The northern part of Vietnam is supposed to be the best of Vietnam. Travelers with whom I've spoken and bloggers online will tell you that the only way to truly experience Northern Vietnam is to rent a motorbike and navigate "The northern loop." I took their advice and gave it a go.
I took the sleeper bus from Hanoi. The first leg of the journey involved hopping on the back of a motorbike taxi at my hostel with my larger backpack on my back and my day pack slung onto my chest. The motorbikes in Hanoi are like swarms of fish moving to and fro, up and down the streets (and sidewalks), slipping around and about the whale-like busses and cars. I held onto the bar behind my rear end and focused on keeping my balance as the motorbike operator swam around the traffic.
It was thrilling, like riding a rollercoaster at a state fair where you're not quite sure if the ride is up to code. I put my faith in the likelihood that this was simply another night at work for the driver. I was perfectly safe, the streets are chaos but it's an agreed upon, organized chaos.
After five minutes, the driver stopped at a seemingly random spot on the street. Our side of the street was a rare strip of road with a hundred feet or so of parking spots in front of a brick wall. Stores lined the other side of the street. The driver, in his extremely limited English, instructed me that this was my stop, and I was to wait there. I said okay, got off the bike, he zipped off into the city, and I stood on the side of the road, somewhere in Hanoi, keeping faith that a vehicle would soon be picking me up.
Ten minutes later a mini-van stopped in front of me. The driver checked my ticket. He had to call someone to verify it. I got on that mini-van and we eventually continued to the bus station. I had a great conversation with a beautiful Spanish woman who is working as a teacher in Melbourne, Australia. I was a bit sad we were headed to different destinations.
At the bus depot, I found my sleeper bus. The driver provides you with a plastic bag in which you are to place your shoes upon boarding. The bus attendant directs the foreigners to the back of the bus. The seats in the very back are practically one giant five person seat. Technically you have your own recliner seat, but there's no barrier between you and the people smashed up on either side of you. Luckily, I had one of the single upper bunks.
The bunks are narrow and designed for diminuative people under 5' 7. The bus also serves as a package delivery system, so we made unexpected cargo loading stops.
I was able to get a few uncomfortable hours of sleep on the bus. We arrived in Hagiang around 03:00 AM. The bus dropped us off at the Kiki Hostel. I was told we'd be able to sleep on the bus until 06:00, but that wasn't the case. An employee of the Kiki Hostel waited outside and offered us a bed and breakfast for two dollars. Everyone accepted the offer. I slept for four hours on a mattress that may have been made of a stone slab and awoke at 7 am.
The hostel served breakfast in a haphazard manner. My coffee, the one thing I desperately needed, came twenty minutes after my meal, and this was after I watched people who arrived thirty minutes after me get that same coffee served with their meal. AHGGGG GRRR! Travelman need coffee! Travelman drink coffee now! Travelman Grumpy! Travelman try not Hulk-Out. Travelman try best be polite, not show big anger on inside to outside people. Travelman decide stay in different place for night. Travelman leave, walk across Hagiang in rain to Anh Anh Bay Hostel (really a hotel) and motorbike rental. Travelman regain ability speak in normal sentence, use tenses, use infinitives when magic medicine (caffeine) start work.
On my walk I saw these guys playing this game. One of the gentleman got up and talked to me. Ninety percent of our communication was through gesture and facial expression. The game is called Ca Tuong (missing the accents) in Vietnam. It's also known as Chinese Chess.
He understood English well, but had trouble speaking it. He mentioned Trump. In my travels, every traveler and local I've met who has mentioned Trump, and its been many, see him as either a clown or a menace, nothing positive has been said of him. That's simply my experience, no political commentary intended.
We tried to become facebook friends but our names would not come up so we gave up. We took a selfie. I was exhausted, dirty, rain soaked, and dehydrated. Being that I looked like a starving wet rat, I cropped myself out of this pic so my mom doesn't jump on a plane to Vietnam with an emergency samsonite bag full of roast beef and mashed potatoes. We need 3000 CC's of meat and potatoes, stat!
I stayed the night in a decent room with great internet and a mini-fridge. In the morning I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30 AM to be sure to get one of the motorbikes. I asked to rent a bike and was informed that the last one had just been rented. A bus load of Chinese arrived at 3 AM and rented all of them. The damn Chinese tourist group getting up in my bih'nezz again!
