Final Stop on the Loop – Ba Be

March 5 – 7, Days 11 – 13: On March 5th and 6th we stayed at Ba Be Legend Villa, which was a mix between a homestay and a very small guesthouse. It was a Tay family run business and Luan, one of the sons, was the main guest contact person. Luan was charming and we enjoyed chatting with him at the end of each day (he asked if I would show him our pictures as he liked our cameras). We ate breakfasts and our dinners at the guesthouse and really enjoyed the “home cooked” Vietnamese meals – Luan was very proud of his mother’s cooking and would quiz us on what we were eating.

We were on the 4th (highest) floor of the guesthouse and of course no elevator, but as Luan said “the view was worth it” and he was right – we overlooked a rice field and from our floor you didn’t even notice the small road in front of the guesthouse.

We visited a Tay village – Cam Ha Village. This village is in the Ba Be National Park which attracts mostly trekkers so some of the villagers had put out homestay signs. Before we left the village, Josie stopped at a home and asked if we could see inside. The grandmother was so hospitable – she lit a fire and wanted us to stay for tea, but we had more stops so we had to decline her kind offer.

On the second day, Josie arranged for a local tour boat on Ba Be Lake which is in the National Park. We made many stops as we travelled the lake and rivers – stops included a cave, a local village where we had lunch and a small temple.

As we headed back to Hanoi on March 7th, we talked about our 13 day loop. We saw so much and we also learned about travel in the more remote areas of Vietnam (the places we loved and would go back to and other places we wouldn’t). In these remote areas, the villagers were curious and so hospitable.

We developed a wonderful rapport with Josie and Hung during the 13 days (over 2,500km) we travelled together.

Hung means hero in Vietnamese and he was our hero. He kept us safe on the winding, bumpy roads and was always looking out for us. Although in the beginning Hung was very quiet, he did understand a lot of what we said and by the end we were able to communicate as he would try his English and we got better at charades. We had Luan (from our homestay) write a “thank you” note in Vietnamese so we could give it to Hung along with a tip and gift. Hung was very emotional when he saw that our note was in Vietnamese.

Working closely with Josie was very important as we did have to make changes to our itinerary along the way. Josie had travelled to some of the places we visited, but many were new to her also, so it was a learning experience for all of us. We were able to move through the challenges together, laugh at some of the very embellished descriptions in our itinerary, make changes that made the trip so much better and enjoy so many wonderful experiences – we were lucky to have Josie as our guide. We gave Josie a note, tip and gift, and she also gave us a gift – a bracelet that she purchased at one of our stops. When I wear the bracelet we will remember our loop experience with Josie.