Northern Vietnam Loop — Before Mars

I made it back to Vietnam! Ever since I left the country I’ve told everyone it is my favorite place to visit. In 2015, I drove from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh. But I missed out on all of the North. I heard plenty about its beautiful roads and now I can confirm that it is the best region to drive through.

I did this drive in 12 days. 10 days of driving. 1 rest day. 1 rain delay. It was a blast. Only a few hours outside of Hanoi the scenery improves drastically. It’s like everything gets enhanced. The rice fields get brighter. The Karst mountains get sharper. The roads are in great condition.

As always in Vietnam, the people were very friendly. Not in a fake we want your tourist dollars way. But just a pure genuine straightforwardness that I mentioned previously in my other article.

The guesthouses are affordable at $10-$20 a night. There are some bigger hotels oddly placed that were more expensive. But mostly, comfort and good value are easy to find.

Sapa is the most popular city because of its surrounding famous terraced rice fields. The city itself feels weird and touristy with many massage parlors and indigenous locals trying to sell you handmade clothing and bags. The region is absolutely amazing though. I would stay there for a few days just to explore the area.

There are an endless network of small roads not on the map that connect and sometimes dead end. Nevertheless leading to picturesque locations.

The main road around the Northernmost section hugs the border with China, which is a natural barrier of mountains.

On our second day we were stopping to take so many pictures that we didn’t have enough time to make it to a guesthouse. After driving in the dark for close to an hour we stopped and asked this family how far a hotel was. Putting my hands together and holding them up to my head like a pillow and then pointing down the road. The wife and husband responded by telling us in Vietnamese to park our bikes in front of their and house and to come in. We had dinner with them for 3 hours and had quite a few shots of rượu.

The next day I offered to pay them for dinner and for letting us stay the night. They kindly wouldn’t accept any money so I wrote them a long thank you letter in English. Hoping someone will translate it someday. Again, just a straightforward example of generosity.

After Sapa, you are fully in the mountains. Ha Giang is the next city. These roads have some of the best scenery. We even backtracked some so we could drive through some of it from both directions.

I ate a bowl of Pho every day. There’s also lots of roadside snacks along the way.

Watching the sunset over Vietnam and China.

Easy river crossing.

One day we needed help to cross a BIG river. We thought it was too deep and flowing too strong. We waited for 20 minutes or so until a local approached the river from the other direction. He took off his bags and walked them across first. Then drove through the deep water. After that we knew it was possible. Then this guy showed up and happily helped us get through without tipping over.