Landscapes in Asia
Bending into China, Ha Giang is the northermost point you can get in Vietnam. It's rich in ethnic minorities who live on the mountain slopes, but what makes this place stand out from its more popular neighbours is the landscape. As you travel across the province, the mountain scenery changes from soft hills with muddy soil, over steep slopes covered in rice terraces to rough stone forests, where the colourful tribe people have to farm between the tall pointy rock pillars. Vietnam is beautiful and this is one of the most jaw-dropping places in Vietnam.
Hai Van Pass (496) north of Da Nang is the second highest pass in Vietnam, next after Heavens Gate near Sapa. It is a natural boundary between the subtropical North and tropical South Vietnam. During the French occupation and the Vietnam War, the pass played an important military role and to this day you can still see some bunkers at the top. Due to the special weather conditions, the view is rarely clear in both direction when reaching the top and the whole peak is often covered in clouds, hence the name Hai Van (meaning "Ocean Clouds"). In 2005, the Hai Van Tunnel opened, cutting straight through the mountain and eliminating the scenic, though scary, hairpin route over the pass.
In Halong Bay vertical limestone rocks shot out of the deep green South Chinese Sea and create a maze of giant rock pillars and secret lagoons. There are small beaches, floating villages, show caves with colored lights and cave tunnels that is possible to visit in low tide by row boat. Halong Bay is truly an amazing sight, so it is no wonder that this UNESCO site is one of the most iconic tourist destinations in Vietnam. Unfortunately this also means more tour boats that it is possible to count, trash floating around in the water (though this is not necessary the tour boats fault) and the usual Vietnamese tourist mayhem. Though most visitors take in this extraordinary scenery in classic style on a luxury junk, it is possible to escape the crowds by exploring the hollow islands in kayak (read more under "Halong Bay Cave Kayaking").
The newly finished Pa Uon bridge across the Da River is Vietnam highest, and a piece of engineering the Vietnamese government is very proud of. Due to the hydro-electric damn further down, the Da river is today more a long lake rather than a river. When we crossed the bridge in the fall 2010, the water was still raising creating a strangely beautiful man-made landscape dotted with recently erected villages for the area's hill tribes (like Black Thai, White H'mong and Phu La), who used to live down at the bottom of the valley.
Outside the beach town of Mui Ne lies two sand dunes. The smallest is the Red Sand Dune, only three kilometres from Mui Ne fishing village and right next to the road. The bigger White Sand Dune is twenty-eight kilometres away and down a dirt road. To visit them, you can either join a jeep tour or rent a scooter and drive there yourself. The journey is particular pretty and runs partly along the coast. At both places you can rent "sledges" (a piece of linoleum) and at the White Sand Dune you can even rent an ATV for a drive in the sand - something the Vietnamese entrepreneurs advertise as an "eco tour".