The Road to Quan Ba

We will leave Hanoi early in the morning to reach Quan Ba in the late afternoon. As we’ll move forward to our destination, the sceneries will become more and more spectacular, crossing stunning hilly landscapes, corn and manioc fields, tea plantations and after reaching Ha Giang town, we’ll come upon our first rice terraces.

Just before Quan Ba, we will pass the “Heaven’s Gate”, with its mountains stretching to the horizon, marking the entrance to Dong Ba Karst Plateau, listed in UNESCO Global Geoparks Network. A magnificent point of view to come back home with stunning landscape photos, hopefully helped by a nice weather.

Night in our Red Dao eco-lodge.

Quan Ba

We will start the day with a beautiful valley below Quan Ba well filled with rice fields. We will then delve into Dong Van Plateau, an extremely wild region made of limestone pitons and black granite needles: a truly breathtaking panorama.

After lunch in Yen Minh, we will head to Pho Cao, a superb H’mong village with some 200 years old houses, so far my favorite village in the area, with Pleiades of villagers vacant to their daily occupations of another age before finally reaching Dong Van in the late afternoon.

Night in Dong Van.

Dong Van

For the bravest amongst us, we will go on a small trek to the summit overlooking Dong Van: after almost an hour ascension we will be greeted with a magnificent view over the valley.
We will then head towards Sa Phin to explore the surprising Vuong Chin Duc Palace, king of the H’mongs (and opium trafficking), built on a small hilltop a palace in a similar style to Chinese yamens. At its peak, the fortress boasted up to 100 inhabitants.

After lunch, we will go and visit the superb village of Pho Bang, where H’mongs keep their traditions alive.

Night at our Ecolodge.

Meo Vac Ethnic Markets

We’ll have much to do on that morning, as we’ll go visit 2 dominical markets, linked together by one of the most spectacular road in Vietnam: better get your gear ready! The ethnic minorities of many different groups leave their home villages very early in the morning to reach Dong Van market, a place to trade merchandises but also a gathering site to socialize and meet with others.

After lunch, we will wonder around Meo Vac and the Ma Pi Leng passage taking multiple photography stops, following a road meandering through the mountain sides and getting through the Ma Pi Leng passage, overlooking a vertiginous canyon and the No Que River gorges further down.

Night at the Auberge de Meo Vac eco-resort

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After breakfast, we will head back to Ha Giang town following a different road surrounded by breathtaking karst mountain landscapes. We will take our time and make multiple landscape photography stops. We will arrive in Ha Giang town in the early evening for dinner.

Night at our Ecolodge.