Tuesday 2 Nov.
Route: Night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai
Distance: I was sleeping, the train was doing the hard work.
On the night train from Hanoi a had a soft sleeper cabin shared with two other people. The bed was quite comfortable, but a bit short for European standards. The next morning I woke up around 6am and had fresh coffee served in the cabin.
Wednesday 3 Nov.
Route: Lao Cai - Pho Rang - Viet Quang - Ha Giang
Distance: 205 km
Waking up in the morning in Lao Cai I found it extremely cold, so I went to the market to buy some gloves and some supplies for the trip. I found a bakery on the street selling fresh baguettes, the price was next to nothing...
Around 9am I had arranged all the supplies and had some noodle soup with beef for breakfast before I started the drive towards Ha Giang.
In the afternoon in Ha Giang I met Simon and James, two British guys who were doing about the same trip as me. In the evening we were invited by some locals to have dinner and a lot of shots of the local rice alcohol.
Here's a picture of the monster, the Honda Future Neo 125cc
Thursday 4 Nov.
Route: Ha Giang - Meo Vac
Distance: 157 km
In the morning at 8am I met with the British guys to leave for Meo Vac, we decided that we might as well drive together since we were going the same way. After arranging some stupid permit at the immigration office we were on our way to Meo Vac.
Unfortunately after only 30 km James' bike broke down, and even after a dozen local mechanics looked at his bike they didn't have the ability to fix it...
So many mechanics, but so little knowledge....
In the evening I arrived in Meo Vac as planned and found a place to stay for the night. Luckily I found a nice place for dinner, since I already had dog for breakfast and lunch this day...
The road from Ha Giang to Meo Vac via Dong Van.
Local kids came running after me when I stopped to take some pictures of the amazing scenery, so then they were also photographed. When I showed them the picture on the screen they were amazed, just like if I was a magician.
Local school children having a snack at the same place as me in Dong Van. I was really hungry and I found this place serving skewers with fresh pork meat. A blessing when 2 of 3 meals the day before were dog...
The road from Dong Van to Meo Vac is one of the most amazing places I've ever seen, the scenery is just amazing. I had to stop all the time to take pictures, the mountains here just make you speechless.
Eyes on the road, if you go off the road here you're really in trouble...
Friday 5 Nov.
Route: Meo Vac - Bao Lac- Nguyen Binh
Distance: 232 km
Planning the drive, but the road I'm driving does not seem to be on both maps...
After 2 hours of driving I found myself at something i would like to call a dead end. I refilled my water bottle in the river and sat down to consider my options. After a while a guy came along on his motorbike, so I figured I could ask him for the way to where I was going.
After some kind of communication I followed him across the river and onto a dirt trail on the other side, the climb was so steep and it was nothing like a road at all... More like something you walk with proper mountain boots.
Can the "road" get any smaller than this? This photo is taken on the top of the mountain just before I was invited for tea with a local family living there.
Finally after driving for hours on the trail and on a road under construction I arrived in Meo Nguyen Binh just before the sunset.
Route: Nguyen Binh - Cao Bang - Ban Gioc Waterfall - Cao Bang
Distance: 214 km
When I left Nguyen Binh in the morning it took only 30 minutes before the road was blocked because of a land slide, but the road workers were already fixing the road so no big problem.
When I arrived in Cao Bang I had some Vietnamese coffee and some lunch before I drove to the famous Ban Gioc waterfall on the border with China. On my way there I met these lovely children when I stopped to take a picture of the scenery.
Ban Gioc waterfall, the right side of this waterfall is on Chinese territory, so swimming across is not recommended.
When I drove back to Cao Bang to spend the night there the sun was setting so I had to hurry back to avoid driving in the complete dark.
Sunday 7 Nov.
Route: Cao Bang - Lang Son
Distance: 135 km
View from the balcony in my hotel room in Lang Son. Lang Son wasn't a very interesting place, but they had a nice night market and a Czech beer hall...
Monday 8 Nov.
Route: Lang Son - Hanoi
Distance: 157
The last leg of the trip was from Lang Son to Hanoi, in the beginning the scenery was very nice. When coming closer to Hanoi the traffic was getting worse and driving was not so much fun anymore. Luckily I made it all the way back with no accidents and no encounter with the Vietnamese police.
This is it for now about this motorcycle trip, but maybe there will be more trips on the motorcycle later, who knows?
