Day 3 - Mai Chau to Bac Yen
We woke in the Mai Chau Eco Lodge having all had a decent night's sleep and feeling much better about the trip. In the morning light the eco lodge really did look amazing with great views in every direction. I stood on the balcony for 5 minutes just drinking in the view. As is often the case in this part of Vietnam there was an early morning mist which set things off nicely.
I would encourage you to click on the next few images and view them full size, because the blog view doesn't do them justice.
 |
| My balcony, overlooking the paddy fields and with a great mountain view |
 |
| The main Eco Lodge reception, with restaurant upstairs |
 |
| No caption needed really eh? |
Once at the bottom of the Lodge area, I went through a gate and was presented with some stunning views of the paddy fields, with people already long since up to tender to their crops. I ambled around for 20 minutes taking a few photos then had to get back to my lodge to get everything packed up ready for the bike.
We all rendezvous'd at the bikes and got loaded up. Everyone was in much higher spirits than the day before having had encouraging news that Pinky was out of the woods, and having slept better. Once on the move we made our way down the link path back to the outskirts of the village, at which point Phil's SL developed a puncture.
Hung quickly found a chap who could do puncture repairs within about 100 yards. In fact, it seemed that punctures were all the guy did, all day long. He was situated down a narrow side street which was wide enough for scooters or pedestrians only, and that was alongside a large square where there was some kind of military drill or ceremony taking place. As a precaution we did not attempt to take any photos of the ceremony, because it would most likely have led to problems and questions being asked. While this was going on, Bryan and Jim helped me reset my GoPro, which despite being fully charged overnight was now refusing to even switch on. We hooked it up to a USB battery charge cell and left it to charge up for use later in the day.
While the puncture was being repaired we noticed that Phil was looking a tad down, so we decided to have a wander into the nearby market to get him a present and cheer him up. Here he is, the recipient of a lovely shiny new wok. The others couldn't resist modelling it for him either, what a popular gift.
Bryan then decided Jim also needed cheering up and went and found a lovely coat hanger rail. I think Jim was really pleased with this present, it was somewhere convenient to store his gloves and lid whenever we stopped. Which is often.
Jim then had to return the favour, managing to source this stylish yet functional child seat for Bryan...
As we were getting wrapped up and the wheel refitted, the parade finished and the military staff were dismissed. That prompted a mass exodus with 2 per scooter down the alley where we were parked. The odd thing was that most of them had rifles slung across their backs. Some strange questioning stares were given but most seemed ambivalent to our presence. The other item that some of the passengers were carrying by hand on the back of the scooters were easels, which had rifle practice targets (used) still mounted to them. Again, we didn't take pictures of that so you'll need to take my word for it.
We got underway with the puncture finally fixed, and started to overtake the military staff that we'd just seen moving out. This was a first for us all I believe...overtaking someone with a rifle and the ability to shoot you if they were dissatisfied with your antics!
Once out of town we again turned onto backroads which became off road tracks. Narrow & dusty but quite fast for the most part with some slow turns that needed concentration. We flew along for a good 10-15km then I realised Jim and Bryan were no longer behind me. Stopping and waiting for a few minutes I decided to turn back and check they were ok, or maybe they had found a photo opportunity that wasn't to be missed... Soon I encountered them coming the opposite way so I just turned round again and tailed them until we reached a bridge where the others had stopped for a break. As Jim, Bryan and myself pulled up, Roger (already stopped) toppled off the side of his XR in the worlds slowest fall ever. Two more members of the club!
Jim then said he'd had an off, bizarrely it was in a straight line on the dirt, maybe 20-25mph, and he was at a loss why it happened. He was mostly ok other than a nasty friction burn where his body armour shifted on impact. Hung got to work straightening the wheel within the forks using the good old "bang it against a solid object until it's straight" technique. Always works a treat!
