NamBusters 3 - tour of North Vietnam
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firestorm996
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firestorm996
- Posts: 42
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- Location: Preston, UK
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Re: NamBusters 3 - tour of North Vietnam
Day 5 - Song Ma to Dien Bien Phu
Day 5: Police..camera...action...!
The hotel in Song Ma was pleasant enough, I'd slept well and an early start was planned. Everyone was up and bikes loaded by 8pm (yes that's an early start in my book
Bikes sorted, we rode approx 30 seconds up the road to have breakfast! That consisted of a few sugar loaves and some bananas, which was as close to the breakfast of champions as we would get. While we were eating we noticed the methadone clinic across the road with a particularly weary looking girl sat hunched up on the road outside it.
View from the hotel balcony.
Our intention today was to traverse a road that follows alongside the Laos border most of the way up to Dien Bien Phu. Hung had already explained the choice of routes in advance and cautioned us that if we took this proposed route near the border we would not be allowed to stop, take photos or do anything other than a quick wee break for around 90km. Breaking those guidelines would no doubt see us getting questioned by the military or the police.
Part 1 was to ride 30km or so to a town near the border called Coc Toc, then pick up the road from there. It almost went to plan. We had a fantastic ride to the first stop in a small town, over - you guessed it - more mountain roads which were as twisty as you like. Only problem was that I'd got a mesh jacket on and it was suddenly quite chilly on this road once we reached a bit of altitude. The cool breeze was getting straight through the mesh as it's supposed to do and I was shivering as a result. I didn't want to have to unload the main bag to get at another layer, so was forced to improvise by stuffing my adventure hat (think Indiana Jones and you're not far off) down my jacket. Worked a treat. It was clear that everyone was really enjoying this road. Much fun was had.
I often find in Vietnam that the moment you let your guard down and think you're getting used to the place, it will come along and hit you with something unexpected.
On arrival at Coc Toc, we attracted quite a lot of attention. We pitched up at a small shop and the owner brought us some G7 coffee out. If I haven't mentioned G7 before, it's an all-in-one dried coffee powder that's thoroughly addictive once you've lived on the stuff for a few weeks. Wake Up Coffee is another brand that's also quite good.
As we were stood around, a chap arrives on scooter and talked to Hung. It turns out he's a local Policeman and word had quickly spread to him somehow that we were in town. He demanded all our passports. He inspected each one very carefully, noting down all our passport numbers in a little book and checking every page to see which countries we'd visited in the past. He did seem to pause on the page where I've got some arabic immigration stamps, which concerned me a bit. After a lot of talking to Hung he rode off.
Hung relayed to us the message; if we continued on the road we were on towards the border, we would be in quite a lot of trouble. At this point we were around 10km from Laos. He strongly advised we head back to Song Ma and take the other route up to Dien Bien Phu which is still only 5-10km from the border in certain areas. We agreed. Look on the bright side, we would get to ride that fantastic mountain pass again, so no problem.
Roger had been proudly carrying his toy dumper truck on the back of his XR since we bought it him the day before. While we were reeling from the Police encounter, a little toddler walked up and obviously took a shine to Roger's truck. He kept looking and pointing, a universal language understood by all. In a touching display, much to the amusement of the locals who were hanging around, Roger removed the truck and gifted it to the little boy. The lad hurried off with it to his family, not believing his luck, before coming back and giving Roger a hug to say thanks. Aww!
We headed back across the mountain for a while, before pulling over when Hung spotted a shaky old bridge. You know by now that we can't resist a dodgy bridge crossing. Off we went across it, then followed a small trail up a very steep clay slope through a village. To say they were surprised to see us is an understatement. We dodged the livestock and rode through to the other side of the village, got a few photos then returned back to the main pass.
We continued 30km back around the mountain more or less to where we'd started off from that morning. I must have taken one photo stop too many because I got separated enough from the group that I started to wonder whether I'd missed them turning off. Fortunately Roger was a star and waited at at the junction of the turn that the group took to catch me as I rode past.
Having caught up (eventually) it wasn't long before Hung led us across a trail that included 4 low bamboo bridges. The trail snaked through some cut-off villages which were very basic with wooden stilt houses and muddy trails only. Great fun! There was some mud in places but nothing more than a few inches deep. Plenty of ruts to avoid though.
Somewhere around this point I may have made a bit of a gaffe. I stopped for one photo too many, and just as I pulled back onto the road a scooter with two policemen on board rode past. The road surface was very much under construction in this area, with a new road being built. Being on a KLX250 dirt bike I could have gone much quicker but didn't want to overtake the police who were riding very slowly on their little scooter. So I was forced to sit behind them patiently for a good 10 minutes or so until we caught up with everyone else. I'm not sure whether they would have stopped anyway since they were in front of me, but the lads were all waiting at a sort of checkpoint and the police stopped in front of me. Then, for the second time today they demanded all our passports and entered into a conversation with Hung.
Not long after that had begun, some nice chaps from the Army also arrived, and also got involved in proceedings. We have no photos or GoPro, other than the bit I had running on the GoPro as I pulled in, as you can imagine we didn't want to antagonise the situation.
Hung is on the left talking to the police at the post, another policeman also on the scooter and army bloke about to arrive.
Eventually we sort of got the line that they were 'aware' of our presence near the border and there was some issue with our passport numbers. They took the numbers down again (correctly this time) and eventually let us go on our way. I can only presume after taking our passport details the first time they ran some checks which showed an issue with the information they had gathered.
At that point we just wanted to get out of this whole area since there wasn't a particularly pleasant vibe. Things got better from here on in.
The road snaked its way up and over some decent hills and we stopped to admire the views and take photos for a while. As the road wound downwards we followed a dusty mixed road/off-road for a while before turning up a narrow track leading up into the hills. It brought us out in a very, very remote village tethered to the hillside. There was a kind of "everything shop" where you could buy a coca cola, or you could buy a pigs head. The owner was sitting there butchering a pig when we arrived, amidst your usual shop fayre. Many people from the small village came out to stare at us. Awkward.
The "Everything" Shop. You can buy everything there.
Hung was talking to the owners while we stood around drinking coca cola and trying not to feel too self-conscious. It really was quite strange for a while although we were getting fairly practised at being the centre of attention by now.
