Ha Giang Loop 5 Days Itinerary: The Unhurried Version
Ha Giang Loop 5 Days Itinerary: The Unhurried Version Most itineraries for this region are written around how much ground you can cover. This one is written around how much you can stop. Five days is not more of the same. It is time you can actually spend. Three days does the Loop. Four days […]
Is the Ha Giang Loop Worth It? An Honest Answer
Is the Ha Giang Loop Worth It? An Honest Answer Every traveler who asks this question has already half decided. What they want is permission, or a reason to stop. Ma Pi Leng Pass. The question usually answers itself somewhere around here. So here is a straight answer rather than a sales pitch. Is the […]
Ha Giang Loop Cost: A Full Budget Breakdown
Ha Giang Loop Cost: A Full Budget Breakdown Ask ten travelers what the Ha Giang Loop cost them and you will get ten different answers, and none of them will be lying. Ma Pi Leng Pass at first light. Most of what the Ha Giang Loop costs is decided before you get here. One person […]
Ha Giang Jeep Tour: What to Expect
Ha Giang Jeep Tour: What to Expect People book a Ha Giang jeep tour without a clear picture of what they have booked. They know it involves mountains, a vehicle and a driver. The rest is guesswork until the morning it starts. This guide is the plain version. What the jeep is actually like, who […]
The Ethnic Groups of Ha Giang: Who Lives Here
The Ethnic Groups of Ha Giang: Who Lives Here Travelers usually meet the ethnic groups of Ha Giang before they know anything about them. You stop at a market, buy something from a woman in clothing you have never seen before, and realise you have no idea who you have just been talking to. This […]
Hmong Linen Weaving: A Living Craft in Ha Giang
Hmong Linen Weaving: A Living Craft in Ha Giang The first thing you notice about Hmong linen weaving is the sound. A wooden loom being worked by hand has a rhythm to it, and in a village where several women are working, you hear the place before you see it. The second thing you notice, […]
Phong Nam Valley: Cao Bang’s Quiet Corner Near Ban Gioc
Phong Nam Valley: Cao Bang’s Quiet Corner Near Ban Gioc Most people arrive at Phong Nam Valley by accident. They came to Cao Bang for Ban Gioc Waterfall, the road passed through a wide flat valley of rice and stilt houses with limestone towers standing around the edges, and somebody said stop. That is how […]
Khau Vai Love Market: Meo Vac’s Tradition
Khau Vai Love Market: Meo Vac’s Tradition Khau Vai Love Market is the gathering most travelers to Ha Giang have heard about and almost none have seen. It happens once a year, in a remote commune in Meo Vac district, and if your dates do not line up you simply do not get to go. […]
Vietnamese Phrases for Ha Giang
Useful Vietnamese Phrases for Ha Giang You do not need Vietnamese to travel in Ha Giang. But learning even a handful of useful Vietnamese phrases changes the texture of the trip in a way that is difficult to describe until it happens to you. The moment is usually small. You say thank you properly at […]
Ha Giang Souvenirs: What to Bring Home
Ha Giang Souvenirs: What to Bring Home Most Ha Giang souvenirs that end up in a suitcase were not planned for. Somebody stops at a market for twenty minutes, watches an old woman working a loom, and leaves with a piece of indigo cloth they had no intention of buying that morning. That is the […]