Most breath taking views through the mountains, pictures don't really do this justice but most roads were perfect and empty as we made our way up to the mountain town.
After 7 days and Joe buying a motorbike and realising it's a death trap and swapping it for another from a reputable seller (styles) we finally left ho chi Minh. We are taking the back roads as advised from the lovely gentleman at Vietnamcoracle.com to avoid heavily congested highways and the same routes as the millions of others. We soon became aware how much these roads weren't the standard routes when everyone we pass just stops and stares or pointed at us with disbelief.
This time we actually stayed in Hanoi to see the sites and sample the city. Here we visited the museums, met up with Marine, bumped into Stupid James by accident, and drank lots of extremely cheap beer. Me and Joe decided to commemorate the whole trip by getting a small tattoo. We then drove down to Cat Ba Island and had a few days exploring and then going on the famous Halong Bay tour. This guy wanted to get a guiness world record for amount of mattresses on a scooter. Stupid James
We ventured north from Phong Nha and soon found the weather was extremely against us as the rain started coming down, we were not prepared for this after weeks of sunshine. We stopped for 2 nights in Hanoi between so we could purchase water proofs and warmer clothes and whilst here i was fortunate to meet someone who wanted to buy my bike! Without a heavy heart i sold it and rented a new bike for the second half of our journey which has been a delight to ride. The Limestone loop is a beautiful drive south West out of Hanoi to Mai chai where we stayed in a stunning homestay with a morning view across the rice Paddy's then west to the Laos border and back through a national park to Hanoi.
Comments
Post a Comment