11
December, Na Hang to Da Vi, 35km
Cuong Dam Guest House 200,000VND
We managed only 35km today through very hilly terrain,
many of the inclines 10 percenters. We could probably have done a little more,
but from the look of the mountains ahead of us, probably not enough to get us
to a bed before dark. So we opted to stop in Da Vi, sited at one end of the
bridge that spans the Na Hang Dam. The dam was started in 2002 and commissioned
in 2008; it has a storage capacity of 2.3 billion cubic metres; its
construction inundated 4000 households of mainly indigenous hill tribe
families, raising human rights concerns over non-payment of promised
compensation (now there’s a surprise). We were very excited to discover that
the single guest house here (shared bathroom) has soft mattresses! We are
growing accustomed to the hard mattresses to be found in many hotels,
particularly those that cater seldom to westerners, but a softie makes a
welcome change. I remain entranced by the fact that even the animals here know
we are foreigners. Pigs that completely ignore local traffic, whether truck,
scooter or bike, take one look at us and stampede into the bush grunting in
their effort to move faster than they comfortably can. Yesterday I set a duck
and her ducklings scurrying for safety, their webbed feet slapping audibly on
the tar road. Why did the chicken cross the road? To escape from Charl. In the
process she ran straight into an oncoming scooter, luckily losing only a few
feathers in the encounter. Water buffalo, those most placid of beasts, do not
run away, but they do watch us with liquid black eyes, never blinking. Perhaps
we smell strange, or perhaps the flags flying from the back of our bikes are
the trigger. Who knows?
Between Na Hang and Da Vi
Between Na Hang and Da Vi
Between Na Hang and Da Vi
Between Na Hang and Da Vi
Laminating from the back of a scooter