Continued from part 1.
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Day 5
The next morning I took the other back road, DT182 towards Yen Minh. Definitely not as enjoyable as yesterday's 192B, as this road was pretty slow going with poorer road condition. The scenery was still pretty amazing though, with towering karsts everywhere. I then joined back DT176 which I rode from Yen Minh the previous day.
Passing by the junction to Yen Minh and continuing on DT176 towards Du Gia, the road became more twisty as it went up and down several hills and past numerous small villages. Moments before reaching the turnoff to DT181 towards Cho Kem, I rode down this magical valley with a French fortress ruin in the middle.
A minority family- a father with 6 sons- lives beside the overgrown fortress and was burning their field. One of the kid was singing in his minority language, his voice echoing in this otherwise quiet valley while the other kids were helping out with the burn. The father was carrying a baby on his back while overseeing the whole process. It was like nature's own amphitheatre with a live play.
Continuing onwards DT176 to Du Gia I climbed over a peak and descended down towards a spectacular valley with vertical cliffs and a river running down below, offering a great view as I rode down.
After awhile I U-turned back towards the junction and turned towards DT181 that leads back to the main loop (QL4C) at Cho Kem. It started off as a straight and narrow concrete road that runs on the floor of a deep valley that connects a few local villages. Shortly after, the climb begun. Don't forget to look back- the view back to the valley was beautiful indeed. The low cloud that covered the peaks that day gave a somewhat mystical feel as well.
The road was generally alright but a few KM's out of Cho Kem before joining back QL4C was when the swearing started. It was pure dirt that was very uneven with endless deep and undulating tracks left by the many heavy trucks that plowed the road. Had it been flat it'd be a blast- but no I was going 20-30kmh max and it seemed forever before I was greeted with proper tarmac again. Thankfully it wasn't wet though- that would be a proper hell.
Back at QL4C towards Ha Giang I rode past Heaven's Gate again without incident. It was still wet and foggy, mind you- care is always needed on this stretch of road. Around 2pm I reached Ha Giang and seeing it's still early in the day, I elected to head to the nearby Hoang Su Phi district for tonight. Continuing past Ha Giang towards QL2 the road widened and speed increased considerably. The road was tabletop smooth in comparison to past few days'of riding, although a little boring. I followed this crazy ass taxi driver and a large truck that were steamrolling through everyone even when there's car opposite. Some pretty crazy driving there.
Shortly after I reached the turnout to DT177 towards Hoang Su Phi/Thong Nguyen. It was a fine B road with occasional loose gravels, but nothing too surprising. The unnamed road that leads to the town of Thong Nguyen though, was a small, twisty one lane road with occasional pools and gravels. Google map was unreliable in this part of the world too- the map does not tally with my GPS location, i.e it shows that I'm in the middle of nowhere with nearest road kilometres away, even though I was on the right road. After a long while I reached small town of Thong Nguyen and checked into the only guesthouse available for VND200,000/night.
Day 6
Today I ride towards Lao Cai via the frontier region with China.
Woke up at 6+am today by the noise and music from below. Went out to the balcony to have a look and realised that there was a local morning market going on and it was run by mainly ethnic minorities. They wear beautifully and intricate costumes that identifies their tribe and it was fascinating to observe. I had quite a blast taking portraits of them afterwards.
I started riding north around 9:30am on the wet & narrow unnamed road and joined back DT177, climbing over any hills with beautifully terraced paddy fields. Had a nice bowl of Pho for breakfast at the small town of Nam Dich, a treat in this cool drizzling morning.
Continuing on DT177 towards Vinh Quang, care is needed to not get lost as I did- following the traffic will get you to the Chinese border where there's active trading going on, and Google map can be unreliable here (hint: use the satellite image to see some roads that might not be shown from the regular map). Then the road changed to DT178 and it ran along a river on a small valley near sea level. The sun came out and weather had became warm- I had to take out my thermal layer. At the town of Coc Pai I turned to an unnamed road that went up and down many hills and joined DT153 towards Si Ma Cai and the Chinese border. There's some limestone karsts near Si Ma Cai which was impressive although nothing like the scale of Dong Van. This area is truly remote border territory- the signage are everywhere and I only saw another foreigner riding a CRF250. Despite this the road was well paved and pleasant to ride.
About half an hour and several hills after Si Ma Cai, the deep gorge that separates Vietnam and China came into full view. It was a surreal feeling, to be at the frontier facing one of the most powerful countries in the world, a place where I can trace my ancestry to. From here, steep terrain and bare rock faces were all there were in China- there's no sign of human activity at all. In comparison almost everywhere in Vietnam was cultivated, even in this far-flung region. There's always mopeds or other vehicles passing by regularly and people chopping wood or walking on the road etc., you'll never feel isolated in Vietnam.
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| Vietnam on the left, China on the right. |
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| Overlooking China. |
After taking the picture above my bike got stuck trying to U-turn back to paved road. It was a downslope with a narrow single lane covered with loose gravel, and this bike with its high centre of gravity was quite heavy to manouvre. So much for a photograph haha. It took me some time to get the bike out and once free I sat by the road to have some snack while admiring the view.
