TL:DR is that I bailed on the motorbike tour in Ha Giang and am heading back to Hanoi, pulling all future plans forward.
The TL Bit
Basically a combination of red flags, some real, some assumed.
🚩1️⃣: the place I was staying managed to mess up my reservation, and somehow booking me a room for the 23rd and 25th, rather than 23rd to 25th. Result: when I got back yesterday from a wander about and went up to my room, it was empty.
That familiar-looking backpack I saw in the lobby? Mine, along with my passport, camera, tablet, sandals but notably not my toothbrush.
For a place that communicates everything over WhatsApp, I don’t know why they didn’t bother to message me if they thought the room should not be occupied. Would have been resolved easily and I’d still have a toothbrush.
🚩2️⃣: I listened in to the guides running through the itinerary for the tour starting yesterday. Of course, it’s a tour, the itinerary is etched into stone. But: “we go here, ten minutes for pictures, then go to this market, then go here to lunch, then ten minutes for pictures there” etc. etc.
That’s not how I like to ride and it’s why I’d asked to just rent a bike and make my own way – something that is offered on their website but not actually a thing they do.
There were also way more people in the groups than suggested. Mostly they are pillions being ridden around the tour, which is fine but again is too passive an endeavour for my liking.
🚩3️⃣: the weather. Somehow it has conspired to be wet, windy and cold in most of central and northern Vietnam in the exact days of the tour. Given that I couldn’t see the mountains from the city already, I figured I’d rather be somewhere warm with visibility than cold with none.
You can argue that all these things are isolated and independent problems. But the nice part of travelling light is the opportunity to switch things up when the stars don’t align. I’ve lost maybe 20€ of a deposit, no biggie.
And I will spend the new year not in Ha Giang or Hanoi, but Hoi An, which I’m looking forward to.