From there we rode maybe 10 minutes and stopped at a place located by a waterfall. There was a house there, it might have been a drink stop or just a house run by someone Hung knew - not sure! Access from the road was over a river using the concrete bridge in the photo. Hung told us the owners were considering turning it into a homestay lodge because with the picturesque scenery it was located in that would work quite well and be a good investment for them.
Phil got some iodine spray and sorted out Jim's elbow wound, Hung took charge of the owner's baby for a while and we got some G7 coffee sorted out. The waterfall out back was set against some paddy fields, normally I would trek up to it to get decent photos but I was having a ginger moment. The sun was beating me down somewhat so it was better to just stay in the shade. Luckily for you, reader, Bryan could be bothered to nip up there and he took en excellent shot of it (below).
 |
| Thanks to Bryan for this cracking shot. |
From the house stop we set out along the road which wound its way up around a mountain. The surface was hard packed rock which moved around as you rode over it, and caused the bike to become quite loose. Once over that, the road turned to old sun-bleached concrete that had crumbled on almost every apex, and on many of the straights. There were also plenty of gravel pits along it, mostly on the turns. Cornering on gravel is interesting but you do get used to it! Most of us had encountered a lot of these types of road on Nambusters II but Roger was quite new to it and this was the day he had to acclimatise.
Tarmac is one thing, dirt is another, but when you mix them both up it's something else again. Any loose surface such as gravel, stones or dirt sitting on top of tarmac will shift as you ride over it. No problem if the bike is upright, but if you try to corner on it it will slip sideways. As long as you expect that, you can handle it to a point, but if you try to corner too hard on it the surface - and bike - will try to slide out from under you. Following Bryan at the back of the group, we rounded a left hand corner which tracked around the outside of the mountain the road was cut through to see Roger and the XR on the floor on the next bend. He was up straight away, and looked mostly fine aside from perhaps a few new bruises. We helped pick the bike up and continued.
Further up ahead we stopped on a bend for another break and I found out that Phil had also had a little off. Apparently he'd tumbled off to the right hand side, with the bike but towards the edge of a serious drop down the side of the mountain. The bike had landed on him, pinning his leg, so he had to crawl out from under it but slid several feet down the slope. Possibly a bit too close for comfort!
Great views out across the mountains and countryside meant a good few photo stops along the way.
We descended through dusty shack villages to a large new tarmac road, and followed it for several kilometres. Along the way we stopped briefly due to some errant water buffalo being herded down the road. At the roadside, in the middle of nowhere was a girl asleep under a washing line with a few clothes on it. We're not sure what her purpose was there but it did lead us to ask the question of how some people here spend their days. For some, the start of the day must go something like "well now I've had breakfast I think I'll walk several KM down this road and sit on this rock for a few hours". The best we can guess is that she was waiting for the clothes to dry on the canopy line that was above her, or minding the flowers in the field next to her. The Vietnamese are very hard working people, as I've often stated, so that makes it all the more boggling.
 |
| This type of thing is quite common in Vietnam. |
 |
| There's a girl sleeping under those drying clothes. |
 |
| Excellent shot taken by Phil TK. |
 |
| Bryan's melted indicator on the CRF... |
We stopped not long after at a roadside restaurant for lunch. There wasn't anything else nearby to speak of. By this point my GoPro had charged and was working ok so I sorted that out ready for the afternoon. When Hung told us we were going to a tea plantation, we weren't sure what to expect.
On we went, back onto some dust village roads that annoyingly were quite rife with oncoming trucks barging through. I'd say several of them took much more than their share of the road in an attempt to force us to dive off the road in panic, but for the most part the trucks were standard fayre. The last day or two had been in quieter areas though so it was a bit like going back into battle.
