I've been living in Vietnam for about 8 months now and finally found a long weekend (Thursday-Sunday) to try and cover some ground in the northwest. I live in the province of Thanh Hoa, so the NW isn't exactly close but was super inspired by Vietnam Coracle's "The Extreme North-West" route map that I decided to go for it.

I left Thanh Hoa at about 5:00 a.m. on Thursday morning and travelled through three provinces before arriving in a Hmong Village/region called Pung Luong at about 4:00 that afternoon. The views were stunning and I was beat.

The next day I went northwest along QL12 and got to about 50km or so from the Chinese border. From there I followed QL12 back down south near the Laos border and followed what I believe to be the Da River all the way to Dien Bien Phu. It was hot, smoky and tiring but well worth it.

The following morning I left around 5:30 again and rocketed back East, following QL279 out of DBP, through Son La and back into Hoa Binh Province were I arrived at the lovely valley of Mai Chau around 2:30. I stayed that afternoon/night and got back to Thanh Hoa around lunch time Sunday morning.

Check out my imgur album for photos, it was a blast and I wish I had more time to explore. Alas, I have to go back to work but will try to afford at least a week next time i visit that part of the country.

https://imgur.com/gallery/pgl58sX

Cheers for that. Short and sweet report, great photos.

Do post more - I love Vietnam, very tempted to do an end to end trip there at some point.

Thanks! I'll definitely post my next trip, going to try and do my best along the Ho Chi Minh Road. If you want to do an end to end trip, Vietnam Coracle is a great resource and gave me lots of ideas.

https://www.vietnamcoracle.com/browse/motorbike-guides/

Nice!

I was in Vietnam in November 2022 and did the North East and Extreme North for 3 weeks.
I ran out of time at Ha Giang city. So rode back from Ha Giang to Hanoi.

But I am coming back in end May to complete the North West proper for about another 3 weeks of riding.