Day 3: Son La to Lai Chau (Tam Duong), 160 km.

Can hardly feel my neck…the weight of the helmet is wearing on me.  The chafing of the helmet padding on my cheeks, forehead and even nose is getting ridiculous. Loving it!

Today began with a 30 km ride before discovering a massive cave along the left side of the road.  We had to get up to it.  Found the access road and I rode in, solo.  It was so dark and spooky that I turned before 150 m.  The roof was 50 feet tall in places, and the tunnel was 20-30 feet wide throughout.  It appeared to be a natural cave, quite serpentine in shape that was finished by hand.  Eventually Brandon, who’d had a but of trouble climbing the steep path to the opening, made it and that was all the courage I needed to push through.  The whole tunnel was about 300 m long.  At the far end, the trail dropped steeply into a field with long bamboo and people were resting and preparing their massive flame torches for the passage to the other side, from where we’d come.  I lifted one of the loads carried by the tribe’s ladies.  I could hardly lift it to my shoulder.  I’d say it was a solid 60 lbs.  This woman in her 50’s was about to carry this pack of wood on her shoulder through the cave then down a very steep trail to town.  I watched in complete amazement as she began her descent at the other side.  One slip and she’d have fallen and tumbled for 50 meters down a steep dusty trail.  How these old ladies could carry these loads remains a mystery to me.  I will be forever humbled with this memory.
From the cave it was a normal road to the next town along the way for has and some lunch.
After lunch it was a beautiful ascent into the first of many passes.  On the way down, I got a flat tire: the rear!  So, I quickly befriended a local man who happened to have tire irons and an adjustable wrench and even a crate with which to prop up the bike.  I went to work removing the rear wheel (requiring the removal of the internal hub, drum brake, chain and spacers) and subsequently changing the tube to the good one I kept in my pack.  There was a crowd of people by the time we were done.  I have my camera to on of the teenagers standing around.  He enthusiastically took the camera and was walking around with it, taking pictures…or so I thought.  Turns out, he was just happy as could be to look at everyone in the LCD!  Ha ha!  When I realized TGI, I showed him how to click a few pictures…it was great, and he was so excited.  After about 30 minutes, I gave the house owner 50,000 dong and hit the road once again.

We stopped now and again to snap a photo of the scenery.  People went bananas!  The tribes her are so friendly.  They love to wave as I ride by.  And the smiles are enough to bring tears.  These people work so hard on some vicious terrain, but when I come zooming by and wave, it’s like none of that matters to them.  The smiles are priceless.  These people in NW Vietnam are gorgeous and so welcoming.  Anytime we stop we’re surrounded by people with questions and smiles.  Sometimes it’s enough just to touch a white person and run away…telling of the accomplishment.  This invariably brought more people out, when it was established that we didn’t bite!

-waves, smile and good energy?  About 500!  Each one was so special to see.
-animals: at least 20 different types.  Lots of pigs today…and water buffalo…always!  They’re in the road all the time.  It’s going to be weird to drive down the street without animals in it.
-rice terraces: saw so many today, both from level view and from high stop a mountain pass.  Some green, some brown, waiting for next season.
-saw a small forest fire, about two miles away on a nearby mountain.  Diameter appeared to be about 100 meters.
-about four water crossings.  Nothing deeper than one foot.
-one, beautiful waterfall.
-saw some Black Thai people.

Again, one amazing day.  Dropping into Mai Chau from a huge mountain pass was a shot of adrenaline, especially as the sun set and backlit the mountains.  Lots of pictures!  My photo antics pushed the drive into the dark hours by a touch.
Found a great hotel.  Staying in a stilted house.  If I look, I can are through the boards to the next room.  Cool!  Who cares, right!?

One of the best days of my life.  Unforgettable -if blurry!!!

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Day 4: Lai Chau (Tam Duong) to Lai Chau (Tam Duong)???, 120 km.

For some reason, the town I started in changed its name with the town I ended in.  It did so after my maps were printed.  Just imagine the sign-language argument I got into with the girl at the hotel.  She nearly had me believing that I’d just driven an eight-hour loop!  More at the end…

