2000K Solo run across North East Vietnam

[Peter Van Geit]

After living 2 decades in a 5×5 feet corporate cubicle the thought dawned upon me that life was slowly slipping by and I might only remember the daily routine of commuting in traffic and selling my soul to money which scared me profoundly. I had been exploring the tropical jungles of South India for more than a decade as part of the Chennai Trekking Club, a 40 thousand member outdoor community, which I started a decade earlier. I ran thousands of kilometres in the Indian Himalayas trying to make the most out of my sparse annual corporate holidays but I never felt like a free man. There was always the time pressure while running in the mountains to reach my destination soon and crawl right back in that cubicle for the next 6 months. Having experienced the overwhelming natural beauty of the Himalayas and realizing that life on this beautiful planet is short I decided to quit my well paying job and scale down to a minimalist lifestyle. I decided to die with memories, not dreams!

Within a few months of closing down my corporate life I was scanning over topographic maps in South East Asia looking for untouched remote ranges where I could run as a free man for a few months for the first time in my life. I would also run solo for the first time as all my corporate running buddies were chained to their desks. My eye fell on Vietnam – the Northeast bordering China had a vast mountain range covered by dense forest. Spread across I could spot hundreds of remote hamlets which would make perfect stops for food and night stay. I packed up a 15L pack with a thermocol mat and a small tarpaulin (bottom sheet of a tent) to wrap myself up during the cold winter nights. I boarded a flight to Hanoi not speaking a single word of Vietnamese. From the capital I hopped onto an overnight train to Lao Cai, a major town on the border with China. I stepped off the train and started running into the mountains not knowing when I would stop – I felt truly free for the first time in my life.

I had mapped a few thousands of kilometers of trails and dirt tracks across the Northeastern mountain provinces of Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Tuyen Quang and Bac Kan avoiding district roads and highways. The mountains rise up to an altitude of 2300m and are drained by four major rivers: the Red river, Song Chai, Song Lo and Gam river. Vast beautiful blue-green lakes and lush green bamboo forests would make the perfect setting for my first ultra journey. I stayed far away from the touristic destinations all foreigners usually head to like Sapa in the Northwest. I would eat in small shops in remote villages and drink water from pristine mountain streams along my route. I would start running at sunrise and settle down in an open space or near a hamlet wherever the sun sets down. Little did I know the overwhelming hospitality which I would encounter in these remote unexplored mountains where few outsiders had traveled before me.

Read the full article at ultrajourneys.org

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Die with memories, no dreams

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