Planting - Ha Giang motorbike trip, day 4

Last day of the motorbike loop and I had 100km to ride back to Ha Giang. I wanted to leave early but when I got up there was no one from the family running the hostel around. It was raining a little so I just waited to see whether someone would appear. The teenage son got up around 9am and made breakfast for everyone. All the others were also on motorbikes but going the other direction. All the people I met over this motorbike trip were also doing similar bike trips – some had never ridden before – and quite a few had had accidents. Riding those mountain roads as your first introduction to motorbikes seems crazy to me, but then I guess a lot of people would say I was crazy learning in Saigon’s insane traffic!


I left about 10am. It was cloudy but not raining. At least not until I got over the first hill! The rain was light though and soon stopped again. As the road climbed up, I was riding through a cloud. It made for misty, atmospheric views down into the valley. The extra is a slightly clearer view of one of the valleys – more rice terraces but this time in colour. After a long downhill section the road ran along a valley next to a river, between high limestone hills for a while before climbing up to Tam Son where I stopped for lunch. The last part was back along the road I’d driven on the first day. At the lower levels it was rice planting time and I passed several groups of women in the paddyfields. It looks hard work and very bad for your back.