🇻🇳 Ha Giang Loop - Motorbike Touring

Becoming a full-time passenger princess

You’d be hard-pressed to find a backpacker in Vietnam that’s not got the Ha Giang loop on the itinerary. This is a motorbike touring route, taking 3-4 days, taking you around North Vietnam and even coming close to the Chinese border.

You can do the loop yourself, but there are also tens of companies that organise well-priced tours that travellers usually opt for. You also don’t need to ride the motorbike yourself - in fact, most travellers opt for an “easy rider”, which involves hiring a local driver for the duration and riding on the back of the bike. A lot of the fun of the loop is getting to know your driver. On social media, you can also find numerous accounts of people falling in love with them.

Cost-wise, an easy rider costs about £9.58 a day (without a tip, which people usually give). If you decide to drive yourself without an international license, you’ll be fined an amount that works out at double that per day. You can avoid further fines if you’re stopped again, though, by showing that you already paid the fine. It’s an interesting system.

I wanted to book the tour with Bong, having heard good things from friends, and because they seem to have a good balance between partying and exploring. Sadly, they were booked up for the next two weeks, so I went for Flipside instead. This is a smaller company, and I’ve heard good things from people who have recently done the tour. They also emphasised going off the beaten path and providing some variety in their activities, which appealed to me.

Getting ready

The night before setting off, I met everyone in my group at Flipside’s villa. I only later found that Flipside’s main selling point was nicer food and accommodation, which they definitely live up to. While I don’t mind slumming it and don’t want to get used to comfort, it was a huge upgrade from the packed dorms I’ve been staying in.

The average age in my group was somewhere in mid-to-late 20s, and I ended up getting pretty close to many people in the group, which is hard to do while backpacking. Ending up with a good group is seemingly where choosing the right company matters, as otherwise, the routes that most companies take are very similar.

Riding around

The days followed a similar structure - we got on the bike and drove to the next viewpoint or cafe, stopping every 45 minutes or so. The views around Ha Giang were breathtaking and varied a bit as we drove to different areas. I’ve never been anywhere with scenery like it; it’s a special place.

We also seriously lucked out on the weather, providing decent visibility (but not perfect, partially due to the pollution).

At a few points, we stopped for a dip in the waterfalls. After riding around in the hot, humid climate, this was incredibly refreshing.

During the breaks, the easy riders all hung out and smoked local tobacco (thuoc lao) from bongs. Many of them knew each other from when they were kids. My easy rider, Fo-o (which is definitely not how you spell his name, but that’s what it sounds like), sadly didn’t speak much English, but kept me safe.

We drove slower than other groups, which made me glad I went for Flipside, as accidents aren’t uncommon. We drove past two Vietnamese people who had crashed and were bleeding from the mouth on the side of the road. Despite this, the roads were in very good condition along the main road - there’s been a lot of investment into maintaining the roads here.

In the evenings, we stayed in cosy homestays and had family-style dinners. The views from some of the homestays were incredible.

The evenings usually involved family-style dinners and drinking quite a lot of happy water (a locally brewed spirit made from corn or rice), followed by karaoke. This was really entertaining when people started singing songs from their respective countries, including the easy riders.

I also sang a Polish disco polo song with a German girl in my group, Hanna, who has Polish parents. I’m afraid that footage can’t surface anywhere, though.

On one of the days, we also delivered some supplies to families living remotely. That involved buying a few live chickens in bags (they had their legs tied).

It turned out that the chicken was for eggs and not for meat, to everyone’s relief.

The final day

The last day was a bit of a wildcard. I opted for the 4-day tour, but there was an option to do 3 days also. Most companies keep you on the motorbike for the duration of the tour, but not Flipside. For their 4-day tour, we still finished the tour in 3 days, and on the fourth day, did a bunch of sidequests - swimming and diving in waterfalls, visiting an easy rider’s home, and swimming in a cave. I was pretty glad about this, as 3 days felt like plenty (more on that later).

In the easy rider’s home, we had more happy water and just chilled for a bit.

Also, a few other people and I tried the tobacco bong - thuoc lao. Usually, foreigners pass out when they try it, providing the easy riders with some entertainment. I didn’t find it too bad. The bong itself was very primitive, with no way to remove the stem, but it cooled the smoke down well. The high was akin to ones I’ve experienced after trying snus, although this time I didn’t throw up. As a non-smoker, I found myself pretty buzzed for a few minutes. The tobacco packets all have a photo of some dude:

Swimming in the cave was also super cool. I’ve not done anything like it, and having to squeeze through a tiny gap to get in to the cave made the whole thing feel lawless.

It’s not all roses

There’s one thing that I didn’t love about the loop - being a passenger princess started getting boring on the second day. The novelty of riding a motorbike in the countryside simply wore off. Also, having not worked for the views at all, I was also missing some sort of element of challenge. I love this aspect of hiking or skiing, for example, where you really have to work for a rewarding view, and you finish the day feeling accomplished. I didn’t get that here.

Aftermath

Many people find the Ha Giang loop to be a transformative experience, with it ending up being the main highlight of their travels. While I had a great time and met some cool people, it didn’t quite reach that level for me. Saying this, I’d love to try motorbike touring where I’m the one driving. I can see it being super fun getting a few friends together and taking things at your own pace, perhaps in one of the alternative loops. I’m thinking of maybe getting a motorbike license when I’m back home, just as a skill to have for things like this. We’ll see.

I’ve thought about it, and perhaps people like the loop as it’s a very accessible activity holiday, especially for people who don’t embark on such holidays often. If it acts as a springboard for people to get out of the city and explore their passions, then, honestly, it should absolutely be regarded as highly as it is. Or maybe I’m just bitter because my driver didn’t fall in love with me.