During the 3,5 weeks I spent in Vietnam, I embarked on three different adventures, in three completely different parts of the country. In this post, I’ll outline the challenge, the worst part and the best part for each of them respectively.
Motorbiking in the north
The challenge
In the company of three young Germans and two Vietnamese guides, I set out on a four day motorbike trip through the north of Vietnam. Four days of riding kilometer after kilometer, from Hanoi to Ha Giang (they call it the “Ha Giang Loop”, although we did an alternative route compared to the classic one), spending the nights at homestays and eating truly local food along the way. I was geared up – knee, elbow and hand protection, helmet and of course sunscreen. Turns out I really needed all of these…
The semi-automatic motorbike on which I rode through northern Vietnam during four days.
The northern Vietnamese roads
The worst
One of the worst things that can happen when you go on a motorbike tour is falling off your bike. It happened to me – twice. Not on the first day though, although I was a bit insecure and apprehensive, because I was still getting used to the bike. On the second, I felt a lot more comfortable and I even couldn’t get enough of it. I just kept hoping for more kilometers to ride, it was that nice. The last little stretch on the way to our homestay for that night, was a narrow concrete road amidst the rice fields. At some point, there was a rather sharp turn. No big deal, I had taken more of those that day. Next thing I knew, I was laying on the ground and the motorbike as well. It was so sudden that I barely realized what had happened. Had there been some gravel in the turn that had made the wheels slip? I had no idea. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t: the bike was laying heavily on my leg and from the position I found myself in, it was impossible for me to move it. Our Vietnamese guide, who was riding behind me, had to come and free me. Luckily, except for my leg feeling sore for the rest of the night, I had no injuries whatsoever. The next day, all of my confidence on the bike was gone. I kept thinking that I was going to fall again by missing my turn, slipping on gravel, and so on. None of that happened though, so that on the fourth and last day, I slowly was getting my confidence back. “I can do this,” I said to myself. “I have been doing this just fine for three days in a row except for that one single time.” It started raining a bit before lunch and eventually we were riding through some very heavy downpour. All we could do, was look at the road ahead and just keep going. Suddenly, bad luck struck again. This time around I realized it as it was happening: there was a tiny irregularity in the road surface just where I took the turn. When your wheel slips, there is nothing you can do. Just a fraction of a second later, I hit the ground again, my helmet smashing against the surface of the road. Soon after that there was another shock: our Vietnamese guide who was right behind me, couldn’t brake fast enough and he hit my bike. When I had gotten up and everybody assured themselves that I was fine, Hoang, our main guide, said to me: “You will stay right behind me from now on. Follow my track.” I just nodded. I felt terrible. Now suddenly, after those three days of riding with the guys, I seemed like this poor girl who couldn’t keep from falling off her bike. We continued our route through the heavy rain that disguised my tears, as I kept my eyes focused on Hoang’s bike track on the wet asphalt ahead of me.
Our second homestay, where we stayed right after I had fallen off my bike for the first time. It was a farm in the middle of the country. It was not even an official homestay, but Hoang had an arrangement with these farmers specifically for this tour. We would “shower” with the help of a bucket in a little brick shed and in order to get there, we would walk past some other sheds in the dark and I could hear a buffalo breathing right next to me while I walked past. It was a very unusual and truly authentic local experience!
Another not so nice thing on the motorbike tour: this local animal market where animals were being treated horribly.
The best
The north of Vietnam is absolutely gorgeous. The round peaks of the karst mountains, covered in lush green, alternate with grass green rice fields and the road, like a never ending ribbon curling around those mountains, never stopped amazing me with new views after every single turn we took. The absolute highlight was our first homestay, and specifically our dinner there. We stayed in a wooden house situated next to Ba Be Lake, and it had a patio that looked out over it. On that wooden patio with its great view, we were not only enjoying a really nice atmosphere but we also shared one of the best meals I’ve had during my entire trip.
The round peaks of the karst mountains, covered in lush green
A very typical sight in northern Vietnam.
The grass green rice terraces
The road, like a never ending ribbon curling around those mountains
Ba Be Lake, the view from our first homestay
One of the best meals I’ve had during my entire trip.
Cave trek in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park
The challenge
With a group of ten people, guide included, we left the little village of Phong Nha to go and discover the third largest cave in the world: Hang En Cave. In order to reach it, we had to walk through land that was pretty much untouched by human civilization. We crossed rivers just by walking through them – yup, my walking boots made funny sounds as soon as they had started absorbing the water – and in the evening we arrived at our tent camp in the jungle. Before enjoying dinner we went ahead and discovered a different cave which was partly under water. Small detail: we had to wade and even swim our way through that one wearing life jackets and head torches – and let me tell you, that water was COLD. That was some diehard adventure (for my standards at least). After spending the night in the tent, we continued our trek the next morning and reached Hang En Cave. We had perceived the mouth of the cave from afar but only when we were actually standing right in front of it, could we really appreciate its true size. On top of that, inside the cave we could see a lake and even a little beach next to it.
We crossed rivers just by walking through them
We were not alone during our picnic
Discovering a cave that was partly under water
The entrance of Hang En Cave
Inside Hang En Cave
The worst
The absolute worst part of this trek, and actually even one of the toughest moments of my entire trip, was the trek back to the village. We took a different route and this time around, we worked our way through a thick jungle. Don’t get me wrong: I love the jungle, with its sheer endless amount of different plants and shades of green, where nature seems to be more intensely alive than anywhere else. But at some point it had started to rain and it only kept getting heavier as it wore on. Had it just been that alone, I would still have been fine. I had put the rain cover on my backpack and it was not actually that cold either. But then we started climbing up a hill. It was steep, and the pace we had to follow was relentless. The ground was slippery because of how wet it was, and we had to just keep going up this steep hill that way for what felt like an eternity. I wasn’t sure about the others, who seemed to have a bit less trouble with the brutal pace we sustained, but I was absolutely suffering.
The jungle, beautiful even when it rains but not nice conditions for steep and fast uphill hikes unfortunately…
The best
In between all of the trekking and adventuring, there was some much appreciated social time with the rest of the group. Especially dinner time at the tent camp, followed by tasting the locally made liquor, made for some funny scenes where even the quietest members of the group loosened up.
Our tent camp in the jungle
Canyoning in Dalat
The challenge
Unlike the other two adventures, this was a one day thing. Accompanied by two local guides, me and three other travellers used all sorts of techniques (floating, walking, abseiling…) to make our way through a tumultuous part of the river.
No pictures for this one because I didn’t have my camera with me…
The worst
This was all a lot of fun, but what would have probably been the worst, was jumping off a 7 or even 11 meter cliff into the water – that is, if I had accepted to do it. My cliff jumping days are over though, I’ve lost my fomo with that years ago. Been there, done that, didn’t have fun doing it. And so despite the others insisting at me (the guides didn’t, which I appreciated), I didn’t give in. Later, during our picnic, we were discussing safety and past incidents with the guides. They said that however it all is really safe, when there had been incidents in the past, they would mostly be related to the cliff jumping. Not cool to say that after but it made me feel even better about my decision not to do it.
The best
The abseiling off the rocks next to the waterfall is pretty cool, but in all honesty, what I liked the absolute best, was just floating down the river on my back, with the help of my life jacket. It’s amazing! The river does all the work and you just relax and enjoy the ride!
Morgane's Travel Tales 
8 thoughts on “Adventure in Vietnam”