Before we left, the shop owner told Hung that we were the first visitors to the village. Ever. When we asked Hung to check what they meant by that, it seems that they have never had any tourist or westerners in the village before. We seemed to be quite literally the first, which was incredible.
One of the local lads offered to show us the trail that led out of the village, because it could be quite tricky in places and there was a chance we would get lost. So with that, we set off following him on his scooter down what turned out to be an amazing trail.
There were a good few 'severe' drops to the side but it wasn't all like that. It was very undulating, narrow and it snaked around and over various hills with the occasional section that you really, really didn't want to get wrong. After a while the young lad told Hung we needed to keep 20 metres between the bikes for the next bit otherwise the ground could subside and that would be that. If it's rained any time within the last 7 days, this trail is impassable.
On the way down, Bryan's rear brake on the CRF seemed to cook itself, so he had to tentatively chug down the other side of the trail on engine braking and a spot of front brake.
This few KM of trails, and our encounter with the lovely people in this remote area and the village were one of the highlights of our trip. The off road trails demanded your absolute attention, while the scenery demanded photos and admiration. Superb.
The trail eventually led us back onto a minor road that cut over through the hills and mountains surrounding the area. We rode a reasonably uneventful but very enjoyable and twisty 60km with the occasional village thrown in. Around late afternoon we found ourselves riding through the flatter lowlands with paddy fields all around us and a nice sunset developing. After the hassles earlier in the day, it was nice to just enjoy the ride with little or no drama for the rest of the day. Following Roger and Bryan over most of these mountain roads it seemed like I got into a nice rhythym, being able to trust the person in front to spot any hazards and set a fast yet enjoyable pace.
Typical of the types of village we rode through.
This chap was about to transport that 15' arrangement on his scooter!
Almost 60km of twisties like this with no traffic. Road surface highly variable.
Some mixed surfaces on the higher routes.
The last 10km or so were all on this one continuous road with paddy fields either side, and mountains beyond those. Unfortunately it was a highway, which meant trucks & lots of traffic generally. Being later afternoon, it was the busiest time of the day so you really had to have your wits about you. We slogged the last 10k into Dien Bien Phu and followed Hung to the hotel without much drama though, and enjoyed a very well-earned beer in the lobby for an hour before trekking our stuff up to the rooms to get changed.
That evening, Hung took us to a great place nearby where all the cooking is done at the table. You can either do that yourself or they will do it for you. In our case, Hung fulfilled chef duties. They set you up with a small gas stove and a cooking pot that already has stock and some veg simmering away, then periodically bring you fresh veg and meat that you then cook in the pot and serve immediately. Most Vietnamese cooking is done this way, cooked in simmering stock rather than being fried or cooked with oil. It's quite healthy since there's little or no oil used and the ingredients are fresh, being sourced nearby. Into the pot at various stages went chicken, pork, thinly sliced beef, noodles, green veg and so on until we couldn't eat any more. I struggled a little with the chicken since I just can't eat it if I've seen it before it was cooked, but that's just me being soft. Overall it was a lovely place, a few beers were consumed and all in great company. Still missing Pinky, Del and Joe though.
We talked about the next day when we would see some of the military history around DBP. There were a few places we visited on NB1 that I felt weren't really worth the diversion, but there was a specific place where there were tanks, guns and trenches still left over from the major conflict held there in the 1950's. This is all centred around A1 hill (named Eliane 2 by the French) so I tried to describe it to Hung to save some time in the morning.
Chef Hung.
Day 5: Police..camera...action...!
The hotel in Song Ma was pleasant enough, I'd slept well and an early start was planned. Everyone was up and bikes loaded by 8pm (yes that's an early start in my book
Bikes sorted, we rode approx 30 seconds up the road to have breakfast! That consisted of a few sugar loaves and some bananas, which was as close to the breakfast of champions as we would get. While we were eating we noticed the methadone clinic across the road with a particularly weary looking girl sat hunched up on the road outside it.
View from the hotel balcony.
Our intention today was to traverse a road that follows alongside the Laos border most of the way up to Dien Bien Phu. Hung had already explained the choice of routes in advance and cautioned us that if we took this proposed route near the border we would not be allowed to stop, take photos or do anything other than a quick wee break for around 90km. Breaking those guidelines would no doubt see us getting questioned by the military or the police.
Part 1 was to ride 30km or so to a town near the border called Coc Toc, then pick up the road from there. It almost went to plan. We had a fantastic ride to the first stop in a small town, over - you guessed it - more mountain roads which were as twisty as you like. Only problem was that I'd got a mesh jacket on and it was suddenly quite chilly on this road once we reached a bit of altitude. The cool breeze was getting straight through the mesh as it's supposed to do and I was shivering as a result. I didn't want to have to unload the main bag to get at another layer, so was forced to improvise by stuffing my adventure hat (think Indiana Jones and you're not far off) down my jacket. Worked a treat. It was clear that everyone was really enjoying this road. Much fun was had.
I often find in Vietnam that the moment you let your guard down and think you're getting used to the place, it will come along and hit you with something unexpected.
On arrival at Coc Toc, we attracted quite a lot of attention. We pitched up at a small shop and the owner brought us some G7 coffee out. If I haven't mentioned G7 before, it's an all-in-one dried coffee powder that's thoroughly addictive once you've lived on the stuff for a few weeks. Wake Up Coffee is another brand that's also quite good.
As we were stood around, a chap arrives on scooter and talked to Hung. It turns out he's a local Policeman and word had quickly spread to him somehow that we were in town. He demanded all our passports. He inspected each one very carefully, noting down all our passport numbers in a little book and checking every page to see which countries we'd visited in the past. He did seem to pause on the page where I've got some arabic immigration stamps, which concerned me a bit. After a lot of talking to Hung he rode off.
Hung relayed to us the message; if we continued on the road we were on towards the border, we would be in quite a lot of trouble. At this point we were around 10km from Laos. He strongly advised we head back to Song Ma and take the other route up to Dien Bien Phu which is still only 5-10km from the border in certain areas. We agreed. Look on the bright side, we would get to ride that fantastic mountain pass again, so no problem.
