Vietnam Day 6: The Sprint to Sapa

After breakfast we geared up expecting rain.

And rain is what we got.

View from our room

Leaving our homestay, I was nervous. Because of the previous day's accident.

It caused me to start to doubt - my ability to handle the bike and/or the ability of the bike itself. But, We were in the middle of a motorcycle trip. And so, biking is what we were going to do. Ultimately, I took it easy and even though the rain did not cease for hours we eventually made our way winding through valleys and hills dotted with villages and endless agriculture.

Stopped off in a tea field

We were on our way to Sapa.

We had all agreed that today we wouldn't stop for lunch but instead take a couple of short breaks so that we could get to Sapa early and start to explore the city and maybe take a more relaxing day after the unfortunate, weather that we'd been having recently.

At a gas station stop, Huan mentions our lack of gloves and to which Both Cassidy and I replied that we wouldn't need them, but he said that things got cold when you went to Sapa because we were going to climb up and up into the mountains, high enough, that we would probably be above the clouds and maybe we get some sun.

Maybe not warmth, but at least Sun.

After a brief detour, which brought us through A village In the lower mountains, We started to ascend To Sapa. I don't know exactly how to describe this other than a switch back road that sometimes went from single Lane to double lane, all while motorcycles, cars, trucks, and transport vehicles are trying to go up and down. I would love to tell you that the drop off at the edge of the road was scary, but once we started to get higher up, We couldn't see the drop off because fog enveloped us so much so that there were times when Cassidy's tail lights - no more than probably 15 meters ahead of me - became invisible. It was the most disorienting riding that I've ever done.

Very low visibility

My only comparison would be blizzards in Northern BC, and I would say that even whiteout blizzards often provided more line of sight than what I was getting with this fog. It really felt almost supernatural. At one point the traffic stopped entirely as a transport truck tried to get around a corner with cliff on one side and a cliff on the other (and another transport truck in the way).

You go slow and eventually you climb and climb and climb, and Huan was right - the climb over the fog and suddenly a wide expanse of mountain and rice fields and villages are revealed.

And it was all just wonderful. It was green, vibrant and in flux. Like a lot of places in Vietnam so far, The roads were constantly being fixed, or upgraded. You would be driving along, and then you might come across a mud pit, or the ditches were being replaced (for the rainy season I think) or the road was just have washed out.

The city itself is just a beautiful, French, mountain tourist town, reminiscent of Whistler. I learned the main attraction is Fanispan, the peak of the nearby mountain which is the highest peak in Indochina apparently. We didn't have time to make the journey. Perhaps next time.

Instead we walked around and drank beer, watched the other tourists and just relaxed. Cass and I both enjoy simply people watching so we end up doing a lot of that.

In the evening, we went to a restaurant nearby, The Sapa Rosemary Restaurant and Cafe, which had the best duck I have ever had. It turns out that one of Huan's old motorcycle guide friends had bought the place 4 months ago with his wife, (Zoe) and he came out to share a bottle, than another, then a third of his family's rice wine. We talked and laughed and cheers'd until the late hour of 8:30.

Sleep fell fast.