Our EPIC Northern Vietnam MOTORBIKE adventure begins! (Ha Giang Loop to Cao Bang Province)

We've hopped on a six-hour bus from Hanoi and headed north to Hà Giang, where for the next six days we'll be going on an epic motorbike adventure through northern Vietnam. We'll be riding through small villages, seeing amazing mountain views and scenery, going to the largest waterfall in the country, checking out a gorgeous lake, and so much more. And for the first part of the journey we're going to be riding part of the Hà Giang loop. The Hà Giang loop is a roughly 350 kilometer multi-day motorbike loop through Vietnam's northernmost province of Hà Giang. It's said to be one of the best things to do in Vietnam and it's what we have been most excited for on this entire trip. Riding motorbikes in Southeast Asia has been a bucket list item for us for years but we encountered a bit of a hurdle when we started to plan this. Long story short, it turns out that we cannot drive a motorbike over 50 cc's here legally and while many people do drive them without a valid license or permit, our health insurance would not be valid if something happened to us. So we have hired easy riders instead, which are guides that will drive us and we'll be on the back. We're not going to lie, this felt pretty lame at first but in the end we think it's going to be even better. We've never driven a motorcycle before so this will be the safest, plus we'll be able to enjoy the scenery more by not having to focus on the road and we'll learn a lot by having guides with us. And speaking of guides, we hired our guides through a company called Hà Giang Road Trip, which is a small company with local guides and this morning we're meeting up with them to kick off this epic Meet Nova and Hugh, our guides, dance partners, and family for the next week on the road. I've got so many thoughts. We are just getting started. We're maybe 20 minutes in and the scenery is already incredible. It is so much fun. I've never really understood the hype of riding motorcycles or anything and my dad's side of the family has always been into it, but I'm starting to get it now. This is a lot of fun. Yeah, as Adam said, we're about 20-30 minutes in and this is already my favorite thing we have done in Vietnam. I'm so excited for the rest of the week. The smile has not come off my face and I think it's going to be like this the entire time. It's like I'm just looking around like, smile. My cheeks are gonna hurt by the end of this. I will say though, my hips are kind of starting to hurt from just kind of the way that my legs are sitting so I have to do some some stretching. Good thing we are stopping for some breaks, which is what we're doing right now. The road is starting to get a lot more mountainous. This drive is known for its many mountain passes, windy and narrow roads, drop-offs, and rocky cliff sides. And as we started to drive further from Ha Giang, we left the valley and began our first big climb of Bac Sum Pass. As we climbed up this pass, the gears are popping a little bit and the temperature has dropped a few degrees. It feels real nice. Unsurprisingly, we have made it to our first major stop, the Heaven's Gate. The Heaven's Gate sits at about 1500 meters and has sweeping views of the mountains, rice fields, and villages, and it even has a cafe where you can grab drinks. We got ourselves a mango smoothie and I can confidently say this is the best view I've ever had while drinking a mango smoothie. Just like our cave tour, they have named some things along the way after female anatomy. Yeah, fairy boobies. Vietnam is home to 54 ethnic minorities, and this area of northern Vietnam near the China border is home to the Hamong ethnic minority. We stopped at a beautiful lookout where we got to see one of the many villages in this area, and Nova told us that due to the rocky terrain, they can really only grow corn. See all of the golden brown on the ground? Those are the cornfields that in a few months will become green and full of corn. The elevation changes on this drive has just been insane. We start in these deep down in these valleys and then the driver points to and says we're going way up there and I'm like there's no way. And it happens in like a minute and a half. Yeah, and you just zoom up the mountain. Oh man, how wild. We've made it to the town of Yen Ming and it's time for lunch. Oh my gosh, the food never ends. Our guys would always order us a handful of local dishes and we'd eat family style, sampling everything on the table. The food was always delicious. So good. I'm so hungry right now. And the perfect fuel before getting back onto the bike for the rest of the day. Still getting the hang of getting on the bike. We are about to go up the Hamong. We just came up that. It's so cool to be able to come up it and then get on top and be able to see where you just came from. On the Ha Zang loop there are beautiful surprises around every corner but one of the best surprises was a detour we took to Nova's village. Nova's part of the Hamong ethnic minority and spent part of his childhood in a small village right by the loop. And to get there we went down a windy mountainous road in an area full of rocky mountains and fields which create one of the coolest natural contrasts we have ever seen. We got to visit his uncle's house and meet his aunt plus some of their cute animals. We also got to see the school he walked five kilometers every day to get to and learned about how self-sufficient the Hamong are. Utilizing natural resources like rainwater to have drinking water plus cows to plow the fields since the terrain is too steep and rocky for machinery. We left feeling extremely grateful to have local guides that can share part of their culture with us and open their home to us. Learning about how others grew up and live is one of the best parts of travel. It opens your eyes to different ways of life and helps you appreciate things that you take for granted every day. Watch out! What an incredibly special experience. This is exactly why we wanted to hire a guide because we wanted to learn more about the culture of the people who live in this part of Vietnam and this is something that we could have never done on our own. Yeah this is making me kind of glad we didn't drive ourselves. The scenery has been jaw-dropping the entire day. I don't think we've had one second without just a gorgeous view around us. We just made one final stop before we get to our stopping point for the day and just look at this. These mountains are just towering. They're so dramatic looking. Every single person we've met since being here in Vietnam said that this was the most beautiful part of the country and they are a thousand percent correct. The cost of the private tour we booked is $660 USD per person which is our most expensive experience here in Vietnam but this includes all of our meals, the bikes, our guides, any entrance fees, and the lodging for the entire trip and each night we're staying in a different place and tonight