Day 4: Dodgy racks and fallen trees...

Day 4 - Bac Yen to Song Ma

We were staying at the Dong Tam hotel in Bac Yen. Most of us woke early, around 5.30am due to the continuous stream of trucks heading through the village. I've said previously that Vietnam tends to wake up early, in this case it meant that most of the trucks honk their horns loudly as they pass through town!

Still, after the last few nights' lack of sleep 5.30 was an improvement.  The Hotel Dong Tam was quite a tired and basic place but enough for our needs.  Plenty of space to sort out motorbike kit, and the bed was at least not as rock-hard as some we experienced.  I didn't feel too good when we woke up but nevertheless we got the bikes loaded up and ready.

Today would be more about just exploring and getting up to Song Ma than seeing any single particular attraction of note, however it would still turn out to be a day full of variety, with a bit of drama thrown in as usual!

While mounting my dry-bags to the KLX I noticed at the last minute that the front weld had fractured on the left side rack.  That meant it was only held in place by a single bolt at the rear. I quickly blagged some cable ties from Bryan and reinforced the front of the rack to the supports on the upper rack. However, the problems with this rack were not over, and it would come back to haunt me later in the day...

Once loaded up we rode just a few minutes down the road to have breakfast at the place we'd dined at the night before.  On the way I made a mental note of a place with fresh bread for sale outside, because Phil loves bread and he would want to know about it!  It turns out the breakfast would be of the cooked variety rather than banana pancakes & honey (the food of champions). Me and Phil decided some bread would be good and walked back to the lady we'd seen on the way.

After sourcing some bread, as we were walking back there was a toy shop which gave us the idea of buying Roger a present. No doubt he must be feeling left out since he was the only one without a gift. To the amusement of the shop owner we got a great deal on a nice plastic dumper truck.

Aww, you can tell he really likes it, bless.

Toy dumper truck now secured to the XR. Job done.

We set off from there and rode a few miles on relatively normal dust-covered roads through the hills. The roads were reasonably quiet with just the odd truck or local here and there. Once we passed through a small village Hung pulled over near a roadside shack with a long metal bridge to our left. After checking with the lads at the shack he led us across the bridge and along a rough dry trail which followed the edge of a lake.  We were maybe 50-100 feet up above the lake.

The Badger!

We rode maybe a mile or so along the trail before stopping to check with some locals where the trail went.  I suspect it would have taken us too far off route because we then turned around and headed back to the main road where the bridge was.  Somehow 4 of us managed to miss the trail that led back down to the bridge and carried on to an area with a few stilt houses before realising our mistake. That prompted some precarious manoeuvring of the bikes on the bumpy hillside with a heavy slope and the camera running.  It had been a nice little 10 minute detour with some interesting views across the lake though.

From there, back on the road for about 3 minutes before we stopped at a much larger bridge crossing the lake again. Photos ensued.

Regarder les pantalons blancs de awesomeness.

After stopping for a while we rode on down the palm-tree lined road. We were starting to see increasing numbers of traditionally dressed Hmong women as we rode. Their outfits are very intricate and extremely colourful. You could be forgiven for thinking that they only wear such outfits under special circumstances but it did seem that they wear them all the time even when going about their daily chores - which usually involves hard graft.  Their trademark hairstyle involves a large 'bun' right on the top of their head.  For those that ride scooters and wear helmets, this proves an interesting combination since the helmet is perched way up on top of the bun rather than on their head.

20 minutes alter we pulled in at an ethnic market which was taking place on a desolate area of land next to a river. It seemed that goods arrived by boat or truck to be sold on the market.  The place was mostly run by Hmong women, in some cases all they had was a sheet or tarpaulin laid out with various items of clothing for sale.  I bought a beautifully made woven dress for my daughter which she loves, I now wish I'd bought her a few more in different colours.

By and large the locals regarded us with quiet amusement.  As is often the case around here as soon as you start talking to them or asking to buy something the women tend to burst out in fits of giggles. I'm hoping that was more down to us generally as a group being quite a rare sight, and nothing to do with my trademark white pants (of awesomeness).

The market area, which was pretty much just a scrap of unused land.

These boats were being loaded with goods for transport down river

Leaving the market...

Hmong ladies on the right wearing traditional skirts

From here we continued a good 60km to our early lunch stop.  The route took us over some little-used mountain routes. Nice quiet areas with good views down into the valleys, over paddy fields sculpted into the mountainside or villages clinging to the mountains for all they were worth. Eventually we arrived in Ban Lot for lunch.

In Ban Lot for some lunch

Local Yamaha main dealer across the road from the cafe

I believe my GoPro battery had gone by this point so I left it in my seat bag connected up to a USB power pack to recharge. I was glad of that later in the day because there were a few sights that were definitely worth capturing.

After lunch, with the GoPro suitably charged we headed off to find one of my all-time favourite roads, the one that heads across to Song Ma. The road surface isn't good, in fact it's either covered in dust, gravel or there's no road at all in certain places but if you catch this road late in the afternoon under the golden sun there's really nothing like it.  It just snakes its way over and through the mountains with some great views out over the lowlands that sit around it.

After perhaps half an hour we stopped briefly at Hat Lot while Hung checked with some locals. Hung then led us down a dirt track that led off the main road between houses and fields.  It cleared into a wide open area with a runway sized levelled section full of what seemed to be tree bark. You can see the size of the area I'm talking about on Google Maps (below).

