Vietnam Motorcycle Trip Mountain Peoples and Mountain Rides

You arrive in Hanoi at the airport. Here you can immediately exchange money or withdraw cash at an ATM. This makes you a millionaire right away - 1€ corresponds to about 25,000 Vietnamese Dong! With six million inhabitants and four million scooters, traffic in Vietnam leaves a lasting impression. Our hotel is located in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, reminiscent of Paris with its charming buildings in French colonial style. Wide boulevards alternate with narrow streets used by all road users, as the sidewalks are often occupied by portable food stalls and parked vehicles. Although Hanoi is a large city, it has a relaxed atmosphere, mainly due to the calm and laid-back Vietnamese. This can be particularly observed at Hoan Kiem Lake, which is not far from our hotel.

Our first day on the Honda CRF 250cc begins with an obstacle course that takes us out of the city. It quickly becomes clear that traffic looks worse than it actually is - somehow everything fits together. Soon we are on the banks of the Red River, traffic becomes clearer, and we can admire the rice fields and banana plantations along the roads. The roads switch from asphalt to concrete to gravel and dirt tracks. After about 50km, we make our first stop in a small village. Not long after, the silhouettes of mountains appear in the distance, under whose shadow we will spend our first night. Our homestay in Vu Linh, a Dao village with 26 houses, is romantically situated by a small pond, surrounded by rice fields and palm groves, inhabited by a flock of ducks. Not far away is That Ba Lake, where we will take a boat trip. People here row their boats with their legs. A rather unusual sight. Some fish from the pond might find their way to our dinner table. In the stilt house adorned with woven palm leaves, we sleep on mattresses in the first floor, protected by mosquito nets. A warm shower to wash off the dust of the street is available.

As it is in the countryside, we are awakened by the quacking of ducks. We enjoy our first Vietnamese breakfast before we saddle up. Well-fed, we retrace the first kilometers along the Thac Ba Lake. The Thac Ba is Vietnam's largest lake. We will, of course, make some stops to take photos of the surrounding mountains. For several kilometers, we then go off-road towards the main road. Along the way, we meet children cycling to school who greet us and cheer us on. This short stage of the day brings us to Luc Yen, a village of the Tay minority. In the afternoon, we freely explore the surroundings of the village on our bikes. We will again spend the night in a homestay.

We drift further away from 'civilization' and head into the karst mountains. The Ha Giang province with its rugged karst mountains is one of the most scenic areas in Vietnam. Here, we will also apply for our permit to continue further north towards the border with China. Tonight, we will stay in a hotel.

Today it's really into the mountains! A fantastic riding day with diverse landscapes awaits us. From Ha Giang, we follow a river and soon ascend on a narrow, winding road higher into the mountains. The road becomes steeper and some hairpin turns lead us to Cong Troi (Heaven's Gate). From up here, we have a magnificent view of the green hills in the south and the steep, barren slopes of the karst mountains in the north. After a descent, we follow a gorge, and while passing through some villages, we have good chances of meeting people from the 'Flower Hmong' minority. We may also get to take some photos. After that, the road winds back up between jagged peaks until we reach Yen Minh. Here we can see 'White Hmong' in their brightly colored dresses working in the rice fields. During our next climb, the landscape changes again for the umpteenth time. Black, sharply jagged rocks, interspersed with the green dots of corn fields in between, captivate us. At a viewpoint, a grand panorama of the rice terraces above and below us unfolds. Our destination for the day is Meo Vac, which is only a few kilometers from the border with China. Here we will set up our overnight stay in a homestay.

We cross one of the most impressive parts of the karst mountains. A monumental landscape with deep gorges and hundreds of steep, bald mountains unfolds before us. The morning mist gives the already enchanting landscape an even more mystical touch. Even here, houses and small fields can be found in the most unlikely places. Another viewpoint offers a view of fields and villages hundreds of meters below. The road that leads us into the valley - someone had the idea to call it 'Road of Bliss' - seems to be glued to the mountainside. After lunch, we follow the course of various rivers along rice terraces and banana plantations through villages of the 'Black Hmong'. The landscape around Ba Be National Park is much gentler, and the hills are rounder than those we have experienced in the past few days. We reach the national park and the lake in its center early. We will load our motorcycles onto a boat, and during the ride to our homestay located on a river running above the lake, we will also take a round on the lake. The park and the lakeshore are covered by seemingly impenetrable tropical rainforest. A small walk to the village or a nearby waterfall offers a relaxing afternoon activity.

After breakfast, our Hondas are once again loaded onto the boat, and we embark on another 'lake journey'. The drive to Cao Bang brings, in addition to increased traffic as we approach the border with China, also beautifully winding roads. After two nights in homestays, we will stay in a hotel again tonight.

After the karst mountains have taken a short break as our daily companions, they are back with us today. And how! We tour through the northeasternmost province of Vietnam. There is hardly a straight stretch of road amidst the eternal and fascinating ups and downs. If we needed further confirmation, it becomes clear here why Vietnam is one of the world's largest rice exporters. We follow a border river to China until we reach the waterfalls of Ban Gioi. These are equally an attraction for both Vietnamese and Chinese. Bamboo rafts bring them to the center of the river, but they are not allowed to set foot on Vietnamese soil. Today we will again spend the night in a homestay in Quang Uyen, and as always, the cooked food is an experience for us.

We head south, and here too, the green wooded karst mountains continue to accompany us for now. Along the way, we run into laughing school children on their bicycles and also pigs, water buffaloes, and chickens that participate in the traffic here, which makes us drive carefully. The road gets dusty, and we are partly on gravel roads, which is not a problem for our bikes. Even the buffalo carts that we have to 'navigate around' from time to time do not disturb us. We will arrive in Lang Son not too late, leaving us plenty of time to explore the city and do some shopping. We will spend the night at the hotel.

The landscape becomes gentler but remains hilly. Between the rice fields, we keep discovering brightly painted houses with balconies, terraces, and playful decorations that remind us of small palaces.

Before we travel back home, we have a day to do some shopping, buy souvenirs for our loved ones back home (there are more than enough here!), or satisfy our cultural needs with museum or temple visits. Alternatively, one can also enjoy the atmosphere of Hanoi for a day while sitting in one of the countless street cafés. Just watching the flow of traffic is an experience here: a four-person family on a scooter or a motorcyclist texting while riding are unique sights to us. We will spend another night in the hotel.

You will be taken to the airport and then it's back home. In your luggage, there will be many memories and impressions from a fantastic motorcycle trip just in case.