{"id":103,"date":"2025-01-25T07:30:29","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T06:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travel.thatmanmatt.com\/?p=103"},"modified":"2025-01-25T07:30:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-25T06:30:29","slug":"day-6-nah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travel.thatmanmatt.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/25\/day-6-nah\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 6: Nah\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TL:DR is that I bailed on the motorbike tour in Ha Giang and am heading back to Hanoi, pulling all future plans forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TL Bit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Basically a combination of red flags, some real, some assumed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udea91\ufe0f\u20e3: 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 <\/em>25th. Result: when I got back yesterday from a wander about and went up to my room, it was empty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That familiar-looking backpack I saw in the lobby? Mine, along with my passport, camera, tablet, sandals but notably not<\/em> my toothbrush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a place that communicates everything over WhatsApp, I don\u2019t know why they didn\u2019t bother to message me if they thought the room should not be occupied. Would have been resolved easily and I\u2019d still have a toothbrush. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udea92\ufe0f\u20e3: I listened in to the guides running through the itinerary for the tour starting yesterday. Of course, it\u2019s a tour, the itinerary is etched into stone. But: \u201cwe go here, ten minutes for pictures, then go to this market, then go here to lunch, then ten minutes for pictures there\u201d etc. etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not how I like to ride and it\u2019s why I\u2019d asked to just rent a bike and make my own way \u2013 something that is offered on their website but not actually a thing they do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udea93\ufe0f\u20e3: 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\u2019t see the mountains from the city already, I figured I\u2019d rather be somewhere warm with visibility than cold with none. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
11-13\u00b0 max, minus windchill, up a mountain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t align. I\u2019ve lost maybe 20\u20ac of a deposit, no biggie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I will spend the new year not in Ha Giang or Hanoi, but Hoi An, which I\u2019m looking forward to. <\/p>\n

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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. \ud83d\udea91\ufe0f\u20e3: the place I was staying managed to mess up my reservation, and somehow booking me a room for […]<\/p>\n

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