Long Way Up: Vietnam 27 June - 15 July 2011

[inferno_robe]

**** road, he said. We checked it out and the first 2km were horrendously bad. So we decided to take a longer route but with paved roads and headed along the highway to Dien Bien Phu to Muong Lay. Got stopped by the highway police 1km before the entry to the highway. Knew he wanted a bribe ‘cos I did nothing illegal and he let me go immediately upon knowing I wasn’t a Viet. Anyway, by taking the longer route, we will be travelling almost 100km more, but on smooth tarmac.

 

Scenery along the way

 

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View in Dien Bien Phu

 

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Victory Monument in DBP

 

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Road was excellent all the way till about 15km to Muong Lay. Then, landslides were frequent and disruptive. I smashed thru the barrier because I couldn't stop in time and also because of the robbery experience which made me wary of anyone who tried to stop me while I was riding.

 

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Behind the scenes, behind the barrier

 

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Look, JY caught up. haha

 

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The mad free-for-all after the barrier was lifted

 

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[inferno_robe]

Road to Muong Lay http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k563/inferno_robe/to%20thong%20pho/DSC00180.jpg

 

Roads were the worst in the trip. Saw at least 5 major landslides with roads becoming very rocky and muddy. Picture a truck trying to squeeze past you on one side and treacherous drops down the cliff on the other. That’s what we faced.

 

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The Viets have started to flood the area already. They had been building a new dam.

 

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Where the new water level should be, it sure won't be far from the top of the bridge.

 

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I was positively scared while riding through the mud and only aimed to not drop off the cliff. Mud, OK. Puddles, OK. Cliff, Not OK. Construction works on the dam near Muong Lay had already started so perhaps because of the vibration caused by the works, the soil is loosened and hence the landslides around Muong Lay. The worst stretch of road was at 2km out of Muong Lay where it's just **** roads for another 2km. After that it's intermittent **** and good roads. The poor lorry and the car behind were stuck there for at least 2 hours before we got there, and they looked like they were gonna spend the night there as well.

 

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Bye, bye. HAHAHA

 

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National highway my ass

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Scariest part of the riding in the entire trip. One wrong move and off you went. Down the cliff. Into the brand new lake.

 

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JY and I got lost taking the short cut through Sin Ho. On the map, it looked so much shorter than the main highway, but it was only 5km shorter. Not recommended unless u have a lot of time to spare since the road is very steep and narrow and dangerous and it's only 5 km shorter though it appears much shorter on the map. Scenic, yes. Worth the risk? No. The main highway would allow for higher speed. Finally reached Phong Tho at 725pm and stopped for the night after Yam SMSed to advise that the roads to Lai Chau are just as bad and would be impassable at night. That's near 14 hours of riding with total distance 342km. Including distance wasted getting lost and backtracking to look for Yam it was at least 380km for the day.

 

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By the time we reached Phong Tho, it was really dark.

 

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The hated highway police

 

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Before the three of us got separated, this was taken back on the way to Tuan Giao

 

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Too cool liao..

 

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[inferno_robe]

Started at 630, reached Sapa at 1230.

 

Saw the police outside the town of Lai Chau, while finding the way to Yam's hotel

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The route we took

 

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Although the distance was only 6hrs, the really bad roads took its toll on our bikes and bodies, and the scenery meant that we really had to keep stopping to take photographs. At around 8am, we had breakfast at Lai Chau after regrouping with Yam. The roads in Lai Chau were extremely extravagant, with 8 lane boulevards for the occasional motorcycle to traverse on. This smelled of misspent money and corruption, because public taxpayers' money was not utilised fully.

 

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The first road sign that actually said 'to sapa', 40km out of Lai Chau

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Roads were bad after exiting the city, and stayed bad till near Sapa, where the tourist route starts. It drizzled on the way to Tram Tom pass, the highest road in Vietnam at 1920m.

 

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[inferno_robe]

Road was bad with no barrier at the edges so it was really scary with our lousy tyres and wet roads.

 

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Really bad roads with too much gravel

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Potholed roads all the way till the entrance of Mt Fansipan, Vietnam’s highest peak at just over 3000m, probably because that's where most tourists stop continuing on the highway.

 

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The route to Fansipan is on the left

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The champion walking to his bike, parked right smack in the middle of the entrance, blocking cars, buses and people from entering the park.

 

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Food stop at the Fansipan national park

 

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Market along the national highway

 

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Nearing our destination!

 

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Sapa is famous for its terraced fields

 

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It was very cloudy on the highlands, but the view was awesome. Sapa has good and cheap North Face products, including bags and jackets, and I bought my gloves for 10 bucks. Many massage shops and restaurants and shops selling north face products. This place is a money sucker which is very oriented towards tourists, and after having so many people recommend this place to me to visit, I was disappointed by the commercialization of Sapa. Sapa is very touristy and it got rather stale for me after a short while. From Sapa, you can see Fansipan, and it was awe-inspiring to stand in its shadow. Temperature was 16 degrees at night and about 30 degrees in the day.

[inferno_robe]

Road was bad with no barrier at the edges so it was really scary with our lousy tyres and wet roads.

