Wandergliding: Ha Giang Loop

November 28^th, 2024

We woke up to an overcast day, that was a bit chilly, but at least it wasn’t raining. Naomi and I packed up our things and walked up to Hom’s house for breakfast with the others in our group before we got on the road around 8:30 am.

Leaving our place in the morning to go and get breakfast.

A cool looking garden just outside our place.

Trying to warm up with Hom in the morning.

This is the fire area...check out the tiny stools, the non-yellow ones must be less about a foot tall at the most.

Our banana pancake breakfast.

Some kids hanging out before heading to school. The one in the middle has a smartphone which has entranced all three of them.

Ready to ride on day 2.

After riding for 5-10 minutes, we stopped and Huy told us that we were going on a short hike (1-2 km). It was a good way to start the day and get a bit warmed up for the riding. Huy and Naomi’s rider Hanh walked with us while the other riders moved the bikes to the other end of the trail so that we didn’t have to hike back the way we came.

Heading up a narrow path near Hom's house.

Naomi's rider Hanh on our short walk.

The walk turned out to be relatively short although we did walk up a small hill, across some little farm fields and then through a tiny village. A highlight for some of us was walking past a school that was in session. We looked through an open classroom door and could see these super cute 4-year-old kids sitting at their desks. Naomi, Annabelle and I couldn’t help but wave at them and received a few waves back.

There were some small planted fields along the walk.

At the end of the hike, we met up with the other riders at a gorgeous viewpoint, so a bunch of photos were taken before we hopped back on the bikes.

The first of many good viewpoints this day.

We do so many selfies...I feel I have to get creative once in a while.

Naomi's steed.

The group.

And how Huy took the above picture...hoisted up and secured on the rocks by some other riders.

Let's go!

For the next few hours, we continued our journey through some amazing terrain.

Descending around some nice hairpin turns.

Our next rest stop, a place for a coffee and ginger tea.

A massive qeej, the instrument we played last night in Hom's home.

Entering a town.

A massive cave or hole in the mountain.

Some communist memorial statue near the start of the "Skywalk".

We stopped again, fairly high up on a mountain, and Huy told us that we were going on another little trek. Naomi remarked to me that she didn’t recall seeing that hiking was part of the Ha Giang Loop…but neither of us minded, it was good to get a bit of exercise. This trail’s name is the Ma Pi Leng Skywalk and is about 3 kilometres long with an elevation gain of 500 meters.

It began with a walk up a narrow, paved road with the odd motorcycle passing by us, which was odd as there was a “no motorcycle” sign at the start of the trail. Huy told us later that there was a small village further up the mountain so that made sense that it was just locals heading to or leaving home who were exempt or just ignored that sign.

A young girl hiking down...while on her smartphone.

A cute puppy juxtaposed with a poor live pig strapped on a motorbike...probably the swine's last day.

The trail curled around the mountain to offer some different and amazing views. We passed by a few houses and a small school where some young children were playing. A few of them were using a fallen tree as a sort of see-saw. A few of the kids yelled out “Hello” to us, which we reciprocated in English and Thai. When Naomi pointed her camera at one boy, he broke into a series of poses. He placed his hand by his cheek with his forefinger and middle finger in a vee shape, a classic Instagram pose. Then he put his hand under his chin and tilted his head sideways. I started to mimic him, then I pulled some bodybuilder poses, and he copied me! It was super cute, and fun.

The Skywalk path that we will walk down.

Looking back up from where we came.

We came around to another viewpoint where we could see a valley with what looked like a fat, slow moving river below, but in fact it was a lake with a hydroelectric damn. After snapping some photographs, we began walking along a trail that hugged the hill below some steep cliffs. It had a railing on the downhill side, so it wasn’t a scary path, but it definitely was rugged terrain.

We are going to walk on a path just below the big rockfaces on the right.

You can barely make out the trail here...but you can see a bit of it on the right side of the pic.

That's not a river, but a dammed lake.

Naomi, Bart, Steffi, Lucia and our gider guide Lang.

It was a very cool walk.

Yay Naomi!

Yes, it was a contrived pose...but it turned out well!

A woman, her young kids and a dog passing us on our way down.

Yup, the view is "Dave Approved".

You can just make out the riders playing hacky sack on the road while waiting for us.

Rejoining the rest of the riders, we hopped on the bikes for a few more 45–50 minute sessions a short break before it was time to stop for lunch.

The sun came out for the first time on our trip just as we pulled into a lookout with a cafe.

Sadly the sun disappeared within 20 minutes. By chance, we ran into a few travellers (Adam and Camilla from Sweden) whom we met at the hostel a few nights before who were on the longer loop tour.

We stopped for lunch...and this just happened to be going on on the sidewalk nearby...a cow being butchered. No, it wasn't for our meal.

After lunch, it was motorcycle riding for the rest of the afternoon with some brief rests at some beautiful viewpoints.

Rounding a bend on the bikes.

So many good views on this day.

The vista at one of our last stops of the day.

Cheers Vietnam!

Live to Ride...Ride to Live!

What a final viewpoint for the day!

A big train of motorcycles. Supposedly there are over 2000 bikes with tourists on any given day on the Ha Giang Loop.

Getting close to sunset.

We arrived at our stop for the night around 5 pm. Unlike last night, it wasn’t someone’s home this time, but more of a hostel that also had some private rooms in pseudo-cabins and a restaurant.

Our home for the evening:

The evening's first Happy Water Toast.

A well deserved dinner.

After dinner, the host invited anyone interested to join in a Vietnamese bamboo dance. Some of the riders grabbed some long bamboo poles which were lying beside the building. They paired up and each of them had one end a bamboo pole in their hands on the ground. On a 3/3 musical count, they would open the pole up about 2 feet wide for the first 2 counts and then close the poles together on beat 3. There were four pairs of riders creating a gauntlet that dancers had to run…or more appropriately dance through. So the idea was that you’d step one foot down between the open poles on count 1, the second foot down on count 2 and then hop out on count 3 before the poles slammed your ankles. Then you repeated on the next pair of bamboo poles being slapped together. Sounds simple, but if you’ve had a few shots of Happy Water and a few beers…easier said than done! But still fun.

My sad attempt at the Bamboo Pole Dance (yes, from the title of this video, I'm getting a lot of views on YouTube!).