we're staying in a hotel in Dong Van which is a much bigger town than we were expecting and our room is simple but it's pretty nice. We've got two beds, a full bathroom, AC, and Wi-Fi. We have another feast for dinner and I'm so excited. That beef is real good. Today we're riding from Dong Van to Meo Vac which we hear may be the most scenic part of the entire trip so we are super excited but first we're taking a quick detour to the Lung Khu flag tower. We're getting really close to the flag tower but the road leading to it goes really close to the China border right on the top of this hill here. We can see the fence along the border just right in front of us. Oh my gosh there's China! That's China right there! Every time we are near a border I just freak out because I think it's the coolest thing ever to be able to see into another country. That is a huge flag. We are heading up to the top of the flag pole and to get there we have to walk up about 400 steps or so. I am so out of breath right now. The tower is 33 meters tall and represents the northernmost point of Vietnam although the border with China and the actual northernmost point is still a few kilometers north and the flag at the top is 54 square meters representing the 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam. The view from up here is incredible you're kind of in a bowl of these pointy mountains it's spectacular. As you can tell it's really windy they picked a great spot to have a flag waving. The next mountain is China. I figured since they're teaching me Vietnamese I can teach them the little bit of Spanish that I know. We made it back to Dong Van and we just had a delicious fried rice lunch and now we're off to Ma Pi Leng Pass which is said to be the most beautiful pass in all of Vietnam. This is incredible! This is some of the craziest scenery I've ever seen. Wow! Oh my gosh! Now we're going on the pass. Riding along the steep mountains of the Ma Pi Leng Pass is an incredible experience in itself but even more so when you think about how it came to be. The 185 kilometer road from Ha Giang where we started to Meo Vac where we'll be ending our day was a huge feat to build. From 1959 to 1965 thousands of local workers plus volunteers from nearby provinces built this road using mostly hand tools and enduring tough terrain and conditions. And upon its completion it was given the nickname happiness road because of how many people came together to open rural parts of Vietnam to the rest of the country giving locals more opportunities. And we can confirm that it brought a lot of happiness to us as well. This view is insane! You have these towering mountains and the Nho Que river running right through it which originates in China. Not only do we get to see the river from above but we're actually just part of the road as well. What a drive that was huh? That was crazy! Thousands of feet down that was crazy. Everything is sore because I was holding on so hard. Going downhill is tough to stay in the saddle. Not only does this boat ride take us on the river but it also takes us through Tucson alley which is the deepest canyon in Southeast Asia. This is a massive canyon. We're right in between the tallest part of the walls. We've driven through some big canyons but I don't think we've ever boated through one. This is crazy. I can't even fit the whole canyon in the camera anymore it's so tall. Apparently you can swim on this boat trip so here we go. It's cold. I don't have a swimsuit. Swimming in the deepest canyon in Southeast Asia. Just check out that view. That was absolutely magical. If you come here try to come close to sunset because the golden lighting was just stunning. Our guides are just too much fun. Now we have a steep ride back up. After making the short but steep drive to Mayo Vac we checked into our hotel for the night before heading out to dinner with our guides. We had asked Hugh what his favorite food was earlier in the day and he said goat meat so we enjoyed some goat hot pot in his honor. Oh boy what a day. It was a short day in terms of distance but it was loaded with epicness and we are so pooped. Here in Mayo Vac is normally where you'd start to head south on the Hazang loop but we're actually not going to be finishing the full loop and instead are going to continue 160 kilometers east towards Cao Bang. While we wish we could see the second half of the loop we still have so many more amazing spots we're going to check out over the next four days and we cannot wait. Day three started out with super windy roads down mountains and through small villages and one big difference that we noticed from the previous days is that there were no other tourists around. Even though the Hazang loop is pretty remote and takes a bit of work to get to it is extremely popular with tourists and today it felt like we were just riding with the locals. We had done a ton of research on the Hazang loop and seen many photos but for this next part of the drive we really have no idea what to expect which is making today extra exciting as everything is kind of a surprise and they just took us to this bridge on a river and we came across some local kids that are just swimming and jumping in the water and it is just awesome. We're giving them our gopro so they can jump off with it. That's awesome. We've stopped for lunch in the village of Bao Loc and we've got a fried chicken feast. We also have a huge mound of sweet potato leaf topped with tons of garlic and sticky rice. I like all the crispies on there. Good and crispy, tender, juicy. I got a really fatty piece. I like it. Bye bye. Thank you. What a ride that was. Hand hug. That pass that we just went up is called Co Co Cha and it also has another name that means pig intestines in Vietnamese because it is so windy. It has 14 different turns. That was the craziest road I've ever been on. The top of the pass has the cutest cat, the sweetest cat, probably the friendliest cat I've ever met actually. Me too. Me too. Me crazy too. One thing I like about this tour is that not only to admire the scenery but just to give your body a little bit of a break too. How's your butt doing? It's currently inflating right now. Tonight we're staying at the Mae Farm stay in the Na Ma village and this place is a magical garden just tucked between tons of mountains. We have a private room which is basically made out of all wood and more importantly we have a private bathroom and this place just feels like absolute paradise and they have a dog. This is the best place ever. It has been an incredible first few days. It's almost hard to put into words just how special this trip has been but luckily it is not over yet. We still have three more days on this motorbike trip and so much more to see so stay tuned. It's like an astronaut Houston we have a problem. Oh my gosh. The camera eats first. That was cooler in my head. And more importantly we have a private bathroom. It's as heavy as you. He won't let us carry it but it's so heavy. It's like a robot. Yeah like a robot.