Ha Giang LooP / PT. 2 / OVER & OUT
Here follows the second part of our ride diary from our first Ha Giang Loop Tour, in April 2025.
Check out the itinerary for our next tour in this magical place, in November!
Day 5 KOJO Hanoi Tour / Bao Lac - Dong Van / 96km 2570m / Strava Link
Hot day today, we felt it immediately as we rolled out of Bao Lac, but thankful to be on the road again. Ahead lay a relatively short route to Dong Van, a bustling little farming town revitalised by tourism thanks to the popularity of the Ha Giang Loop (the non-cycling scene that is - still have seen zero cyclists).
Another beauty on our KOJO tour here in north Vietnam, rolling through Hmong villages, through small towns along rivers and tea terraces, and finally up what is really quite a tough first climb. The soil is not as rich here and the trees start to thin as you climb higher along the now-giant karst peaks, wondering how anyone can forge a living up here.
We have a quote here from one of our guys, sent to us recently as a testimonial - which in the classical sense, it is not - it’s actually much better than that… as soon as I read it, I knew it was from the ascent on the first climb of this day:
‘‘Intimate’ is not a word one uses to describe a bike tour. Not without a lot of preparation before and explanation after. So let me set a scene from one of the rides.
A wild river, as wild as your imagination lets you conjure, coloured deep green from the reflection of the landscape around. A narrow twisting road, emulating the twists and turns of the river’s path, dotted with humble homes along the left side. Your eyes peer inside these homes - you try to resist but you can’t help it. Life stirs within. You spy a fire burning with pots on top. A kitchen, you surmise.
On the right side of the road a small manmade water channel. Then you notice a pattern. In front of every house the channel has a wooden platform covering it for 2-3 meters. As you wonder what this is for, around the next bend you see a woman standing on one of these platforms, combing her long, black wet hair. Further along, another platform, clothes soaking in a bin, a guy taking a shower. You can’t help but feel as if you are invited to riding through their homes, inside and out.
You want to pull your camera out and capture the simple beauty of these seemingly out of place moments. But you resist. These are people going about their day. So you take pictures with your eyes, and save them in your mind so you can view them at will. And I have many times since.’
It's strikingly beast-like, this terrain, and there's not much more you can do as you suffer through it but shake your head in wonder. An almost violent beauty. Mesmerising.
We then headed through Mio Vac on the way to the last climb, the incredible Ma Pi Leng Pass, the wonder of which no photo can truly grasp - but not before stopping for a light lunch and some great coffee - lots of that in this part of the world.
Ma Pi Leng.
One more 12km climb added another 1600m to our tally for the day, and we then only had to speed down the thrilling descent and into Dong Van, for a shower and an Italian feast at Romeo's Restaurant - recommended!
Tomorrow is a big old day again, 134km and 3580m. Whooop!
Day 6 KOJO Hanoi Tour / Dong Van - Ha Giang / 134km 3322m
'How'd it go?' asks Strava...
PFFFFFFT... is the answer.
The body, smashed and battered, tells one story, whereas the head, filled with things and emotions I still can't get a grip on - tells another.
The previous two stages of our Ha Giang Tour are the shortest of the tour, yet they are the ones that wear at you. The climbing in each is all crammed into a relatively short space, so it's a lot of UP. The weather improved which means more heat, and the fast pace of Day 1 & 2 started to catch up to all of us.
So Day 6 came along, 134km and 3322m, what you could call the Queen Stage - and it kicked all our arses.
For once though I felt great out of the gate, and we all entered a mood of blissful thankfulness as we rolled up and over what I reckon is the most stunning scenery of an already stunning tour. I won't try to describe it cos I can't - so see the video (coming soon) or, even better, just come out and do it!
Our filmmaker, Kev Merrey , rated it as the best ride he's ever done. Our mountain goat, David Bowman, rated one downhill as the best he's have ever faced.
Personally I was hovering between rapture and pain all day - just as I like it...
There was the joy of seeing us all in our custom KOJO Collective kit for the first time (thanks to Pedal Mafia and their Asia Manager, Shane), and turning at the top of one pass to look back across the valley to see two of our guys riding side by side down the hill - I just thought 'wow, this is what I've been dreaming of, making this, now. seeing it come alive'...