Roger had been proudly carrying his toy dumper truck on the back of his XR since we bought it him the day before. While we were reeling from the Police encounter, a little toddler walked up and obviously took a shine to Roger's truck. He kept looking and pointing, a universal language understood by all. In a touching display, much to the amusement of the locals who were hanging around, Roger removed the truck and gifted it to the little boy. The lad hurried off with it to his family, not believing his luck, before coming back and giving Roger a hug to say thanks. Aww!
We headed back across the mountain for a while, before pulling over when Hung spotted a shaky old bridge. You know by now that we can't resist a dodgy bridge crossing. Off we went across it, then followed a small trail up a very steep clay slope through a village. To say they were surprised to see us is an understatement. We dodged the livestock and rode through to the other side of the village, got a few photos then returned back to the main pass.
We continued 30km back around the mountain more or less to where we'd started off from that morning. I must have taken one photo stop too many because I got separated enough from the group that I started to wonder whether I'd missed them turning off. Fortunately Roger was a star and waited at at the junction of the turn that the group took to catch me as I rode past.
Having caught up (eventually) it wasn't long before Hung led us across a trail that included 4 low bamboo bridges. The trail snaked through some cut-off villages which were very basic with wooden stilt houses and muddy trails only. Great fun! There was some mud in places but nothing more than a few inches deep. Plenty of ruts to avoid though.
Somewhere around this point I may have made a bit of a gaffe. I stopped for one photo too many, and just as I pulled back onto the road a scooter with two policemen on board rode past. The road surface was very much under construction in this area, with a new road being built. Being on a KLX250 dirt bike I could have gone much quicker but didn't want to overtake the police who were riding very slowly on their little scooter. So I was forced to sit behind them patiently for a good 10 minutes or so until we caught up with everyone else. I'm not sure whether they would have stopped anyway since they were in front of me, but the lads were all waiting at a sort of checkpoint and the police stopped in front of me. Then, for the second time today they demanded all our passports and entered into a conversation with Hung.
Not long after that had begun, some nice chaps from the Army also arrived, and also got involved in proceedings. We have no photos or GoPro, other than the bit I had running on the GoPro as I pulled in, as you can imagine we didn't want to antagonise the situation.
Hung is on the left talking to the police at the post, another policeman also on the scooter and army bloke about to arrive.
Eventually we sort of got the line that they were 'aware' of our presence near the border and there was some issue with our passport numbers. They took the numbers down again (correctly this time) and eventually let us go on our way. I can only presume after taking our passport details the first time they ran some checks which showed an issue with the information they had gathered.
At that point we just wanted to get out of this whole area since there wasn't a particularly pleasant vibe. Things got better from here on in.
The road snaked its way up and over some decent hills and we stopped to admire the views and take photos for a while. As the road wound downwards we followed a dusty mixed road/off-road for a while before turning up a narrow track leading up into the hills. It brought us out in a very, very remote village tethered to the hillside. There was a kind of "everything shop" where you could buy a coca cola, or you could buy a pigs head. The owner was sitting there butchering a pig when we arrived, amidst your usual shop fayre. Many people from the small village came out to stare at us. Awkward.
The "Everything" Shop. You can buy everything there.
Hung was talking to the owners while we stood around drinking coca cola and trying not to feel too self-conscious. It really was quite strange for a while although we were getting fairly practised at being the centre of attention by now.
Before we left, the shop owner told Hung that we were the first visitors to the village. Ever. When we asked Hung to check what they meant by that, it seems that they have never had any tourist or westerners in the village before. We seemed to be quite literally the first, which was incredible.
One of the local lads offered to show us the trail that led out of the village, because it could be quite tricky in places and there was a chance we would get lost. So with that, we set off following him on his scooter down what turned out to be an amazing trail.
There were a good few 'severe' drops to the side but it wasn't all like that. It was very undulating, narrow and it snaked around and over various hills with the occasional section that you really, really didn't want to get wrong. After a while the young lad told Hung we needed to keep 20 metres between the bikes for the next bit otherwise the ground could subside and that would be that. If it's rained any time within the last 7 days, this trail is impassable.
On the way down, Bryan's rear brake on the CRF seemed to cook itself, so he had to tentatively chug down the other side of the trail on engine braking and a spot of front brake.
This few KM of trails, and our encounter with the lovely people in this remote area and the village were one of the highlights of our trip. The off road trails demanded your absolute attention, while the scenery demanded photos and admiration. Superb.
The trail eventually led us back onto a minor road that cut over through the hills and mountains surrounding the area. We rode a reasonably uneventful but very enjoyable and twisty 60km with the occasional village thrown in. Around late afternoon we found ourselves riding through the flatter lowlands with paddy fields all around us and a nice sunset developing. After the hassles earlier in the day, it was nice to just enjoy the ride with little or no drama for the rest of the day. Following Roger and Bryan over most of these mountain roads it seemed like I got into a nice rhythym, being able to trust the person in front to spot any hazards and set a fast yet enjoyable pace.
Typical of the types of village we rode through.
This chap was about to transport that 15' arrangement on his scooter!
Almost 60km of twisties like this with no traffic. Road surface highly variable.
Some mixed surfaces on the higher routes.
The last 10km or so were all on this one continuous road with paddy fields either side, and mountains beyond those. Unfortunately it was a highway, which meant trucks & lots of traffic generally. Being later afternoon, it was the busiest time of the day so you really had to have your wits about you. We slogged the last 10k into Dien Bien Phu and followed Hung to the hotel without much drama though, and enjoyed a very well-earned beer in the lobby for an hour before trekking our stuff up to the rooms to get changed.
That evening, Hung took us to a great place nearby where all the cooking is done at the table. You can either do that yourself or they will do it for you. In our case, Hung fulfilled chef duties. They set you up with a small gas stove and a cooking pot that already has stock and some veg simmering away, then periodically bring you fresh veg and meat that you then cook in the pot and serve immediately. Most Vietnamese cooking is done this way, cooked in simmering stock rather than being fried or cooked with oil. It's quite healthy since there's little or no oil used and the ingredients are fresh, being sourced nearby. Into the pot at various stages went chicken, pork, thinly sliced beef, noodles, green veg and so on until we couldn't eat any more. I struggled a little with the chicken since I just can't eat it if I've seen it before it was cooked, but that's just me being soft. Overall it was a lovely place, a few beers were consumed and all in great company. Still missing Pinky, Del and Joe though.
