Vietnam Trip 3, 2019.

[chrissables]

Day 33. 08 Oct 110 km 5 hrs

An unplanned great ride through a some remote villages outside of Dien Bien Phu.

It was the same route to start as the road to Laos border, then off north over big mountains topping off at 1300 meters.

There was a stretch off about 20 km off road, rough track on the way, ok riding, but slow going.

I stopped a local to confirm I could continue my loop back and he took me to the town where to road was better and there was a clear route.

I gave him some petrol money and was rewarded with a kiss. 5555555

That evening there was a wedding party in town and I was invited to join them. I was thinking beer and bridesmaids, but there only a few ladies there and tea to drink. I was given a rose and invited for coffee by one of the male guests though!

[chrissables]

Day 33 route

 

https://www.google.co.th/maps/dir/Điện+Biên+Phủ,+Dien+Bien/Cửa+Hàng+Xi+Măng+-+Sắt+Thép+Thêm+Yến/21.2687985,103.2046117/Trường+Tiểu+Học+Sư+Lư+Xã+Na+Son/Ruby+Hotel+Dien+Bien/@21.2657426,103.2041397,14z/data=!4m32!4m31!1m5!1m1!1s0x312d085cec10365d:0x37a7fddbe27cbe64!2m2!1d103.0321549!2d21.4063898!1m5!1m1!1s0x312da6380f3bdae9:0xdfb0c241e91ef93c!2m2!1d103.0122328!2d21.287355!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d103.2160723!2d21.2853565!3s0x312d9f0679f1dfe5:0x8fe460d53eb9290d!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0x4e0eb14f7066143c!2m2!1d103.2423879!2d21.4044901!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0xed6afe0b910e758a!2m2!1d103.0145139!2d21.3888798!3e0

 

[chrissables]

Day 34. 09 Oct 190 km. 7.5 hrs

Dien Bien Phu – Tuan Giao – Muong Lay

Another great ride, north back to Tuan Giao then onto a new road for me before ending the day at Muong Lay.

[chrissables]

Day 35. 10 Oct. 343 km. 10 hrs

Muong Lay to Pac Ma return trip.

Pac Ma is a restricted area and I had been told there was no way of riding there without getting stopped by the police. There was nobody around to stop me and the locals were friendly. I could have kept going but it was a long ride back to my room and I didn’t want to ride in the dark, so I had to turn around.

[chrissables]

Day 36. 11 Oct. 182 km. 6 hrs

Muong Lay to the Dam and river road hunting

I was looking for a road that followed the rivers edge heading into the restricted area, but after quite a lot of hunting around and getting turned back at the dam (Lai Chau Hydropower Plant) entrance and off road riding to bypass the security I gave up. It was either under water or the map was wrong.

I decided to go inland over the same mountains as the day before and try to find the road from the west side heading east. I still could not find any evidence of a riverside road, but I spotted a bridge over the river with a road disappearing up into the mountains, the DT127, I managed 15 km until the road construction stopped me going further.

 

[chrissables]

Day 37. 12 Oct. 171 km. 5 hrs

Muong Lay to Sapa via Sin Ho

From my room it was a 5 km ride north  before turning east up DT128 through Sin Ho and onwards to Sa Pa.

Wet with pea soup thick fog made for an interesting ride, especially as the side of the road just disappeared down the mountain with no barrier. Bad roads and landslides added to the fun!

[chrissables]

Day 38. 13 Oct.

Sa Pa.

Pissing down all day, cold too so i stayed in my room.

Day 39. 14 Oct. 271 km. 8 hrs

Sapa to Phong Tho – Muong So – Dao San - Sapa Loop.

It was raining all the way and visibility was bad, but it cleared slightly in the mountains between showers. I took a wrong turn and ended up at Dao San 1358 meters high in the mountains.

The views would be spectacular with no fog!

[chrissables]

Day 40. 15 Oct. 103 km. 4 ½ hrs

Sapa – Lao Cai – Cho Xuan Giao – Sapa Loop

Raining again in the morning

The road to Lao Cai has beautiful views on a good weather day, but today it was not so nice.

From Cho Xuan Giao the road is a quiet ride up the back roads into Sa Pa with great scenery until after Ban Den and the tourist area, then the road was bad and busy until Sa Pa.

[chrissables]

Day 41. 16 Oct. 340 km. 9 ½ hrs

Sapa – Mu Cang Chai – Sapa

A nice ride to see the rice terraces, it was a bit late in the season to see them due to me spending so much time exploring other places!

I got carried away riding up the mountains and continued on up to 1850 meters on the gravel tracks.

[chrissables]

Day 42. 17 Oct. 216 km. 8 hrs.

Sapa –Y Ty – Lao Cai – Sapa

It started off to be an easy day, but I got carried away and started looking for the Chinese border point called border port No 90. Supposedly a historical landmark.