We almost collided with a huge pig all trussed up in the middle of a 2 metre wide road, being delivered to someone's house for a feast, one of our guys crashed at a later point, we got battered by the hotness and fleeced by some cute little kids by the roadside for our energy gels and some Cokes, and we fought nail and tooth to get through those last kilometers to Ha Giang and, though it drained us, almost totally, of our energy, our spirits remain undimmed, and we will ride to suffer again.
Cos that's what we do.
Without rhyme or reason.
Day 7 KOJO Hanoi Tour / The Not-Easy Easy Day / 50km 801m / Strava Link
These first tours are labeled as 'Recon Tours' for a reason, such as us thinking that the route we planned for say, an easy day, might well end up being just about half on thick-arse muddy gravel... like today! Thankfully our riders are all up for an adventure and skilled, experienced riders, so we all had a blast.
The riding in this area is different from what we just came from, with its sweeping vistas and scintillating descents. Here, just a stone's throw from the town of Ha Giang, you get an insight into village life, rolling along through verdant jungle and the beautifully ordered rice paddies. The local people are friendly as ever, and a few kids raced along with us on their bikes.’
Local traffic jam.
In the afternoon we headed out in the van to a waterfall, then out for rooftop pizza.
A very good day, and a very good group of people to be out here with...
North Vietnam Tour / Final Day / 142km 2882m / Strava Link here
This is a fittingly big end to a huge tour, and we set off from the quietness of the countryside, deep in the jungle, slowly making our way from the 'escape' of the previous seven days of riding, edging ever closer to the modern world.
Gravel yet again reared its beautiful head as we took a right turn just after Lang Qua, and though we were cycling in the dry (indeed we hardly had any rain falling on us all week), the road below was quite muddy. To our right was the mountainside, to the left a beautiful slow river, wide and dark, with swirls of mist playing upon it.
We climbed higher and then were faced with a motorcycle driver coming towards us, waving his hand as if to to signal that the road ahead was not good. We rounded a corner and understood what the issue was. The heavy rains overnight had caused a mini flash-flood that had washed away the outer edge of the road and dumped a ton of thick mud all down the mountainside.
We had a quick look, assessed the situation, I asked the guys if they were good to go - 'yep!' came the reply - and off we went. I've never seen mud like this, it was more akin to cycling across a huge wet chocolate cake, out rims disappearing into the mud and leaving no trace behind. Quite trippy!
We stopped for a bite to eat and to wash off the bikes, then it was on through the town of Lao Cai to make the right turn up to the climb to Sa'Pa.
1,370m over 24km, this climb is not as spectacular as those we had gone over previously, but it's still a really cool climb, starting off in the jungle and then heading up to the alpine-like higher slopes. We separated early, each of us going at our own pace. I put my headphones in and played my 'Ride' playlist. As I got to about 4km from the summit, my favourite, super uplifting house tune (an old Orbital track) came on, all 14 minutes of it, and I went off with the fairies for a while...
When I met one of the riders who came up behind me, at the hotel, I aksed him how he went on. the climb - "Oh man! There was one point where I felt like I was high on something out there…’
Ditto.
And yeah, Sa'Pa, once this quiet little tribal hillside town, is now awash at night with neon lights, shops, bars and nightclubs - even a goddam Starbucks! But it's a perfect place to end the tour and Return to the World.
Got a comment the next day from one of our guest riders....
'Snapped back to reality yesterday for a full day in the office, ugh…
I wanted to say what a pleasure it was to meet you all and spend time on and off the bike with you in a foreign land. I learned so much about the local culture, myself and all of you. I have done many different tours and as much as I look for the experiences on the bike, I also look for the human connections, camaraderie and broadened horizons. This tour fully fulfilled all of that and I am thankful for the time and this experiences with each of you.'
This is our KOJO.
For our upcoming tours head to our website or message us here, and we will hold the amazing Hanoi Tour in north Vietnam later this year.
Didn’t take any images on this last day, it was too perfect - keeping it all for us!