We talked about the next day when we would see some of the military history around DBP. There were a few places we visited on NB1 that I felt weren't really worth the diversion, but there was a specific place where there were tanks, guns and trenches still left over from the major conflict held there in the 1950's. This is all centred around A1 hill (named Eliane 2 by the French) so I tried to describe it to Hung to save some time in the morning.
Chef Hung.
Re: NamBusters 3 - tour of North Vietnam
That is some ride report..thanks
And the beast shall be huge and black, and the eyes thereof red with the blood of living creatures, and the whore of Babylon shall ride forth on a three-headed serpent, and throughout the lands, there'll be a great rubbing of parts
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rodyorkabr
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Re: NamBusters 3 - tour of North Vietnam
This has to be one of the most interesting ride reports I have read and the photographs are simply stunning...bettered only by the sequence of events that formed such a memorable time. often the word "adventure" is over used...Not so here!
Thank you very much...How is Pinky..is there more..I certainly hope so...I loved the "dumper truck" tale
Fantastic
Regards
rod
Thank you very much...How is Pinky..is there more..I certainly hope so...I loved the "dumper truck" tale
Fantastic
Regards
rod
Morocco on a budget! 
https://shaw2shore.co.uk/video-gallery/#bwg2/4
https://shaw2shore.co.uk/video-gallery/#bwg2/4-
Andi_Archer
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Re: NamBusters 3 - tour of North Vietnam
All I can say is WOW......what a country to visit so scienic and full of friendly people.The images are stunning and Im totally enjoying the writing style, spot on (thumbs)
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firestorm996
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Re: NamBusters 3 - tour of North Vietnam
Day 6 - Dien Bien Phu to Sin Ho
Tanks, Snakes and Coconuts!!
We had a good night's stay at the hotel in Dien Bien Phu, and woke to a nice misty morning. The mist cleared while we were having breakfast on the top floor several storeys up. I'm glad to say it was a proper Breakfast of Champions. When Roger and me got up to the breakfast area it was closed up, but two girls rushed in and started making pancakes for us like pancakes were going out of fashion. We thought Phil would be joining us so asked for 3 breakfasts. As it turned out, Phil had gone for a wander so I ended up eating most of his breakfast too. We then had to tell the girls twice to stop cooking even more after they'd brought us two plates of pancakes and bananas each, plus we'd already eaten Phil's too....!
As well as the bananas the finishing touch was G7 coffee, of which I had 3 (mine + Phils plus another), so by the time we were done I was on a proper coffee rush. Phil appeared with a real coconut for me, sliced open and with a drinking straw in there. It's the best thing you can have for dehydration. After chugging down as much of it as I could, there was still plenty left so I took it down to the bikes in the basement parking area to have some more while we loaded up.
Proper.
Vietnamese camelbak.
We set off from the hotel towards what was supposed to be the military museum. As it happened we arrived at the indoor museum which was some way off. To be fair to Hung, he doesn't often do this tour so we appreciated it might be a bit hit and miss trying to find the correct military attraction when there are dozens in DBP itself.
Immediately as we landed at the first museum I told Hung it was the wrong one and described the one we were looking for. We set off and arrived next at the other one we've seen before that's not really worth much of a look (it's pretty much just a bunker). On the third attempt we found the one we were after, where there's a collection of tanks, guns and bunkers all on Eliane hill.
Since the last time we were here two years ago, it looks like they have shoo'd off the stalls and hawkers that loitered by the path as you walk up the hill. All there was were a few stalls at the bottom of the hill selling some odd stuff, such as drinking 'hip flasks' that were easily 1' long.
We first checked out the tanks and old guns that were there, before walking up to the hill crest to see the tank set on a plinth. The bunkers and tunnels are still in place and mostly open, so if you want to you can walk through many of them. I had a small torch with me so I went into one and kept going to see where it led to. In the end, I surfaced over 1/4 mile from where I started and there was plenty more after that. Plenty of the tunnels had cage bars blocking you from getting any further. Understandable. The tunnels were damp, musty, and short - around 5' from floor to ceiling at the very most. I had to walk almost doubled over. People most likely lived under here for days or weeks on end which can't have been pleasant.
Attempt 1.
Attempt 2.
Found it! Phil celebrates by donning a random hat.
The business end.
Phil doing his best Meerkat.
In the tunnels, which are much more extensive than you would expect from the surface. Quite eerie too.
That's a crater from 1000kg of explosives used by the Vietnamese troops to destroy the French stronghold.
A nice couple took this photo for us at the DBP monument. As they were walking off they muttered the word 'Russkie' presumably because of Bryan's Russian-design helmet! Plus he looks a bit serious.
L-R: Phil, Roger, Hung, me, Bryan the Russkie, Jim.
From here we rode out of Dien Bien Phu back into rural areas similar to those we'd passed through on the way in yesterday. With plenty of paddy fields surrounding the roads, and mountains on the horizon, it made for a nice easy ride other than the occasional errant water buffalo. Along the way, the roads changed variety to become very twisty as we wound through the hills. A superb bit of riding for about 1 hour before we stopped for a drink.
Plenty of folk waving as we ride by
Hung confirming directions with a local.
We pulled up in a small town that was similar to many others we'd seen. One road in, one road out. We pulled the bikes up onto the pavement outside the sunny front to a shop/cafe and got some G7 coffee sorted out. By this point I'd taken to hooking the GoPro up to a USB charge battery each time we stopped for a drink which did a great job of extending the battery life through the course of a day. If I was running the GoPro on the handlebar mount I would cable-tie the battery pack to the bars and plug it in then leave it charging while it was recording.
While we were kicking around I noticed in the shop they had my absolute favourite authentic traditional time-honoured Vietnamese snack: Choco Pie! Not sure why the packaging now says Choco Sapion, which google amusingly tells me translates as 'Choco Rearview Mirror'... Either way this delicious chocolatey snack is just what you need when you've been off-roading all day without anything to eat and are having a sugar crash. So I bought a couple of packs. Sadly there were no cans of Birdy Coffee but I'll settle for Choco Pie. We also had plenty of fresh pineapple which Hung had bought from someone at the roadside not long beforehand, knowing that we were going to stop shortly. It was basically just a pineapple hacked up into chunks at the roadside and given to Hung in a plastic bag.
