Sa Pa, Hà Giang and Ba Bể

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After saying goodby to my travel companion at the airport, I returned to Hanoi and spent the next couple of days planning out a route that would take me north to explore the more remote countryside of Vietnam.

The first destination was a town called Sa Pa, nestled far up in the misty Hoàng Liên Son mountains and below Vietnam's highest peak, Mt. Fansipan (Phan Xi Păng). While I would have liked to take the cable car up to the summit, the feavy fog would have not left much else to see, and and the sporadic thunderstorms left me stranded indoors with my host family for most of the stay. This was still a nice experience through - as I was able to connect with them, help cook, and entertain their 11 month old son. It was also at this point I was introduced to (some rather potent) rice wine, and joined the other travellers for a family dinner or two with the hosts.


From there I travelled to Hà Giang, where I stayed with another entertaining family at their homestay and hung out with a couple from the UK who had also stopped in Hà Giang for a couple of days. More family dinners, games and drinking followed.



For my last stop in the North I went to Ba Bể. Rather than stay in the sprawling country town, I found a homestay inside the adjacent Ba Be National Park (Vườn Quốc Gia Ba Bể), and stayed beside the lake which dominates the park. I was able to meet up with the other guests at the homestay and together we hired a boat for a guided day trip around the lake and along the connecting rivers; stopping of at a cave, Waterfall, pond on a small island, and a village for lunch. Dinner and numerous beers followed when we got back to the homestay.




From here I will return to Hanoi for a couple days and meet up with the couple from UK who I'd met in Hà Giang, before starting to make my way south to see what the rest of Vietnam has to offer.

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