day 249, Ha Giang

I love and hate Vietnam because I love and hate it’s people, and the people make the place. In the course of 24 hours it has swung both ways numerous times. Having been tucked in and attempting to get some sleep at nine it seemed the whole town was making a dreadful racket for some reason so put in my earplugs (Vietnam is the only place so far that I have actually needed them). Come ten o clock someone is banging down our door and it opens and in comes this angry woman to take the second blanket that I took from next door, fair enough but she was really pissed off. They carried on making noise, trucks driving right outside beeping, had a shit sleep and woke up at 7. After petrol-ing and loading the bike we set off for Ha giang. It was a fucking amazing road, really smooth and near the river. Michael’s bike was bloody hot near the crack so we took a break and each festered on what would happen if his bike conked out. The sun came out and it was a perfect road and the views were amazing. We stopped off for some brunch at this little Pho place, the bloke was super nice and after cooking us food came and had tea with us while he talked his limited English and I told him my name, my age, where I’m from and that I have a friend in Vietnamese. After that we carried onwards towards Ha Giang, again the road was stunning and I was just having so much fun. Having arrived in Ha giang we had heard that you need a permit to drive north so we found the police station and got no-where, I went through all the variations of needing a permit and he just looked at me blankly. I asked him if I needed to pay something to go up and he said no. So… we carried on northward and the road and views were incredible, then the road got shit and really wind-y (wind-y as in ’the long and winding road’) but still the views were glorious. We reached a point where it had a viewpoint and a tourist information centre, of course they didn’t speak English though with the marvel that is google translate turns out you do need a permit, from next door to the police station, and you have to get it in Ha Giang or Meo Vac which is miles away. Started the difficult drive back and we parked up in the shade to let Michael’s bike cool and a local invited us into his house. Three rice wine shots later, a few cups of tea, some steamed sticky fish rice and turning down tobacco and having a laugh with him and his brother left them carrying more food and water though didn’t need them, plus the soul was fed. We carried on and found a hotel and Michael went off to get his bike looked at again. Turns out they can replace the part, it will cost a bit and we’ll be here another night but ah well. After mooching around we went out looking for food though didn’t have much luck, and after walking around pretty much the whole of town settled for some Pho which was very average and then back to the room with sweets to watch a movie, Going the Distance, which despite it’s mediocrity really enjoyed.

this shit photo is to show the road, would have been fantastic if it wasn't loose gravel

from the viewpoint,  classily there was a plaque just next to the  viewpoint naming those things "fairy nipples"