Following google maps sent me eventually to a dead end (track disappearing in the wilderness) near the river which is the Chinese border. I ran out of time to continue exploring due to leaving late.

[chrissables]

Day 43. 18 Oct. 199 km 6 ½ hrs

Sapa to Xin Man

Heavy rain soaked me in the morning and gradually stopped during the morning.

My route was north to Lao Cai, then continuing north alongside the Chinese border on QL4D to Muong Khuong, then north east to Pha Long on the DT153 looping south past the gorge which is on the border with China.

The road between Bac Ha going north east to Xin Man is now in great condition, previously a nightmare.

It felt cold up in the mountains max height 1736 m (2114 meters max height must have been from Mu Cang Chai a few days ago)

Eventually the clouds broke and great views were everywhere!

[chrissables]

Day 44. 19 Oct. 85 km. 6. ½ hrs

Xin Man to Ban Phung

I started the day with the idea of riding a few of the small roads and seeing where they took me. After a few small roads turned to mud and were zero fun to ride I hit  lucky and rode up to a place called Ban Phung high in the mountains.

Wow! What a find! Amazing views, mountains and rice terracing 800 meters up from the valley where I started and a maximum height of 1214m.

From the Homestay at the top the road turns to track and I am definitely going exploring again in this area.

[chrissables]

Day 45. 20 Oct. 215 km. 8 ½ hrs

Xin Man to Ha Giang

On route decided to take a detour up into the mountains. It was slow going heading up the mountains to China.

The route on google was good, great until I came to a dead end!

The weather was good but visibility poor.

[chrissables]

Route to Ban Phung

 

https://www.google.co.th/maps/dir/Huyền+An+HOTEL/22.7463678,104.5943279/Trọng+Phú+Homestay/Huyền+An+HOTEL,+Cốc+Pài,+Xín+Mần,+Hà+Giang,+Vietnam/@22.7357382,104.4755841,12z/data=!4m21!4m20!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0x79863753484a85b5!2m2!1d104.4618232!2d22.6842664!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x36cc5ea3183fbcbb:0x60675c6cee2fd233!2m2!1d104.5852776!2d22.789387!1m5!1m1!1s0x36ccf825409dbe09:0x79863753484a85b5!2m2!1d104.4618232!2d22.6842664!3e0

 

[chrissables]

Day 46. 21 Oct. 182 km. 8 hours

Ha Giang – Don Van Plateau – Ha Giang

Very bad roads at the start of the day heading up QL4C then east on QL34, turning north onto DT176 was the start of the rough road.

Great views again, mostly hidden by bad visibility.

[chrissables]

Day 47. Ha Giang to the Chinese border at the end of QL2. About 100km

I rode about 20 km into the border side road DT179C when it turned to rocks. There was still 39 km to my goal, of which 15 km were ok, the track in between (24 km) unknown, and although I have asked on several forums I don’t know anyone who has ridden the complete track. I would try if not alone, but this was extremely remote, so I returned to Ha Giang.

[chrissables]

Day 48. Ha Giang to Dong Van. 136 km

6 hrs.

A hazy morning turning sunny and bright later, with great views.

[chrissables]

Day 49. Dong Van – Chinese border – Lung Cu. (The North Pole) 108 km. 5 ½ hrs

A bit of a grey day with rain showers for my ride to the most northern point of Vietnam. Firstly I rode up to a different Chinese border crossing, Pho Bang. There a Chinese border guard was extremely unhappy and was pointing for me to park up, so I did a very quick U turn and back tracked to the North Pole.

[chrissables]

Day 50. 25 Oct. Dong Van – Meo Vac Chinese border – Dong Van. 74 km. 5 hrs

First thing in the morning it was slow going due to pea soup thick fog.

It cleared after crossing the Nho Que River and climbing the mountain towards the Chinese border, road 193A.

This year I was turned back by the police before the summit of the mountain. Last year I crossed into China.

[chrissables]

Day 51. 26 Oct. 220 km 10 ½ hrs Dong Van to Cao Bao, the Chinese border route!

From Dong Van south on QL4C to Meo Vac, from there east on DT217 through Bao Lac and staying on the DT217 until the DT204 and kept riding to Cao Bang.

There was rain and fog to start and I missed my turn. I nearly did not back track, but so glad I did. The ROAD, as marked on google maps turned into a clay track for about 1.5 km’s, then ended at a river where a bamboo ferry was needed to cross!

 

The track on the other side of the crossing was 5 + km of slippery rutted track, I was out of my comfort zone and had it been wet it would have been extremely difficult to ride out. After the 5 km, it was just a rough road and easy by comparison.

