Travel Vietnam - Vietnam travel, hotels, tours guide

Who: Rick Simons, Rudy Fettig and Rick Posnick of Boulder; Tony Tran; and David Nguyen.

Where: At Ha Giang Province, 4 days motocycling tours. Ha Giang is in the northeast, just south of the Chinese border, a place many hill tribes live, Khau Vai love market, Dong Van - H’mong King’s house

Best meal: We had dinner at the Ha Giang Village, where our guide Huong was the chef. The different courses (spring rolls, fish, tofu, soup, beef, rice) kept flowing until we were satiated. However, the most pleasant experience was drinking the homemade rice wine made by Mr. Giang. He continued to pour it until we finally had to say “no more.” We did learn that “took saquaya” is the equivalent of “cheers” for the H’mong people.

Best time to go: April and Septemper, October, November were a perfect time, but it was hazy everyday, so pictures did not have blue skies in them. The temperature was pleasant; no rain and no crowds of tourists.

Best travel tip: I found the Vietnamese people to be among the friendliest I have ever encountered, and not one of them had any animosity toward American people.