Thị Trấn Đồng Văn, Hà Giang (Vietnam)

Loop trail from Thị Trấn Đồng Văn passing through:
- best way to reach Ma Pi Leng Pass by avoiding the main road QL4C as much as possible
- Pagoda Viewpoint with awesome view over Ma Pi Leng Pass
- Hamlet on the road to Ma Pi Leng Pass (not very nice as a lot of motorbikes cross it but a good opportunity to stock up on basic aliments, skip that hamlet as it takes a detour if you don't need to stock up)
- Mỏm Đá Tử Thần (Death Rock) where lots of vietnamese tourist take daring selfies
- Ta Lung Cave which was closed due to road construction as I passed by
- something that looks like a bunker or cave in the soil next to the path through a hamlet 2 km before reaching Mỏm Đá Tử Thần
- lots of tiny hamlets far away from the main road with freely roaming chicken and dogs
- scenic landscape

I took the bus from Hanoi to Ha Giang where I spent a night and took an other bus the following day. The bus from Ha Giang to Dong Van was a "Limousine Bus" as they call them in Vietnam and made a lot of stops to pick up goods and people and therefore took 6h to reach Dong Van. If you consider renting a scooter and driving to Dong Van on your own be aware of the fact that the road after Ha Giang to Dong Van is frequently controlled by traffic police as there are many tourist driving scooters without driving license.
In the evening the day I arrived in Dong Van I went to explore the area and check on possible trails. Usually maps.me is quite accurate but be aware of landsildes. If the path are important to locals they will quickly rebuild the path around the landslide but hence you might make a small detour or ask locals in the hamlets. More than half of the path is on asphalt as it follows partly roads for locals where they drive motorbikes.
As you reach the top you can continue the path after the pagoda following the "Sky Path" to go to the hamlet at Ma Pi Leng pass. And for adventurous people there might be the possibility to look for path to hike down to Meo Vac village, where there is a bus driving back to Ha Giang. If you find the path to Meo Vac village please add it here so other people can follow it.
On my way back I took a slightly other path that partially didn't show up on maps.me but as I had to follow even more asphalt on roads I'm not sure if this change was worth it. In total I was hiking for 11 hours (not including the 1 hr lunch break) and the small dog that kept following me from my hostel to the top and me were quite exhausted in the end because of the hilly terrain that caused a lot of elevation gain. I believe the technical difficulty to be moderte as there were some rocky hiking trails but never did I had to use my hands to secure myself to the cliff and was walking with my running shoes. Walking the trail with a dog was quite annoying as it kept chasing chicken through the hamlets and occasionally had fights with other dogs in the hamlets.

Maps.me gives me following details on the path:
- Way up to pagoda: 13 km, 5 hr, 1.4 km ascent, 1.1 km descent, starting and lowest altitude 1101 m, highest altitude 1415 m
- Way down: 23 km, 8.20 hr, 2.4 km ascent, 2.2 km descent, lowest altitude 1068 m, highest altitude 1415 m