In The Valleys of Deep Isolation

A quick google on my phone described Hà Giang as ‘a little city furthest north of Vietnam, bordering Yunnan, China best known for its dramatic landscape, ethnic diversity and mountainous terrains. How have I not heard of this place? A place with abundant switchbacks, valleys and mountain passes; a loop often done as a multi-day tour on motorbikes, almost untouched by the mass of cyclists.

Photos: Trường Lâm

Words: Jian Yiap

The Hà Giang Loop is a 300km long with an elevation gain of 7200m, riding on the ‘quốc lộ’ - national highways, mostly on the QL4C appropriately called the Road of Happiness. The task looks simple on paper, three major climbs before the 140km mark with an elevation gain of 4000m all out of the way by midday, and the rest should be a breeze all the way back into town.

The first person that came to mind for this adventure was my good friend Arshaq - we both usually spend our mornings riding alone in solitude, with usual start times of 4.30 am. I knew I needed company, but also ultimately wanted to be in my head for most of the ride - hence Shaq was the ideal riding partner, someone of similar riding abilities, who also do enjoy the quietness of it all while riding along each other. Isolation often comes with negative connotations, but I think it helps calm the overstimulated mind in this day and age. The highs must always come with the lows; as the ascends will always be followed by descends.

3 months of meticulous planning later, we met at Hanoi Airport - followed by a 5 hours drive north to Hà Giang. The temperature dropped the further north we drove, settling on a cool 10 degrees Celsius when we finally arrived in Hà Giang. Welcomed by a chilly breeze and an almost eerily quiet surrounding, Shaq and I found the only pasta-serving restaurant in town, hoping to avoid any misfortunes that would disrupt our big ride the next day.

A 3AM alarm went off for a 4AM departure and off we went, completely unsure of the encounters to be had for the day as it was pitch black; in fact quite eerie for the first 3 hours of our ride. The roads out of the city were smooth and fast, and soon we hit the first climbs of the day; visions limited to only about 10 metres ahead - descending blind for the most parts and learning to trust each other’s wheels and instincts. Soon enough, sunrise hit and spirits were lifted as we were greeted with pretty incredible views of fog surrounding mountain passes as we conquered one steep switchback at a time.

By noon, we’d already hit 3000m of climbing in about 90 km and we stopped in the only city with restaurants for the day - Dong Van. Vibrant and lively, but Shaq and I weren’t all that chatty as our descend into town was nothing but cold, wet, windy with limited visibility as we witnessed car crashes and near misses before our very eyes. We rugged up in the three degrees celsius weather, with neither of us expecting anywhere in South East Asia to be anywhere this cold.

I thought lunch would lift our spirits, but instead I found Shaq giving me the cold shoulder for the next two hours just trying to keep warm and getting more nature valley bars into his stomach to avoid bonking as were merely at the halfway point. The views continue to be incredible but the fatigue in our legs start to creep in, and this was the case for the entire day. We rode past villages with kids running around and playing with each other, mobile phones absent, karaoke sessions were a certainty in most towns along the way.

As we rode up the infamous Ma Pi Leng Pass switchbacks and summit Meo Vac, we were greeted by a group of tourists; pillion riders on motorbikes piloted by the locals as part of a group tour one can take - which does the Hà Giang Loop in 3-5 days, at a leisurely pace and at times we wished we were doing that instead. Spirits however were lifted with the constant waves from the locals and the kids, most letting out a scream of disbelief that we’re cycling up these passes instead of being on a moped.

It was up, down, up and down all day - even the ‘descend’ into town wasn't quite as promised on paper with a few proper bumps, some on completely unpaved roads. We knew we had to make the most out of it before the sun went down at 5:30PM, and we got motoring - with 200 km and 6000m of climbing done by the time it got dark, and it was just survival mode from there. With the most I’ve climbed before this in one ride was less than half of the elevation of this - the Taiwan KOM, so this was going into completely uncharted territories.

Pitch black, 280 kms, close passes with oncoming traffic and one bloody steep climb left, both our front lights decided to call it a day. Not knowing how steep or long this last climb was, only to be guided by the city lights that look so close yet seems so far was excruciating after riding for 13 hours but we pushed on and finally descended into town.

Words can’t express how that last 3 kilometres felt - a huge sense of accomplishment, accompanied by camaraderie, the joy of being able to experience the wonders and beauty of the world that cycling has brought us. 292 kms, 7242m - in 13.5hours riding and just under 16 hours of elapsed time. Many speak of the seven great wonders of the world, but we now know many more smaller yet significant wonders do exist out there.