Meo Vac and Ma Pi Leng: spectacular landscapes on the road to happiness

Today's journey took us between the town of Dong Van and small town of Bao Lac, slowly approaching Hanoi, our end point of this long loop in the mountains of northern Vietnam.

It was supposed to be a moderate stage of about 100 km, but we set off with the already almost 40 km from the morning towards the Dong Van loop. So, it was past 14:30 p.m., so we couldn't hang around too long...

If you've been following the other articles, you won't be surprised to learn that we're once again arriving at nightfall...

Ma Pi Lèng Pass and Tu San Canyon

Located in Meo Vac district, Ma Pi Lèng Pass was undoubtedly the highlight of the day. We regularly came across children and people from the Tay, Hmong or Dao ethnic groups, to name just a few, sometimes in "dreamer" mode on the sides of the roads, other times in worker mode, carrying baskets on their backs.

Yet only 9 km south of Dong Van, it took us 1 hour to reach it! That's to say that the landscapes in the meantime have already left us quite stunned and that the road is also quite winding.

A road that also has its history. First, its name, "Hanh Phuc", which means "happiness". It was once a particularly dangerous access route to get to the Dong Van and Meo Vac regions.

In “dreamer” mode.

Do you see the motorcycle there?

In “worker” mode.

Until the early 60s, only horses were allowed to pass on this road, which is what gave the pass its name, because according to the local language, Ma Pi Lèng means "the horse's nose".

But after 5 years of hard work, volunteers dug a road in the mountain, in order to connect Ha Giang city to Meo Vac district.

It was from this time that the road took the name of "road of happiness", because it helped to improve the living conditions of the local inhabitants.

A must that I recommend, this road offers absolutely spectacular landscapes.

The pass reaches the 2 m altitude, and the clear view of the multitude of peaks around the viewpoint is simply fabulous.

The visual picture was so surreal that I really had the feeling of having a real living painting in front of me.

The house at the end offers a viewpoint over the Ma Pi Leng, with a souvenir shop and parking.

The karst rocks are still visible.

The peak of Ma Pi Leng Pass.

Majestic viewpoint over the Tu San canyon.

Small market (for tourists...) improvised in the parking lot.

The layers of rocks.

Just after the Ma Pi Leng pass, a new landscape opens up before us.

Last look at the mountains surrounding Ma Pi Leng.

And I didn't know it when we went there, but one of the special features of this site is the Tu San canyon, at the bottom of which flows the Nho Qué River. With its depth of 800 m (for a length of less than 2 km), this makes it the deepest canyon in Vietnam and all of Southeast Asia.

So it was after taking some eyeful that we continue on this road which definitely bears its name well, because it was with a smile hanging on our lips that we had during this hour skirting the Ma Pi Lèng pass.

Meo Vac, Dong Van’s “twin”

It was after about ten additional kilometers that we arrived at Meo Vac. This city is also often a bivouac place for travelers going to this northern part of Vietnam.

It's a bit like Dong Van's "twin" in that it has the same small mountain town feel, with its Sunday market as well.

Arriving at Meo Vac.

Mountain surrounding Meo Vac.

Main street crossing Meo Vac.

The light enveloping the city as we go out is beautiful.

We are leaving the city.

Even though there are still houses a little further away.

It is in this part of our motorbike trip that we will come across the most tourists, proof that the region is starting to attract (well, we didn't come across more than 3 or 4 motorbikes, but still).

In our case, we were just passing through and as we approached 17 p.m., we still had 76 km to go, we didn't have much choice.

Bao Lac, a stage that could have been good…

This is where we see the impact and importance of the choice of dates in the programming of a stay, particularly here in northern Vietnam.

In fact, outside magnificent landscapes, the main asset is the presence of all these ethnic minorities with costumes as varied and colorful as possible.

Do you see the person in this photo?

Unfortunately, most of the markets take place on Sundays and given the length of our stay, the only ones we were able to see were those of Bac Ha et Lung Phin.

So if you can, please make sure to split your stay between Bac Ha and Bao Lac over a week (which may seem a bit long too…), just to see their respective Sunday markets.

In general, each market, depending on the region, has a majority ethnic group. If in Bac Ha and surroundings the ethnic group that dominated the stalls were The Flowery Hmong, here in Bao Lac, these are notably the black Lolo.

No market for us, but just an intermediate stop before reaching Cao Bang.

On the last part before reaching Bao Lac, we came across a few villages, rice fields and landscapes that were a little less impressive (well, especially after seeing the Ma Pi Leng… it seemed almost “bland”), but, as a consolation prize, we were treated to a nice spot and viewpoint on the mountains at sunset.

Before finishing the last 30 kilometers at night… once again. So it was around 19:30 p.m. (at least we are regular in terms of arrival timing, lol) that we arrived at Bao Lac.

Where to stay in Bao Lac?

We continued along this road in poor condition, wondering if there was really a city center here. We came across a few hotels, but it was only after a bridge, next to which was the market (ordinary, not the ethnic one, although it may take place in the same place, but in everyday life it has much less charm...) that we found our happiness.

A hotel, which we could see from the bridge, quickly caught our eye, because in the background, Motorcycling is exhausting, so finding a hotel that isn't too disgusting makes a minimum of sense in order to be able to recover from the day; and given the price, you might as well not hold back (Except that for the anecdote, and this is relative to all the hotels in the north, with the exception of Hanoi, the mattresses were systematically hard...)

Room at the Duc Tai Hotel in Bao Lac.

So we put our suitcases down at the Duc Tai Hotel (for a price that I will put when I have my hands on this famous notebook… But less than $20 for sure).

I had spotted a corner, just before arriving at the bridge, with restaurants and the places looked a bit lively. This is where we will eat our dinner, in this restaurant which looked like a kind of canteen.

Notice all the peanut shells thrown on the ground... our evening restaurant is nice, huh!

As it was the first time we saw a café that was rather "designer" and with a different, welcoming setting, it attracted us like flies and we decided to sit there to have a dessert.

A little dessert!