This site sells nothing. No tours, no bike rental, no bookings, no affiliate links. It exists because I live here, and because the questions travellers ask me over and over deserve a straight answer instead of a sales pitch.
One thing you should know up front: I co-founded a Ha Giang tour company, stepped back from running it, and kept a share of it. So I earn nothing from this site, and I do benefit if you book with them. I am telling you in the first paragraph rather than burying it, because you deserve to weigh where the advice comes from. The deal is simple: ask me anything and you get the same answer whether you end up riding with them, with somebody else, or on your own. If another outfit suits your group better, I will tell you so.
So ask. Which direction to ride. Whether November is too cold. Whether you should drive yourself at all. What actually happens if you crash without a licence. What a fair price looks like, so you know when you are being overcharged.
Wondering who is behind these answers? Read about Thuy, who she is and why she answers messages from people who never book anything.
Messages are answered 24 hours a day, every day of the year — most within 30 minutes. The Jasmine Tours office in Hanoi’s Old Quarter is open for walk-ins from 8am to 8pm, and they are happy to answer questions there whether or not you book.
The fastest way — WhatsApp
WhatsApp: +84 839 336 818
Send a voice note if typing is easier. Send a screenshot of the itinerary someone quoted you and I will tell you what is missing from it. Send a photo of a road sign you cannot read. This is the number my friends use, and you get the same answer they do.
Every way to reach me
| Channel | Details | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| +84 839 336 818 | Anything, any hour | |
| [email protected] | Long questions, detailed route plans | |
| Zalo | +84 839 336 818 | Vietnamese speakers |
| Phone call | +84 839 336 818 | When typing is not enough |
| Office | No. 22 Phat Loc Street, Hoan Kiem Ward, Hanoi | Walk in, 8am–8pm daily |
| Emergency, on the road | +84 839 336 818 | 24/7, see below |
In trouble on the loop right now?
Call +84 839 336 818. Any hour, any day.
If someone is seriously hurt, call 115 first. That is Vietnam’s ambulance number and nothing I can do replaces it.
Then call me. If you have come off the bike, broken down in the dark on Ma Pi Leng, or you are standing in a clinic where nobody speaks English, I will talk to the locals for you, find the nearest mechanic or hospital, call your homestay, and tell your group where you are. It is my own phone and I answer it. You do not have to have booked anything, with anyone.
I am not an emergency service and I cannot come and collect you. What I can do is be a Vietnamese voice on the phone, which solves most roadside problems on this loop faster than anything else you have.
I am not an emergency service and I cannot come and collect you — but a Vietnamese voice on the phone solves most roadside problems on this loop faster than anything else you have. Save the number in your phone before you leave Hanoi.
If someone is seriously hurt, call 115 for an ambulance first, then call us.
What we can actually help with
- Routes and timing — 3 days or 4, which loop, what to cut if you are short on days.
- Season and weather — what the road is like in each month, when the fog eats the views, when it is genuinely dangerous.
- Self-drive, easy rider or jeep — an honest read on which one suits you, based on how much you have really ridden.
- Licences and insurance — what the law requires, and what your travel insurance will quietly refuse to pay if you get it wrong. This is the question most people get wrong.
- Getting to Ha Giang — sleeper bus, limousine van, train, timings out of Hanoi, Sapa, Cao Bang or Ninh Binh.
- Money — what things cost here, and what a fair price looks like so you can spot a bad one.
- Where to sleep and eat — homestays that are worth it, and the market days that are worth planning around.
- Ethical stuff — how to visit ethnic minority villages without being the reason they stop welcoming visitors.
Tell me these five things and the answer will be far more useful
- Your dates — when you arrive in Ha Giang and how many days you have.
- Group size — how many of you, and how many want to drive themselves.
- Riding experience — honestly. “I have ridden a scooter around Bali once” tells us more than “yes I can ride”.
- Licence — do you hold a motorbike licence and an International Driving Permit? Say so honestly; it changes the advice completely, and I am not the police.
- Where you are coming from — Hanoi, Sapa, Cao Bang or Ninh Binh.
If you do not know any of this yet, message me anyway. “We have no idea what we are doing” is a perfectly good first message.
Questions about me, before you ask about the loop
Is this really free?
Yes. No fee, no commission, nothing to sign up for.
So what do you get out of it?
We live off this valley’s tourism — we run a tour company here. Travellers who arrive prepared have a better trip, crash less and treat the villages better, and that keeps this place worth visiting for all of us. Some of the goodwill comes back to me eventually. Most of it does not, and I am fine with that.
Will you book things for me?
No. I will tell you what to look for and what to avoid, then you book it yourself, directly, at the real price. Nobody here works on commission.
Do you recommend specific companies?
Name the ones you are considering and I will tell you honestly what I know, including the bad parts. That includes our own company — ask, and you will get its weaknesses too.
How fast do you reply?
Usually within 30 minutes, at any hour. If I go quiet for longer, I am on the road with bad signal — try again, I am not ignoring you.
Which languages?
English and Vietnamese.
Where do I actually meet you?
The Jasmine Tours office is at No. 22 Phat Loc Street in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, open 8am to 8pm. Your ride north — sleeper bus or limousine van — is arranged from here, and our team meets you again in Ha Giang when you arrive. You never have to come to the office to book; everything can be settled over WhatsApp.
Where to find us
Bui Thu Thuy
No. 22 Phat Loc Street, Hoan Kiem Ward, Hanoi, Vietnam
Office open 8am–8pm daily, including Tet. Messages answered 24/7.
Phat Loc is a narrow lane in the heart of the Old Quarter, a few minutes’ walk from Hoan Kiem Lake and from the hostels on Ta Hien. Almost everyone riding the loop passes through Hanoi first — if you would rather spread a map on a table than type, walk in. Landing late or leaving before eight? Message us; the chat never closes.