Woke up at 6:30 am and took the bread and jam to go.  Picked up a new tube for the rear tire, I’d need it later in the day, and filled up on gas before taking to the road for the climb…and climb…to Sin Ho, the fabled mountain town and surreal destination.
The sky was gray, but with spots of brightness and the air was clear and not foggy.  We had high hopes for the day as yesterday have us some welcomed patches of sun.  For the first 50 km we rods along the beautiful Nam Na river.  Next,  we climbed to a fork in the road and after chasing down Brandon who’d taken the wrong fork, got ourselves on the right road.  About 1 km up the road there was a 50 m stretch of construction.  We had to nearly walk our bikes around the machinery and people working.  This would repeat itself at least 10 times for major road blocks and another 50 for minor road work.  At one point we required the guy in the massive tractor to flatten a path for us, as the bank made by the road crew blocked our way!  That’s the Vietnamese equivalent of rolling out the red carpet and we couldn’t have been more appreciative to the 14-year old running the thing
For the most part there was little in the way of “large machinery”.  To lay the foundation for the pavement to be applied later, women and men sat alongside the road and broke the granite stones by hand in order to place them flatly.  It must take them a week to lay 20 meters of flat stone.
As we motored or struggled by, all we got were smiles and waves and the occasional cheer.  We weren’t ruining their work, we were a welcomed diversion.  This was hard for me to believe, but no one showed anything but kindness to us as we blasted through work zone after work zone.  Watching women in their tribal garb bashing stones and wrestling meter-long rocks was enough to leave me speechless.
The climb led to a cloud-covered mountain peak, and just before Sin Ho, the view down was breathtaking.  It was the highest peak yet and I’d say at least 2000 m.  Picture Colorado with intense jungle, banana plants and tribal Vietnamese, Thai and H’mong people everywhere!  The drop-offs along the downhill side of the road provided views of nightmarish intensity.  One slip in that direction and the fall could be as much as 1000 feet.  Not quite straight down, but the angle was so steep, thinking of stopping would be preposterous.  I tried not to look except when I stopped.
Just before town, we saw a house being built and a good 25 villagers working on it.  The night before, I’d mentioned to Brandon over dinner that it might be interesting to stop and try to help them built one of their typical homes.  He pulled over first and proclaimed it our mission. Before he could even remove his helmet he had grabbed a saw and was making a plank from a tree.  The pictures are hilarious.  In the end we were more of a distraction than anything else, but I think there was mutual appreciation for all involved.  We took lots of pictures and the young and old alike marveled at the images on the screen.  It was an unforgettable moment and pulled-off entirely by Brandon’s ability to make things happen.  This guy makes friends faster than a Minsk climbs mountains!

Sin Ho was enveloped in a dense fog.  Approaching, the visibility was as low as 50 feet for quite some time.
I’d read that the tribes in Sin Ho were less than friendly to outsiders.  Really?
As we neared town, we could see more and more people. I stopped along the road to remove my video camera to film the drive through. I’d just passed some children and thought I have myself enough space…but 50 m wasn’t enough!  There they came…running and screaming!  The commotion was too much for the school children at the nearby school.  Within moments I was swamped!  With my video camera out, I spun the screen around and let the children are what they look like on TV.  They laughed and screamed and pointed and jumped up and down.  This lasted for about 20 minutes.  We literally emptied an entire school!  Ha ha!  What beautiful children.  The pictures say a lot.  These children are so special, and so happy.  A few knew ‘hello’ and when it was repeated to them was enough to cause them happy-spasms in all.  What a mind-blowing experience.
We had a great lunch in Sin Ho and found everyone to be beyond friendly.  Great!
We descended from the summit town and eventually found clear skies.  The decent was amazing; where the climb have views of pines and a more alpine setting, the back side of the mountain was Vietnamese jungle at its best.  The mostly-dirt road was slick and required care to maneuver.  At the bottom were more villages, but they were sparse.  I got a flat rear tire.  Again!
I stopped outside a house along the road, realizing my rear tire was low, and made a hissing sound while frantically pointing at my rear tire.  That’s international dummy sign-language for “do you have a tire pump?” The girl comes out of her house with one, but it has no nozzle at the end.  Huh?  She comes over and shows me the trick.  She finds a tiny rock on the ground and puts it inside the tire valve stem.  Then she places a cloth over the stem.  Then she forces the pump tube over the rag.  The rationale is simple, but I wouldn’t have thought of it quickly;  the tube forces the rag down when it’s forced over the valve stem.  This forces the rock Dorn into the valve, allowing air to flow from the pump, through the rag, and into the tire.  Genius!

I was taking it easy (ish) on my tire when it blew out going around a corner!  I almost lost it, but made it to the side of the road.  No houses in sight this time!  I ended up running with the bike pulling itself for about three miles before my hissing noise and crazy pointing landed me at the home of a cave-guide.  He helped me change the tube and I was of after a quick tea.
Whew.
Well, the push to Sa Pa would have to wait until tomorrow.
I made it to Mai Chau (the same town I left from!!!!??) and stopped to buy a tube.  The guy selling the tube convinced me that the town we were heading for for the night was the one I was standing in!  Problem.  Brandon already rode ahead.  But where?  There’s nowhere to spend the night between here and Sa Pa.  I rode after him but the road forked and I never saw him again.  It’s 4 hours later and no word from him.  He’s ok, I’m sure…but where?
So I go to the recommended hotel and check in.  I tell them that they’re in a city different than what they think!  Then I show them on the map.  They point to where I was this morning and say “there, there”.  Well, if I’m THERE, then I made a full loop!  No way, it’s just not possible.  After a really nice girl and I jumped up and down for about 20 minutes I realized that the names of the two towns were swapped!!  What are the chances?  She was nice about it and we both got a good laugh.
More tomorrow….but where’s Brandon???