Beautiful route. Small and quiet good roads. App. 220 kms.

– From Ninh Binh to Cuc Phuong. 50 kms. Go north on rt. for app. 10 kms and take a left to Nho Quan. In No Quan there is a big sign to the left, Cuc Phuong 12 kms. Follow this narrow road. After some time it starts climbing. Continu untill you reach a "rolling" gate, the park entrance. Continue another km, past the Primate Rescue centre until you reach the Visitor Centre. This is a small office, whith good English speaking staff. You’ll buy the entrance ticket here and with the help of a photo book you choose your accommodation. We stayed another km deeper in the park in a bungalow at a lake. Very nice, 20 USD. You can continu for 18 kms into the park. There the road ends and there are hikes to be made, there is accommodation and a reaturant (of which you must not expect too much, at least in the low season) The reaturant at the visitor’s centre is the best.

– to Cam Thuy. 60 kms, 260 vertical meters. Leaving the rolling gate, go right immediately. Road under construction, but very well to ride. Nice route, Karst mountains, rice paddies. Via Pho Cat and Kim Tan to Can Thuy. Good hotel.

– to Quan Hoa via rt. 217 and 15. 63 kms, 340 vm. Very beautiful, especially in the beginning. After passing the sign "Quan Hoa" you immediately cross a bridge. 100 metetrs further there is a big sign to Eco Guesthouse Gia Phat. Very nice, quiet, small and friendly place. If you continu you’ll find several Nha Ngi’s in the town.

– to mai chau, ban Lac (village) app. 50 kms, 570 vm!!. Very hilly, up and down all the time. Stay in one of the guesthouses (homestays) in Ban Lac’s stilted houses in the middle of the rice fields, just south of Mai Chau itself.

All in all a very nice tour, if not our best in Vietnam.