Frequently asked questions

This is the question I am asked most, and it deserves a real answer rather than a reassurance. You will be on the back of my bike or walking beside me the whole time. I ride slowly and I do not overtake on blind corners — most accidents on this loop are caused by riders in a hurry, and I have seen the results. Helmets are proper full-face ones, not the thin plastic kind. Homestays are places I know personally, and I will tell you in advance who else is staying. If at any point you want to stop, change the plan, or go back, you say so and we do it.

Both are available and there is no wrong answer. Take the rider if you have never ridden a manual bike — Ha Giang is not the place to learn, and day one of Off The Map is dirt. You can switch mid-trip if you change your mind.

Not as a passenger. To ride your own bike in Vietnam you need a 1968-convention International Driving Permit covering motorbikes, plus your original national licence. Without them your travel insurance will not pay if anything happens, and police checks on the loop are common.

The rain arrives with the summer and stays into the early autumn, and that is when the landslides happen. Roads disappear, sometimes for days. September to November and March to May are the best months. December to February is spectacular and genuinely cold. Send me your dates and I will tell you what to expect.

Maximum five guests, minimum two to depart. Every trip is private — I do not merge groups. If you are travelling alone, message me anyway; I can sometimes pair you with another booking, and I will tell you honestly if I cannot.

A small day pack, and nothing else. Big bags stay in a locker in Ha Giang City and are waiting for you when you get back.

The plan bends around the sky. We may reverse a day, wait out a morning, or drop a road. If a camping night is unsafe you move to a private homestay room and the camping supplement is refunded in full. I will not put you somewhere dangerous to keep an itinerary intact.

To reserve I need your passport photo page, your dates and your group size — that starts the border permit. Free cancellation up to seven days before. If I cancel for weather, you get everything back or a free date change, whichever you prefer.

Yes. Tell me before you arrive and I will arrange it with the homestay families ahead of time rather than sprung on them at the door.

Sleeper bus, around six to seven hours, usually overnight. I book it for you at cost — I do not add a margin to it. You arrive early in the morning, sleep and shower, and we start after breakfast.