Mai Chau mountain bike 3 days
Mai chau mountain bike
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS
A 3 day off road Mountain Bike challenger trip covering over 160 kilometers of fire road through pine forested hills and rain forested valleys, single track and trails use by local people.
The best of off road mountain biking trip around Hanoi, truly mountain off road biking trip in Vietnam.
Day 1: HaNoi -Moc Chau(47 km) (Meal: L, D)
Transfer to Hoa Binh. Start riding ,It’s a fascinating drive past many minority villages as we climb onto a higher plateau. We ride pass coffee and tea plantations before arriving in the Baixang for lunch. Afternoon continue cycling to MaiChau village. Driving to Mochau.
Over night in hotel in Moc Chau
Day 2: Moc Chau- Mai Chau (+- 55km ) (Meal: B, L, D)
After breakfast driving 16 km, then continue in the off road to Mai Chau without car stand by. ( +-40 km off road, single track,car track ), making this a day not to be forgotten. We cycle past rice fields. There are two hard climbs today the first starts after 17 km with a 3 km ascent but the second, and most challenging comes at the end of this stunning day, with an 4 km strength-sapping climb. We finish the day with a stunning descend on road to Mai Chau .
Dinner and home stay in Mai Chau
Day 3: Mai Chau- Pu Luong- Hanoi (+- 65km )(Meal: B, L)
We start driving from village with 15 km to mountain pass. Then we cycling down hill on the jeep track ( +- 15km) to Kho Muong, one of the most beautiful terrace rice field in Vietnam. After a biking and ride along a mix of dirt tracks and tarmac trails through Thai village and across rice paddies to Pho Doan We have lunch and return to Hanoi by Car. Arrival Hanoi around 6 Pm, end of service
Discount for big group booking, group of 6 people pay only 5
Note: Prices are based per person, double occupancy, with a separate cost for solo travelers. If you are traveling in a group but prefer single accommodations, a single supplement fee applies. Triple accommodations are not available in many of the destinations we visit.
Best Time to go
From October to May
WHAT’S INCLUDED- English speaking local guide
- Accommodations in hotels, home stays and local hotel around trip as mention
- Meals as mention with B= breakfast, L= Lunch, D= dinner
- Sightseeing and activities as noted in the itinerary
- Ground transportation
- Additional guides where necessary
- Entrance fees and permits
Day 3:Sai gon- Catien national park – Bao Loc(cycling +- 30 km)
Day 9: QuyNhon to QuangNgai ( Cycling +- 55 km)
Day 14: Hue departure
After freshening up with a much needed shower and hearty breakfast at a local hostel, we started our trek with our local guide Zaza and fellow traveller friend Erik. We struck lucky with our small group which meant we were able to go at our own pace. This was especially good given how tough some of the terrain turned out to be.
The first 2 hours of the day were mainly a steep descent through muddy hills which curved and cut through many farm houses, rice paddies and villages. We welcomed our stops along the way to take in the stunning scenery of the many mountains, valleys and local villages. At our first village we observed a local woman dying clothes for local families. Having never witnessed clothes being dyed using natural flowers and techniques before, it was fascinating to learn the process they use and watch the weaving process using this old device. Despite being humble and shy about her skills, she was keen to highlight their local traditions.
We encountered numerous obstacles on our trek: boulders, fallen trees, muddy ditches, and quite a few (very large) water buffalo! You can imagine who had right of way…
After around 6 hours of trekking, the last hour was really tough (as it always seems to be!). With tired legs and steep terrain, we felt the intense heat of the sun beating down on us and struggled to avoid losing our footing and landing in many deep muddy ditches!
We later found out that many local people have to trek this tough terrain on a daily basis to make their way home from work or school, as there aren’t many paths or direct roads. As many can’t afford a car or motorbike, trekking by foot is the only option. With typically a 2 hour trek to most schools in the area, it’s no wonder that many children don’t go at all and would rather spend the day helping their family on the farm or selling handicrafts to passing tourists. After realising this, I decided not to complain about my tired legs and mud covered trainers! I’m not sure I could make this long journey on a daily basis, but this was normality for the strong and resilient village people we met.
After a long day we were relieved to arrive at our final destination. Our home for the night was set deep in a lush green valley next to a large gushing waterfall. After a warm welcome from our lovely host family and a much needed cup of herbal tea, we helped prepare our feast for dinner (well I rolled some spring rolls!) and relaxed our tired limbs with the help of the favourite local drink of choice – homemade rice wine! Some other friendly locals joined us and delighted in leading the consumption of shot after shot, getting progressively more merry. Thankfully for us though, there were no sore heads the next day due to the purity of the homemade liquor process – ideal for our new farmer friends too with a 4am start!
The next morning we woke to heavy rain and flooding in the valley. On came the waterproofs and we set off on another day of trekking. The heavy rain was incessant throughout the morning, and got progressively worse by the afternoon. It didn’t dampen our spirits, as we really enjoyed the coolness of the rain compared to the intense sun we’d experienced the previous day. After a couple of hours we were soaked through to our skin, and decided to embrace the mud! After trying to avoid every mud ditch the previous day, we found ourselves just getting stuck in and got as muddy as we liked as we knew the rain would wash it quickly away! Keen to get to our final destination towards the end of the day, we decided to take as many short cuts as possible and no longer cared about following paths or roads, sometimes finding ourselves almost knee deep in mud sliding down the side of hills and celebrating when we managed to avoid falling down head first! Our second homestay was even nicer than our first and thankfully had the luxury of a much needed hot shower – result! So after a long soak to heat us up, we were treated to the best tasting hot garlic chips and homemade prawn crackers, followed by a beautiful meal of chicken and pork stir fry with rice and an ice cold Tiger beer – heaven.
The following morning, after another night of solid rain, almost every item of clothing we had with us was damp – yuk! We just couldn’t face putting on damp clothes again so decided on the only rational course of action left to us, to put on our only dry clothes left. Sadly for us, the only dry clothes we had left were our pyjamas! Imagine the sight, each of us walking with backpacks on through the mud to our mini van for a ride we’ll never forget. The heavy rain of the previous 36 hours caused flash floods from the top of the mountains, crashing across many of the roads we needed to use to get back to Sapa. Our driver had to navigate us along roads that had become rivers, one of which was running so fast we had to drive as close to the cliff edge as possible to avoid the torrent. It was at this moment I closed my eyes and held my breath, too scared to look at Barry! Relieved to be safely back in the town of Sapa, we wandered around for an hour or so (still in our pyjamas) before the rain returned and we sought refuge in a coffee shop to dry off, relax and reflect upon our amazing adventure of the last three days, an experience we’ll never forget. For anyone thinking of visiting Vietnam, we’d highly recommend a trip to Sapa in the North if you’d like to experience rural life, awesome landscapes and savour a taste of the true culture and traditions of the Vietnamese countryside and its amazing people. We trekked with Ethnic Travel, who arranged our trains as well as the trek and homestays and made the whole experience simple for us. Not so sure about trekking? Check out our more relaxing experience of our Halong Bay cruise! Now that was a lot more comfortable…