It was pretty foggy, again, when we got up. Sadly I noticed that I was suffering a cold or something and didn’t feel all that great. Not serious, but just a little crappy. I probably have been exposed to more people in the last week that I have been in the last 3 years. But hey, “harden up, mate. She’ll be right.”
Ride 2: 27.68 km and 779 m ascent
We left from the hotel, did a short easy climb, and then headed down to the valley on a long descent. Every ride in Sapa requires you to end the ride with a big ass climb; this one was shaping up to fit that bill.
Gerald had a problem with his seat so we stopped where some ladies were selling veggies by the side of the road. Another lady came up and started chatting. Her English was amazingly good.
We turned off the main road and made our way along a small “road.” Anne had really wanted to see some water buffalo and she got her wish as there were a few munching on greens right off the road. Anne was happy.
It was a Hmong village along the road and all the houses were the basic, self-sufficient agrarian style. We passed one that had a branch hanging over the front door. Thao told us this is to warn people not to come in as there is someone in the house that is ill.
The path was very fun to ride and we got great views of life in the villages. All of the rice had been harvested, so the fields weren’t quite as scenic as when the rice was growing, but it was still cool. Cabbage seemed to be the thing that was in season and they were harvesting and loading up trucks full of huge bags of cabbage. Roses and orchids were also big products from the area. Thao told us they sold them to the richer people in the city. The Hmong had no use for them.
At one point in a small village, we stopped at a restaurant to have a drink and a bit of a snack. Thao was excited that they had a local specialty—sticky rice with banana and green mango wrapped in banana leaf. It looked pretty hideous, but I bit into it and it was wonderful.
Every time we stopped, there would be the usual sales pitch to buy some beautiful embroidery. They were very nice about it and always made me laugh. Sometimes the pitch worked, which set a swarm of others buzzing around me.
We finished riding down in the villages and started back up the hill. It was another long grinder of a climb. We have decided that there are only 2 signs in Vietnam; a 9% grade sign and a 10% grade sign. It doesn’t matter how steep the grade is, they just seem to grab one of those two and randomly put them on the steep parts of the road. The biggest part of going back up was that it was absolutely pea soup fog. I could barely see Anne who was not more 50 meters in front of me.
Thao wanted to take us for a walk around town before dinner. It was super foggy (surprise!) and it created quite an eerie feeling to the whole place. There was nothing overly special about the downtown (IMHO) but it was all lit up like Christmas.
The coolest place he took us was the night market. It was a very local thing and there was all manner of things to buy and/or eat. I am very brave with food and will try almost anything, but I definitely draw the line long before pig wombs and centipedes.
After our walk, we went back to the same restaurant where we’d eaten lunch. Although the food was fine, it was clearly fare that catered to Westerners’ tastes. I found it pretty boring compared to some of the amazing things I have eaten at more authentic restaurants.
But there you have it, it’s a tourist town.
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