Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [327]
Just 4km east of Yen Minh, the road splits. The northern fork goes to Dong Van and the southern one to Meo Vac, and this is where the fun really begins. You can follow either road as they join up to form a loop; described below is the route via Meo Vac, which has slightly more accommodation options than Dong Van. There’s virtually no traffic on the road, which passes through rugged limestone landscapes, the scenery gradually getting wilder and more dramatic, and little evidence of settlements at the roadside. For much of the way, the terrain is pocked with blackened knuckles of rock that must make for difficult farming, though small fields of corn are planted here and there, and cone-shaped bundles of corn stalks, used for fodder and fuel, are scattered among the rock-strewn landscape. The locals, for the most part White Hmong, stoop low under heavy burdens of wood, and it’s all too evident that life here is tough.
In MEO VAC, the Nho Que (0219/387 1322; US$10 and under) is easily the best place in town, although the eight rooms do resemble a 1950s motel. Its best feature is the large rooftop where you can get a nice view of the surrounding mountains. If this is full, the People’s Committee Guest House (0219/387 1176; US$10 and under) is marginally better than sleeping on the street. There’s little to see in town apart from a small statue of Uncle Ho and the town’s new market that overflows on Sundays, but it’s the setting, with a ring of barren mountains forming a bowl around it, which is impressive. Several food stalls can be found around the market, and there are a few basic soup and rice restaurants dotted around.
The next stage of the journey, covering just 22km on the way to Dong Van, is the most spectacular part of the whole trip. The road climbs up the side of a massive canyon to the Ma Phi Leng Pass at around 1500m, and the views down to the Nho Que River, a ribbon of turquoise far below, are simply dizzying. DONG VAN is in a similar setting to Meo Vac, and has the usual market, and a guesthouse Hoang Ngoc (0219/385 6020; US$10 and under), which is friendly and clean. From Dong Van, the road heads back west to the junction outside Yen Minh, and for the first section to Sai Phin, the scenery is superb – a constant string of cone-shaped peaks standing above fields in the valley below. After 15km from Dong Van, look out on the left for the sturdy building of the People’s Committee at Sai Phin. If you ask here, someone will walk you down to the village to look at the Vuong Palace, a large, two-storey residence with three courtyards which was built by the French for the local Hmong king. The thick walls show intricate craftsmanship, and have slits set into them that were used to defend the place with rifles in bygone days. In the shade of pine trees beside the gateway to the palace are several impressive tombs of members of the Vuong family.
West of Sai Phin, the constantly changing views continue until finally the road descends from the hills into Yen Minh, and from here you must follow the same route back to Ha Giang.
The far north | The northeast |
Cao Bang and around
Cao Bang lies approximately halfway along the route from Ha Giang to Lang Son, and has enough appeal to merit a stopover. The journey from Ha Giang along Highway 34, via Bao Lac, takes the better part of a day, passing through small villages and excellent scenery. Few travellers venture this far north, but those who do usually make the pilgrimage out to Pac Bo Cave, where Ho Chi Minh lived on his return to Vietnam in 1941, and to Ban Gioc Falls, Vietnam’s highest waterfall, right on the border with China. The province is home to several ethnic minorities, notably the Dao, Nung and Tay who still maintain their traditional way of life in the more remote uplands.
The far north | The northeast | Cao Bang and around |
Cao Bang
Cao Bang is a likeable place: its centre may be dusty and noisy, but its riverside setting, with dense clumps of bamboo backed by sugar-loaf mountains helps to blur the edges. The town is built on the southwestern