could take. There was the three-day two-night tour and the four-day three-night tour. I opted to do the longer four-day three-night tour but half of our crew only booked the three-day two-night and so they left after lunch. And it was actually really sad saying goodbye to some of the fellow travelers. Like you get to know them, you spent the last two days with them, you've shared every meal with them, you laughed, you learned a little bit about their culture and their lives and their traveling so far. So yeah it was kind of sad to see some of them go really. Our next stop after lunch was at a local village that made hemp clothing. Hemp cultivation in Ha Giang dates back centuries. Deeply rooted in the agricultural practices of local ethnic communities. Traditionally hemp was grown for its strong fibers which were used to create durable textiles and ropes. Local ethnic groups such as the Hmong have utilized hemp in their daily lives for generations. It was commonly used to make traditional clothing bags and other household items. The craftsmanship involved in creating hemp fabric had been passed down through generations. It was really interesting to be able to see up close how they actually make the hemp. And I ended up buying like a little change purse for Gabriel here. And then outside they had like this paddle ball game that was eerily similar to like paddle ball or smash ball as we call it like at the beach. It's basically just like a ball and two paddles and I found a dude we were kind of just going back and forth and it was actually like a lot of fun. Nice. All right who's up next? Anyone? He's good. Then we rode along like this mountain side that had this beautiful river that was running in between it. And then we stopped at like this rest stop that was like right on this bridge that went over that river. The next lookout was in Kwan Ba and it's called Fairy's Bosom. Yeah you heard me right. These are two symmetrical mountains next to each other that resemble the breasts of a girl. According to the local lore this is the bosom left by the fairy many years ago. Where I'm from in San Clemente, California we have an equally impressive bosom monument. We got back on the bikes and we headed into a village in Kwan Ba. It was just a quick drive over to the village we were staying in Kwan Ba. But we get to see like a lot of these rice terraces as we were kind of heading down the motorcycle. This might be the only room that actually got footage of. And it was like a little hobbit style room. It was actually really cool. I enjoyed the stay here. After kind of checking in and getting situated we had a few hours to kill so I decided to walk around the town for a bit. Exploring the town was such a rich cultural experience. I mean you'll see guys kind of tilling their soil and walking their oxes and kids that are walking around. Everything just feels so distant and such a departure from my normal everyday life. I stumbled across like this really beautiful lake and decided that this was a great spot to throw up the drone. There are some like really jungly parts here in Kwan Ba too. So on my walk back I found like this little hike that went down into the jungle and actually found like these abandoned military outposts. It seemed like they were abandoned but yeah it was kind of eerie and creepy just kind of walking around here where I don't know Vietnamese military may have been stationed during the Vietnam war. I'm not sure exactly when it was erected and when it was abandoned but yeah kind of an interesting experience like just being in the forest all by myself and like these military outposts. On the way back there was locals playing soccer which was such a vibe. We had our last dinner which was amazing. More happy water. Really fun experience. Really fun night. Don't have any footage of the night stuff. Whatever. Moving on. Next day. In the morning I actually went for like a run in the jungle because I just felt like I needed to get some exercise and I got like really deep in the thick of it and it was no longer fun. Decided to go for a morning jog. I found a trail that I just couldn't resist and now I'm like in the thick of the Vietnamese jungle. Wish me luck. Got back safe. No harm. No foul. We got on the bikes and we headed towards Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark to the Long Quy cave. First off it's a bit of a trick getting up to this cave. To get there you walk about one kilometer but it feels like a bit more because it's like straight up. Enjoying the workout though. It's pretty. Very pretty around here. So just a heads up you have to climb quite a bit of stairs to get up to this thing but it's really cool. Very worth it. There were multiple groups entering the cave all at the same time so of course I waited and took the reverse route to get some better footage and enjoy the cave in solitude. The Long Quy cave was found in early 2015 so very recently and it's one of Ha Giang's most stunning natural spots. It's famous for its incredible stalactites that have been forming for millions of years. The cave is about 300 meters long and filled with unique shapes that resemble everything from flowers to buddha towers and even lion heads. Inside the cave is well lit making it easy to explore and get some incredible footage of the beautiful formations. Really cool cave system here. It's so rad just being inside a cave like it feels different. It's like damp, it's moist, it's a little bit colder, everything echoes. It's kind of creepy, it's a little bit eerie when you're in there but thoroughly enjoyable. This cave system was essentially like the last attraction that we stopped at so after the cave system essentially we just headed home. It was probably about two hours or so to get back to Ha Giang. And along the way we really went on some of the more beautiful mountainside roads that we had this entire trip. One of the lookouts that we stopped at actually had a waterfall that was flowing just right next to the rest stop and then I flew the drone and was able to get some shots of another waterfall like on top of that waterfall and it's just really like a