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Day 18

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Ha Giang Loop → Dong Van

I awoke at 4:00 AM.

Breakfast at 7:45 AM. Fried eggs and toast. Take ‘em however you get ‘em because English is not an option.

The lobby was alive with activity and people were gathering. We checked in at a counter where a very poised and articulate (in English) woman asked for our passports and international driver’s permits with the motorcycle endorsement. She seemed to be a manager-level person. Reviewing the documents, especially the international driver’s permits with motorcycle endorsements, she pointed of the date of the international convention under which the permit was issued in the U.S.. She further said that the permits accepted in Vietnam are not the convention of that date, but rather of a different year. I had heard of this before by way of my research, so it was not a complete surprise.

She made a strong case for abandoning our idea of driving our own motorcycles and instead riding on the back as Easy Riders with a Vietnamese-licensed driver. I told her I understood the issue and politely declined the offer, saying I would take responsibility. In my mind, I knew that meant possibly paying both my and Lauren’s fine, and possibly any fine levied against the tour company. 

She acquiesced, saying it would be up to the discretion of the police officer whether to accept our permits or not. Like I said, the Ha Giang Loop can be stressful.

We packed up our bikes by 9:20 AM

A young man watched us closely as we started them to warm up. Warming up is a necessary step with the XR150. When he saw me find the choke lever and set it to the half mark, he looked surprised and said in perfect English, “Oh, you are experienced.”

Turns out that was Tony, a jolly 25 year old that was to be our guide. He called us together in the lobby and we met Matt. Matt is software engineer, mid 30s, from Brazil who was traveling around Asia. Laos was next after Vietnam. He had spent a year in Australia learning English before starting his Asia tour. He was smart, strong, and good-natured. He was also a man of few words.

We were to be a travel group of 4: Tony, Matt, Lauren, and Don.

Game plan

Tony brought us to the Ha Giang Loop map and used a pointer to describe our route around the loop. His pointer tour was opposite the direction we actually travelled, telling me in retrospect that it was just a performance rather than instruction.

Finally, we mounted the bikes and took off. A leisurely departure was one of Tony’s signature moves.  

Tony took us clockwise on the loop first to start a 130 kilometer leg. Immediately after leaving the town of Ha Giang, Tony led us onto a side/back road to avoid a police checkpoint. Apparently, this was standard practice to avoid the hassle and delay. Fine by me, it took us off the highway onto the road less travelled. Less traffic, less stress. It was dirt and rough, but no problem after our previous journeys near Phong Nha.

Police

On the detour, we came to another police checkpoint.

Apparently the police were onto the detour strategy and had popped up another checkpoint to counter it.

Police checkpoint location was information shared rapidly between Easy Rider guides and fellow foreign travelers.

We waited over an hour before attempting the checkpoint. There were many bikes and Easy Riders loitering on the highway before the checkpoint. Finally Tony suggested we hire some of the loitering Easy Riders to drive us through the checkpoint. We agreed for a price of 100,000 Dong each. It sounded like a good plan but my XR150 has a manual transmission with manual clutch. Turns out that was unusual and none of the Easy Riders had the skills. After lots of discussion, one came forward to volunteer. He could manage the gearshift, but the manual clutch was beyond him. So I handled the clutch on takeoffs. Once underway, he could manage the gear shifting.

Riding through a police checkpoint with a Vietnamese Easy Rider is a non-event. They stop foreigners. This is the economy at work. I don’t know what Easy Riders make. Can’t be much. But they are working.

I paid my guy the 100,000 Dong as agreed plus another 100,000, making him very happy and causing some teasing from his peers.

Back on our bikes, we were on our way again. Maybe 1 kilometer later and around a few blind bends, the police had set up another flash checkpoint, a stealthy one using a civilian car. Apparently they were onto the temporary Easy Rider ploy. Naturally they pulled us over. We were only 3 hours into the Ha Giang Loop and we were in police hands.

They asked for our driver’s permits. I had sufficient cash onhand to satisfy customary fines as I understood them from research on the deep internet. But not more readily visible because fines are said to inflate from the reasonable floor level to the amount visible, according to the internet. Having less that an amount deemed reasonable runs the risk of having your bike seized and taken to town until you produce the cash.

I decided to play it straight, handing over my legitimate permit, save for the date of the convention, without any cash buried in the pages.

It turns out many, many people have international driver’s permits. Very few, including our companion, Matt, have the added motorcycle endorsement. The motorcycle endorsement was what the police officers were after They held onto our permits for a  long time, going away for a discussion. Assuming the best, that these police officers were concerned with safety, and this makes sense. Unqualified and unlicensed riders are dangerous. Accidents are tragic and hurt the economy. Remember the Ha Giang Loop attracts the young, backpacker crowd … some in shorts and flipflops and clearly not experienced motorcycle riders. BTW, I love that crowd. But I don’t want them hurt either.

Matt did not have the motorcycle endorsement on his international driver’s permit and was taken with guide Tony in the car with the older, more severe policeman to another location. We were left to wonder what was going to happen. After a while, one of the younger policemen asked to see our U.S. driver’s license. One of the conditions of the international permit is that you must also carry your local license, presumably so the international permit can be verified and matched to the name and person. He studied our licenses for awhile before eventually returning them. Tony later said, “they accept your papers.” Matt was not so lucky. 

We waited quietly on the side of the road, happily seeing a momma pig and piglets milling about the adjacent farm. Lots of piglet squeals.

Waiting by a farm

The tour group with Easy Riders we saw at the first police checkpoint rode by, smiling and waving their happy greetings. Most of the passengers were young, European women. Everyone was glad to see Lauren and perhaps bemused to see her touring with her Dad. We were a novelty everywhere we went. 

