Day 4 - Cao Bang to Bao Lac (via Ma Quy Pass)

We were staying at Cao Bang, a smallish but nice town where we were made welcome as always.  And it was good to be staying in a hotel with wifi for a change!

View from my hotel balcony

L-R: Jim, Del-little-boy

Last night we decided to improve Phil's bike. We felt that it could do with some added weight over the rear and that would improve handling. So we ventured into Cao Bang late at night and checked out the local gift shops. We didn't find anything suitable for sale so we enquired at a dried goods shop as to whether we could buy their large metal weighing scales. Turns out this old couple use them for just about everything they sell but they were willing to part with them if the price was right. After a bit of haggling, not easy since they spoke no English and us no Vietnamese, we settled on a price and the scales were ours.

Those of you who know about our first trip last year may remember that there was a village chap, perhaps a few burgers short of a picnic, who took a shine to Phil and insisted on weighing him on a large set of scales. Well we thought this gift was in keeping with that theme. Also the added bonus was that the scales could be used to fine tune weight distribution on Phil's XR. 

We even fitted them to his bike. This morning he thanked us for our efforts. 

We set off from Cao Bang, rode out of town and after a couple of km everyone turned left into a junction off the highway. As I was indicating and already near the centreline I suddenly heard a blast from a horn and looked back to see a 4wd bearing down on me rapidly. I dived for the kerbside and he flew past. Normally anyone approaching any other traffic or about to pass should pip their horn a couple of times but not everyone does.  It served as a reminder though and made me at least extra cautious for the day. 

Pinky gave us the choice, we could either go the originally planned road to Bao Lac, or go via another route he'd been recommended but hadn't rode yet. We said ok let's go with the unknown. It turned out to be a good choice.

It started off as a much smaller road, only just over a cars width, then turned into a dusty track where we got held up by some trucks for a while. I was following Jim when some bloke jumped out of a bush and went to grab the comedy chicken that Jim has on his handlebars! We made a hasty exit. Then the road turned to very badly damaged tarmac and wound up through some hills and mountains giving fantastic views. I lagged behind the group a bit because I tend to ride at the back and stop to take too many pictures...The road was only about 12ft wide so there wasn't much margin for error.

Once past the top the road descended for several kilometres with twisty switchbacks, all with an immediate drop off of hundreds of feet if you got it wrong. Everything clicked with the XR and I settled into a rhythm with the road. Not sure what the others were doing as they were ahead but I suspected they were enjoying it too. It was honestly one of the best roads I've ever had the pleasure of riding. It was treacherous, with the drop offs but also because there was plenty of broken or missing road surface, bits where it had subsided completely and lots of debris and rock slides from the mountain above. Having a dirt bike with knobbly tires definitely helped.

The Ma Quy Pass

It's a thumbs-up from Jim!

When we reached the town at the far side of it all (Thong Nang) we asked the locals and found it was called the Ma Quy Pass. We got it on GoPro so will upload that soon.

In the centre of the town while we had a drink there was a huge tree with Buddha ornaments and sticks all around it. While we kicked around there taking a look, Phil decided to buy Del a present. He found a large white oriental pig which can be seen in the photos zip-tied to Del's headlamp.  Super Happy Lucky Moto Wish Pig takes up quite a bit of space on the bars and the downside is that cooling airflow is reduced when Del is on the move.  Unfortunate.

Since it was only 11am, and we had 70km of hill country to do, where there's nowhere to stop and eat, Pinky loaded up on snacks and we got on the move again.  One of the things we were keen to introduce the new chaps to was your typical vietnamese dodgy rope bridge. When we dropped down the other side of this mountain and started tracking alongside a river, we kept our eyes open and eventually found one.  Unfortunately only Del, Joe and me stopped for it, the others rode on so they missed out.

Del wanted to check the construction of the bridge before we rode across, I thought let's just go for it so rode past him and luckily for me it held. It was part planks and part bamboo, but mainly gaps. The bamboo won't snap under the weight of a bike, it's incredibly strong stuff so it's really just the state of the planks and how well it's all held together that you need to worry about.

I'll be the guinea pig then shall I?

Looks ok from this angle, right?

What could possibly go wrong??

...looks fine to me!!

Umm...!!

The next hour or two were fun and uneventful, just more of the same fantastic roads and views until we got near the summit of a mountain and found a breeze block building.  It was a wreck of a thing, but someone lived there, and there was a pool table under a tarpaulin canopy with some kids having a game.  Pinky got the snacks out, so we just cooled off there for a while watching the local goings on.

By this point I think we only had another 30km to go before Bao Lac, so there was no rush on the last run of the day. It was mainly dirt roads with gravel and rocks thrown in, but as a group I think we just clicked into it for a while and there were 7 bikes snaking down this road, all in sync and enjoying the challenging surface. There are plenty of turns that you can either use the tarmac for or equally just cut across the dirt, which is strange at first but the bikes will handle it.

The last 10km were mainly dirt, culminating in this small track no wider than 8ft which was cut through the rock similar to a road through a quarry.  It was very steep, the switchbacks were first-gear-tight, they were off camber, and there was zero run-off - just the fast way down.  Amazing stuff.  For some reason when I got to the bottom of it the others were zip-tieing Pinky to a pole.  Not sure why.

Those lines you can just about see are the road winding its way down the quarry wall.

We arrived at a nice hotel in Bao Lac, the Thanh Loan, and had a couple of beers before the others were off buying presents.  They returned with an aluminium kettle for Bryan, an aluminium bowl about 2' across for me, a kitchen rack for Jim and a child's potty for Joe.  We'd have to fit all of these on the bikes in the morning.  Happy days!

Tomorrow is one of the big ones - the Ma Pi Leng Pass.  It climbs up to 2,000 metres and is reportedly the most dangerous road in Vietnam.  It's also in many people's top 10 roads in all the world.