Moving on DT153 I soon reached the uninteresting down of Muong Khong where I initially planned to stay for tonight. However seeing that it was only 3pm I elected to push on to the provincial capital Lao Cai. The main road QL4D was such a fantastic ride with wide smooth roads with flowing curves that allows for spirited riding. I had a blast gassing down the hill to join the AH14 highway that leads to Lao Cai. I reached the city around 5pm and checked in a hotel near the main station (Ga (gare) Lao Cai). A nice bowl of Bun Cha near the station completed my day.
Day 7
Today I had the most gruelling ride of my life.
The day started off cold and rainy. I aimed to reach the famous tourist town of Sapa tonight, via a loop passing by the mountain village of Y Ty. Before riding out of Lao Cai I first paid a visit to the border gate/bridge with China overlooking Hekou city, which has an industrial, almost dystopian feel to it especially in this weather. Plenty of people crossing the border. Interesting to see a familiar language on signboards around the city too.
I then set off north on DT156 that runs along the Red River which forms the natural border with China. The road was mostly straight, wide and nicely paved. The final 1/3 of the road runs right beside the river with China literally a stone throw away. There's an elevated expressway on the Chinese side that sees some traffic.
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| China over the river. |
At the village of Trinh Tuong I had pho for breakfast again (what's new) but gosh it's much needed in this cold weather. I was thinking that if it's this cold at near sea level how much colder would it be up in the mountains. So I headed to find out haha. DT156 became DT158 after turning away from the river towards the mountains. Immediately the road started climbing but the light rain continued.
The wide and smooth road also steadily deteriorated and slowly became a one lane paved road. Then pot holes started to appear, at first small ones size of a dinner plate then monstruous ones size of your coffin. Oh and they're always located in the middle of the road, middle of the corner, complete with gravels, ready to annihilate you and your bike. The erosion then became so much that there are sections with more dirt than pavement. And then it became pure dirt track.
All these would've been unpleasant enough on a dry sunny day, but it was cold and wet, and even the tarmac was very slippery. Oh and the cloud started rolling in too, along with the constant drizzle. Near the peak visibility was only 3-4m tops. My visor's pinlock was loose and fog started forming between the pinlock & visor itself and was impossible to wipe off. After removing the pinlock it wasn't much better as my spectacles started to fog with every breath, so I had to ride with the visor open. Then the raindrops fell on my glasses and kept blurring up my vision so I had to constantly wipe my glasses on the move with just my gloves. It was brutal to do all this while riding in this treacherous condition, in this punishing cold (to me anyway, I'm from tropical Malaysia...).
And I was indeed chilled to the bone when riding. I was wearing a leather mesh jacket with thermal liner and perforated leather gloves which was soaking wet and cold. Inside I wore a base layer (Uniqlo extra-warm upper & lower), 3 layers of quickdry T-shirts, 1 cotton T-shirt, and a thin fleece jacket (the kind that can be folded inside a small sack). But for lower body I was only wearing a base layer and my jeans with slip-on knee protection. I wear a neck buff for some wind protection too but the inadequate lower body and hand protection made life very difficult for me. At the 1900m peak of this road it was perhaps 2-5C, but it felt positively sub zero from the wind and rain. With my soaked perforated gloves my fingers were close to being frostbitten- they were numb and I only felt pain.
This region was supposed to offer some fine views of the mountains and rice terraces however the cloudy weather and thick fog prevented any of that. Still it was a dreamy feeling when riding high in the mountains in thick fog. I had to stop quite regularly and progress was pretty slow. Luckily there's plenty of villages and houses along the way and locals on their bikes from time to time. Oh the feeling of seeing another human being and knowing that I'm not totally alone, that help is nearby if needed, is so comforting.
I passed by the main towns of Y Ty and Ban Xeo and continued southwards on DT155. At this point I was quite cold and hungry but food options are so limited in this part of Vietnam. I continued to ride on whilst looking out for food and only managed to find a place selling pho at only 20km out of Sapa. A hot bowl of pho has never felt so good in my life, it was a godsend after what I've been through today. I had a nice hot cup of instant coffee too and a nice, long rest at the eatery. Was charged VND60,000 for just pho and instant coffee (usual price 35,000-40,000) but oh well it was a lifesaver so no complaints.
Pushing on the final leg of today I continued on DT155 and reached the main road of QL4D towards Sapa. Oh what a big relief, finally back to a more developed part of the region. But it was muddy and rainy so what the heck, was still a slow gingerly ride. Around 5pm I finally reached Sapa, a pretty drab looking tourist town built on a steep mountain slope. I checked in at the beautiful and cosy Little View homestay for VND300,000/night which was great value. It's located on a steep and narrow alley so had to park my bike about 50-100m on the main road and walk down. But it has electric blanket though so it's amazing haha. Beware of the mini market in front of Little View homestay though- the lady is a con who tried to rip me off big.
At night I had dinner at La Roma Pizza which serves some fantastic pizza. Had a bottle of local beer (Bia Lao Cai) and it was surprisingly very good.
LY
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