 

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Really bad roads with too much gravel

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Potholed roads all the way till the entrance of Mt Fansipan, Vietnam’s highest peak at just over 3000m, probably because that's where most tourists stop continuing on the highway.

 

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The route to Fansipan is on the left

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The champion walking to his bike, parked right smack in the middle of the entrance, blocking cars, buses and people from entering the park.

 

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Food stop at the Fansipan national park

 

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Market along the national highway

 

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Nearing our destination!

 

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Sapa is famous for its terraced fields

 

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It was very cloudy on the highlands, but the view was awesome. Sapa has good and cheap North Face products, including bags and jackets, and I bought my gloves for 10 bucks. Many massage shops and restaurants and shops selling north face products. This place is a money sucker which is very oriented towards tourists, and after having so many people recommend this place to me to visit, I was disappointed by the commercialization of Sapa.

 

The church in Sapa

 

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Sapa is very touristy and it got rather stale for me after a short while. From Sapa, you can see Fansipan, and it was awe-inspiring to stand in its shadow. Temperature was 16 degrees at night and about 30 degrees in the day.

[inferno_robe]

We spent the early part of the day walking around and chilling in Sapa while waiting for the drizzle to stop. It finally did, 3 hours later at 2pm. So we set off immediately with sadness that the fun riding would be behind us, and that this would be the second last day of riding in Vietnam. All good things come to an end.

 

Cow herders sharing the roads with us in Sapa.

 

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Highway 70 to Lao Cai was twisty and muddy but had no loose gravel. It was not built for speed, though there are still many trucks and buses using this road.

 

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It wasn’t scenic at all, so I just focused on the twists and turns. Chinese influence could be seen in this part of Vietnam, as there are chinese-plated vehicles as well as Chinese construction/mining companies in this area. From Lao Cai, I was riding alone as I couldn't find Yam and JY in Lao Cai.

 

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The Middle Kingdom just across the river.

 

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At this point of time, the riding would not be scenic, and the only objective was to reach Hanoi in one piece. My bike was falling apart and rattling so badly I could only hope that it could withstand all the way to Hanoi. My third gear could not be engaged properly and was very jerky and riding uphill was a pain with all the intermittent engine brakes. My first gear kept switching to neutral or not biting at all, giving a clanging sound when it was engaged.

 

Yup, good luck to ME! Though the sign sounded more ominously than it intended... I think.

 

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The road had many sweeping bends and there wasn’t a 100m that was straight, so even though the scenery was bad and there were many heavy vehicles plying the route, the bends made up for everything.

 

A one-lane bridge where cars/motorbikes had to wait their turns to cross the bridge.

 

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We set off from Sapa at 1230, reached Lao cai at 2pm and finally Yen Bai at 7pm. This would be the first time that I spent the night alone in a foreign city.

[inferno_robe]

Impossible is nothing. Just do it.

 

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The nearer to Hanoi, the more trucks, the more assholes who can't drive properly, who would overtake while you were incoming and then would flash their high beams and honk incessantly to ask you to please give them way. Stopped by police again. Fourth time for the trip. This time I had to pay a bribe of 100k dong(about 5 USD) for speeding. I went 63 in a 40kmh zone, or that’s what they claimed. Still they quoted me 750k at first. Then seeing I was not willing to pay, they lowered the price. The only English they understood were “money money”. Those smiling monkeys were grinning when they packed up their stuff into their lorry and sped off once the transaction was complete. ****ers spoilt my mood for the rest of the journey.

 

The car plate of the police. I thought I had captured a photo of their faces, but I only found out I didn't back in Hanoi. Damn.

 

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So close..

 

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The bridge to Hanoi. This section was reserved for motorbikes. The cars and heavy vehicles crossed into Vietnam in style using proper roads, as seen in the top corner of the picture.

 

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Still, when I reached St Joseph’s cathedral at 1.05pm after getting lost in Hanoi for an hour or so, the feeling was exhilaration. Finally there was closure for the trip, and everyone has reached Hanoi in one piece, without any major injuries or deaths. This was the first time that I had planned an overseas riding trip, and all 3 of us were relative rookies. I was the most experienced, yet I only had 2 months of riding experience proper, Yam just got his license 3 days ago, and JY was still waiting for his Traffic Police test in October. In a way, I felt relief because if anyone had any serious injuries, the blame would lie on me for I was the organizer of the trip. After a short 2 hours wait for the two slowpokes to reach St Joseph’s Cathedral, we would finally regroup again at the cathedral at 3pm. I was the first in Hanoi!

 

FIRST =D

 

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Top Gear Singapore Edition. Signing out.

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Many thanks to those who have supported the three of us in one way or another, esp. the dudes in the forum who had messaged me to give tips and advice for this trip. I hope you have enjoyed reading this ride report and I definitely hope that this ride report will inspire those aspiring bikers who yearn to tour the roads beyond the Causeway but thought it was impossible/dangerous/sure-die etc.. Three 21-year-olds without prior experience have done it, albeit with prior planning. You can, too. Cheers!

[xincentsbobby]

brilliant ! heading towards vietnam soon too .. cheers all!

[Steven_7115]

Nice trip good good !

I like ......

 

 

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