Tony and Matt returned and quickly got on their bikes, not saying anything other than, “Let’s go!”. They did not want to talk about it. We were on our way again. 

The first 3 hours of the Ha Giang Loop were certainly eventful. Drama. Again.

Later we found out that Matt was assessed a fine of 1,500,000 Dong, an amount deemed reasonable (about $60 U.S.). It also was about all he had on him. He was also given a brochure about traffic safety and told to show it to any other police on the loop as evidence that he already paid. I congratulated Matt, saying he was now free and clear to enjoy his trip. If only it were so.

Back on the road, the weather quickly turned cold, and very, very foggy. We came to another police checkpoint. One of the policemen pointed to my chest-mounted action camera and slowly said, “Turn off,” pointing to my camera. It was an order. I happily complied and showed him that I did. This check was noneventful for everyone and we were quickly on our way. Perhaps Tony explained we had previously been stopped and that Matt had paid.

High in the mountains, we encountered fog, fog, and more fog. We could only see 15 feet or so, not knowing the dropoffs to oblivion or the hidden bus. Stopping was not an option as traffic behind us would collide. The only workable strategy was to follow the guardrails. The guardrails are often missing on the Ha Giang roads so that strategy can be flawed – but it was the best we had.

We would instantly return to clear air as we left the cloud. The views were stunning. Ha Giang is a truly beautiful place. I hope the world does not spoil Ha Giang as word gets out.

We soon came to a village and I learned a new pattern to be expected for the rest of the trip.

Villages are full of people, especially children, and lots of animals. All are in the streets mixing with traffic. Tony sped through the village at high speed, with his 25 y.o. prefrontal cortex and sense of invincibility. My prefrontal cortex and imagination are much more experienced. I could imagine hitting an animal, or horribly hitting a child. The backpacker set has cultivated a sport of high five gestures with children. Consequently they run toward speeding motorcycles with their hands extended for a high five. I was horrified by the possibility. 

I refused to speed through villages. The speed limit in urban areas is 40 kph, or 25 mph, unless otherwise posted (at least as I understand it). Besides, going through town at a responsible speed affords the opportunity to take in the sights and smells. I came halfway around the world to experience Vietnam, not speed through it. Militant law-abiding rider in my case.

The consequence is that I was consistently separated from Tony and Matt. Lauren’s speedometer was faulty, so she was left to judge speed for herself or follow one of us. She most often hung with me. Once again, I came to appreciate Tigit Motorbikes, our prior supplier with their superior maintenance program.

Tony usually would wait at the far side or a village for me to catch up. He was counting on my ability to spot a Vietnamese man on a ubiquitous Honda Blade in order to reconstitute our tiny group. Or, if there was a non-obvious fork in the road to be taken, Tony would wait there for me. It worked most of the time.

After the last fork, we stopped at a foggy scenic overlook to enjoy the beauty of the inside of a cloud. I bought a coffee from local kids for 30,000 Dong. It was, no surprise, delicious but more importantly warm. The local women and kids were dressed in the colorful clothes of the region.

We put on our full rain gear and got back on the road. It was an exquisite combination of beautiful scenery and bodily misery. Motorcycling in the cold rain in the mountains is not for the faint of heart.

After some time on the bikes in the cold rain, I was soaked, cold, and stiff. My motorcycle pants were armored with padding. When that stuff gets wet, it is heavy and stiff.  At the next rest stop, I did not get off the bike. Being stiff, I wasn’t sure I could get off and back on the bike successfully again.

Finally near dark we arrived at Dong Van Hostel to find the place had no heat. We happened to arrive at the same time as new Dutch friends, who were doing the Ha Giang Loop by car driven by our buddy Nam. We were too tired to fight about the heat. No worries, our Dutch friends pitched a fit demanding that all of us be moved to accommodations with heat. It was about 6:00 PM. Tony got on the phone.

Soon enough we were moving down the street to Hmong Hotel. The lobby was open to the weather. The rooms were cold and we couldn’t get the heat to work. But we had a roof and two beds. Good enough.

Not Too Tired to Dance

We met Matt, Tony, and our Dutch friends for dinner at 7:00 PM. Traveling with only the clothes on my back and in my backpack, I only had a pair of ankle boots for footwear. My boots were soaked and needed to dry. So I put on the tiny, plastic shower sandals to go to dinner. Major mistake. It was 500 painful meters to the restaurant.

Dinner was traditional Vietnamese foods including pork, beef, eggs, rice, and tofu. Beverages include happy water and beer. Happy water is some local, perhaps homemade, liquor. I am not sure what it is made of, but it is strong, and typically served as shots with a group cheer. I guess it to be somewhere in the range of 40 to 80 proof. It is everywhere on the loop. Caution. 

Our dinner companions included a young Dutch couple from Maastricht and a Dutch couple my age from Friesland (the ones driven by Nam and advocating for hotel change). Dinner was great fun with many happy water toasts with the locals.

After dinner we walked to the town square where a community folk dance started, led by a local young lady. Eventually the crowd joined in following her moves. Lauren joined in making a good show of it. Despite encouragement from locals my age, I could not join in wearing the painfully small, plastic shower sandals. See photos and video.

I walked back to the cold, cold, cold room to climb under the covers at 11:30 PM. I was serenaded by a continuously crowing rooster. Lauren stayed out to enjoy the local culture.

Tony escorted Lauren back to the hotel later. The plan was to meet at 7:30 AM  the next day for a 9:00 AM departure.

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