Hitchhiking in Vietnam: way to Ha Giang
14th of October, 2024.
I just chill out at the view point for a while. It’s peaceful. It’s beautiful! And there’s nobody here. After sometime, just when I am about to leave, a motorbike is passing, and I ask the man if he can take me for a while. He shows me on my picture of a map where he’s going. It’s a governmental building, like a city council, but in this case a village council. It’s OK by me.
There’s another one of those on the way to the highway where I am going. On these roads here, being so narrow, only motorbikes pass by. Rarely some cars. A young man is the next one to give me a lift. He has some small cakes on a plastic bag, and I almost ask for one. He drives me way more than his actual destination, so at some point, right before the next village council, I tell him to stop and go back to his place.
At that village, I decide to eat something. There are two small food stands / grocery shop right beside a school. I buy five fried cakes, at 1000 Dong each, meaning 0.03 USD the unit, and 0.20 USD in total. I also spoil myself with two chocopies at 2000 Dong each, plus one more fried cake (they are in star shape by the way). There’s the school break while I’m still eating and many teenagers come to buy something to eat. Nobody try to interact with me. Why?
I’m still hungry because the fried cakes are slightly small, and they are just flower with a bit of eggs. So I go in the next food stand and buy something that three other local women were eating: yellow sticky rice with some stock, fried onions and some crumble on top. This type of sticky rice, the yellow one, it is called Xoi; and when it is savoury (being the sweet one actually the star of it), it’s then called Xoi Man. You can also get some pork if you want but I ask the nice man who was serving me to leave it. It is not delicious but good enough. And for 5000 Dong is a very fulfilling meal.
It rains for some minutes. When it ceases and I resume my walking, the next man to take me in his motorbike is actually going all the way to the highway. But! To a completely different place than where I was expecting to get to it, further before of where I was planning to reach the highway. And the funny thing is, while we were on the road, and I manage to make some video of it, I could tell, just by his route, that we were not ended up at the place where I was expecting. And that’s just by looking at the map so many times before. And I was proud of myself for that because I know that, nowadays, many people have no sense of direction due to their constant looking, and dependence, on Google Maps.
A couple and their baby take me very soon. They cannot speak English but they manage to explain to me by body language that they will drop me off at an intersection. OK!
I don’t remember much about the intersection (I’m writing this text on the 11th of December, forgive me!) but the next man to pick me up is called Sau, and he is going to Ha Giang. But I don’t remember much about him either, apart from him being an Engineer. Sorry! Perhaps he couldn’t speak much English and that’s why.
We arrive in Ha Giang late afternoon. I ask for water in a coffee shop, and I have the best omelet Banh Mi ever! Actually I forgot to mention that, all the Banh Mis I bought myself were with omelet only. It was such an underestimated place, you know? A small Banh Mi cart in front of a hair saloon. But the lady who prepare it for me made it so special, the pickled salad was perfectly sweet and sour, and she grilled the bread with butter before adding the omelet on top! It was simply delicious!
I keep walking towards outside town, as I have no intentions of staying here or visiting Ha Giang. I came up here only for the loop. Which I will do by hitchhiking, of course.
Right outside the town, in a nice corner surrounded by nature there is a backpackers hostel called Felila Hostel and Tours. It is a gem in the town! And I’m not just saying that because they let me camp in their garden that night. It’s is a small, quiet and peaceful hostel, super clean and organized, away from the chaos and party vibe of Ha Giang. People are lovely here, and the manager even let me looking after the place while he went somewhere for a few hours. Laugh. I managed to do some important things by using the wi-fi so it was great! I super recommend this hostel!
10 Years Around the World 