Vietnam
Binh Lieu
A razor-thin patrol path tracing the mountainous Chinese border through fields of white pampas grass.
The patrol path traces the Chinese border along a mountain ridge so narrow you can see both countries simultaneously. On one side, Vietnam falls away in green valleys. On the other, China rises in identical terrain. In November, the slopes explode in white pampas grass — fields of it, bending in the wind like a silver ocean.
Binh Lieu is a border district in Quang Ninh Province where a former military patrol path along the Chinese frontier has become one of northern Vietnam's most dramatic hiking routes. The trail follows a razor-thin ridge with Vietnam on one side and China on the other. The mountain slopes bloom with white pampas grass in November and December, transforming the landscape into a silver-white sea. The route passes through Dao and Tay villages that see almost no foreign visitors. Binh Lieu is administratively part of the same province as Ha Long Bay but could not be more different — a mountainous border region of ethnic diversity and military history.
Solo
A border patrol path through fields of white pampas grass with China visible on the other side — Binh Lieu is a hike that feels like walking the edge of the world.
Friends
The pampas grass fields in November, the border ridge adrenaline, and the Dao village homestays make Binh Lieu a group trek that rivals anything on the Ha Giang loop.
- The border patrol path follows a razor-thin ridge with Vietnam on one side and China on the other.
- Fields of white pampas grass covering the mountain slopes bloom in November, turning the ridgeline into a silver sea.
- The route passes through Dao and Tay villages that see almost no foreign visitors — expect genuine hospitality.
- The altitude and wind exposure make this feel more like the Scottish Highlands than tropical Southeast Asia.
Mien dong arrowroot noodles stir-fried with black chicken and forest mushrooms.
Wild honey harvested from the border peaks, eaten over warm rice.
Pedra de Lume
Cape Verde
Float in a salt lake inside an extinct volcano, crater walls rising on every side.
Vale do Paúl
Cape Verde
Sugarcane terraces spill down a volcanic crater into the greenest valley in the archipelago.
Monastery of St. Anthony
Egypt
Earth's oldest inhabited monastery, wedged into a Red Sea mountain canyon since the fourth century.
Lander
United States
A river vanishes underground and resurfaces a quarter-mile later in a pool of giant trout.
Hoang Su Phi
Vietnam
Rice terraces so vertiginous they look like topographical maps carved directly into the sky.
Hoi An
Vietnam
Mustard-yellow merchant houses glowing under thousands of silk lanterns beside a tidal river.
Trang An
Vietnam
Sampans paddled by foot through flooded caves beneath vertical limestone monoliths.
Pu Luong
Vietnam
Giant bamboo water wheels groaning as they lift the river into terraced rice paddies.