While we were stood around chatting and finishing our coffee, some commotion started to unfold 20 yards away. Two or three lads suddenly sprinted across the road chasing a 7 foot snake, which promptly bolted for the sloped concrete embankment at the other side of the far pavement. The lads picked up some stones or rocks as they were running, and with no more than 2 or 3 shots they hit it and stunned it. One of them then grabbed it and bashed it against the road a few times before coshing it with another rock, then he got on his scooter and rode off with it.
The strange thing was, although it looks like a stringy little thing, when it was alive it was a good 5" or more in diameter. When they killed it, it shrunk down to what you see in the photos below.
We just about managed to get a few photos off, but were mainly stunned by it, paused with coffee in hand wondering what the heck just happened!
Photo courtesy of Bryan C. Harrison
We're not quite sure what the snake was going to be used for, but we suspect he was taking it home to cook it. From there we continued along the route to Pa So, taking in a variety of roads including a few that were still being built or remade. One in particular was a dust-fest and we were unlucky to end up behind a large construction truck for some of it for a while. You've just got to sit tight and wait for a safe place to pass. And hold your breath for as long as you can. After that pass we hit a reasonably good surfaced remote hill pass, as twisty as a twisty thing and with virtually no other traffic. We spread out a bit and just had a nice fast but relaxing ride for a while.
Around 13:30 or so, not having stopped for lunch properly yet, we were carving across a hill road a few hundred metres up and reasonably spread out from one rider to the next. Upon rounding a right hander I was faced with a number of people walking down the hill spread out across it. Maybe 20 or 30 people in total. I slowed right down to 15kmh and upon reaching the front of the group could see they were carrying a body on a wooden stretcher. Clearly this was a funeral of sorts, probably the first time I can remember seeing a body. Grim, but that's life.
That slightly macabre incident aside, we continued on and found the scenery to steadily improve through the day. The afternoon started to pass quite incident-free which was quite welcome after the police & military drama over the previous day or two.
After we rode across another by-now familiar long red & white painted bridge, the lowlands were spread out to our right with paddy fields reaching to the distant mountain ranges. Around this time we reached a few long straight roads and most of us decided to try and see what the little 250's would do. The KLX seemed to max out around 115kmh which wasn't bad at all.
After the long straight, there was a left turn forcing us to slow down. Coming out of that turn perhaps 100-200 yards further on there was a complete mud bath spread out across the road. I followed Roger through it, unwisely choosing his line and riding through a ridiculous amount of mud in the process. Wasn't his fault though, there was an oncoming van that hogged the centre of the road forcing us to take the wider (muddier) line. Maybe if we hadn't just been arsing around at high speed we would have been riding slower and could have stopped before getting a mud bath!
Just before another long bridge we stopped at an intersection and had a nice sit down lunch at a cafe in Muong Lay. The place doesn't look much from the outside, or the inside for that matter, but it was a great little nook from which we watched not much happening outside. Still, at least we were cool in the shade, and our hostess was gorgeous!
After lunch we crossed the next bridge and had a really enjoyable, easy ride for a couple of hours. Nice roads, bridges, lakes and leapfrogging photo stops. Roads that hugged the lake for miles on end, punctuated by sudden major roadworks with concrete dust so thick you could barely see 50 yards. No drama though.
Roadworks Vietnamese style!
After playing photo tag with Bryan and Roger for a while I pulled over to find the others chowing down on some sugar cane bought from a girl under a huge branch at the roadside. She would just cut a few sugar canes down in the morning then hack them up fresh when someone stops to buy some.
Finally we rolled into Pa So as the sun was starting to set. We were to stay at the Hotel Lananh, which was quite quaint and done out with wooden panelling everywhere. Nice enough. We had a few beers outside until late in the evening before eating in their quite grandiose dining area. Another group of locals further across the room were being very loud and boisterous even by our standards so once we'd had enough we retreated to the outside bar to sink a few more beers then called it a night.
Another great day!
Tanks, Snakes and Coconuts!!
We had a good night's stay at the hotel in Dien Bien Phu, and woke to a nice misty morning. The mist cleared while we were having breakfast on the top floor several storeys up. I'm glad to say it was a proper Breakfast of Champions. When Roger and me got up to the breakfast area it was closed up, but two girls rushed in and started making pancakes for us like pancakes were going out of fashion. We thought Phil would be joining us so asked for 3 breakfasts. As it turned out, Phil had gone for a wander so I ended up eating most of his breakfast too. We then had to tell the girls twice to stop cooking even more after they'd brought us two plates of pancakes and bananas each, plus we'd already eaten Phil's too....!
As well as the bananas the finishing touch was G7 coffee, of which I had 3 (mine + Phils plus another), so by the time we were done I was on a proper coffee rush. Phil appeared with a real coconut for me, sliced open and with a drinking straw in there. It's the best thing you can have for dehydration. After chugging down as much of it as I could, there was still plenty left so I took it down to the bikes in the basement parking area to have some more while we loaded up.
Proper.
Vietnamese camelbak.
We set off from the hotel towards what was supposed to be the military museum. As it happened we arrived at the indoor museum which was some way off. To be fair to Hung, he doesn't often do this tour so we appreciated it might be a bit hit and miss trying to find the correct military attraction when there are dozens in DBP itself.
Immediately as we landed at the first museum I told Hung it was the wrong one and described the one we were looking for. We set off and arrived next at the other one we've seen before that's not really worth much of a look (it's pretty much just a bunker). On the third attempt we found the one we were after, where there's a collection of tanks, guns and bunkers all on Eliane hill.
Since the last time we were here two years ago, it looks like they have shoo'd off the stalls and hawkers that loitered by the path as you walk up the hill. All there was were a few stalls at the bottom of the hill selling some odd stuff, such as drinking 'hip flasks' that were easily 1' long.
