Rare Adventures

Author: Janner Boy

Ha Gaing Loop – is it safe?

When I was doing my initial research into our Vietnam adventure I very quickly came across the Ha Gaing Loop. A 3 day tour of the northern mountains that border China, mostly done on the back of a motorbike.

All round it was a great trip, and I hope this blog helps you make the right choice.

As a guy who used to own a motorbike in his younger days and also suffered on the back of mate’s motorbikes on long trips through Europe that still have a PTSD effect on me. I paid particular attention to what I would be letting myself in for, as the vast majority of people doing the bike tour are young backpackers.

As 66 year old, we all have back problems. I also had the issue of my wife Wooksie, who has never been on a motorbike in her life, I could see lots of potential of unhappy and whinging wife syndrome.

As you will see from my other blogs, I am quite happy flying down mountainsides on downhill mountain bikes or snowboards, so it I’m quite happy with danger and excitement, but there was something about this whole thing that was troubling me.

What I didn’t like was putting my life in someone else’s hands, so I considered driving the bike myself, but that would mean I would not be able to enjoy the scenery. Not knowing the route, I would have to concentrate that much more, but it would be fun driving a bike again.

All the images are of young people having a great time on the backs of little motorbikes, instead of seeing lots of fun I am seeing gravel burns if they come off. I asked a couple of friends about it and in both cases their offsprings had come off their bikes and ended up in bandages, all part of the fun apparently.

Finally, in the weeks leading up to departure and English girl was killed in a crash, which had my alarm bells clanging loudly, there was no data on accidents on the loop or evidence it was safe or not. That voice in my head was whispering “what’s the worst that can happen?”, my answer was an angry wife.

I hunted around and found alternatives to the bikes in the form of jeeps, it was more expensive for sure, and probably not as much fun. I went through a decision process that might help you if you are considering the same conundrum that I was, these were the things I considered.

As you will discover, we decided to take the Jeep Tour via Tripadvisor and it was excellent.

This is how we came to the decision and also what our experiences were on the trip.

Safety

Having now done the Loop, the bike companies do seem to take care of their customers. They make plenty of safety equipment like helmets, gloves, elbow and knee pads available, and that covers the big risk that I could see, a skid on the gravel roads taking my skin off.

The young people know lots more than us oldies and rarely used the gear, but it’s there if you want it, helmets are compulsory.

The drivers are a mix bag, some of them have been doing it for years but there are the younger generations in each group that are less experienced. We saw trips with 15 – 30 bikes, they try to ride together in a line and some of the overtaking to keep together looked pretty hairy from where I was sitting.

The drivers are a very friendly and sociable bunch and hang out in the Karaoke bars with the customers enjoying the happy water too!

My son, Sam, did the 4 day trip on a motorbike and had no issues, but the death of the English girl does seem to have resulted in a clampdown on safety by the companies before the government gets involved. There are different companies doing the route and Sam did research into which were the safest, he went with Bong.

Comfort

Whichever way you look at it, there is nothing comfortable about sitting on a small motorbike for 4 or 5 hours a day, you will end up with a sore arse and a stiff back, whatever age you are.

We spoke to a couple of 30 somethings who did the bike trip, and they found the 3 day option tough going. We also saw one or two 50 somethings getting down with the kids and doing it on the back of bikes and they were alive, just, and walking like they had a broom handle for a back.

Jeeps also come in many shapes, sizes and vintages, so when our driver turned up in a very tidy Toyota, with aircon and a good stereo, we knew we were in for a few days of comfort.

It is also worth bearing in mind that it rains a lot in this area, so if you are on a bike, you are going to get wet,

So, the Jeep tour wins hands down, but maybe not quite as adventurous as being on the back of the bike.

Experience

This was the one area that I thought might not be so good in the Jeep, as we would not be out in the open air but I was completely wrong on this one.

One of the potential downsides was being isolated from the fun in our Jeep, but every night we were in the same bars as the bikers so this wasn’t an issue and we did have the company of Happy to keep us cheerful.

