MOUNTAIN towns, limestone karsts, wetlands and parks between Sa Pa and Ha Noi
Head west from Hanoi, and you'll soobe surrounded by mountains, lots of mountains. Ha Giang and Bac Ha were our two big stops.
These places are thriving metropolis compared to our other sojourns, at Mu Cang Chai, Hoang Su Phi and Ba Be Lakes.
Just to the south of the capital, we tried the parks and wetlands at Cuc Phuong and Ninh Binh.
Getting to Ba Be from Hanoi was an education. They have a great system in Vietnam: you get in and pay Bus A for your entire journey, but somewhere along the line, Bus A hands you to Bus B, which takes you the rest of the way.
We got in after dark and woke up to views like this.
The accommodation was good but basic, with excellent food.
Entertainment consists of walking in the forest (zero birds or animals) or town, or canoeing on the lake.
There were certainly plenty of tourist facing businesses in town, but only a handful of tourists from what I could see.
It's quite a way of the main roads, on the way to even smaller places, so a little bit harder to get to- and from.
110km from Ha Giang, even with a motorcycle, getting to Hoang Su Phi took some doing.
About half way between Ha Giang and Bac Ha, the region is beautifully mountainous. The real fun starts when you leave the highway for Ho Thau.
There was plenty of rain at the time, and this was by no means the worst section of road.
After an hour of slip-sliding, just short of our destination, the road was blocked by a 12 foot pile of gravel. We made it over.
Geniunely cold and wet, but when the fog clears, spectacular.
There area has few sizable settlements, but plenty of viewpoints and mountains, some with trails, some open, some closed by rain and mud.
The terraced fields here are every bit, if not more scenic than those on the Ha Giang loop, but without the 1000s of bikes.
Roughly halfway between Sa Pa and Hanoi, if you haven't seen enough rice fields, Mu Cang Chai is another little town for some pleasant walking.
Views from hotel verandahs are the norm, and the town is noticably warmer than places further west.
It's a reasonable sized town with a decent market, plenty of trade and enough places to eat for a few days.
Most of the people in the surrounding area are still involved in farming.
Hill tribe folks were very visible here. There was some kind of festival on- and unlike Hoang Su Phi, it wasn't raining!
The settlement is long and narrow, along the highway, with hills, farms and villages on either side.
Between Google Maps and other internet devices, you should be able to enjoy several long walks through fields and villages.
Even with mobile phones and motorcycles, people here are living much the way their ancestors did.
Mu Cang Chai is on a major road, though it doesn't feel like it, which makes for good connections to Hanoi, or further west to Sa Pa, Ha GIang and Bac Ha.
We managed a seamless one-change trip to Ninh Binh, which is famed for its limestone karsts and waterways.
Caves, story-book temples, limestone peaks jutting from the flats, and tourists, lots of tourists.
Most people take a canoe through the waters, but we were content to just walk. Cycling and bike hire are also options.
Aside from the boat launching places, it didn't feel like there were zillions of people.
A short car ride away, Van Long Wetland is a much less visited area, home to some good birds, none of which we saw.
Boat hire here is a reasonable, fixed price, and a very pleasant thing to do.
Late afternoon is best. The site is also the best place to see one of the world's rarest primates, the black and whiet Delacour's langur. We did.
Cuc Phoung NP was out first Vietnamese Park, and the quality and value of the facilities was impressive. Less so the wildlife. We did see three yellow martens on day one, then pretty much nothing. Birding was mediocre, but the forests were good. Maybe luck?
Northern Vietnam is hyped. It's probably warranted. From hikes to markets to monkeys to farming villages, it was all pretty good.