Good morning SE Asia!: 31/10/13

Today we had to head back downhill to Lao Cai to catch the train to Hanoi, which did not leave until 9pm however we needed to be there 4 hours early because of the bikes, to get them checked in and stuff. We are still not sure why it would take so long to do that but obliged. We had already arranged with Huan at the Terminus hotel that we would come to his restaurant for some grub and a beer after we had dropped the bikes off, so we had a plan.

That left us until around 3pm before we needed to leave Sa Pa, knowing that it should be a very quick and easy (and fun) ride back down the mountain without any effort even though it was 35km. We had a look at what else to do, and decided to head uphill towards Tram Ton Pass (advertised as the highest and longest in Vietnam) passing a big waterfall on the way called silver waterfall that everyone seemed to go and see. We thought about getting a motorbike, but as the afternoon cycle would hardly be taxing, and the weather was good, we got on our trusty steeds and headed uphill. We passed the big town square and watched the rehearsals for a few minutes of the big celebrations that would happen in a couple of days. Teams of dancers and performers all putting the finishing touches to their colourful plays.

On the ride the scenery did not disappoint and reminds you why so many people came up here in the first place to start the tourist trade a century ago. Steep sided hills in the sweeping mists all terraced or growing some kind of produce like tea, roses (which they keep the flowers individually closed using tiny sheets of paper - must take ages) and another kind of hanging fruit that grows on vines that we have forgotten the name of. There was acres of raised vines growing them. Like a cross between an apple and a pear. The waterfall was a big draw, more for the Vietnamese who were taking loads of backdrop photos. It was a 80m climb, staircased up one side and down the other in a loop. At the bottom there was the obligatory camps of tarpaulined shops and cafés for the tourists. We carried on up to the start of the pass and made it to just over 2000m which was nice and the highest we have been on the trips so far. You could almost see the higher mountain ranges through the clouds, and we might have even caught a fleeting glimpse of the peak of Fansipan, but not sure.

We saw loads of Westerners on motorbikes on the way snapping up gigabytes of photos. They always look surprised when they see other Westerners cycling as it must seem like quite an extreme thing to do on a motorbike alone. The way back down to Sa Pa was fun. Great roads for some leaning in.

We got back to the hotel who were looking after our bags, and I had to change my brake pads again. This time I put in an old 3/4 worn set as only the rears had worn through and I didn’t want to waste the fronts by changing both as I only have one pair of pads left. I hope to find some in Hanoi again when we get there. We had a bit of lunch in one of the special-deal places and then headed down to Lao Cai.

Well, 1400m descent in about 28km makes for some fast running. Johanna's max speed is limited by some unknown inbuilt safety mechanism to 30km/h when the road is steep (she does go faster when it's flat though). Normally I let her go ahead a little bit and then catch her up, or ride for a few km's and wait. But today I had to go ahead as the hill went on for so long and I couldn't waste the ride! We met at the very bottom where I was having a beer in a roadside bar place, about 15 mins between us. Johanna is keen to mention that she was worried and had thoughts of me becoming road kill on the way down, but I was totally safe and what a great ride. The longest and fastest and bestest.

We dropped off the bikes at the station and went to Huan's place. We had a shower upstairs and got changed then had a bite to eat. The restaurant and town were full to bursting with other tourists who were getting buses or waiting for trains. All the European nationailities again, plus the odd vocal American. We forgot to mention we met an American girl who was cycling here before we went up to Sa Pa and had a chat with her expecting a long journyer like us, but she was only renting a bike and had gone up to Bac Ha and Sa Pa by bus with the bike as far as she mentioned. What's the point in that eh?

We got on the train with a bit of bother as it turns out we should have gone into the ticket office with our slip and got real tickets, so when we got to the train with the receipt we had, they wouldn't let us on, and also the receipt had the wrong carriage number on it. I called the number on the receipt and the train guys spoke to the office and we waited until the boss came over and swapped our receipt for some real tickets so we could get on. The girls that sold the ticket did not tell us to do this, and they even sorted the bikes out when we arrived so that was a bit annoying. Anyway, our cabin was a 4-berth, shared with two Vietnamese who didn't know each other. The two high bunks were comfortable and there was even a TV in the room which we didn’t use. The carriage next to us was populated by noisy Americans celebrating Halloween which we had totally forgotten about. Whilst we played cards they got into some shot-drinking games and got even louder. We didn’t have the energy to get involved, so when the two Vietnamese got into bed, we stopped playing cards and did the same. It wasn't the best nights sleep considering the train stops at every station on the near-700km journey and wobbles and shudders like only a Vietnamese train could. The American party berth got a bit out of control it seems and there were some vicious shouting arguments later on, so glad we didn’t try and make friends.