Vietnam, Day 9 - Boa Lac to Quang Uyen - does my bum look big in this?

The alarm went off at 0630 this morning and it was a cold breakfast, which came in bursts and in the wrong order. The bananas arrived after we'd left. 

Mick's not riding with us today. He had a fall on the second day and his back has been playing up since. The fall however was not on a bike, it was in a slippery shower floor. Proof if ever there was, that washing is more dangerous than riding; perhaps that's why we like to be greasy bikers? He's dosed up on ibuprofen and will be riding this one out in the support truck. We'll miss him out on the roads - whenever we stop for lunch or drinks, people want their photo taken with him; he's quite the celebrity.

I've decided to deploy extra padding down below today, a folded towel strategically located. Let's see if it helps. It does look rather odd though.  Bags loaded into the truck and we're ready to fly.

After leaving the hotel, we see a couple that we saw few days ago at the top of a pass. The Chinese lady wanted her photo taken with me and said she liked pigs; I'm sure that's no reflection of me or her gentleman companion. 

It's cloudy and feels to be at about the Goldilocks temperature for riding. Turning off the main road we climb into the clouds, and then gradually the sun's disk appears through the grey fog, and then emerges, bringing the flat landscape to life and giving our eyes some colour to appreciate. The views of the mountain tops over the clouds are fantastic and surprising given that we are only 1000m up.

Duff says he's not in the groove today and Ray seems to be warming up slowly too. Quite like me really. Everything starts out sedately, then something triggers the inner BikerDom, it could be a smooth corner taken at speed, feeling the back end slide out a bit, or perhaps Graham getting too close to my rear wheel as he does. Then BD is off. It takes a while, but he comes down to earth eventually; until the next trigger.

Around mid morning we arrive at a wall of rock a few hundred metres high, witha zigzag of road climbing it sides. There follows 15 curves taken with spirit. The five musketeers arrive at the top with smiles on their faces. Oh, Ray's woken up now has he? Then down the other side with equal zeal.

We come across a mobile wall of brightly coloured flowers. These are being transported on a you know what, weaving across the road in places where the lack of speed hinders stability. Another example of two-wheeled utility.

We cross another river and are given a choice, wet or dry, and you know the answer. This time it's a proper concreted ford above a small weir. The concrete is extremely slippery with slimy mud and I can feel my back wheel spin-up in a few places so I have to be very careful with the throttle. Of course we're posing for photos and videos as we ride across, so a spin and fall into the water would be be doubly embarrassing.

Before lunch it's a main road with centre line road markings and everything. Doesn't stop people closing off an entire lane outside their houses with logs and branches so they can dry their seeds in the sun. Coming across these, you have to wait for oncoming traffic to clear before proceeding.

Although it's neither too hot nor too cold, the locals obviously feel the chill and many are riding with back to front jackets to protect them from the cool airflow. It's a cheap way to stay warm in the 'winter' in Vietnam.

We do meet up with Mick and the truck for lunch, he's in fine spirits. We're in flat country now, the weather's fine and we're riding through former fields of corn either side of the road, the stalks have been neatly gathered in bunches like mini tee-pees that litter the fields.

After lunch it's a fast "100km" blast on main roads before reaching the Thac Ban Gioc waterfall on the border with China. These are lovely and a bit like a mini Niagara Falls that separate the US and Canada. Canada gets the best view of those falls and I reckon the Vietnamese get the best view of these ones. We stop there for a while, exploring the area and taking lots of pictures. The main falls are divided between China and Vietnam, as is the river, and we can see the Chinese side only about 50m away Chinese tourists on covered rafts enter the spray from the falls like a Chinese version of the "Maid of the Mist" boat that does the same thing at Niagara. 

The Chinese side is definitely more commercialised and you can see modern developments on the hillside above the river as well as a wooden walkway. You're not allowed to swim in the water, I guess for fear of crossing the border, but the official rafts ply their trade up and down. The Chinese are the only ones on the water today and they seem to have no regard for the official border that runs midway down the river. Apparently the border with China used to be about 10km further into China until China claimed it and took control of it many years ago. Something of which, Ta reminds us about periodically.

Another fast run of 40km, which turns into 60, but I don't mind. I do however miss the fuel stop, running past it at speed after getting stuck behind a car and then rushing to catch up. I soon realised that there was nothing to catch up to and stopped at the next junction. This was fortunate for Tu ("Tang" was incorrectly used previously), sent to retrieve me, as otherwise he would not have caught me easily.

The hotel seems like it's in the middle of nowhere as after dark it's the only light in town. Only it's not, the town is a short walk away and by all accounts is quite large. The hotel lobby is extremely noisy and as we eat dinner (surprisingly tasty squid) we can barely hear ourselves talk. We also battle with the cold draft from the constantly opened sliding doors which are the main door into the hotel. After a table of locals leave, things calm down a bit. "HELLO! I'M ON THE TRAIN!" comes to mind. Like yesterday's hotel, it has many elements that are really nice, marble floor, etc, it just has that unfinished feel, which ruins the effect.

Not sure the towel did anything, as my bum still aches.