Motorbiking Northwestern Vietnam. Days 1-2

Day 1: Hanoi to Mai Chau, 136 km.
Leaving Hanoi was insane.  I guess I can say I did it.  Slow is the word.  People drive in all directions on any part of the road they please.  Keep your eyes open and avoid people, that’s really the game.  Horns are used extensively to warn/signal others that something unusual is about to happen….so the beeping is incessant!  …but it really works.

I putted out of the city and after about an hour (still on outskirts of Hanoi) stopped for lunch.  The young teenage girl working there was learning English and was very helpful.  On the road…no white people.  In fact I haven’t seen a white person since I was 10 minutes from my hostel.  Wow!

Made it a little further and stopped by a store that sold helmets.  I have them my open-face model for a beautiful closed-face one.  Infinitely better with noise and cold.  It’s REALLY chilly on the bike!  Have a monstrous down coat on.  Not enough.  Tomorrow fleece goes below.

It was starting to get dark as I ascended the huge mountain pass that acts as the gateway to Mai Chau.  The road up was steep and, in the dark, quite confusing.  Visibility gradually decreased until, near the top, it had dropped to no more than 100 feet in thick, thick fog.  At three or four places, the mountain to my left had slid onto the road, leaving just enough space for a single car.  The rubble had been beaten down by the traffic, but it was still quite rough.  Simple on the bike, but in the post-dusk light, difficult to identify early.  To my right, from what I could see, the cliff dropped into an infinite valley of pea soup.  It was haunting.  The sky was blue and black and gray and dead still.

Just over the pass and I could see Mai Chau in the distance; I had passed the fog, but was still high on the hill.  As I descended a kid on a scooter pulled up next to me on this winding, 8% downward grade, and handed me a business card.  The two of us rode strangely side by side into Mai Chau and through to the village of Lac, home of the White Thai people.  I was greeted by a wonderful woman who opened me a beer, cooked me dinner and showed me my $8 room!  Perfect, if strange! :). There’s a really weird poster of a Vietnamese couple on my wall.  ???
Went out to the town market after dark, for about an hour.  There were thousands of people there and we were the only two white people.  Really cool.  Live music on a huge stage (even if it was glorified karaoke!!) and food vendors and clothing…I bought a cheap watch to destroy on the journey.

This is by far one of the most amazing days on the trip…all five months.  I only hope I stay safe and continue to see such amazing sights and have all these feelings.

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Day 2: Mai Chau to Son La, 165 km.

Woke at 8 am.  Since I arrived in the dark, I hadn’t yet seen the surroundings.  There were stilted houses among the rice fields against the backdrop of cloud-tipped mountains.  In all directions! It was 9:30 before we took the road back north, backtracking only slightly before making it back onto route 6, the famous.  Immediately we were engulfed by thick fog.  We climbed and climbed.  We must have crossed two mountain passes, but it was impossible to are greater than 100 feet for the better part of 1 1/2 hours.  I was getting soaked, so I pulled under the lean of a house and was about to out my one-piece rain suit on when an old Viet woman came running out.   She was beckoning us to come in out of the cold.  Wow!  Great.  The house was small.  We sat on small plastic chairs on the clean but well-aged cement floor.  There was a fire pit in the center of the room.  There was no chimney.  But this was no problem as none of the wall boards were anything close to air-tight…by a matter of inches!  From what I noticed, there was no running water.  The kitchen consisted of a few assorted pots hung neatly in the corner of the room, next to a back door where the rooster, I’m guessing, lived.  I could hear him.  It was dark.  If there was electricity it wasn’t being used.  We were sitting, myself, Brandon, the home owner and her woman friend.  I changed and we fried our shoes by the fire, per the lady’s suggestion.  Later her kids (three) came in to see what was going on.  The lady poured got tea and I shared some sweet, nutty biscuits I’d bought the night before at the night market in Mai Chau.  The lady was so friendly and happy to have guests. I hope the way I describe her home doesn’t take anything away from the hominess.  It was modest.  In fact the poorest I’ve ever seen, but she was happy and close to her children.  It was so nice of her to open her doors to a couple wet travelers.  How many people in America would open the front door to a couple muddy, no, REALLY muddy, cold and wet travelers for some tea around the living room fire?  Ha ha, without even a chimney!  ;). We were grateful and said our goodbyes and it was back to the pass.  The weather had not let up.
When we left our bikes under the lady’s awning, we thought we were out of the rain.  Fact was, we were IN a giant rain cloud.  There was no escaping it.  It rained everywhere, even under shelter.  It was amazing!  Water everywhere.  We pushed on.  As fast as we could safely go, we pushed through the terrible visibility, blinking like mad to clear the eyes.  Eventually the cloud was behind us.
Reached the town of Moc Chau for lunch around noon.  Food was delicious; it’s getting better with each meal now!  The architecture is curious.  I’ll post pics.  The colors are just crazy.  Really.  They’ll use chalky blue, just a shade from fluorescent.  I can’t describe it better.  There were massive purples, sultry reds, tacky aquas…you name it, but gaudy is the rule!  The White Thai people are the predominant race living in these regions.  They make clothes and scarves and work mostly with very bright colors.  It’s quite special to be among these people.  It always brings a smile to see a woman with a giant, brightly colored hat or headdress walking down the street as I zoom by with a wave.

Today ended in Son La, just before dark.  Wow, it was a HUGE day of riding, with a few stops along the way.

Must have passed hundreds of animals: water buffalos, oxen (yes??), dogs (!!! So many) chickens with chicks, cats, and many others that I couldn’t identify.
The animals sometimes eat trash, even if it’s in the street.  No one looks twice when a giant water buffalo takes up 3/4 of one of the driving lane…for a half hour.
Walked and rode on a suspension bridge made of wooden planks.  Later did the same on a suspension bridge made entirely out of bamboo and thick wire!  It’s surreal!  Yes!
Met numerous people today.  We’d just stop near town or small village and people of all ages would run out to look at us, get in a picture or two or just to be a part of what was going on.  It’s shocking, but that’s really the truth.  The Vietnamese people are so friendly and kind.  The smiles we get riding by are priceless; I can picture at least 20 of them just from today.

Again, one of the best days of my life.
I hope I am safe again tomorrow.
Best,
Zank

This entry was posted on February 3, 2007 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Motorbiking Vietnam, SE Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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