One of the Best Roads in Vietnam - Viet Road Trip Day 23 - Coc Pai to Ha Giang
Viet Road Trip Day 23
Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Viet Nam. This is day 23. Day 22 can be found here.
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The first few hours of riding were pure joy. The road meandered along the side of an emerald green mountain, sculpted with rice terraces. The day's route wasn't too long, so I didn't feel any pressure to speed through the area. I felt free to take my time, stop for coffee, and stop for photos when I felt the need.
Just watch a few seconds of this. How lucky am I to have had the opportunity to ride that road? Absolutely gorgeous! (2:00)
Beautiful little farm on the valley floor.
"Be Stiff" an appropriate song for this stretch of road. (1:26)
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More riding. Trying to "Get it up" the hill. (3:13)
It's like they sculpted the whole mountain.
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A rough patch of road. (1:18)
Going down. (1:22)
Mellow downhill ride. The only thing missing is the herb. (3:13)
Riding with myself (1:56)
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"Ever Fallen in Love"? A ride through a town. (3:10)
The charm of Vietnam would melt even a "Heart of Glass". (3:15)
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This meant that I had to cut the northern part of the trip short. Instead of a leisurely tour through some of Vietnams most scenic areas, I now had to dash to the border with Laos and decide what to do next. It was my fault for not being better at budgeting time and planning.
My original plan was to return to Cambodia on a motorbike (Cambodia was the country I was in before I went to Vietnam). I loved Cambodia and the Cambodians, and I really wanted to explore the country by bike instead of by bus. Those plans would never materialize for several reasons, but the primary reason was that I had fallen in love with Vietnam.
![baby flourish.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcXCCN2VSLgGS7jx7euUShKuhCQMZtWne3DsyjChD4Kqv/baby%20flourish.png)
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I was happy to include a new country in the contest. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese donor kebabs placed last in the contest. I thought Poland would win Last place, but Vietnam took it. The sauce was just mayo, the meat was sketchy, and the restaurants didn't have access to some of the necessary ingredients and spices. The portions were also small compared to European donors. Even with such a poor showing in the Donor Kebab World Cup, I was happy to have a taste of home.
For some reason, I had a really hard time finding food in Ha Giang. There must have been a holiday or event happening because most places were closed.
After the first kebab, I wanted some fried rice or meat on a stick or something, but I couldn't find any open restaurants that looked appealing. I found one place with cartoons of insects on the walls. Turns out they only sold insects to eat (really wish I had taken a picture). I walked around for about an hour, trying to find another place to eat. Finally, I decided to go to another donor place which was of similar quality as the first donor place. The guy who worked there was nice and took a selfie with me.
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I've still got a few more posts left in this series, and I'm most likely going to start posting about other parts of my 2-year trip soon. I hope you'll stick around for the next post. Until then, ride safe!
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Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Vietnam. Read about days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7.1, 8, 8.1, 9, 9.1, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15-17, 18, 19, 20-21 and 22 here.
It feels great to watch you ride through the countryside. I love it! You could use some long footage and put some vapowave music with it. Something like that
I've thought about doing something similar, like stitching the better segments together and replacing the audio with music.
I think most of my riding videos are too jerky to watch for long periods of time. Youtube's stabilization warps the backgrounds of my videos, and I don't have a Premier subscription for better stabilization options. But it would be fun to get back into video editing. I haven't done that in years.
Maybe using warp stabilization on after effects (if you have it) can make it look good but don't overpower it. Actually I was surprised that your camera is stable enough for me to watch.. judging by the road you take sometimes.
Also just a suggestion, slow down when you cross villages, it's fun to get a glimpse of real life. But that of course if you're running out of time or not.. or getting to the hotel before a typhoon or something :D
oh, man ... I was hoping you would have taken the upper yellow road on your map... That's the Hoang Su Phi Route...absolutely stunning... but I guess, this one was great too.
Ha Giang is indeed not famous for their food... there is only one good restaurant that I can think of, just next to the bridge over the river. Thanks for sharing these travel bogs... they make me twitch to go on another ride soon ... Ha Giang I am coming back for you !!!
I'll just have to go back and take that top road. :)
Or maybe do a day that starts and stops in Coc Pai and loops around. What an amazing area to ride scooters in. Hopefully, I'll be able to return soon.
Oh can't beat them German Döners huh? Another great blog of your trip. Ride on. (;
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