We first checked out the tanks and old guns that were there, before walking up to the hill crest to see the tank set on a plinth. The bunkers and tunnels are still in place and mostly open, so if you want to you can walk through many of them. I had a small torch with me so I went into one and kept going to see where it led to. In the end, I surfaced over 1/4 mile from where I started and there was plenty more after that. Plenty of the tunnels had cage bars blocking you from getting any further. Understandable. The tunnels were damp, musty, and short - around 5' from floor to ceiling at the very most. I had to walk almost doubled over. People most likely lived under here for days or weeks on end which can't have been pleasant.
Attempt 1.
Attempt 2.
Found it! Phil celebrates by donning a random hat.
The business end.
Phil doing his best Meerkat.
In the tunnels, which are much more extensive than you would expect from the surface. Quite eerie too.
That's a crater from 1000kg of explosives used by the Vietnamese troops to destroy the French stronghold.
A nice couple took this photo for us at the DBP monument. As they were walking off they muttered the word 'Russkie' presumably because of Bryan's Russian-design helmet! Plus he looks a bit serious.
L-R: Phil, Roger, Hung, me, Bryan the Russkie, Jim.
From here we rode out of Dien Bien Phu back into rural areas similar to those we'd passed through on the way in yesterday. With plenty of paddy fields surrounding the roads, and mountains on the horizon, it made for a nice easy ride other than the occasional errant water buffalo. Along the way, the roads changed variety to become very twisty as we wound through the hills. A superb bit of riding for about 1 hour before we stopped for a drink.
Plenty of folk waving as we ride by
Hung confirming directions with a local.
We pulled up in a small town that was similar to many others we'd seen. One road in, one road out. We pulled the bikes up onto the pavement outside the sunny front to a shop/cafe and got some G7 coffee sorted out. By this point I'd taken to hooking the GoPro up to a USB charge battery each time we stopped for a drink which did a great job of extending the battery life through the course of a day. If I was running the GoPro on the handlebar mount I would cable-tie the battery pack to the bars and plug it in then leave it charging while it was recording.
While we were kicking around I noticed in the shop they had my absolute favourite authentic traditional time-honoured Vietnamese snack: Choco Pie! Not sure why the packaging now says Choco Sapion, which google amusingly tells me translates as 'Choco Rearview Mirror'... Either way this delicious chocolatey snack is just what you need when you've been off-roading all day without anything to eat and are having a sugar crash. So I bought a couple of packs. Sadly there were no cans of Birdy Coffee but I'll settle for Choco Pie. We also had plenty of fresh pineapple which Hung had bought from someone at the roadside not long beforehand, knowing that we were going to stop shortly. It was basically just a pineapple hacked up into chunks at the roadside and given to Hung in a plastic bag.
While we were stood around chatting and finishing our coffee, some commotion started to unfold 20 yards away. Two or three lads suddenly sprinted across the road chasing a 7 foot snake, which promptly bolted for the sloped concrete embankment at the other side of the far pavement. The lads picked up some stones or rocks as they were running, and with no more than 2 or 3 shots they hit it and stunned it. One of them then grabbed it and bashed it against the road a few times before coshing it with another rock, then he got on his scooter and rode off with it.
The strange thing was, although it looks like a stringy little thing, when it was alive it was a good 5" or more in diameter. When they killed it, it shrunk down to what you see in the photos below.
We just about managed to get a few photos off, but were mainly stunned by it, paused with coffee in hand wondering what the heck just happened!
Photo courtesy of Bryan C. Harrison
We're not quite sure what the snake was going to be used for, but we suspect he was taking it home to cook it. From there we continued along the route to Pa So, taking in a variety of roads including a few that were still being built or remade. One in particular was a dust-fest and we were unlucky to end up behind a large construction truck for some of it for a while. You've just got to sit tight and wait for a safe place to pass. And hold your breath for as long as you can. After that pass we hit a reasonably good surfaced remote hill pass, as twisty as a twisty thing and with virtually no other traffic. We spread out a bit and just had a nice fast but relaxing ride for a while.
Around 13:30 or so, not having stopped for lunch properly yet, we were carving across a hill road a few hundred metres up and reasonably spread out from one rider to the next. Upon rounding a right hander I was faced with a number of people walking down the hill spread out across it. Maybe 20 or 30 people in total. I slowed right down to 15kmh and upon reaching the front of the group could see they were carrying a body on a wooden stretcher. Clearly this was a funeral of sorts, probably the first time I can remember seeing a body. Grim, but that's life.
That slightly macabre incident aside, we continued on and found the scenery to steadily improve through the day. The afternoon started to pass quite incident-free which was quite welcome after the police & military drama over the previous day or two.
After we rode across another by-now familiar long red & white painted bridge, the lowlands were spread out to our right with paddy fields reaching to the distant mountain ranges. Around this time we reached a few long straight roads and most of us decided to try and see what the little 250's would do. The KLX seemed to max out around 115kmh which wasn't bad at all.
After the long straight, there was a left turn forcing us to slow down. Coming out of that turn perhaps 100-200 yards further on there was a complete mud bath spread out across the road. I followed Roger through it, unwisely choosing his line and riding through a ridiculous amount of mud in the process. Wasn't his fault though, there was an oncoming van that hogged the centre of the road forcing us to take the wider (muddier) line. Maybe if we hadn't just been arsing around at high speed we would have been riding slower and could have stopped before getting a mud bath!
Just before another long bridge we stopped at an intersection and had a nice sit down lunch at a cafe in Muong Lay. The place doesn't look much from the outside, or the inside for that matter, but it was a great little nook from which we watched not much happening outside. Still, at least we were cool in the shade, and our hostess was gorgeous!
After lunch we crossed the next bridge and had a really enjoyable, easy ride for a couple of hours. Nice roads, bridges, lakes and leapfrogging photo stops. Roads that hugged the lake for miles on end, punctuated by sudden major roadworks with concrete dust so thick you could barely see 50 yards. No drama though.
Roadworks Vietnamese style!
After playing photo tag with Bryan and Roger for a while I pulled over to find the others chowing down on some sugar cane bought from a girl under a huge branch at the roadside. She would just cut a few sugar canes down in the morning then hack them up fresh when someone stops to buy some.
Finally we rolled into Pa So as the sun was starting to set. We were to stay at the Hotel Lananh, which was quite quaint and done out with wooden panelling everywhere. Nice enough. We had a few beers outside until late in the evening before eating in their quite grandiose dining area. Another group of locals further across the room were being very loud and boisterous even by our standards so once we'd had enough we retreated to the outside bar to sink a few more beers then called it a night.