It was a long day riding and I treated myself to a nice hotel in Cao Bang

[chrissables]

Day 52. 27 Oct. 120 km. Cao Bang to Pac Bo Cave and around.

I started the day riding to Pac Bo Cave, where Ho Chi Minh was living when he entered Vietnam from China. But now they are stopping traffic going through, you have to park and get a buggy to the area.

That wasn’t for me, so when riding back I was looking at side roads to explore, I found one that went up to the Chinese border area.

It was a nice road until the top where the last houses were, and then it turned to mud so I turned back. It looked like terrible place to live on a rainy day.

[chrissables]

Day 53. 28 Oct. Cao Bang to hole mountain. 62 km. 4 ½ hours.

From Cao Bang you head north east on the strangely named road KH-BG, then east on QL3 until you can cut north on DT205. After a while you will signs to Dong Ham Huong Cave to the left, you follow this to the end and find a small lake and cave nearby, not really worth visiting. But when returning you take a small left turn which goes for a few km where you can find the mountain with a hole in it!

A short ride first to the small lake and cave, then on to Hole Mountain.

The lake was nothing special, and the cave very small, but I was asked to join the locals for some gut rot for breakfast!

At Hole Mountain there was a steep ride down to the fields, I stopped half way after watching the locals unable to ride up without dismounting!

[chrissables]

Day 54. 29 Oct. Cao Bang – Ban Gioc Waterfall – Cao Bang Loop. 220 km. 8 hrs 15.

Cao Bang north on the QL3 and DT206 gets you to the waterfall. From there a carried on east until the DT207 and looped all the way back.

It was a beautiful cool and sunny day, unfortunately my camera batteries went flat very quickly.

After the waterfall the road is in a terrible state due to the heavy trucks tearing it up, and where eventually they are building better roads even worse!

[chrissables]

Day 55. 30 Oct. Cao Bang, Hole Mountain area and the Chinese Border Crawl. 168 km. 9 hrs 15 min

I tried to find a different route to Hole Mountain, I failed but was rewarded with wonderful views.

I continued north and west on DT210 along the Border Crawl, I took wrong turn and ended up at an International Chinese border crossing Tra Linh Gate. Back tracking from there I rode to the “Great Wall of China 2” which I have ridden to before.

On the way I tried another detour which ended up off road until I turned back.

After my short visit to The Great Wall of China 2 I tried to follow the border to Pac Bo cave, but was turned back by locals indicating I was not allowed through.

[chrissables]

Day 56. 31 Oct. Cao Bang – Bao Lac – China Border Crawl. 260 km. 9 ½ hrs.

From Cao Bang, north on DT208 to the border crossing, then back tracking to the small road heading west to Nong Van Ngoan and riding down the switch backs there and on to Cao Bac, south on QL34 and onto Cao Bang, riding in the dark, not fun at all.

I managed to find some side roads to explore which was great fun finding unexpected views.

[chrissables]

Day 57. 01 Nov. Cao Bang to Hanoi. 279 km. 8  hrs 15.

Rain all the way!

In the first 50 km I saw 3 bad accidents, 2 trucks over turned and another vehicle that disappeared through a crash barrier. Traffic was stopped and I rode past, no idea what happened.

I was totally soaked through by the time I arrived.

 

Day 58, 59, 60, Ha Noi, relaxing!

Wonderful weather, wonderful relaxing!

 

Day 61. 05 Nov. Ha Noi to Sonla. 291 km. 8 ½ hrs.

For some reason I decided to ride back to Son La for more exploring. Leaving Ha Noi I was stuck in slow moving traffic dues to a late start.

My route had many junctions and i wish I had a Bluetooth speaker to help.

[chrissables]

Day 62. 06 Nov. Son La to Laos border. 204 km 6 hrs 15.

Road QL4G south from Son La and then various small roads west around the Ma River

It was a good ride south and some very nice back roads alongside the river.

[chrissables]

Day 63. 07. Nov

Pissing down in the morning, cancelled my planned ride.

Day 64. 08 Nov. Son La to Tam Coc. 329 km. 7 hrs

A very cold start in the mountains and the first 200 km, after that a pleasant day.

[Ron jeremy]

Quite a journey, thanks for the time and great report.

looking forward to the ha giang cao bang loop in March. 

 

[chrissables]

Day 65. 09 Nov. Tam Coc to Phong Nha. 527 km. 12 hrs.

Rain was forecast but I was lucky and missed it. I took a long way there diverting up onto the HCM Road. Once on the HCM Road it was great riding and beautiful views.

Day 66. 10 Nov. Phong Nha – Laos Border ride 90km 4 ½ hrs

Another great ride today, south west through dense jungle on roads DT20 and DT562 towards the Laos Border.

I was stopped by the police 30 km before border and not allowed to continue, which was a shame.

I did try to find some side roads to bypass the police, but…….