Sa Pa and Ha Giang Loop

Our trip to Vietnam started in Hanoi, but as we did 3 separate excursions that are ran from Hanoi, we thought it would be best to separate them.

Two days into our Vietnam trip, we headed to Sa Pa, where we spent 4 nights. Our journey up to Sa Pa was the best we’ve had so far. We were driven in a limousine ( a ford transit van with 8 seats in it)! As strange as that may sound, it was air conditioned, there was lots of space and each chair was equipped with a vibrating massage function- which me and Sam took full advantage of for the 7 hour journey. We arrived late at night and we’re greeted by torrential rain and a ghastly temperature of 14•, which was a bit of a shock to the system! After watching United in a local bar, we returned back to the hostel for an early night ahead of our 3 day trekking tour.

On the first day of trekking, the rain poured heavily all day. This made vertically scaling the 2km peak of a mountain rather challenging. The paths were narrow or non existent and most of the terrain was made up of clay or rock, which were two very slippy surfaces in the weather. This said, we still thoroughly enjoyed the day. Chloe was even lucky enough to get escorted by two local ladies that walked with us for most of the day! We’re always a little nervous when we stop for lunch somewhere new for the first time, especially because our tour guide Du organised everything on our behalf. However, all of the lunches we had we’re great, even if we were a bit sick of rice afterwards! The rest of the day saw us trek to Ta Van, a local village that inhabits the Black Hmong ethnic minority group. We were warmly welcomed into a family homestay and I personally had one of the best showers I’ve ever had, after a day of trekking, slipping and sliding in clay and buffalo poo. On the first night, there were 15 of us in the homestay. It also happened to be someone’s birthday, which meant we were encouraged to eat cream cake with chopsticks, before we were allowed to eat anything else- a strange order but a nice touch nevertheless. After a few beers with some intriguing characters we got some much needed rest ahead of day 2.

At 7am the next day, we were served noodle soup for breakfast, which I still find questionable. Chloe was not feeling too great so me and Sam left for day 2, with Chloe staying behind, being fed and well looked after by the family. Du had explained to us in the morning that we couldn’t complete the usual route for this day, as the constant rain during the night had made the route too dangerous. This was understandably out of anyone’s control, but I’m now interested to know how dangerous that would have been, given that sliding down steep descents and climbing up 10cm wide rice paddy walls was obviously perceived as ‘safe’! The trek took us through a bamboo forest towards a huge waterfall and then back through some more local villages. The walk back to the homestay was much easier, with most of the walking being done on actual roads. On night two, we stayed at the same homestay again, but this time we were only joined by 2 others, who stayed in a separate building anyway, so we had the whole 14 bed room to ourselves and took full advantage of this by being in bed by 8pm!

Chloe was still not feeling good on the final day of trekking, so she organised a taxi to take her back to the hostel in Sa Pa city. Our trek was fairly short and simple as we headed back towards the city. Du introduced us to 2 of her 11 sisters and we were guilt tripped into buying more ridiculous bracelets! That said, these people survive solely off farming and textile souvenir  sales, so it was nice for to be able to help them a little. Everywhere you look in Sa PA’s landscape, you are enclosed by mountains that are full of rice paddy’s and with workers within them. We learnt a lot of interesting facts about rice and the culture of the minority villages. It was completely different to anything I have ever experienced and it was definitely the most unspoilt place I’ve ever been. At night, we returned to Sa Pa city, which is surprisingly similar to Blackpool- loud music and neon lights everywhere you look. After a well deserved massage, beer and pizza ( not rice!), we returned to our original hostel and slept.

At 7am the following day we boarded another limousine to take us on the 7 hour journey to Ha Giang. The journey again went quickly and we stopped half way- where we were hounded by young kids that usually try and sell you stuff. To our pleasant surprise, these kids weren’t actually after our money, but instead talk to tourists as it’s there best way of learning English. Aged between 7-14, it was remarkable to see how well they spoke, they spoke better English than most adults in the UK.

On our first night in Ha Giang we quickly learnt that it was Vientiane 2.0, there was nothing to do, one restaurant that only sold rice and a pub that only sold warm beer. Luckily, we were starting the Ha Giang loop the next day so we were again happy to have an early night.

At 7am, we were greeted by three motorbike riders, who we would be riding, eating and living with for the next few days. At first the language barrier was a little challenging. Sam’s driver ‘Lee’ was our tour guide also, and spoke English reasonably well. Chloe’s driver ‘Neow’ and my driver ‘Nim’ spoke no English at all. It’s quite hard to describe the Ha Giang loop, as I myself was skeptical of why riding on the back of a motorbike for 4 days was considered the best experience most people had done in Vietnam. However, within a 20 minute ride out of the town we were quickly encapsulated by beautiful mountains and forests that we didn’t leave the whole time we were there. Over the course of the 4 days, we covered upwards of 450km and again visited multiple villages and cultures. The smallest village we visited was the Lo Chi village, which has one of the smallest populations of 5,000 people across the whole of Vietnam. There are 54 separate ethnic groups in Vietnam, each with their own language and culture.

Some highlights of the loop were…

• Visiting Lung Cu, the most northern point of Vietnam where you can see China within 200m of where you are stood.
• Meeting local children who work as flower pickers in the Hmong mountain village.
• Watching our drivers nail Vietnamese karaoke every night regardless of where we were (it’s a big thing over here).
• Realising it was Chloe’s drivers birthday at 10pm after a full day of riding without knowing. We drank and celebrated with him and he was brought to tears when the local family produced a birthday cake and hat for him- an adorable and heartwarming moment that magnifies how accustomed and fortunate we are to receiving luxuries at home.

Leaving Sa Pa, I was pretty convinced that nothing would top the experience I had, but I am still struggling to decide which experience was better, with both trips being completely unforgettable.

 

Favourite moment of Sa Pa: Playing Jianzi with some locals in the dark (me and Sam call it the kicky wicky shuttlecock game thing).

Favourite moment of Ha Giang: Cooling down with a beer in the waterfall after a long, sweaty day of travelling in high heat. 

Beer Choice Sa Pa: Bia Saigon (330ml), 20,000 Dong (69p).

Beer Choice Ha Giang: Bia Viet (330ml), 15,000 (52p).