Soon after breakfast, I waited for my bus to Ha Giang to start the Ha Giang Loop — one of the two most famous motorcycle loops in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the vendor I chose, who will remain anonymous, turned out to be terrible. For example, some kid from the office called me this morning, frantically asking where I was. I told him, “Buffalo Hostel” — the meeting point we had agreed on in Hanoi. He asked me to go on video, so I showed him. He started laughing and said, “Bruh, you should have been in Ha Giang!” That’s when I realized they had never updated my itinerary, even though I had clearly let them know. Because of their mistake, today’s group was delayed by over an hour — no fault of my own.

I confirmed they’d still be picking me up. When the bus arrived, I got my first glimpse of the tour group — and that’s when the doubts started creeping in. They were mostly the grimy European backpacker type: guys with greasy hair and regrettable tattoos, and girls who looked like they’d been following an emo band. No knock on them — but it was clear this wasn’t my crowd.

Then things went from bad to worse. We arrived in Ha Giang and were dropped off at our hostel — which was packed with even more of the same crowd. There was no way in hell I was going to spend one night there, let alone four days trapped with them on what was supposed to be one of the highlights of my trip. Maybe if I were younger, I would’ve actually enjoyed being part of that scene. Or if I were more naive, I might’ve just sucked it up and gone along with it. But not today. Not now. I just left.

It reminded me, on a smaller scale, of a story a friend told me: he had just moved into graduate housing to start medical school at Temple University. That morning, he was introducing himself to new suitemates and classmates. That afternoon, UCLA called to say they were pulling him off the waitlist if he was still interested in joining. He immediately packed up, said a few quick goodbyes, and bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. That story stuck with me. In my case, I didn’t even bother to say goodbye.

On my way out, I contacted my sales rep and told him I was canceling the tour. I hadn’t paid yet, but since they had bussed me to Ha Giang, I offered to pay for the bus fare — which I did, and he appreciated. Even though the group tour was off the table, I still planned to do the Ha Giang Loop. I immediately reached out to a national motorbike rental company known for their high-quality bikes — they happened to have a shop in Ha Giang — and scheduled a pickup for tomorrow. The moment I booked it, I felt so much relief.