a record or diary of my thoughts and experiences in this new phase of life. Join me on my physical and mental journey to see what is out there beyond the hamster wheel. I hope to navigate through, over and around the norm, away from the well trodden path, aside the tourist trap...........
we'll see
Arriving early after the night bus at Tam Coc Sunseekers Hostel, I felt tired but inspired to start writing something I'd been thinking about for a while. The outline had formed in my mind whilst sailing through the mountains on the bike & I managed to start it. I had time to kill before checkin but the weather was not suitable for 'sunseekers' and was wet and drizzly.
Still the area was very pretty - more lush green rice fields & limestone hills. Also this graveyard set amongst the rocks
I didn't do much the whole time I was there. I needed some time to relax & rest. The homestay was run by a family who lived across the road, and used the reception area as their TV lounge. The guy I assumed was the Grandad would sit watching TV a fair part of the day, then do odd jobs like pump up the bike tyres or fill the swimming pool.
The young lad delt with guests & bookings.
The town at night from where I had dinner:
It was funny as I met a French girl, Elia and then two Italians, Franco & Pepe and it turned out Elia was also half Italian. There was also a Spanish guy who spoke Italian & an Armenian girl who lived in Italy.
It seemed so many of the hostel guests had an Italian connection.
Elia had Italian cards with her so we played a game called Scopa which I learnt from my Dad as a kid.
I won the first night we played 😊.
The following day I spent exploring the town & surroundings.
I had lunch near this temple/old town museum area:
There were lots of boats on the river & the drivers - mostly ladies - would use their feet to pedal
Baby goats:
Thai Vi Temple
The rice museum where I learnt that Vietnam is the world's third biggest rice exporter and that the farmers catch fish with baskets in the rice fields while they are working. They have 4 seasons in the north unlike the south with only 2 so have to grow different kinds of rice and in a different way.
Here I met a local man who wanted to chat to me. He spoke some English but we then embarked on quite a long chat using Google translate. He was 61 years old and also had a son & daughter in their 20s, both studying at University.
He told me that people in the villages would live very basically, all the family working on the land together, & that 3 or 4 generations of a family would live together in one property. This is not the case as much now.
It was so interesting, his view of England & the people. He said they call England 'The land of the fog' and wanted to know if we ever saw the sun. He talked about the coal mines & I said that London was very 'smoggy' in the 1800's for that reason, and that in January & February the sky is often grey all the time.
He thought the people from England aren't as reserved as expected and he was a big fan of English Scientists like Edison.
I said I could see how hard it must be working in the fields & he said farmers were struggling to sell their crops competitively. I said there were similar problems in England.
I showed him some pictures of the countryside around Oxfordshire. It was a really enjoyable chat.
The following day, and my last, I just hung out with the 'Italian crew'. I was practicing my Italian as much as possible 😅.
We went for coffee & breakfast by the river & stayed there until lunchtime, when we moved to another place for lunch. It was a perfect lazy day.
Vietnam is famous for its different types of coffee and I've tried a few and they're all delicious.
Most you drink over ice, like the Salt Coffee, and the Coconut coffee.
Practically every backpacker that travels to the North of Vietnam will do the 'Ha Giang Loop'.
This is a three or four day motorbike tour through the stunning mountainous scenery of Northern Vietnam which sits close to China. It is extremely popular and often young people will be in groups to experience, not only the excitement of the ride but the partying in the home-stays in the evening.
Often described as 'life-changing' I was certain this was very hyped up, but nevertheless I did want to experience the mountains and the views. I was put off by the thought of spending four days on the back of a motorbike, which they call 'easy-rider'. You have the option to drive yourself, but this wasn't an option for me, having never ridden a bike. I was also a little afraid - what if we crash - I didn't want it to be 'life changing' in a terrible way.
I had heard there was a quieter, less touristy loop, with better roads and just as beautiful scenery. The group of German lads I had met on the camping trip in Nong Khiaw had told me how they had hired motorbikes and ridden the Cao Bang loop and said it was amazing.
I had looked at all the different options for both loops on 'Get Your Guide' and other sources, but had come to the conclusion that A. I didn't have enough time, B. It was expensive and C. I was nervous about it.
I had more or less resigned myself to not doing any 'loops', despite other travellers saying, 'you have to do it!' - I wasn't going to be swayed by peer pressure from a bunch of 20 somethings!
However, The hostel I was booked into in Cao Bang also arranged trips and tours and as I was messaging with the lady running it - Lan - she described a tour, similar to the loop tours I had researched, for two days with all food and accommodation included, at a very good price and I simply couldn't resist.
Day 1
The driver turned up the next morning. A smiley man called Thy. He spoke no English other than 'Lets go!' 'Beautiful' - referring to the mountains - and 'I'm full', which he said half way through every massive meal we were presented with. The food was very good and there was so much of it!
We managed to talk to each other using Google translate. I was the only one on my tour, but it wasn't lonely since every place we went to there were other people also on tours and i had plenty of people to chat to.
I learnt that Thy was 43 with a 9 year old son and had been working as a driver for 10 years.
It started to rain as soon as we set off, and we put on rain ponchos and trousers. The first stop was to a place where they made incense sticks and they showed us the process of how they coat the sticks. The little boy who was trying to help his Dad was extremely cute!
