Northeast Vietnam Loop - An Amazing Travel Story With Incredible Experiences

[Michael William]

We travel a lot each year and we often write story about our travel diary. This year we chose Asia as our exploring destination and the best memory we had is our week in Vietnam. The time gave us inspiration that we will never forget.

We landed in Hanoi after a long flight which made us very tired. But the cool wind of November in Hanoi made us refreshed. We came to Hanoi Old Quarter afterwards and had a sleep until late in the afternoon. For that day and the whole following day, we explored all the corners of Hanoi. It is such an amazing city with a lot of people, food and interesting places. But what we were looking forward to was the 5 day trip after that.

Then time came. We started a Unexplored Northeast Vietnam loop tour from mountain to beach with a local tour company. We chose this trip as we had known before that Northeast Vietnam was a hidden gem of Vietnam with unexplored beauty of pure nature and breath-taking landscape. In fact it was a good destination for us to keep from the mass tourism and find the peace. The trip took us to Cao Bang Geopark, Ba Be Lake and Ba Be National Park, then Bai Tu Long Bay - the hidden part of Ha Long Bay.

Our first destination is Cao Bang geopark. This is really an unexplored place where we found very few other tourists. After a long way transfer from Hanoi, we reach our homestay in an incense-making village of Nung ethnic minority. The village looked so cute and traditional surrounded by karst mountains, rice fields. We wandered around the village for sunset, learning about how the locals making incense. The day finished with a cozy dinner with the local host. We had a really good sleep then after a long day.

We woke up the sencond day with full enery and after a light breakfast, we hit the road again to see Ban Gioc Waterfall. The waterfall lies in the border with Vietnam and China. It really mesmerized us with the beauty itself and the landscape around. We had the feeling like we were in a picturesque painting of a rural paradise. Our guide explained us about the waterfall, its geography and history. And that it is the fourth biggest border waterfall in the world and the biggest waterfall in Vietnam. 

We did a fun boat trip to get closer to the waterfall and the territoty of China. The spray from the water falling down was so strong as a downpour. We had a lot of photos there before coming back and spent time wandering for further photo hunt. After a beautiful picnic lunch at the fall, we said goodbye to this site and moving to Nguom Ngao cave which is 4 km from the fall. The cave is also beautiful and suitable for those who love caving. Because we don't like caves so much, we had a quick look at the cave. Though we had some good pics to show our friends as well.

After the cave, we had another transfer to Ba Be National Park where we stayed in a homestay of Tay community just by the Ba Be Lake. We arrive the next accommodation late in the evening and had shower, dinner and slept early after a full day of adventure. 

The next day welcomed us with the singing of birds and the sound of people going about their daily work. From the homestay, we had a good view to welcome the sunrise. We knew at that time that we should have a coffee to enjoy that moments. After breakfast, we had a boat trip to explore the lake. The boat was so funny and the guide told us a lot of stories about this area.

The trip led us to a tunnel cave called Puong Cave according to local language. There are millions of bats inside the cave and the staglamites and stalactites were stunning.

We had to say goodbye to Ba Be Lake again after the boat trip. It was such a pity that we didnt have enough time to swim in the cool water of the lake. Maybe next time we would come back again and stay here longer. Our guide said that the Ba Be National park was also a good place for trekking.

We had lunch and moved 3 hours to Thai Nguyen City where we stayed overnight in a beautiful hotel. The city was so colorful in night time. The next day we woke up early to do our last part of the adventure. We finally reached Bai Tu Long Bay after a four hour drive. The weather seemed to be on our side. The bay appeared much more beautiful than we had thought under the sun. We said goodbye to our guide and got on our cruise. We started cruising through the bay afterwards with a relaxing feeling. The Bay of Bai Tu Long was so awe-inspiring.

We had fun time on the cruise for two days one night with visit to beautiful beach, local fishing villages, amazing Thien Can Son cave. At that time we knew the reason why the bay is one of the seven wonders of the world. 

We met our guide again the next day and returned Hanoi after a 5 day of adventure. It was indeed a trip that we never forget.