OK, maybe we couldn’t go up some of the goat tracks or take off road short cuts but we still saw all the amazing views.

Admittedly we had a great driver, who chatted away all day telling us about the local history and culture. We would not have got any of that if we were on a bike. He was called Happy for a reason we discovered.

We stopped at the same cafes as the bikes, saw the same views, and we could watch the landscape go past at a nice gentle speed in our comfy seats. We didn’t have to travel at the pace of the group and set out own schedule to get back for the bus to Hanoi.

Cost

The Jeep tour is more expensive, at the end of the day you are getting a private, English speaking, driver who takes you around for 3 days, and we also had better accommodation on the first night, a nice hotel rather than a hostel room,

The trip cost us £200 each, whereas the bike tour would have been about £110, so about twice the price.

25/06/2026
Sapa – a soaking tour of the rice fields

Having completed the tour of the man made attractions, it was time for a bit of nature. Sapa originally found tourist popularity from trekking. The ultimate trek is to the top of the Fanispan peak, although 99% of visitors to the peak probably use the cable car. Consequently, no trip to Sapa can be complete without a trek so we did our research.

Most of the advertised trips are 1 to 3 days, and depending on the time of year the routes will change. Most of the spectacular photographs of rice fields are taken in August or September, late into the rainy season.

We had limited time so booked the one day trek to have a look at the rice fields. The weather was chilly when we arrived and that turned to torrential rain by the morning, we set off. We booked the Hidden Treasures one day tour which looked like it would cover most bases.

Our guide turned up in torrential rain and explained there was no point in going up the hgher due to the fog, so we would head into the valley to walk through the rice fields, having never seen rice fields close up I was quite happy with the plan.

The staff in the Lacassa Hotel were very helpful and found Wooksie a traditional straw hat which did a great job of keeping her hair dry. Next problem was our footwear, as we had only one trek planned, we gambled on wearing light trainers which simply weren’t going to cut the mustard in the waterfall called Sapa main street.

Our guide said we would need Wellington Boots for the walk, which was a bit alarming, so next stop was a rental shop where we rented boots for Wooksie, unfortunately, they didn’t have my size so I ended up buying a pair of Wellies in another shop.

We then set off, splashing our way down the side streets in our Wellies as the rain continued to pour and started to penetrate our wet weather gear. To make matters worse, Wooksie started to get cold, the walk down the road to the valley was particularly depressing as the town disappeared behind us and the paths got rougher. At this point Wooksie stopped walking, looked around and declared she was cold and wet and had had enough and this wasn’t fun.

So, after some haggling, our guide organised a cab to collect us. It took us down into the valley where we could see something interesting rather than walking along a busy tracke/road to get there. The taxi then took Wooksie back to our hotel to dry out and warm up, whilst I continued the walk with our guide.

I really enjoyed the walk through the valley, I got to see the rice fields, learned about subsistence lifestyles of the farmers in Vietnam, basically they dependant on what they grow, they trade what is spare and tourists make a good target for tips to help their lifestyle.

In the absence of Wooksie, I had a huge lunch and was only just capable of walking the remainder of the route in the afternoon. Over lunch I met a group of Australians who were even less well prepared than we were and were equally wet, but gave us a few things to laugh about, and they expressed their admiration for Wooksie’s courage in bailing out.

This one day trek is basically the second day of the 2 day trek package; we just started halfway through the route. After the tour of the farms and through the fields we ended up in a small town, this is where all the hostels for the trekkers are based. This was a very different atmosphere to Sapa down, with a much more rural feel and bars designed to keep Western tourists occupied at night, namely beer, darts, pool and karaoke!

At the end a car picked us up and took us back to the hotel in Sapa, where I found Wooksie, still suffering as she still hadn’t warmed up as there are no heaters in the hotel. The only solution I could come up with a full body massage, which starts with a hot water foot soak, after which she cheered up a lot. Though I hadn’t realised that I had confirmed “firm” massage at some point, meant we would spend the next hour being battered by frighteningly powerful little women but at least Wooksie was warm again.