Another great day!
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firestorm996
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Re: NamBusters 3 - tour of North Vietnam
Day 7 - Pa So to Lao Cai
Last day of the bike tour!
Let me start by saying it's been a while since I did the Day 6 write-up - several months in fact. Apologies for the gap. During this time Pinky has had a number of challenges coming to terms with the injuries he sustained on the first day of the trip, and if I'm honest that incident has affected all of us in different ways. Personally I needed a break from all things Vietnam related because in many ways it was bittersweet and hard to deal with. However I thought it high time I finished what I started, so here we are.
We stayed overnight at the Hotel Lan Anh in Pa So. The hotel had some nice touches but plenty of amusing quirks. We were woken around 5am by loud radio & music being played in the next building, so by 6.30 I was ready to strangle the person responsible. Got up, quick shower and breakfast then we loaded up for the last time to set off.
Our route today would take us through some cracking roads over the pass to Sa Pa and then on to Lao Cai where we would catch the overnight train back to Hanoi. We had done a similar route on NB1 so I was really looking forward to seeing if the road over SaPa was as stunning as I remembered. Also since Jim and Bryan hadn't been with us the first time round it would be interesting to see if it lived up to our own hype following that trip!
We set off from Pa So and took some great roads out through the lowlands which wound their way between mountains and hillsides. Plenty of locals out farming for the day. The roads started out with mixed surface and massive vegetation at the sides of the road as we started ascending up over the hills. Eventually this turned into brand new tarmac that was still being laid. This road led up to Lau Chau, the surface being so good and twisty I'd have loved a run at it on a proper sportsbike.
After an hour or so we stopped at the Gateway Cafe for mid morning refreshments. It was a nice change from the usual downtrodden coffee stop that we'd come to know and love typical of Vietnam but personally a bit too modern for my liking. I suppose you can't stop progress eh.
From here we made our way through the lowlands again before starting up the foothill roads towards Sa Pa, stopping on the way to take many photos of the wonderful scenery.
From the lowlands we hit the road starting to wind it's way up the mountain side. This road continues for around 30km and is simply EPIC. As you can see in the photos we rode through cloud cover then out above it. At one point I rounded a bend behind the others and was watching for Jim's reaction up ahead. As we came out of a left hander a view opened up ahead of us of cloud below and the twisty snaking road out in front above it, I swear I saw Jim do a double-take, something he later confirmed.
The town of SaPa is set way up in the Hoang Lien mountain range. The range includes Vietnam's highest mountain, Fan Si Pan (seriously) which stands at 10,000ft. Sapa itself is around 5000ft above sea level and is often within cloud cover or above it. The town is very popular with outdoor activities types, gap year students, cyclists and motorbike tour groups. As you can imagine, the road leading up to it is your typical epic mountain road with a great surface and bend after bend.
On the road up to SaPa. You can see the clouds below us just beyond that turn.
Brilliant!!
Even the locals are joining in the fun.
Bryan 'on it'.
Mr Phil
The Badger!!
Top of the world!!!!
Rather than continue all the way up the usual route, once we got to the top before Sapa town we deviated off to a waterfall that Hung knew about. We parked up and had to leave the bikes to walk to the waterfall. He did say it was 1km away but turned out to be more like 2.5km with lots of climbing steps along the way. The waterfall was ok, nothing on the scale of Ban Gioc but a smaller waterfall within a forest. We got back to the bikes a sweaty mess and were subsequently mobbed by some vietnamese tourists who wanted photos of us with the bikes.
Looks solid.
Following this we continued for a while until Hung stopped to check directions with one of the locals, looking for a back route which he had heard about. We dropped off the main road down some small gravel roads where locals were running thick electrical cable. We then turned into a valley down a single track that led through some very remote farms. Overall it was a really nice offroad detour of perhaps an hour or so. After this we emerged on some roads that linked the mountainside villages just below Sapa town. The roads were in a poor state but quite enjoyable on a dirt bike. There were lots of backpackers and gap year types kicking around all of a sudden.
Love shack, baby.
At some point while we were kicking around these backroads, which were more like motocross tracks, Jim and myself got separated from the group. We realised when we were a few km up the road that we'd missed a turning (probably because we had stopped to take photos so many times) so we called Hung. He directed us back to the lower village below the town itself where he would meet us. At that point Jim and I bolted back along the muddy local road, and it has to be said things got a bit giddy. I was quite hungry so was rushing a bit, I remember getting airborne on some of the dirt ruts and crumbling parts of the track but it was great fun. We eventually found the place Hung had described, which was run by an Australian chap and his wife, so we sat down outside for lunch overlooking the next mountain and the fields below us. The food was great and it was great to just sit, eat and enjoy the amazing scenery before us.
After lunch we packed up and set off for Lao Cai, where we would finish the bike tour. The traffic from Sapa down the other side of the mountain was ridiculous. It was a similar twisty mountain road all downhill, three years ago myself, Phil and Del enjoyed a nice ride down it on our Minsks but today was quite different. There were rather aggressive 4wd vehicles which insist on sitting only a couple of feet from your rear wheel, you can't overtake because there's a continuous stream of vehicles all heading in the opposite direction towards Sapa, or there's not enough visibility or a gap to dive into. Amongst the chaos there was a police jeep with blue lights and siren going, and no-one would even let him through so what chance did we have of making any progress! We sat back a bit and kept in a safe position rather than try to push through traffic just to meet even more traffic. I can recall at one point Hung passing the police jeep on the inside through a bend. Ultimately it was a bit futile so it was nice when eventually the roads levelled out at the bottom of the mountain and the traffic thinned out a bit.
From there it was a dash to Lao Cai, to the by-now-familiar end point of the hotel in the centre. We got the bikes ready to be transported back on the train, sorted ourselves and luggage out then grabbed a pizza and a well-earned beer.
On the sleeper train that night the porter was a lovely girl who joined in with us doing happy water shots, then slept in a cubby at the end of the carriage. Tomorrow we would land back in Hanoi for a few days before flying back to the UK.