lush jungly forest that's on the side of a cliff with this road that you get to drive on. It's really really beautiful. This last stretch on the motorcycle was definitely some of the best most lush scenery that I've seen the entire time. And then once we returned to Ha Giang we were able to take showers at the same hostel that we slept at on the first night and then half hour later my bus came to pick me up take me back to Hanoi. The Ha Giang loop is one of the most fun experiences that I've had in all of my travels and what enriched the experience probably the most for me is getting to know some of the fellow travelers that were on our tour. There was a couple from England, a couple from the Netherlands, a couple from Germany and then two dudes from Spain and it was rad just being able to share all of our meals together and to share stories of our travels and learn a little bit about our lives back home. It's so rewarding to be able to be on the other side of the world and meet people from all over the place and not only that but like getting to know our tour guide leader and the other Vietnamese drivers. This was such a fun experience and something that I will never forget. One of the cool things that we actually did with like the locals and everyone all the dudes would kind of get together and play this game that was kind of like a like a hacky sack game like foot bag. The Vietnamese game is called Da Ca and instead of using a ball they use this little thing called the shuttlecock. Typically consists of a rubber or plastic base with several feathers attached to it and you play this game just like you play hacky sack. You just stand in a circle with everyone and try and keep the shuttlecock from hitting the ground using everything but your hands. But almost at every single rest stop someone would pull one of these things out and then we would all just get around in a circle and this was really an enjoyable experience and a way to kind of connect with fellow travelers as well as the locals there. I know safety is a bit of concern for people when they're researching the Hà Giang loop. How safe did it feel to me? To me it felt very safe. If you're comfortable either driving on a motorbike or riding as a passenger on one you should be fine going on the Hà Giang loop. It didn't feel particularly dangerous. The roads are mostly in pretty good condition. There are a few unpaved roads and sections that are like dirt and rocks and whatnot but it never feels like you're off road and it also never feels like you might fall over a side of a cliff or anything like that. These are mostly very good roads. We actually did witness the aftermath of what seemed to be a pretty bad motorbike accident so accidents do happen. Be advised. Another thing to note is if you're a very big person this might not be the activity for you. The smaller you are the easier it is to sit on the back of a bike. If you're long your knees are kind of have to be up in weird places and it's a little bit uncomfortable especially when you're like going down steeper hills to not kind of fall into your driver in front of you. So you kind of have to like use your leg strength on the pegs to kind of keep yourself like back. So on the longer legs of travel it does get kind of exhausting on the body to kind of sit in one position and keep yourself upright. You can hold on with your hands to a part of the motorbike in the back. So just kind of holding this position for a very long time does kind of take a toll on the body. So if you're not kind of fit enough or if you're a big person this way or this way I wouldn't recommend it. Here are some tips that you're going to need to know before you do the Ha Jiang loop. I strongly suggest you go when the weather's nice. I was there in late March early April so kind of the beginning of spring and the weather was fantastic. Like it was so good. I rarely got hot. I rarely got cold. The perfect time of year to go is spring or in fall. The summers are incredibly rainy and hot and in the winter time it gets very cold. They do run the Ha Jiang loop tours year round but I would strongly suggest picking a date in the fall or the spring to go. Wear sunblock. Make sure that you either cover up your body like your shoulders or wear sunblock because you will be in full sun exposure for large portions of every single day. So if you don't have any sunblock on you are going to get roasted. If you are on the adventurous side go ahead and drive your own motorbike. The roads are not any more dangerous than anywhere else in Vietnam especially like in a bigger city. I'd feel much more comfortable driving on some of these back roads than I would through Hanoi. So if you got your motorcycle license and you're comfortable on a motorbike, drive yourself. It'd be so much fun. I can't wait to do that next time. Another tip, bring cash. Although everything technically is included, you're going to want to buy like a little drink here, a little souvenir there. You're going to want to tip someone here or there. You will want cash on you for various things so make sure to bring some cash with you. Another tip, if you book a tour that includes the transportation from Hanoi to Ha Giang, definitely get the nicest most upgraded bus that you can find. I think I experienced both kinds of buses and definitely the upgraded one was worth it. The Ha Giang loop is more than just a motorbiking adventure. It's an immersive journey through one of Vietnam's most remote and beautiful regions. The combination of thrilling rides, breathtaking scenery, and rich cultural experiences make it a must-do for anyone visiting northern Vietnam. I personally can't wait to come back and do the Ha Giang loop again, but I think if I went with my friends or I went with my fiancee or something like that, I might just rent a bike and do the tour on my own so you can kind of go at your own pace and stay as long as you want in certain cities. That may be what I do the next time I'm in north Vietnam. So anyways, that's it for now. Next up, all the videos are going to be about Bali. Bali was so cool. You're going to love the videos. Stay tuned.