We reached the tea plantation after a while and turned up a single track that led out into the fields. The plantation was actually quite breathtaking. All the tea plants were meticulously lined out in rows that traced the contours of the landscape. The whole thing must have taken some doing! We followed the trail through the tea fields up to a hill overlooking the lot, and stopped for photos. There were a bunch of kids hanging out in the water reservoirs at the top of the hill, who were much amused by our presence.
 |
| Anyone fancy a cuppa? |
 |
| Gotta say, I love this shot... |
We rode around more of those concrete/gravel mountain roads I talked about earlier, passing then being passed by one another at every photo opportunity. Ultimately we arrived at a narrow bridge crossing high above a river, where we each rode across one at a time on instruction by Hung. Immediately from the bridge we were on dry off-road track again, quite rutted and bumpy for several km until it again joined the familiar concrete/gravel combo that we were by now familiar with.
Stopping at a small village, the others decided it was my turn for a gift. I became the proud owner of the brush in the photo below!
By now we were in late afternoon golden sun, tracking the road around mountain side, crossing the river below and winding our way over one final mountain road which eventually tracked the lake to our left. We eventually rounded a corner to be faced with a barrier and the open lake. A chap at the barrier waved us through. The road just ended abruptly at the ferry ramp. We were to catch the ferry across to the next peninsula and continue from there to Bac Yen where we would spend the night.
Unknown to us, we had been running late for the afternoon ferry. Hung and the others up front had already arrived at the ferry ramp as it set sail, however we were a few kilometers behind stopping and taking photos every half a mile!
Since this is Asia, the ferry tends to just wait until there are enough passengers before it sets off, rather than operate at specific times of the day. Therefore you can be waiting 2 hours sometimes for enough passengers to turn up on the other side of the bay before the ferry returns.
Hung told the ferry chaps (presumably the one at the barrier) that there were 10 bikes about to pull up (a slight mistruth...) to make them want to turn back and pick us up. Hung paid him the same rate as for 10 bikes despite there being just 6 of us, because he had turned back to collect us which was appreciated.
We've made this crossing in the past on the first Nambusters trip. Believe it or not, the ferry is much more luxurious than the one we rode across that time! And about 3 times the size...
We took a few photos whilst on the ferry but in 10 minutes or so we were across. As we were at the back of the ferry we were the last to ride off. The others cleared off down the only road, me at the back as usual lagging behind. As I rounded a corner a load of kids ran out into the road to shake hands and high-five. What resulted, because of the sun behind me, was a great little GoPro clip with the actions played out as shadows.
The terrain wound its way around a few hillsides until we found ourselves in the lowlands travelling through one small village after another. Late in the day like this it tends to get busier due to all the kids heading home from school. Today was no exception. As we found last time we rode through this area everyone was super friendly with kids rushing out into the road to shout "hello!" and always waving as we passed.
The road eventually wound its way up into the hills once more on the final stretch to Bac Yen in the Son La province with the sun about to disappear behind the horizon. I enjoyed a lazy ride following Roger on his XR over the twisties until we arrived at the Dong Tam hotel. We stayed there previously, it's not great but it's good enough for our needs.
After the usual talking over the day's ride and events with a beer or two, everyone unloaded the bikes and got their kit up to the hotel rooms. I had very much enjoyed the day but really missing Del, Joe and Pinky not being there. Bryan noticed the indicator on his CRF had completely melted, because it was right behind the exhaust exit. We don't know if it was pulled upwards by a luggage strap or if that's where it sat normally, but either way it was fried!
That evening we walked a short distance down the road to a small eatery and enjoyed a decent enough meal (pork, rice, veg as usual!). Walking back along the road 10 minutes away to the hotel after our meal, the entire town had switched off while we were eating. I used my torch and we had the mobile phone torches going too, to avoid someone stepping into one of the many kerbside holes that would easily see you with a broken leg or ankle.
Tomorrow we would ride from Bac Yen to Song Ma, then the following day on to Dien Bien Phu. DBP is the site of the final battle of the first Indochina war between the Vietnamese and the French Union back in 1954. As a result it contains a rich military history and a number of tourist sites that we planned on visiting.