It's funny the way life bounces you around like a pinball. You use the flippers but remain at the mercy of the bumpers and magnets of the universe. I was a bit upset that they had no bike for me and that they had not suggested that I reserve one. But the universe had my back, and pinballed me into the super bonus flag.
The entire reason that I'd stayed at this fine establishment was because I'd read online that it was a good place to rent a motorbike. The fact that they had sold out early didn't change that fact. The owner was informative and helpful. He suggested I go across the street to rent a bike. He could see the automatic scooter that I needed sitting in front of that hotel.
I did just that. A gentleman who spoke very good English, and turned out to be the owner, was summoned by an employee who did not speak very good English. The owner gave me a price (about eight dollars a day and I was renting for four days) and he asked to keep my passport. I arranged to give him my Driver's license instead. As we filled out the minimal, handwritten contract, he asked if I had an international license. I lied and said yes. Most people who rent don't have this license and we take our chances. He seemed a bit concerned for me as I drove across the street.
Thanks to the pinball universe, this man would become my friend upon my return to Hagiang.
Back at my hotel, the owner gave me a map and advised me which towns to stay in on each night. He also asked if I had a license. I lied again. He warned me that the police will stop tourists who are going fast or driving erratically. He also warned me that a tourist had driven off the edge of a cliff the other day. I heeded his warning and told him I would be riding slowly.
Here's a pic I took on the edge of town as I was setting out on my journey...
I was taking a calculated risk. I'd be screwed if I got in a wreck. But traveler's drove without a license all the time. On that morning, the reward outweighed the risks.
The sky threatened to rain the entire day. The weather to this point on my trip has been nothing but dreary in Vietnam. A week before this adventure, typhoons ravaged southern Vietnam and caused major flooding. It was a shame that some of the magnificent views were obscured or robbed of the vibrancy of the colors they had to offer.
The road was challenging. I encountered frequent potholes and muddy sections of road.
Busses and trucks blared their horns as they approached. The loud, fluttering, echoey horns of the busses and trucks served as a constant soundtrack to the trip. The horns often had a startling affect, like the blast of your car radio when starting your car again after having been on the highway. Actually the jolt was much more jarring than that.
The road served as a two lane road even though it was more of a lane and a half, sometimes because of potholes or other obstructions it was a single lane. I often had to ride a tightrope on the edge of the pavement when a truck passed. If I veered an inch to the left I'd be smashed by the truck, and an inch to the right I'd be dropping into a ditch or over a cliff. Needless to say, I was focused.
I reached the first pass, named Heaven's Gate. One side of the road had a shack of a coffee stand. Another, nicer, coffee stand/restaurant stood a few meters further along at the crest of the pass. It had a fantastic viewpoint of the valley below. Unfortunately, all that anyone could see was the cloud a few feet away from the viewpoint- Completely obscured by clouds.
This is a view from where I'd come. I took the pic outside the toilets of the coffee shack...
I stopped for coffee at the shack. A tourist couple and the motorbike guide they hired stopped there as well. The employees sat with us and offerred us tea and tokes of Thuac Lao tobacco from the long tube-like bamboo pipes that are common here.
This is one of the guys who shared his tea with me and offered me his pipe, which I politely declined. And yeah, I need to shave...
Families of the local tribes set themselves up in seemingly random places on the side of the mountain road and sold their potatoes and other vegetables. It struck me that there were more sellers than available customers.
This group is set up at an open area and intersection, but many women were simply at a tight bend in the road on the side of the mountain, their vegetables neatly displayed on a blanket.
The children would be left to hang out nearby. The local people are the Hmong tribe. The women wore beautiful brightly colored clothes and headdresses. They carry large baskets of belongings and goods strapped to their backs. They do this from a young age. By the time they are old women their backs are permanently deformed and they walk hunched over.
This is a pic about a 1/2 kilometer after passing Heaven's gate...
Here's some pics from a small town I went through before ascending the mountain pass...
You can see the basket in the bottom left has straps for slinging onto their back.
As I descended into the Valley a town came into view, can't remember the name and don't feel like looking it up...https://s7.postimg.org/sfyyx3a5n/IMG_1904.jpg
That's plenty for this post, I'll put up part two (and possibly three) within the next day or two.
!steemitworldmap 22.8242 lat 104.9701 long Northern Vietnam Motorbike Adventure, Vietnam, d3scr
!steemitworldmap 21.0377 lat 105.8510 long motorbiking the northern loop, Vietnam d3scr