Northern Loop Part 6 - Cao Bang to Ba Be Lake

The Northern Loop is my blog series about a short motorbike trip in North Vietnam, starting and ending in Ha Giang.

Northern Loop Part 6 - Cao Bang to Ba Be Lake

@doctorcrypto and I woke up in Cao Bang refreshed and ready to ride. Our hotel had a pretty good breakfast with a decent variety of foods to choose from. I had fried rice with hot chilies for breakfast. I think @doctorcrypto had yogurt and fruit.

After getting out of the suburbs of Cao Bang, the road went up into some mountains. The mountains were very foggy and wet. The riding was a little more dangerous due to the reduced visibility, but the fog added a peaceful quiet to the ride.

This photo looks like it belongs in @dragonator's Bikes of Burden series.

Me, ready for the day's ride. I didn't have real motorbiking gear so everything I'm wearing is snowboarding gear.

Things starting to get foggy.

A monument that we saw in the fog.

Our foggy road.

Strange animals being sold on the side of the road.

We turned around for photos of these guys. A lady was sitting next to the road and she had these animals hung up by their tails. Both were alive and struggling. I don't know if they're used for food or what, but I was tempted to buy one. They looked like some kind of mole.

The fog cleared up after an hour or so. After that, it was pretty smooth riding to Ba Be Lake.

Some nice farmland.

Selfie time!

A quick stop at the gas station.

@doctorcrypto with some big pigs in the background.

I like how the buildings seem sort of patched together with whatever materials are available.

Another nice farm.

Getting closer to Ba Be Lake (that's not the lake).

There's a checkpoint on the road to the lake. We had to buy tickets to the park here. I don't remember the price, but I know it was pretty cheap.

We got to the lake in the early afternoon. I found a homestay that had good reviews and we got a room for ourselves. After we dropped off our luggage, we rode around the lake for a while.

After that, we came back to the homestay to relax and have dinner. Lucky for us, the homestay had plenty of beer for sale. We made friends with another guest at the homestay. He was a Vietnamese guy from Hanoi and he was taking a little riding trip by himself. He gave us lots of good information about Hanoi and was pleasant company. He also helped us translate with our hosts during dinner, which was excellent.

Here are some of my Ba Be Lake photos.

The boat tours were recommended to us, but to me, it was just another lake. It was cool and everything, but I thought the farmland closer to the homestay was much more interesting. We decided against doing the boat tour.

Our homestay is one of those buildings in the distance.

This guy was working his fishing pond.

The view from our homestay.

We had a great time at Ba Be Lake, but I think one night there is enough time. I know there's a temple on an island and other attractions, but there didn't seem to be much to do there.

Vlog

Here's the vlog for our 5th day of riding.

The route that we took from Cao Bang.

That's it for this post. Next up is our ride to Na Hang. Until then, ride safe!