Trip of couple Anne-Marie and Christian AUDE with the local agency Vietnam Evasion
From September 20, 2019 to October 2, 2019
Tour : Hanoi – Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Meo Vac – Lung Phin – Lan Ha Bay
Even if many beautiful travelogues have already been published about Vietnam, I hope that this trip in pictures will bring back good memories to some, will provide useful information to others for their next trip or simply will make you have a good time while traveling through this beautiful country.
Before leaving, some quick information about the context (some topics will be detailed later in the story, e.g. the weather at this period):
– trip realized from mid-September to October 2019
– eleventh trip in South-East Asia – in couple as every time, it is much simpler
– travel by bus, cab, minibus (limousine) and plane (1 time) and by private car the 1st week.
– accommodation: from basic homestay to a very nice hotel in Hanoi, with a preference for small charming hotels
– a lot of time spent on forums and guides before the departure to list the places which interest us, then course modified from day to day in front of the weather, of the desires, of the tiredness, of the meetings, etc… Before the departure, we have a superb list of places “to see absolutely”, and on the spot we realize that this splendid program is much too ambitious. We then remove this or that place in order not to transform the trip into an exhausting speed race.
– Following some very good advices from forumers who will recognize themselves (a big thank you to them), we made a departure from our way of traveling (no reservation before the departure, except the hotel the day of the arrival) by booking 11 days with the local agency Vietnam Evasion to travel through the northern mountains and the bay of Lan Ha with a driver and a French speaking guide. Going with an agency was indeed the best solution to discover this region without bus in many places, and the guide is very useful not to get lost in hiking.
Let’s go !
Nos étapes :
– Extrême nord (Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Meo Vac) vers les ethnies montagnardes et rizières
– Baie de Lan Ha “la jumelle de la baie d’Halong”
– Hanoi
Episode 1: Meeting the ethnic groups of the northern mountains
For us who usually travel alone, we appreciate to be waited at the Hanoi airport at 6:30 am by Vinh our guide and Nghia our driver, direction the north.
To the 11h of flight, we add 5-6h of car for Bac Ha, of which the half of it on a beautiful deserted highway.
Bac Ha is a small city in the middle of the mountains, with only some small hotels of middle range and guesthouses, which makes that we meet there some tourists, but without excess.
2 hours after our arrival in Bac Ha, we left for a 1st hike in the middle of the rice fields which dominate the city.
They are not the most beautiful of the region, but we spend a very pleasant moment to stretch our legs after the trip in such an environment.
As agreed with the agency, 2 to 3 hours of walking between villages and rice fields will be on the program each day: we will discover villages, meet inhabitants of several ethnic groups along the way, and simply walk in beautiful rice fields.
Varied Hmong ethnic group
The region of Bac Ha is mainly inhabited by Hmong, here Hmong with flowers:
(afterwards, if some mistakes have unfortunately been made on the names of ethnic groups, I won’t be offended if the specialists rectify them)
The harvest will soon begin, the rice fields start to change from bright green to yellow, we will see them golden yellow the next day.
Everywhere peasants are at work: through Vinh, we will exchange several times, they who are as curious about us as we are about them.
The next day, let’s go to Can Cau market, 45 minutes from Bac Ha (18km) on a road zigzagging in a beautiful mountain landscape (this will be the diet of the week to come).
67 years of French presence have left these beautiful memories along the roads :
Our route was studied with the agency to be on the Can Cau market on Saturday, Bac Ha on Sunday and Lung Phin the following Wednesday.
The Can Cau marrket is located in the middle of nature, in the mountainside.
Hmong from the surroundings come to sell or buy all kinds of products, clothes, food, live animals, birds, etc… :
Flower Hmong (above and below)
Some leave with clothes (top and bottom)
others with a pig or a goat (for the purchase of buffalo the moped is not advised)
We are the only tourists.
The market day is also the occasion for all the villagers of the surroundings to meet
around a thang cô (meat and intestines of beef in a broth of blood, spices and aromatic herbs) accompanied by alcohol of rice or more surprising of Red Bull (!!)… one does not stop the progress. We did not taste this thang cô, the breakfast being not far….
Red Bull and pipe
Next Episode : Meeting the ethnic groups of the northern mountains (continued)
Fantastic routes Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Lan Ha Bay (episode 2)
Fantastic routes Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Lan Ha Bay (episode 3)
Fantastic routes Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Lan Ha Bay (episode 4)
Fantastic routes Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Lan Ha Bay (episode 5)
Fantastic routes Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Lan Ha Bay (episode 6)
Fantastic routes Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Lan Ha Bay (episode 7)
Fantastic routes Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Lan Ha Bay (episode 8)
Fantastic routes Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Lan Ha Bay (episode 9)
Fantastic routes Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Dong Van – Lan Ha Bay (episode 10)