So....there ends NBIII the tour, but not the trip or the blog. We had some further escapades in Hanoi on our return which I'll write up soon. The tuktuk was a particular highlight and it still makes me laugh when I think about it.
More to follow.
Last day of the bike tour!
Let me start by saying it's been a while since I did the Day 6 write-up - several months in fact. Apologies for the gap. During this time Pinky has had a number of challenges coming to terms with the injuries he sustained on the first day of the trip, and if I'm honest that incident has affected all of us in different ways. Personally I needed a break from all things Vietnam related because in many ways it was bittersweet and hard to deal with. However I thought it high time I finished what I started, so here we are.
We stayed overnight at the Hotel Lan Anh in Pa So. The hotel had some nice touches but plenty of amusing quirks. We were woken around 5am by loud radio & music being played in the next building, so by 6.30 I was ready to strangle the person responsible. Got up, quick shower and breakfast then we loaded up for the last time to set off.
Our route today would take us through some cracking roads over the pass to Sa Pa and then on to Lao Cai where we would catch the overnight train back to Hanoi. We had done a similar route on NB1 so I was really looking forward to seeing if the road over SaPa was as stunning as I remembered. Also since Jim and Bryan hadn't been with us the first time round it would be interesting to see if it lived up to our own hype following that trip!
We set off from Pa So and took some great roads out through the lowlands which wound their way between mountains and hillsides. Plenty of locals out farming for the day. The roads started out with mixed surface and massive vegetation at the sides of the road as we started ascending up over the hills. Eventually this turned into brand new tarmac that was still being laid. This road led up to Lau Chau, the surface being so good and twisty I'd have loved a run at it on a proper sportsbike.
After an hour or so we stopped at the Gateway Cafe for mid morning refreshments. It was a nice change from the usual downtrodden coffee stop that we'd come to know and love typical of Vietnam but personally a bit too modern for my liking. I suppose you can't stop progress eh.
From here we made our way through the lowlands again before starting up the foothill roads towards Sa Pa, stopping on the way to take many photos of the wonderful scenery.
From the lowlands we hit the road starting to wind it's way up the mountain side. This road continues for around 30km and is simply EPIC. As you can see in the photos we rode through cloud cover then out above it. At one point I rounded a bend behind the others and was watching for Jim's reaction up ahead. As we came out of a left hander a view opened up ahead of us of cloud below and the twisty snaking road out in front above it, I swear I saw Jim do a double-take, something he later confirmed.
The town of SaPa is set way up in the Hoang Lien mountain range. The range includes Vietnam's highest mountain, Fan Si Pan (seriously) which stands at 10,000ft. Sapa itself is around 5000ft above sea level and is often within cloud cover or above it. The town is very popular with outdoor activities types, gap year students, cyclists and motorbike tour groups. As you can imagine, the road leading up to it is your typical epic mountain road with a great surface and bend after bend.
On the road up to SaPa. You can see the clouds below us just beyond that turn.
Brilliant!!
Even the locals are joining in the fun.
Bryan 'on it'.
Mr Phil
The Badger!!
Top of the world!!!!
Rather than continue all the way up the usual route, once we got to the top before Sapa town we deviated off to a waterfall that Hung knew about. We parked up and had to leave the bikes to walk to the waterfall. He did say it was 1km away but turned out to be more like 2.5km with lots of climbing steps along the way. The waterfall was ok, nothing on the scale of Ban Gioc but a smaller waterfall within a forest. We got back to the bikes a sweaty mess and were subsequently mobbed by some vietnamese tourists who wanted photos of us with the bikes.
Looks solid.
Following this we continued for a while until Hung stopped to check directions with one of the locals, looking for a back route which he had heard about. We dropped off the main road down some small gravel roads where locals were running thick electrical cable. We then turned into a valley down a single track that led through some very remote farms. Overall it was a really nice offroad detour of perhaps an hour or so. After this we emerged on some roads that linked the mountainside villages just below Sapa town. The roads were in a poor state but quite enjoyable on a dirt bike. There were lots of backpackers and gap year types kicking around all of a sudden.
Love shack, baby.
At some point while we were kicking around these backroads, which were more like motocross tracks, Jim and myself got separated from the group. We realised when we were a few km up the road that we'd missed a turning (probably because we had stopped to take photos so many times) so we called Hung. He directed us back to the lower village below the town itself where he would meet us. At that point Jim and I bolted back along the muddy local road, and it has to be said things got a bit giddy. I was quite hungry so was rushing a bit, I remember getting airborne on some of the dirt ruts and crumbling parts of the track but it was great fun. We eventually found the place Hung had described, which was run by an Australian chap and his wife, so we sat down outside for lunch overlooking the next mountain and the fields below us. The food was great and it was great to just sit, eat and enjoy the amazing scenery before us.
After lunch we packed up and set off for Lao Cai, where we would finish the bike tour. The traffic from Sapa down the other side of the mountain was ridiculous. It was a similar twisty mountain road all downhill, three years ago myself, Phil and Del enjoyed a nice ride down it on our Minsks but today was quite different. There were rather aggressive 4wd vehicles which insist on sitting only a couple of feet from your rear wheel, you can't overtake because there's a continuous stream of vehicles all heading in the opposite direction towards Sapa, or there's not enough visibility or a gap to dive into. Amongst the chaos there was a police jeep with blue lights and siren going, and no-one would even let him through so what chance did we have of making any progress! We sat back a bit and kept in a safe position rather than try to push through traffic just to meet even more traffic. I can recall at one point Hung passing the police jeep on the inside through a bend. Ultimately it was a bit futile so it was nice when eventually the roads levelled out at the bottom of the mountain and the traffic thinned out a bit.
From there it was a dash to Lao Cai, to the by-now-familiar end point of the hotel in the centre. We got the bikes ready to be transported back on the train, sorted ourselves and luggage out then grabbed a pizza and a well-earned beer.
On the sleeper train that night the porter was a lovely girl who joined in with us doing happy water shots, then slept in a cubby at the end of the carriage. Tomorrow we would land back in Hanoi for a few days before flying back to the UK.
So....there ends NBIII the tour, but not the trip or the blog. We had some further escapades in Hanoi on our return which I'll write up soon. The tuktuk was a particular highlight and it still makes me laugh when I think about it.
More to follow.