Next job was to offload the Wellies, I gave mine to the shop that did rentals, I was pretty sure I would not be using them again, or at least, it was what I hoped. It was also time to top up with those very cheap Patagonia t shirts !

Finally, I went for a stroll and bumped into our pals from the Fansipan trip who were also chilly, so I came up with a great idea to have a nice warm drink or beer, and before I knew it we were drinking their deadly happy water and a fun night began right there and ended up with them losing their credit card.

Next stop would be Ha Gaing, for the 3 day tour, but first we had to get there.

24/06/2026
SaPa – spectacular attractions from Cat Cat to the Fansipan Cable Car

Nobody comes to Sapa by accident, it isn’t on the way to somewhere else so there is a purpose, and is mostly to see some of those iconic photogenic places that make their way into Vietnamese marketing materials, or you are here for the trekking, which was established by the French in the last century, presumably they were bored of the Alps and the Pyrenees.

Top of the list for most people are Cat Cat village, Moen Park and a trip to the top of the highest peak in Indo China, Fansipan mountain. After a bit of hunting around we found this tour that meant we could tick all the boxes in one day.

We started at the old stone church in the centre of Sapa where we met our guide and our fellow travellers for the day, boarded the bus and headed to Cat Cat village, important to note that there are no cats in Cat Cat village, in fact, I don’t recall seeing any in Vietnam generally.

Cat Cat village is conveniently located in the valley below Sapa, and lot of people simply followed the footpath down the hill. On the way we noticed lots of shops selling or renting traditional outfits, mostly for women. They were all in a very oriental theme, and they could have make up, hair and all sorts of other beauty treatments in these stores, it seemed a very odd thing to do on holiday.

At the start of the tour of Cat Cat, you get the chance to do a huge slide on an inflatable ring, which seemed a bit of an odd tradition too, but we had a go as it was more fun that walking down the steps.

Cat Cat village is entirely made for tourists, It is very quaint, with a river running through the middle of it, with manmade weirs to cause waterfalls and along both banks are examples of traditional buildings and cafes, but nobody lives here anymore, I suspect them might have been moved on to make way for the tourists.

It was a very pleasant hour, drinking coffee, watching the traditional dancing, avoiding shops, listening to bands and generally just chilling out. There was also the strange spectacle of the Koreans getting dressed up in traditional costumes and having their photos taken, they were everywhere and we couldn’t really work out why, it seemed like some sort of wedding ritual, but nobody was getting married. These people were everywhere you went, posing on bridges, posing on horseback, posing in the river – it was all very weird.

The guide then ushered us back to the bus, and on to the Moana Park, which the guide introduced as the Instagram park. We were looking forward to seeing some of these iconic and mystical structures from the brochures.

This was a truly fake place with lots more Koreans queuing up for their Instagram photo with each of the structures. Basically, this was a park, with a beautiful view of a valley, which makes for some great photos, unless it’s foggy, which it often is at this altitude.

So, we took a few photos and headed for the Fansipan cable car. This was an incredible journey that starts with the Mường Hoa Funicular railway from the centre of Sapa, a line that runs across valleys and through tunnels in the hillside to arrive at a mid-station, with an amazing terraced area that would have offered fabulous views, if it were not for the fog, yet again.

We stopped here for lunch, before heading for stage 2, the cable car. Having spent many years in the mountains of the Alps a cable car journey is hardly a novelty, but this journey was. It is the longest ride in the world at over 8kms, the cars flow between gigantic pylons that are mounted on rocky peaks. They carry you across valleys and up to the top of highest mountain in the region.

I have to admit to being gobsmacked by the human ambition and achievement to build such a structure in such an inhospitable environment. There seemed to be no access roads to any of the structures, which meant men had to walk there, carry the materials and live there while it was being built, it is truly incredible and the sort of thing no Western country would ever consider building, but this is Vietnam and their cousins to the north (China) seem will to help.

