Riding the Ha Giang Loop, located in the northern reaches of Vietnam, is a raw communion with a road that writhes through the ribs of ancient karst landscapes. The mist is thick, dancing through the tower-lined basins and valleys. The motorbikes’ hum vibrates through your bones, pulsating against the quiet of rice paddies and swidden fields seared into the hills. Villages flicker past, with adults going about regular routines and children waving, eyes wide, as their laughter dopplers into the surroundings. There is true beauty here, jagged and relentless. It’s a road that beckons, twisting, turning, daring you to follow, to lose yourself in its vast, indifferent embrace.