It turns out that this was indeed a runway made ready for a soon-to-be-built airport.  However, not one to miss a trick, those crafty Vietnamese are using it to dry out coconut bark until work commences properly. Think about that for a second though.  The runway looks to be between 1.5-2km in length and a few hundred feet wide.  Someone will have had to transport and distribute all that bark across an area larger than several football pitches - probably by hand. That's quite an effort. They must have REALLY wanted to dry all that bark...

Breathe in..

We continued along small dirt roads like this for many KM. The people here seemed very friendly and welcoming, with plenty of waves and the odd look of complete bewilderment.  It's quite funny when someone just literally stops in the tracks to stare as you ride past, jaw wide open.

After several KM we came to a halt since the road was blocked by a fallen tree.  There were plenty of scooter riders and village folk around us, all amused by our presence it would seem.  One or two of the locals were chainsawing the tree to clear it and let people through.  It wasn't clear whether the tree had fallen of its own accord, or been felled by the lads with the chainsaw.

As the lads in front were waved through, a few of them struggled so the chap set off again with the chainsaw.  One of the chaps who had been waiting alongside me on a scooter rode around me to cut in front.  Amusingly, he rode through while the guy with the chainsaw was cutting and at one point ducked to avoid the chainsaw with his head!  

Once he'd got through followed by another couple of locals I made my way through on the taller KLX.  I can honestly say, I've never rode through a tree before but now I have.

After clearing the tree we followed the road for a good hour or so across the first real mountain pass of the day.  This wasn't a huge mountain with decent altitude, but the roads were very enjoyable and the scenery was always good.   On the downward side, we encountered two girls on a bicycle who were coasting VERY fast down the mountain.  Seriously, I'd say they were doing at least 30mph, maybe more.  I passed them with plenty of space, doing around 50mph and there wasn't that much of a speed difference...!  Good effort girls.

The fastest youngsters in Song Ma.

We stopped towards the end of it and, as you can see from the photo below, there was already a problem with my rack at this stage - I just didn't notice it.  The red dry bag on the side rack has canted downwards. I really should pay more attention.  One of the downsides of being at the back all the time (by choice, I might add) is that there's no-one behind you to let you know that you have a bike issue.

After the first mountain road we stopped at a small roadside area for a drink and a breather.  Once off the bike, as we were stood around chatting and removing helmet/jacket/gloves etc I noticed a serious problem with my bike...

Stopping for a drink at Ban Na Ot

Oops. That's not right is it. Left side of the tyre now very clean though.

As you can see in the photos, my Lomo 20l bag, which mainly had some surplus bike kit in it, was still soundly attached to the left side rack.  The problem was, the rack was no longer attached to the bike!   It was only held in place by the cable ties added that morning, which meant the other bolt had either sheared off or come undone leaving the rack to swing downwards.  The luggage had obviously swung into the chain and the wheel, wearing a major hole in the Lomo dry bag and much of the contents.

My waterproofs had several holes worn through them.  My spare motocross gloves now consisted of a single glove. A few other bits and pieces had fallen out of the bag. Most annoyingly, the side pod from my Kriega R8 waist pack was completely wrecked, having met with the chain at some point. Oh well, could've been worse.  I'm not sure how this all happened without me noticing it.  Oh yeah...Vietnam scenery probably had something to do with that I guess...

Me Kriega!!!

Oh well, nothing to do other than sling everything that was trashed and keep everything that wasn't, which wasn't much really. After securing the rest of it we continued along the route to Song Ma.

We rode for another 30 minutes before crossing a small bridge off the main road that led into an open parking area with paddy fields surrounding it. Parking up for a while we found that this was the border belt between Vietnam and Laos, at Ban Bear.  The major river nearby was the Nam Ma River.

I believe Hung went and asked at the guard post whether it would be possible for us to pass through to Laos, but that didn't happen.  Many Vietnamese and Laos cross the border daily since they live in one country but work in the other.

From here it was pretty much a main road trek 40 or 50km to Song Ma.  To begin with I stayed with the group.  At one point, and this is a memory that will stay with me, we were riding through a small town and there were a number of traditionally dressed women all over the place.  In front of one particular building there was a gathering of maybe 30 of them. As the others rode past them you can imagine 30 women waving, shouting "hello!" and generally screaming at us like we were their favourite band or something.  I'm not used to that kind of a reaction but for the few seconds that we rode past it was quite a moment!  Was the GoPro switched on though?  No.

I lagged behind the others due to stopping to take photos and mess about with the GoPro. Being late in the day, I tend to ride at a more leisurely pace and in some cases that can lead to a few KM gap between me and the next person in front. At one point I saw a bridge that the others had already passed, and not being able to resist a good bridge I rode across it then realised the GoPro had packed in.  In the 2 or 3 minutes that it would have taken to mount the USB charge pack to the handlebars under normal circumstances, I got mobbed by several people and ended up having at least a dozen photos taken with each of them. It took about 15 minutes in total, no problem though, it's fantastic that everyone is friendly.

Eventually I caught up with the others at the hotel, they were already well into their first (or second) beer by that point.  The hotel was on a main road in town and there was a constant stream of people heading home either from work or from school.  Evening rush hour. It was amusing to see the reactions as each rode past us.

That evening we walked down to a place that was in town, run by a new chef in town. He was until recently based in Hanoi and one of the premier chefs there, and now had opened this restaurant in Song Ma.  The food was absolutely excellent, on a par with the best food I've had in Vietnam so far.

That rounded off a great day with a few unexpected surprises.

Tomorrow we would ride on to Dien Bien Phu.  I was looking forward to that particularly since we'd been once before, and I knew both Jim and Bryan (being ex-RAF) would enjoy it with the variety of military history there.