North Loop, Vietnam (first part)

With our newly purchased bikes, we set off to the north of Vietnam a day after Rahel's birthday. First, we had to ride for an hour to escape the infamous traffic of Hanoi. As soon as the traffic subsided a bit, the first limestone cliffs could already be seen on the horizon. These sharp hills, characteristic of this region, look unnatural, as if they were modeled by a child's hand in a sandbox.

We spent the first night in a guest house right next to a rice field, the scene looked like a Vietnam postcard.

Coming from Australia, we were used to animals on the road. But here it's a different level. Countless oxen, pigs, goats, geese, ducks, chickens, dogs, and cats have run across the road in front of us. But they are less dangerous than the locals who turn onto a road without even looking in the other direction.

In the following days, we rode through rice terraces, tea plantations, remote villages, up and down passes, and along lakes and rivers. Fortunately, we had mostly good weather and sometimes even almost 30 degrees warm, which is not necessarily common in the north of Vietnam at this time.

During our ride, people on the roadside constantly gave us a smile and greeted us. Whether it was from the children, of which there seems to be endless in this country, or from the elderly. We stayed in places where everyone stared at us when we walked through the village because we were the only tourists, and communication only took place with hands, feet, and Google Translate.

Our first major destination on the way to the north was the city of Sa Pa. This is a tourist city at 1300 meters above sea level and known for its rice fields and trekking tours that can be undertaken. Until then, we hadn't needed our rain gear once, that was about to change that day.

When we started, it was still over 20 degrees and cloudy. The higher we got, the colder it became, and then the fog and rain came.... just like on the best autumn days in Solothurn. Visibility was barely 5 meters, the thermometer was at 10 degrees, and the humidity was at 98%.

Even the rain jacket and the additional rain poncho were of no use anymore. When we arrived, we were completely soaked and frozen, and all we longed for was a warm bed and an even warmer shower.

That's why we treated ourselves to a proper hotel for the next two nights, for an incredible 20 francs per night.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't change, so we couldn't do much except for a trip to the market.

On the market, we also came across a peculiarity of this region. They were selling dogs, but not living ones. Dead and skinned dogs were spread out on the table. Very unusual for us. Different countries, different customs.

When we were warmed up again and our clothes were dry after two days, we set off from the fog and hopefully straight into the sun...

Text by Oli

Picture editing by Rahel