Arrival was also spectacular but inevitably spoiled by thick fog. We climbed to the platform with the enormous buddha, which we could hardly see, but not to the top, is the fog just gets thicker. Luckily, they had thoughtfully built a Starbucks at the top of the mountain so we huddled in there and warmed up.

As I was having my photo taken with my Plymouth Argyle shirt to prove we are most travelled supporters, a bloke came over and said “I hope you lose on Saturday”, unbelievably he was a fan of Luton Town, and we were in a head to head with them at the weekend for promotion, talk about a small world. I tried to work out why they had built a shrine to Buddha, when they aren’t really Buddhists, or in fact why they had built the cable car all the way to the top of this distant mountain, and it was the same reason as for Cat Cat and Moen. Nearly all these attractions have been built for tourists and without doubt, they have invested billions in this up and coming industry.

23/06/2026
Exploring Sapa and unexpected victory celebrations

With Hanoi completed it was time to head off on our adventures around the north. First stop was Sapa for the trek and the trip up to the Fansipan peak on the longest cable car in the world, but first we had to get to Sapa.

We considered the train, as it would have meant going through Train Street, but when we mentioned it, the locals thought we were mad. It takes much longer than the bus and involved a taxi from the station up to Sapa, and apart from that it is booked weeks in advance to it wasn’t an option.

The coach to Sapa was our first experience of their travel system and it is unbelievably good. Half the route is by motorway, after which you end up back on their slow old roads and the long windy route up to Sapa.

The coach was amazing, generally referred to as VIP, it was like being on a business class flight, the seats were huge reclining seats and loads of leg room. As a person of 6 foot with long legs, I notice such things and these buses are fabulous.

After sea level and claustrophobic heat in Hanoi, Sapa is in the northern mountains at about 1500m above sea level and the change is immediately noticeable, it was raining and noticeably cooler,

The other thing that you immediately notice is that is steep, in every direction, when you leave your accommodation, it is steep. You will also quickly discover that it is really and lively at night.

There has been a huge investment in Sapa to build it as a tourist centre. Much off the tourist infrastructure has been built in the last 15 years, so you are not visiting a historic centre in any way. The investment to exploit Fansipan mountain infrastructure has been incredible, to the extent that the train runs right into the centre of the town is built into a shopping mall and apartment block for the privileged.

The other unexpected factor was that how busy it was, there were crowds everywhere. The entire town was gridlocked, our bus dumped us outside of the town and told us to get a taxi. We then discovered that we had arrived in the middle of huge event to celebrate the Vietnamese victory over the US 50 years ago. A huge stage was built in the central park area, with a huge celebration that dominated the days we were there.

We watched the celebrations involving singers and dancers with video screens behind them, it then dawned on us that the videos were images of bombing during the war and glorifying the power of their military. In such a fun loving country, with lots of people celebrating and having a good time, it was a real culture shock to have the full force of the Communist Party machine in our faces. It’s their country and we enjoyed the celebrations but it was a wake up call about the reality.

Sapa itself is a real mountain town that is busy establishing itself as the trekking centre of the north, and the commercial development reflects this. There is a steep, busy main street that is full of shops selling trekking gear. This was very handy as I had come equipped with no suitable clothing for heavy rain or cold temperatures, so I had an excuse to stock up with new T shirts, fleece and a puffer jacket, none of which I wore after the 3 days in Sapa.

There is more to Sapa than the big park and one shopping street. There is a lovely lake around at the top of the town around which there are bars and restaurants and I suspect that if the war victory celebrations, then the area around this lake would have been much busier.

Lots of people we met were staying in homestays outside of the town and used Grab taxis to get in, there was cheaper accommodation was either further up the hill or further down it. it wasn’t expensive, so we stayed at the grand looking Lacassa Hotel 500m from the centre, it seemed to be the legacy of the French occupation period, or rather a relic. Its grand appearance wasn’t matched by the internal décor, but to be fair it was being redecorated and presumably it will be a lot nicer when it has finished. There was an amazing mural on the walls on the walls of the staircase.