After this we went to a paper village. Thy would tell me what we were doing through his phone and when I replied yes or OK he would say, "Yeah!" at the top of his voice. He also learnt the word 'Toilet' by the end of the two days.
At the paper place I got to have a go at making the paper and plastering it to a wall to dry. It is made from a particular fibrous tree and this method is an ancient method for making hand made paper.
We then drove to Dong Ngoum Ngao or Tiger Cave. The limestone formations were very impressive and the cave was huge with many walkways and caverns to explore.
Then lunch and I met the 3 English girls I had shared the taxi with the day before, also doing the loop.
This was what was left after we had finished.....
After lunch we went to Ban Gioc Waterfalls which is right on the border of China and the mountains in the picture below are actually China
We then rode up to a temple on the hill - Thy said it wasn't on the itinerary but we should go anyway - the view was breathtaking.
The temple was kind of cute, and a different style to the Thai and Laos temples and it smelt of cinnamon and orange inside - in essence it smelt like Christmas!
It was the end of day one and time to go to the Riverside home-stay, where I was delighted that I had my own room. There I met two other girls on tours and a German lady called Tina, more my age, with her 17 year old son, Fabian. They had bought a motor bike in Hanoi, for only 700 k dong, and were travelling all round Vietnam. It sounded like they were quite the adventurers, often hitchhiking and travelling by bike and also living in a van back home. I was so happy to meet them!
We stood and chatted for some time by the river, whilst her son and one of the girls had a go of the bamboo raft
Here is a fisherman, pulling in nets from a raft:
There was plenty of food for dinner again and the riders from the two girl's group had a bottle of 'happy water'
They were all drinking shots but I declined this time, although I did have a small taste towards the end.
Day 2
We rode to some nearby villages and to a small mountain/hill, which we climbed for the view. It was quite a climb, Thy in his flip flops and me in my trainers which . by now have no more tread on the bottom. I had glued them previously but I have given up trying to repair them and have slowly been tearing off bits of rubber from the bottom.
The view was definitely worth the climb.
The fields below are mainly tobacco crops.
At the bottom, in the small village we sat and had some tea with a couple of old gentlemen. Thy was translating a bit but then became consumed with the game on his phone, and the two men were chatting away to me and smiling and I had no idea what they were saying. My phone wouldn't connect to the internet so I just smiled and nodded and showed them some pictures of the view from the top of the hill we had climbed & of Archie and Eve. They seemed delighted to see them.
They kept filling my small cup up and I kept drinking. Another man stopped off on his bike and shook my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek. They were asking how old I was and I was thinking - hmm, whats happening here? 😅. Then some men from the small shack opposite were beckonning me over and Thy said, "They want to know if you will come and drink some wine with them"
It felt rude to refuse so we sat and drank a couple of small shots of, what I think was rice wine. Like the happy water, it tasted like watered down vodka, and they showed me the big vat in the roof where they obviously brewed it. I think, actually, the 'happy water' and this rice wine are the same thing.
They too were very interested in my age and I ate some sour plums, with a chilli pepper dip, with them. We said our goodbyes and off we went.
More nice scenery and then lunch at a small cafe
After this we went to a place called God's Eye Mountain, where there was a flat plain which fills up and forms a lake at different times of the year. At the moment it is fairly dry, which meant you could stroll along the many paths, looking at the buffalo roaming around. There were several school groups there and they were all wearing T-shirts with the Vietnamese flag. One lady offered me some of their food - some rice and a peanut dip.
I really enjoyed walking around this place
After a nice iced coffee we returned to the hostel through more nice views
These mountains were all once under a shallow sea approximately 300 - 400 million years ago. Tectonic shifts and gradual subsidence, over millions of years, lifted these seabed deposits - rich in fossilised marine life - forming the towering karst formations, caves and dramatic mountains seen today.
I wasn't brave enough to get my phone out and take video off the back of the bike. I was too afraid of dropping it & I wanted to hold on. Here is a little clip a friend sent of her loop - I guess it being short, she too wanted to mostly hold on - but it gives you an idea......
.....and of course, this was the song in my head...
UPDATE:
Found this YouTube video of the same tour with nearly all the same places including the accommodation!
I was dropped back at the hostel and then I waited for my Night bus to Ninh Binh, all arranged by Lan. I was picked up at the hostel by a taxi and taken to the bus.
This was a marginally better journey than the previous bus. I was the only non-Vietnamese person on the bus, but I think this is better as the driver and attendant were much more pleasant. I think they think of tourists sometimes as one rank lower than the chickens.
I was dropped in the centre of Ninh Binh at 5 in the morning and it was still dark. I walked to where I thought my home-stay was, but it turned out to be a shop and so I had to get a Grab to the correct place which was out of the city in a town called Tam Coc.
While I waited, I sat in a cafe, which was empty at first but then suddenly filled up with Locals, come for their PHO - a traditional Vietnamese breakfast which is a meat, vegetable and noodle soup.
They were also all breaking out the happy water - at 6.30 am! - these people are hardcore.
They all looked pretty happy, I must say.
I got dropped at the Hostel for a long wait before checkin.
