22 December, Binh Gia (by bus)
Truong Nhan Guest House 200,000VND

This morning we collected our Chinese visas. The application requires three visits to the embassy, but, provided you have your ducks in a row, is easy enough. On the first visit, you complete the application forms and hand in your supporting documentation. On the second visit you are told whether or not your application has been successful. If it has, you are given the details of a bank at which to pay the visa fee. On the third, you hand in your bank receipt and collect your passport and visa. The process takes four working days. Our bus brought us back to Binh Gia and our bikes via some remarkable terrain. Picture a table top, flat. Take several household containers – cups, vases, bowls, something conical – and place them upside down and haphazardly on the table top. Move them around, enclosing some spaces, leaving others open-ended. This will give you a vague idea of flat valleys, sometimes encased and isolated, sometimes linked by a narrow neck to the neighbouring valley. This will give you a vague idea of hills that begin abruptly, rocketing up from the valley floor, reaching skyward without interruption. Hard to describe; lovely to behold.    

Hang Dau water tower - Hanoi - taken from taxi

En route Binh Gia - taken from bus