9 December,
Pho Rang to Viet Quang, 68km
Hotel Huong Giang 200,000VND
What a fantastic day, which not even a portion of road
from hell could ruin. A near perfect day. What would have made it perfect? Some
blue sky, perhaps, for more interesting photos, though the misty day blurred
and softened the contours and colours of the hills, which was lovely... Although
we were surrounded by mountains for the bulk of the distance, we had only a
couple of longish climbs. Otherwise the road wound gently through the valleys,
often paralleling one or other of the several rivers we encountered, or
clambered over foothills and through farmland sporting rice and sugarcane,
ducklings and piglets. It was cold enough to warrant wearing our thermals, but
not unpleasantly so. Again we saw hundreds of sheets of plywood set out to dry
in gardens and fields and along the roadside. We paid a visit to a small factory
under a tin roof and saw how the plywood is stripped in long sheets during the
making of wooden poles and dowels; two main products, therefore, and several
by-products including bark and sawdust. At the top of our second long climb,
with 36km still to go, we left Lao Cai district and entered Ha Giang. Talk
about chalk ’n cheese. Our beautiful, tarred, smooth, wide road disintegrated
completely into a single-lane mud track, deeply-rutted, rocky, slippery and frightening
– without doubt the worst road I have ever cycled. I was really concerned it
was going to define the rest of our day, but it lasted 8km only, though it took
us nearly 90 minutes to negotiate those 8km. The narrow, badly-potholed tar
road which brought us to Viet Quang was a breeze by comparison. Today we saw a
man selling live fish from the back of his scooter, the water aerated by a
mobile pump. And someone transporting a broken down scooter on the back of his
scooter. And several pigs in a cage on the back of a scooter. And several
mattresses on the back of a scooter. Enterprising people, the Vietnamese.
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang
Between Pho Rang and Viet Quang