We left Ha Giang early in the morning, starting our journey to the North pole of Vietnam–Lung Cu. We were worried the weather would be rainy, but weatherman Jim (Kevin’s dad) checked out the weather radar for our route and it looked like we had the all-clear. We saddled up and hit the road.

We rode north, our route taking us through Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark. The scenery was stellar, offering stunning views of the landscape. We stop a couple times to take it all in, and then keep on going until we reach the town of Yen Minh.

We checked into a 1-star ‘motel’ called Nha Nghi Cao Nguyen. It’s right across the street from the cafe we are all drinking coffee at right now. It’s called Fusion Cafe, but I would say the name doesn’t quite match the menu. I’ve ordered a chicken leg, but I got some deep fried chicken feet. After a little consideration, I decided to send them back.

It’s sunny and beautiful out, we’re all vibing with this place. It’s been a great ride, and now my chicken wing has arrived. It’s actually just the whole wing–the drummer and flapper attached in one. I think this was the only thing ‘fusion’ about the whole place.  It tasted pretty good either way.

Last night we hung out at Bong Cafe and Hostel in Ha Giang and ate their family dinner again.  We got bad news about our visa extensions–we could only get a 10 day extension through our agent now.  We got the name of another agent, but they could only do it for $180 per person. Completely bent over and at the mercy of these travel agents, we agree. We worked with Eddy at our last homestay to get the address in Ha Noi so our new agent could collect the passports from the original agent.

I was really floored, he really went the extra mile.  Even though we were long gone from Sa Pa, Eddy busted his ass to make it right and make sure our passports got handed over to the different agent.  The travel community really is full of good people.