The goal for the day was to reach Sapa, far in the Northern Vietnam. I visited Sapa once before in 2017 and the weather in Sapa tends to be a bit rough around this time so I did not intend to have a long stay. Sapa can be incredibly beautiful around the right time of the year. I have seen some photos of it in spring when the rice paddies are lush green. Unfortunately, for the second time my intended visit was scheduled too soon for that. Nonetheless, I was still looking forward to it. It's still an incredible place to visit.
Cruising To Sapa
The road further north looked challenging on Google Maps and I had no other information about the current condition of it so I had to leave early. The first half of the day I was cruising - the traffic was nonexistent, diverse landscapes all around and for stretches I was pushing the absolute max out of my motorcycle.
Once further north, I reached a strange town or a small city. It looked completely deserted. I was riding through it on this wide road with no traffic. It felt so spooky. I was preparing to tackle the mountain road ahead so I needed a break, and I found the nearest cafe for some snacks and coffee in this strange looking town.
Past this town I started riding through some ethnic looking villages. That meant I was close to Sapa region. The road was steep and it was a struggle for my motorcycle at times. I was getting really high in the mountains. This was probably the highest I have been on this trip. The landscapes were jaw dropping. I didn't feel like I was in Vietnam anymore. I stopped to soak up the view and to look over the road I had tackled. The viewpoint was packed with people and tourists. This same viewpoint was much less mainstream the last time I visited Sapa. There were even locals selling food and stuff.
Looking For Accommodation
It was getting late and I had to pick up the pace. The other side of this mountain another crazy view appeared. This time with Sapa in sight and low clouds passing over it with incredible speeds.
I was getting worried whether I would make it to my accommodation. I wasn't even sure how to get to it. It was a homestay a little bit away from the town. I had to take this narrow and zigzaggy road that looked like a trail. It was getting dark and I was having real trouble navigating this road so I gave up and went to look for hostels in town. This whole process was a pain. Sapa was packed with people and traffic while roads were narrow and in terrible condition. I was just riding around the town square looking for hostels. The first 3 places I checked were fully booked so I found some free wifi and booked online. This town is a nightmare on a motorcycle. I barely found a spot I could park it. Luckily, the hostel I checked into had this massive and fluffy dogo that cheered me up.
Ethnic Town Of Sapa
Sapa is a strange town. It feels like it was discovered in the past few years and saw this sudden tourist influx, so it's a chaos and this weird mix with tourist crowds and the local ethnic people trying to take advantage of it. There are many young children running around in ethnic outfits and carrying babies on their backs while their parents trying to sell tourists as much stuff as they can.
After these couple of days of not doing much I headed to Ha Giang, the main event of this road trip. On the way to Ha Giang, for a little while I was riding along the Chinese border and taking some unconventional roads. Some of this road was really bad and slowed me down so much I thought would get stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Arriving In Ha Giang
On the way to Ha Giang I got into a little racing match with these other backpackers who were taking the same route as I did. Two of them were on Honda Wins and one of them had a decent Kawasaki dirt bike. We kept overtaking each other all the way to Ha Giang. It turned out we were staying in the same hostel called Jasmine.
It's a really cool hostel and they help a lot with planning for Ha Giang Loop. Allegedly it was forbidden for foreigners to ride without a motorcycle licence here so police had a couple of checkpoints at the start of the loop. It was, however, allowed to ride as part of an official tour group and not have a licence. This hostel, like few other places in Ha Giang, was renting out scooters and motorcycles as well as organizing tours in Ha Giang Loop. To me this is a completely outrageous idea. They are teaching people how to ride a scooter or a motorcycle and taking them on this dangerous mountain road for 4 days. That is the whole reason the government is enforcing the police control here, because it's extremely dangerous and there have been deaths. At the same time who am I to judge, and this hostel allowed me and some other independent travellers to tag along on their tour until we get passed the police checkpoints.
It was an exciting few days ahead of me so I got some good sleep before starting the Ha Giang Loop.
To be continued.