We did a couple of trips, firstly we did the tour of Cat Cat village, Moan Park and Fansipan mountain. A major reason for the trip was to trek through the rice fields, which was a bit of a disaster. We will cover both in later blogs.

22/06/2026
Unforgettable Jeep Tour Experience in Hanoi

Having done the walking tour of Hanoi, it still felt that we still needed something else to complete the trip. On the way to Halong Bay, we shared a minibus with a mum and daughter who claimed to be Portuguese and from Porto, (where we went last year), but with strangely Russian accents.

Their story unraveled pretty quickly, but it was very interesting that they didn’t want to admit to being Russian, not that it made any difference to us, they were just nice people. They told us about the Jeep Tour and how much fun it was, so as we had a spare evening, we booked ourselves on to the tour.

Evening was a good choice, as Hanoi is hot and steamy so to have the tour at dusk was great as it was a bit cooler and we could really enjoy the Vietnamese love of bright lights. We booked our tour with Back Street Tours and were picked up about 4pm by our guide, DuyVu.

Duyvu was excellent, very knowledgeable and lots of fun to have around.

The jeep was the real deal, really rough and ready, bouncing around along the road and a great vehicle for negotiating the holes in the road. We were lucky that we didn’t have any rain, so the top was down and we really felt part of Hanoi, and scooters and bikes buzzed past us on both sides as we made our way through the traffic.

The Jeep is a 6 seater so we had a couple of companions, this time from Israel. With the war in Iran charging ahead and Israel being hit by rockets, it all felt too raw to discuss, so we focused on football instead, normally.

First stop was the Long Bien Bridge, a crazy long train bridge over the Red River and an introduction to the quirky Vietnamese sense of humour, in the little café at the station, they were using the casing shells from bombs as flowerpots and light holders!

We then popped into Train Street, this was the new one that they are “developing”. The one in the Old Quarter seems to be so overwhelmed by tourists that they needed another one. So, they have given the people in another street where the train runs permission to turn their front rooms and courtyards into bars. When the train is gone apparently it all changes back.

Next stop was the B52 War Museum, DuyVu our guide was full of information about the war and clearly very proud of his countries achievement, having survived being at war with the most powerful country on earth and coming out as winners, I’m sure tours of Iran will have a similar theme in years to come.

Many of the relics form an open air park, or playground, so we saw kids happily clambering over fragments of B52 bombers having a fine time.

We then headed for the backstreets of West Lake and a tour of the alley ways where people lived, often alongside their scooters. The intensity of their living spaces was amazing, crammed into miles of little lanes, you certainly wouldn’t want to fall out with your neighbours or have an up and coming trumpet player living next door!

By now, it was getting dark, so we went on a long open top tour around the city. This part of the trip was great because it filled in a lot of gaps. The trip took us around the government buildings, most of which were twinkling with bright lights.

Then on to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, this is quite a tourist attraction to see his body at rest. I have to be honest, standing for hours in a queue to solemnly walk past his body didn’t really tickle our fancy so I was happy to have seen it, that was enough.

The trip then took us through as shopping district with some of the most famous and expensive designer brands that were the real deal, a total contrast to the shops of the Old Quarter. One had the ask the question, who in Vietnam could possibly afford to go shopping in these places, unless of course there was a ruling elite or had very wealthy tourists!

The last stop was the Hidden Gems café for dinner. This was a great little place tucked into an alleyway, as always. I love the Vietnamese innovations, all the furniture was made out of bits of scrapped motorbikes and scooters, which were turned into tables and chairs.

After great food and more egg coffee, conversation with our Israeli pals about who would win the English Premier League, it was time to head back to the Old Quarter in the Jeep and to say goodbye to everyone.

Thanks to DuyVu and Back Street Tours for a great evening.

18/06/2026