Out came my Swiss Army Knife (a Swisschamp, for those that care) and used the awl to ream a hole just underneath the rim... I realise this is sounding a bit dodgy now for those of you with a smutty mind but there's no other way to describe it. Joe gave me some of his railway cable ties which are a good 18" long (still sounding dodgy) and I further reamed the hole out (!!!) until they would fit, then filed off the sharp bits. That went onto the rack, and my rucksack went into the bowl with a bungee net holding that in. Job's a good un.
Riding along later it occurred to me that with a second bowl on top, inverted, it would be like having a top box!
To start the day we tackled some nice dirt twisties which went through the occasional village, but for the most part just cut their way through greenery and around hillsides. Since we were generally tracking the river, it wasn't too long before we saw a bridge to cross. Jim and Bryan had so far not rode any and it was time to change that. This one was pretty solid by Vietnam standards, there were only a few missing planks, some that were still in place but had skewed on the rails and that sort of thing, but it's still a bit unnerving riding across a bridge which is 60 feet above a river, and has gaps in it.
From there we rode to Ly Bon and stopped for drinks. I'm going to I can't stress this enough; on a trip like this, it's crucial that you stay hydrated. The temperatures were by this point approaching 30 degrees C, you are losing a few pounds each day through sweat, and if you don't replace all that fluid you can easily find yourself seriously dehydrated. You need concentration when you're 500 miles from a hospital, rounding a bend that has a 1000ft dropoff, and the other side of which could be anything from an oncoming truck on the wrong side of the road, children wandering in the road, two trucks side by side, or a herd of water buffalo. Beer, coffee and coca cola will not rehydrate you so make sure you chug a few bottles of water through the day. Camelbak type drinks reservoirs don't work too well because after an hour or so the contents have warmed up if the weather is anything like hot. I've been getting through about 2 litres and it's still not enough. One last tip, if you are getting dehydrated and you find somewhere that sells either coconut water (in a can) or has actual coconuts (they will just chop the lid off one and stick a straw in it) go with that because it's great stuff for rehydration.
Ly Bon is a small one-horse town, the locals were friendly and by this point we are used to having people stop to stare at us, sometimes for 10 minutes or more. They're just curious and shy, especially in remote areas.
From there, we followed the road for another 45 minutes then stopped again for more drinks. This time it was at a very unfinished breeze-block building on the bend in the road. Out front there were a couple of pool tables so a game of pool started that seemed to go on for ages. It doesn't help when the white ball is shaped anything but round because it's landed on the rocky floor so many times!
We stopped for lunch in a cool area underneath a stilt house, and enjoyed an excellent meal yet again. Back on the bikes, we started gaining altitude with every turn in the road. We didn't ride far before Pinky stopped us and said we were now at the start of the Ma Pi Leng pass.
Ma Pi Leng Pass is around 5000ft high and was built by the minority people of the region (Zao, H'Mong, Tay and LoLo). The trickiest sections to cut into the mountain were actually blasted away using dynamite, by volunteers who would descend on ropes tied around whatever rock or tree they could anchor themselves to. They would use hand tools to bore a hole large enough to insert sticks of explosive, light the fuse then get away from the blast area as quickly as possible. Not surprisingly, it was dangerous work. So dangerous in fact that caskets were built in anticipation of the workers that would be killed. Imagine going to work every day, doing a job so dangerous that there was a coffin waiting for you.
These days, it's generally agreed to be the most dangerous road in Vietnam. The tarmac isn't great, there are plenty of sections that are bumpy enough to break suspension components or worse. Much of it is covered in rocks, dust and grit, which is unavoidable because of the regular landslides from the mountain above. There are hill folk who live up here, and it can be a little strange at first to randomly pass a 2 year old child wandering along the road - especially one as treacherous as this - with seemingly no-one else around. The people who live here can be seen carrying bushells as wide as a car on their backs, or herding livestock. Oh, and then there's the drops at the side of the road. Generally speaking, there is no barrier of any kind for most of the pass. Some sections have a bit of armco, and others have painted red/white blocks. On a motorbike those may serve to stop the bike going over the edge but probably not the rider. The drops are severe even by Vietnam standards. For many sections, you would fall a good 1000-2000ft before hitting anything on the way down. Lastly you need to be on your guard for sections of the road that have been taken out by landslides. Typically all that happens is the outermost 2 foot of road gets 'chamfered' off, resulting in a semi-circle of missing road at the edge. I do remember glancing back to check on Phil though, and turning ahead again I saw my front wheel was inches from one of these missing sections. I paid a bit more attention after that.
That said, it was quite hard to ride for more than a 1/4 mile at a time because the views are just staggering, so you end up stopping to take photos continually. We meandered our way to the cafe and monument near the top, the view getting more incredible with each corner. Photos were taken, and the view was admired for a good long while. It was still early afternoon, so when we reached the end of the pass and Pinky announced we were just 3km from the hotel, Phil and myself decided to ride back over the pass and meet everyone at the hotel.
It's fair to say we had a bit of a move on in place, but with caution. The only drama was a couple of instances where a scooter or truck came round a bend on the wrong side of the road leading to a bit of a swerve on their part and yours. Generally there's very little traffic on this road, and by looking at the sections ahead across the valley you can keep an eye out for traffic in the opposite direction from you.
Eventually we made it safely back to the hotel, for a well earned beer or two. Today had been absolutely epic, no other word for it!
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