Ha Giang → hO Chi Minh City, Vietnam
My trip to Vietnam in April 2018 marked my first experience traveling entirely on my own. I was twenty-one years old, and with several excursions with fellow study-abroad friends under my belt, I felt compelled to venture on my own. Every encounter and emotion from that journey still feels vivid, creating something of a paradigm shift within me in how I understand myself and the world.
Hà Giang’s landscape unfolds in dramatic layers. Karst mountains rise in sharp, pyramidal forms, dropping into deep valleys before climbing again toward 5,000-foot peaks. Rice terraces carve precarious lines into the steep mountain slopes, suspended above winding blue rivers and hairpin bends below. Colorful farmland climbs toward jagged cliffs before softening into distant pine forests.
The 217 mile Ha Giang loop traverses Vietnam's remote northern highlands and is home to sixteen distinct ethnic communities - among them the H'mong. Nothing quite prepared me for the loop's impossibly narrow, serpentine roads, twisting perilously with just enough space for a single motorbike to pass. More than once, I found myself holding my breath as oncoming traffic appeared from behind the fog...
Of course I had to make a pit stop to purchase a floral crown from these kids!
Possibly an even cuter sighting than those kids. I sent this photo to my mom promptly after taking it and she made it her WhatsApp profile picture even more promptly.
If you look closely, you’ll notice the narrow road hugging the contours of the mountain.
Another pit stop to explore the old Hmong King’s Palace. Ha Giang was a province of opium way back when and Hmong people in the area made their living by growing it. The king would sell it to the Chinese across the border, so he chose the nearby Sa Phin Valley as the location for his wooden mansion.
At this point, I reached Ho Chi Minh City, and after checking into my hostel for the next few days, I headed to the market in search of local fare and mangosteen.
Aha!
Dogs of Vietnam
