Ha Giang

Ha Giang province is the northern most in Vietnam, and by all accounts (including this one) the most stunning mountain passes in the country.

We hired a 125cc Honda motorbike for a 3 day trip. Describing the scenery is beyond my vocabulary, so just look at the photos.

Our first day was marred somewhat by an early crash on a steep gravelly corner. Torrey bravely took some of the impact with his left leg, taking half the skin on his shin and his ankle. Both of us got scrapes and bruised hips.

We managed to find a homestay in the rain and darkness run by two very friendly Vietnamese hipsters. They helped clean up Torrey's leg and Kellie's thigh, and gave us opium wine for the pain. They cooked a mean meal, and we met a couple of Dutch travellers who we convoyed with the following day.

We proceeded with caution and the rest of the drive was incident free. We stopped once to fix a noise coming from the chain- it just needed tightening and oil, and the mechanic charged 10,000 dong (70 cents).

We visited a huge cave, which required some actual caving/crawling to reach an underground lake. We also visited the Vuong Palace. Home to the last ruling family of the northern province. The last king gifted his lands to Ho Chi Minh in the 1940s when North Vietnam's borders were created.