Day 8 – Son La to Moc Chau
Our cycling tour in Vietnam continued with the twelve members of the group becoming fitter and cooler as rain brought relief from temperatures in the mid-thirties. In Moc Chau we awoke to rain. Our departure was delayed as no one wanted to ride through traffic in the rain and our luxury hotel was too nice to leave. Anyway Joe cracked the whip and had us riding through the streets of Son La by 9.30 am. The rain had stopped. The city traffic wasn’t too bad and the roads were wide. It was up and down then up and up. Spectacular scenery: misty mountains, rice paddies in the valleys, coffee bushes and banana trees on the precipitous slopes, villages and farms clustered close to the road. It was a steady climb and I kept peddling. It’s a given the others on the tour will make it! After some pleasant down hill and gentle up and down the road climbed steeply and my legs rebelled. Tung, one of our guides, suggested he call the van to come back and I agreed. Chris rode on. Soon after, there was confusion about direction and everyone, including the vehicles, wound up on the wrong road. A restaurant provided us with a meal, the usual selection of stir fry, and a new route to the main road was selected.
This turned out to be quite beautiful: a back road down a narrow valley populated by Tay people. The Tay women are particularly striking. When they marry they twist their hair into a topknot. This is often concealed by colourful scarves and, when they’re riding motor scooters, by helmets perched up high or helmets with an extra dome to accommodate the hair. Many of the houses looked quite prosperous. I had opted to stay in the van but regretted it as the riding was consistently flat and scenic. The day ended with a two hour drive to Moc Chau where we were accommodated in a homestay.
Day 9 – Moc Chau to Mai Chau
A stormy night. The plan was to drive for half an hour to the top of a hill and ride from there. As we drove up, the mist became thicker and thicker to the point where we could hardly see the truck in front. No one was keen to ride. We drove on until Joe declared it was safe. Our riding jackets were oranges and lemons so we felt confident we could be seen and there was virtually no traffic. Tung did say, ‘Buffalo are worth more than a scooter so don’t hit a buffalo.’ Good advice. The descent was long and not particularly steep, about 25 kilometres. Then a 200 metre climb up and 10 kilometres on the main road followed by a narrow side road to our homestay accommodation. The mist cleared as we descended so we could enjoy the lush vegetation and, lower down, small roadside villages and rice paddies. Anh rode with Chris and I at the back and she did say my husband takes lots of photos.
We were at the accommodation in time for a late lunch. Most of the group went for a walk around the rice paddies and village where knick-knacks, clothing and weaving were for sale in abundance. In the evening we were treated to a concert of traditional music and dancing before dinner.
Day 10 – Mai Chau to Pu Luong Homestay
Some days are better than others. This wasn’t one of them for me. It started well with a racy slightly down hill stretch on a main road. We misplaced Hamish so had to hang about on the corner of a busy thoroughfare until he was located. All was well although confusion ensued about the road we would take. In the end it was a back road connecting to another back road before a long seemingly endless grind uphill. The compensation was that we were mainly riding through lush rainforest with only a few isolated farms and small villages. We stopped for a picnic lunch half way up but this was a hurried affair and we still had way too much climbing afterwards. When Chris and I finally reached the high point and descended a kilometre or so, we caught up with the group who set off straightaway. Two options were on the table and we had to decide quickly. I’m not sure whether we made the right choice but our long smooth ride descent was almost enjoyable. Unfortunately, to get to our homestay we had to go up and down on a very busy narrow road. The van picked us up after four kilometres, thankfully. The homestay looked very picturesque, tucked into the jungle but was crudely built. Soft beds and a good meal salved our aching limbs and the awareness that we’d ascended over a thousand metres became a source of pride.
Day 11 – Pu Luong to Tam Coc (Ninh Binh region)
Another moist and misty morning. Sixty kilometres. Joe assured us it would be flat with ‘small up and down – no big hills like yesterday.’ He was right. Our bodies are a mixture of fitter but wearier. At least we kept together today and enjoyed a sociable morning tea and then a picnic lunch by the side of the road where the crew barbecued hot dogs. The riding was mainly in a lush river valley with much to see: goats, geese, roosters, chickens, ducks, a buffalo pulling a cart, people carrying bamboo, lemon grass, banana tree trunks and, because it was Saturday and no school, children so many of them wanting to wave and say hello or do high fives. Not a single one asked for ‘lolly’ or ‘pen’. The mothers also wanted to wave and greet us. The vans picked us up just on the 60 kilometre mark and from this point it was a long drive to the Ninh Binh area and four star accommodation at Tam Coc.
Day 12 – Tam Coc
Excellent accommodation at the Golden Rice Hotel with very nice rooms, a swimming pool and great banana pancakes and omelettes for breakfast. Our final day of riding was around Tam Coc Lake and the river. Easy and flat but misty and wet. The mud and water on the road sent up spray. The result, stripes up our backs. It was pleasant though and more of a sightseeing tour with a visit to the Hoa Lu Ancient Capital, established during the 10th century during the Dinh and Le dynasties and later a pagoda complex set into a hill. At the capital there were hundreds of school children learning their national history and being drilled in team building. Chris and I had a go on a newish e-bike on the return to the lunch spot. Flat roads aren’t much of a test but my comment would be, ‘Too easy.’ We farewelled the bikes, the mechanic and one of the drivers. No more pedalling!
In the afternoon, Joe organised for us to partake in the major tourist attraction of the area, being rowed up a tributary of the Hoang Long River through the spectacular limestone karst country. The rowers alternate between using their hands and feet! The monolith-like rocks rise straight up from the rice fields fringeing the river. At several points the river drifted through caves in the rock. Spectacular. In the evening we organised our own dinner. Some of us chose a massage instead of food, some opted to have no dinner as a late lunch had been substantial. Four of us opted for Indian cuisine – a delicious change.
Day 13 – Ninh Binh to Cat Ba and return to Hanoi.
The riding now over, we went by bus to Cat Ba. This involved a ferry crossing and a lot of driving. Hazy, as usual. Cat Ba was no longer the sleepy fishing village of our memory. Multi-storied hotels dominated and restaurants, catering for tourists, lined the waterfront. Our hotel was huge and in need of an upgrade and the beds, plank hard and unyielding. (We’ve had several such beds).
Our boat tour in Cai Beo was pleasant but the ever persistent haze/fog/smog limited visibility. The amount of floating rubbish also detracted from the beauty of the bay. Fish farming has become profitable and was definitely contributing to the pollution of the water. Six of us went out in kayaks and Dave took Anh for a paddle as she’d never been in a kayak before. She has been such an asset on the tour. At 25 she is defying the standard path for Vietnamese women of marrying young and bearing children. We were served an exclusively seafood lunch on the boat: prawns, oysters, shrimp, stir-fry squid and fish. It was hard not to think of the polluted water but all of it was delicious.
Back on land, back on the bus and back to May De Ville Premier Hotel in Hanoi. The journey over.
All journeys come to an end. It was a strenuous ride of about 500 kilometres, often on bumpy and broken back roads with 6,700 metres of climbing over eleven days of actual riding. Thanks to Joe Nguyen and his team at Biking Vietnam for a great experience in an amazing country.
Beverley Lello 