Alright, so..
Good news first, I’m very happy I did the hike because the feeling of accomplishment from reaching the end and the views were both surreal. I wouldn’t change a thing. But if you were to ask me during the hike if I was glad I went on it? I would say NOPE. No one told me the hike was along the side of a mountain with the terrain being either rocks or stairs. The whole hike was either incline or decline, maybe 10% was on level ground!
So if you just zoom in on that last photo there, you can see the smallest white line across the mountain. Yeah, that was the our route. CRAZY! I wanted to die. Not even like 10 minutes into the hike I was reconsidering my decisions but at that point I just had to commit.
This next video also shows how crazy long this hike was. – IMG_0849
IMG_0843 (I’m only slightly dying in this video, but the views were worth it)
My driver, Bao, was sweet enough to capture some cool shots of the hike on his drone.
One thing I noticed were people working on the side of the mountain. The safety guidelines here, or lack there of, boggles my mind. This one person was walking down the steepest hill I’ve seen to get a particular plant. He gathered a good amount and made a huge bundle on his shoulders. My worry watching him was the fact that one wrong move, or slight unbalance in his steps, could send him tumbling down a mountain. I was both very impressed and worried. Plus, of course no type of harness, rope, or proper shoes.
Finally, the group and I made it to the top of the mountain, which had a nice flat walking path for a bit! It was heaven.
I thought I was in the clear, but again was wrong. We had a nice relaxing walk for a while, but ended up climbing up rocks/stairs soon after.
Another person in my group captured some very cool shots of the people along our journey through the Ha Giang so I thought I’d share.
At the end of our long hike, we ended up at this huge monument, and the information posted about it was very interesting. Give it a read. 😊
Goodnight! We ended up at our second homestay, had some dinner, happy water, and hit the hay.
Recent Comments