Middle North West Vietnam Motorbike Tour – 6 Days

9 am on the first day of motorbike trip in Vietnam, all bikers will meet up at Motorcyclist Tours’ workshop, get the bikes and prepare before leaving. Riding tips will be given to you by a guide in order you can avoid some unexpected situations. It takes us only 20 minutes to get out of Hanoi then we just follow the quiet road along the Red River heading to Son Tay. If anyone who interested in some Vietnam War stories, the guide will bring you to visit a place in Son Tay called “Son Tay Raid” where American tried to break pilots in an Impossible Mission in 1970.
After 6 hours and 190 km we will stop in Nghia Lo – out first destination located in a big rice paddy Muong Lo Valley. There are many village of Black Thai ethnic groups around here.

The scenery is more and more beautiful from today, we will stop more for enjoying the view and curious about interesting things on the road. We wake early and leave Nghia Lo around 8 after breakfast. Lots of road options for you to play or you just stay on high pass and taking photos of Tu Le rice terraces field depending you are experient or beginner riders.
Drive along road 32, we have chance to visit most beautiful rice paddy in Tu Le, stunning view in Mu Cang Chai, some villages of H’Mong people in La Pan Tan. Finally, we try to get Than Uyen before the dark.

We just stop in Than Uyen for sleeping so try to get up early and then depart at 8 am because more amazing scenery is waiting for us. Keep riding through villages to villages and meeting more local people. We later will face to O Quy Ho pass – the highest and longest one in the Northern Vietnam. From the top place looking down to the valley, we will enjoy the stunning view as we are at the heaven gate.
Other side of the gate is Lao Cai province where Y Ty is located. Skip touristy Sapa we take a turn left heading to Y Ty in remote area. Such a fabulous place near the border where has stunning view of cloud and rice paddy fields. Most people living around Y Ty is Ha Nhi ethnic group with their own life style and customs. Best time for cloud hunting is during January to March and for rice hunting is during half end of August to half beginning of September.
Once we arrive in Y Ty, check in the homestay and discover around the villages, relax and enjoy the atmostphere.

Definitely, we will be waked up by kinds of animals’ sounds because we stay in the Nature. It is interesting when we can feel the atmosphere of the Village in the early morning when people going to work on the farm. If we go here in their harvesting season, we can join and help them on the farm.
When we leave Y Ty, don’t forget to visit some houses of Ha Nhi ethnic people in village on the way, which are made from clay with the roof from grass.
On the winding and rugged roads through the rice paddies, we are moving from the land of Ha Nhi to Flower H’Mong ethic people in Bac Ha. There are some local markets around this region and Ba Ha the biggest one on Sunday. Try to arrive Bac Ha around 5 pm then we check in homestay of H’Mong family. Our hospitable host will welcome us with their own best special local dishes.

To avoid missing the most interesting and biggest local market – Bac Ha market, your time schedule should be met us on Sunday only. Otherwise, you can have chance to join smaller others authentic market nearby such as Coc Ly market on Tuesday, Lung Phin market on Thursday and Can Cau market on Saturday.
We should wake up early to attend Bac Ha early market to see boys and girls in colorful costumes – different colors of the mountains. This every-Sunday-market attended by at least 8 ethnic groups and last from 08:00 AM until 12:00 PM. Local people will take their animals along such as horse, cat and dogs everywhere … They seem very eager to meet each other one time per week to exchange, buy or sell their products. After the market, we are heading to Vu Linh village after 6 hours’ drive – around 180 km. We are passing many small roads in the middle small local houses, small and beautiful ethnic villages then we will see the very first Hydropower reservoir lake by naked eye.
Arriving at Ngoi Tu – Vu Linh villages around 16:00 PM – the villages of White Dzao people which is captured under the palm forest. Here we will visit many wooden still houses covering with palm leaves where the host is so friendly. The dinner will be served with many special local dishes and among them, there is one which is made from the instant’s egg. The host will offer you with their best wine from corn. Host and tourists are talking, singing and dancing to know more about daily life of this area until all are drunken. You will overnight in common bungalow well-equipped with warm blanket and mattress
Note: You should bring earplug to have good sleep and avoid snoring (just in case)

The last day of this trip is no rush at all. We can spend our time to enjoy fresh air of this peaceful Ngoi Tu village. The rarely day of your life time which you might be awaken up by noises coming from families’ animal such as rooster, ducks, hungry pigs or even children are laughing or playing game outdoors.
A nice breakfast will be simply served with banana pan cake and honey. A cup of Vietnamese coffee will provide you with full energy and spirit to finish an amazing motorbike trip.
After saying goodbye to the beloved local host, we are heading to Hanoi by the small zig-zag road in suburban area covered with fabulous scenery to avoid traffic jam if driving on big road. Our moving from high mountain down to plain, we will leave all the splendid mountains behind and heading to noisy cities. Along the way, we can stop on the way to practice our eyes on endless green rice field in May and September and witness how people harvest of rice if in June or October.
We will finish the tour and reaching Hanoi a little early around 15:00 PM to avoid rush hour. After a 6 days motorbike tour together, we are confident that you have gained a lot of spectacular scenery varying from mountain passes to deep valleys. And of course, we have no fear about the Vietnam traffic which is like nowhere else. We manage to arrive workshop together on time, we cheer-up with cold beer after a hard trip and say goodbye Motorcyclist Tours’ team and we hope to reunion further on road in the next coming trip.

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