Day 2 of the Ha Gaing loop started in Dong Van with good news, the rain and cloud had cleared and we had beautiful blue skies. Even better, no hangover from the Happy Water which our driver, Mr Happy, had provided in great volume the night before. He had promised that we would have no aftereffects, though lack of sleep from the late night was still an issue.
We loaded ourselves into the SUV and headed for the Chinese border for views into their superpower neighbour. Basically, we were only a few miles from the border so it wasn’t long before we were staring across the vast expanse of a valley across to China.
During Covid, the Chinese were clearly bored or had a spare million workers, so they erected a still fence along the 800 miles of border with Vietnam. It is also not clear what the border is for, it is to keep the Chinese in or the Vietnamese out. Either way we could see the fence stretching in both directions with guard towers long the way.
After waving at the Chinese guards we settled into the SUV for a long day of driving. One of the most memorable things about this trip was hiding in plain sight. The Vietnamese subsistence farmers have used every inch of these mountains to cultivate crops. The soil appears to be sparse, so wherever there is a nook or cranny in the rocks, they have filled it with soil from the valley and planted corn.
Mr Happy advised us that all this corn is so that they can drink lots of happy water, but I’m thinking that it might reflect just how hard the mountain life is for these dispersed communities.
The next big event was the Ma Pi Leng Pass which is part of the Dong Van Geopark, this is an amazing feat of humanity, a road built in the 1950s and dug by hand by thousands of labourers, opened up a pass that rose to 1800m. It is a really stunning site and there is a monument at the top to all they labourers that lost their lives in what appeared to be brutal conditions.
We trekked up the mountain for a better look out, and there were corn crops everywhere and we were amazed at how hard life is for the locals. The climb also gave us a view of the beautiful reservoir in the valley, once again, man made but provides a stunning contrast to the mountains.
It is quite difficult to pick out more highlights as the Limestone Karst landscape rolls through the mountains for miles and miles as the roads wind through the valleys and over more passes eventually dropping down into our overnight village.
We stayed at a little village and stayed at a hostel, which inevitably had a karaoke machine that the bikers loved and the Dutch made extensive use of before heading off to a night club in the village.
The highlight of Day 3 was the early start, before breakfast we headed off early to avoid the crowed, Mr Happy led the way along the valley promising us something special, and it was, we arrived at a stunning waterfall, and I might be 66 years old but there is nothing quite like jumping off a waterfall into freezing cold water to start the day.
The final part of the trip was the drive back to Ha Gaing and the bus back to Hanoi. The highlight of this having an egg coffee at the top of one of the valleys watching the easy riders coming up valley and hoping that we would see our lad Sam in one of the groups with his tour operator Bong.
A last coffee with Mr Happy overlooking Ha Gaing and it was time to board the bus.
The Ha Giant loop was a lot of fun, a lot of driving and we were very grateful for the company and humour of Mr Happy who made the time go quickly.
Time to head for Ha Long Bay and the adventures that away.
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