What do you need to prepare for a backpacking trip to Ha Giang?

Ha Giang is located in the northernmost region of the country, a dream destination for all travel enthusiasts. Coming to this land, visitors will admire the rocky mountains, pristine forests, and picturesque terraced fields.

Money and identification

Money and personal documents are the first important things you need to prepare for your trip to Ha Giang or any other tourist destination. You should bring some cash and an ATM card. There are now ATMs in town centers.

In particular, not only do you have to check-in at the location, but when you want to enter the border area, you are required to present your citizen identification card at the border guard station.

Besides, a driving license is required for drivers if you come to Ha Giang and travel here by motorbike.

Personal belongings

Depending on your Ha Giang travel schedule, you can prepare personal items to bring along to save luggage while still being as complete as possible.

To avoid having to carry too many things for your backpacking trip, you can suggest some personal items such as cosmetics, toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors and some good moisturizers for your skin. These are essential items for your upcoming trip to Ha Giang. For convenience, you can put them all in cosmetic bags. To avoid carrying messy bottles, you can put cosmetics in small cosmetic decanters.

Protective equipment

To ensure safety on long, dangerous roads, you need to prepare yourself before starting the trip such as: carefully checking the vehicle, helmet, gloves, mask, head scarf, protective gear for hands and feet...

Although you should maintain your vehicle carefully before the trip to ensure safety, no one can predict the problems you may encounter on the road. Therefore, you should prepare some basic tools to fix small errors such as: tire hook set, spark plug removal kit, tire repair tools (hand pump, foot pump), pliers, mini wrenches, a few T-bars, a set of wrenches...

You can store all these motorcycle repair tools in a small bag in the trunk of your car so you can use them when needed.

Itinerary and travel map

To have the most complete Ha Giang tour and not miss any sightseeing spots, you need to plan and schedule your trip in advance. Arrange your itinerary according to the most convenient route, checking the weather is also a very necessary factor for the trip.

Don't rush to rely 100% on Google Maps because many mountain passes will lose signal completely, you cannot determine the direction or route if you lose 3G, 4G signal. Therefore, before the trip, you should prepare a Ha Giang backpacking map to be more proactive in all routes, especially when backpacking!

Clothing and footwear

Traveling is not enough to be beautiful, it also needs to be convenient and suitable for the weather of your destination.

Clothing to prepare: windbreaker, warm jacket, jeans, sweater, some good heat-retaining shirts. If you travel to Ha Giang in the summer, you can choose basic dynamic clothes such as T-shirts, thin jackets, pretty ruffled dresses will be suitable suggestions for girls to bring when going to the buckwheat flower fields or the rapeseed and plum flower fields when in season.

Accessories to bring when preparing to travel to Ha Giang: gloves, scarves, earplugs, besides, don't forget to prepare a raincoat because during the journey you will not know when the weather will suddenly turn rainy or sunny.

Medicine

Ha Giang has difficult roads and harsh weather, so it is easy to get sick or injured. You may encounter health problems that cannot be predicted.

Travelers should bring bandages, cold medicine, fever reducer, insect repellent, motion sickness medicine, etc. in their luggage.

In addition, if you go to Ha Giang in the summer, don't forget to bring sunscreen, facial cleanser, insect repellent, etc. to protect your skin from the harsh weather of Ha Giang mountains and forests.

Electronic equipment

Electronic devices such as cameras, phones, and selfie sticks will help you capture the most beautiful moments and memories of the northernmost region of the country in places with beautiful natural landscapes such as Ma Pi Leng Pass, Nho Que River, Lung Cu Flagpole, Quan Ba ​​Twin Mountains... or learn about the cultures of ethnic groups.

Some experiences about Ha Giang customs and culture

Ha Giang is a locality where many ethnic groups live, the majority of which are H'Mong, Dao, Giay... the ethnic people here have many different customs and taboos from those in the lowlands. To avoid misunderstandings, displeasure and unnecessary conflicts, you should also refer to some of the experiences below.

If you see green leaves hanging on high poles or stakes in front of the village gate or the door of a H'Mong or Dao house, you should not enter, because that is the time when villagers perform rituals to worship the village god and ward off evil spirits, so people are very taboo about strangers entering the village.

When walking around the village, you should not talk loudly, laugh, cause disorder, or litter. When meeting small children, you should not hug or pat their heads because the locals believe that doing so will make them sick.

When going to the village, you should not wear all white clothes because that is the color of mourning.

Do not whistle in the village, because the locals believe that doing so will call evil spirits to haunt you.

In each ethnic village, there are sacred forests, places to worship forest gods, mountain gods, river gods, which can be large tree roots or large rocks. When you come here, you absolutely must not litter, talk, laugh, or have unsightly actions.