CUSTOMER CENTER

TRAVEL TOOL

Day 1: Hanoi - Hang Kia (Moc Chau). ~200 km, ~7 h.
Ride to the direction of the West. We pass through Hoa Binh town, then along the Laotian border on our left and Da (Black) river on our right. We leave the river in the mountainous cirque of Mai Chau to go up until the plateau of Mai Chau.
Multiple horizons in range of green and grey. Before the plateau, we turn right toward the border until the H'mong village of Hang Kia, which accommodates us for the night.
The other option is to ride on to Moc Chau and sleep in a hotel.

Day 2: Hang Kia (Moc Chau) - Gia Phu. ~100 km, ~6 h.
We cross the Da river reservoir, then about 30 km dirt road until Gia Phu, a Thai village near a small river.
You will meet no tourist there, but also accommodation in Hang Kia and Gia Phu are quite simple. Welcome is as usual: beautiful.
If you choose this itinerary, you have to be ready for some hard off-road riding.

Day 3: Gia Phu - Yen Binh. ~120 km, ~6-7 h.
Dirt road ~60 km (technical). This crossing from South to North, on the west side of Da river is very wild and beautiful. Many different ethnics live there and different types of cultivation.

Day 4: Yen Binh - Na Khan. ~200 km, ~8 h.
Quite a long ride but easy (early departure is better) from Yen Binh to Na Khan. Na Khan is a village of Tay people lost in the primitive forest. We are welcome in the house of Mister Lô, the chief of the village.

Day 5: Na Khan - Ba Be. ~60 km, ~2 h.
Short drive from Na Khan to Ba Be on bumpy road. Lunch at our captain's house (Mr. Dang, we call him Zi Dang). Easy boating on the lake and river. Go to market (if it is the day you arrive). Stop at waterfall, beautiful swim…Ong pirate, the chef of Dau Dang waterfall where we enjoy dinner. Down the waterfall, we could visit the village and a small school (only few pupils during the summer). We propose to stay in the stilt house of forest guards.

Day 6: Ba Be - Quang Hoa. ~170 km, ~8 h.
Cross Ba Be lake to come back to our captain's house. Beautiful ride up to Cao Bang province. Few passes from where you can dominate the area. The road is easy but many curves. We can stop a lot. All together, stop for drinks and food it should be an 8-hour journey. Then ride 1 more hour to reach the beautiful village of Quang Hoa, in the middle of a mountain cirque. This is the territory of Nung An people. Spend the night in our friend's house.

Day 7: Quang Hoa - Na Tau - Quang Hoa. ~30 km, ~1 h.
Na Tau is a completely unknown area that we propose to discover it by raft and motorbike. Rivers and waterfalls everywhere are extremely beautiful and wild. It is only 15 km from Quang Hoa. On the return, we invite you for the aperitif at the village of Phuc Sen, artisan village Nung An, the owner is the brother of our host.

Day 8: Quang Hoa - Ban Gioc - Quang Hoa. ~100 km, ~2 h.
Having obtained permission from the border police, we make our way through spectacular scenery to Vietnam's most impressive waterfalls. Weather permitting we can swim right up to where the 50 m high falls hit the river.

Day 9: Quang Hoa - Mau Son. ~180 km, ~7 h.
We slowly leave the region of the karsts to find the forest. Then descending by famous colonial road N. 4 until the frontier city of Lang Son. We then climb Mau Son mount (1.541 m) to spend the night at its top from where we dominate all the area to which China is near.
Stay in a hotel in a former French atmosphere, which is recently restored.

Day 10: Mau Son - Bai Chay. ~180 km, ~7 h.
We have a long ride mainly on secondary road, passing many coalmines along the road. The road goes down towards the plains. Some sections are in bad conditions.
Arrive in Bai Chay. Check in.

Day 11: Halong Bay. Boating.
Promenade along the coast in Halong City. Start boating at 10 am.
Boating to Thien Cung cave, fishing village, and then through myriads of limestone to Ba Trai Dao (Three Peach Fruit Islet). Swimming and sleep here.

Day 12: Halong Bay - Cat Ba. Boating.
Cruise to Cat Ba. Cat Ba is the far end of Halong Bay. Cat Ba still live from the resource that the sea offers. The tourism is developed and of high quality. The Cat Ba Bay is a condensed of Halong Bay, its labyrinth of limestone so dense that it is difficult to imagine we are on the sea.
We created this itinerary - the floating village Van Gia. They are our personal friends and the relation with them is intimate, even knowing that some companies now also pass through there.
Finally yet importantly, Monkey Island (Cat Dua Islet) was totally ignored by mass tourism when we propose to stop there. It has got nothing special beside the fact that there is nobody except monkeys and one family who takes care of their security.
Arrive in Cat Ba after lunch. Then we propose to promenade along the coast or to ride to Cat Ba National Park.

Day 13: Cat Ba - Hai Phong - Hanoi. ~120 km, ~3 h.
Ferry to Hai Phong starts at 1.30 pm and ride back to Hanoi on Highway 5. Arrive in Hanoi around 6 pm.