Day 2: Headed For Ha Giang

Well rested, energized by the beauty of the scenery we'd already taken in, and excited by the prospect of what was to come, Dan and I were ready to eat up some road on the second morning of our trip. After a pleasant breakfast and a cup of coffee, we checked out of our very comfortable room, loaded up the bikes, and hit the road. The weather high in the mountains was gloriously pleasant, with zero humidity and a temperature around 70 F. We dressed appropriately.

The jeans and long sleeves we felt were appropriate for the mountain weather felt less and less so with each kilometer we traveled down into the valley back to Lao Cai. By the time we arrived at the train station in town, we realized the temperature OUTSIDE Sapa was searingly hot, rising above 100 F, and the heat showed no signs of abating, as it was still only around 10:45 AM when we got into town.

so peaceful. minus the sweltering heat

As I mentioned previously, we were lacking a sufficiently detailed map, and finding our way from one highway to another could be a bit tricky at times (see Day 1) so we stopped quickly in Lao Cai to get our bearings and have someone point us in the right direction. In doing so, we ended up starting a pretty rowdy fist fight between 2 motorcycle taxi drivers, who were both trying to give us directions (and turn a small profit from the favor). As they exchanged blows to the head over $2.50 that we weren't going to give them anyway, we climbed back on our bikes, and set off towards what seemed like the right direction based on what the men had told us before the punches started flying. We still don't know who won the fight, but my bet is on the chubby one.

Did we start any more fights? read on to find out

 

The little we gleaned from the drivers' instructions was enough to get us where we wanted to go, and we made our way along a beautiful rural drive into Ha Giang Province (pronounced Ha Zang) in the Northeast of Vietnam. The roads were good, and the scenery spectacular. The fact that the drive was uneventful is generally a good thing, though uneventfulness was not to be a trend in later legs of the journey... 

Made it. Pictures did this valley no justice, but at least this one has the sign in it. Official

One trend that DID begin on this leg was the trend of drives taking much longer than we initially expected. We originally thought that we would be able to get from Sapa to Ha Giang in about 4-5 hours. All told, it took us about 7.5, which felt like 75 after a day of enduring the blistering heat on small motorcycle seats. Hands sunburnt and butt aching, we reached the Ha Giang City limits around 5:30.

Then got pulled over.

That is to say, Dan got pulled over, as the cops looked straight past me, on to someone they expected to understand their language and their currupt system of bribery and whenever-we-feel-like-it law enforcement. But Dan, armed with a US passport, pretended to not be able to understand Vietnamese, and the policemen eventually got so annoyed that they let him go. Apparently, Dan said they wanted to ticket us for speeding, the first I've heard that word since leaving the US. Lucky for us, these cops were not persistent, and no bribes needed to be paid to earn our freedom. We found a nice enough hotel, and settled in for the night.

Next day's plans: Sleep in a bit, and take a nice 2.5 hour afternoon drive to Ba Be National Park, southeast of Ha Giang city. Estimated departure time: 11 AM