Day 83 (part 1): Day 3 of Minsk Adventure - A Top Ten Day of my Life

Awake at 4am because a thunderstorm came ripping through Son La. Lightening flashing, wind wailing, rain pelting the roof and the balcony. Fall asleep, dream hard, awake at 9.

Take off, think we have 30km in our tanks, 10 minutes down road Will stops - lost his Oakley's, start to head back, stop, they're in his pocket. Turn back around, stop 10 km later, fill up, press on.

Once again, topography is breath taking, so much variety, Dr. Suess outcroppings, boobie hills, 1000 foot barren dirt slides, tall cloud covered peaks, misty valleys ... Simply unreal. Reach the top of one mountain, literally drive on the ridge, guard rails on either side, drop offs of 500 to 1000 feet. Climb, descend, climb, descend, all on proper highways until ...

Eat lunch at a warung on the street, Tuan Giao our midway stop, continue on highway 6, not a highway any longer. Country road 6, much more intimate, no more soaring over and around the valleys, drop right through them, into villages, kids screaming "hello", hoping to touch your hand, be in a picture.

Landscape is unreal, one valley feels as if I stepped into a Grimm's Fairy Tale. 300 feet wide, mountains reaching up 500 feet all around, plush trees and rich green rice fields, small one room thatch roofed cottages on stilts nudged up against small ponds formed by meandering streams, fences made of twigs, water buffaloes tied to a small post, winding dirt and concrete road, littered with potholes, puddles, and mud, simple, quaint, beautiful.

Two minutes later, climb up and around and up and around, turn a corner, stop, gasp, overlooking a 2500 foot drop into an entirely different world. Steep inclines of red clay erosion laden mountainsides crashing into vibrant green vinyards, next to blowing long grass covered hills. Valley base is covered in rice fields, split by a flowing stream, lined with cottages and primitive fencing, valley stretching miles ahead. Simply unbelievable, pinch myself, it's real.

An hour later, hugging the cliffs edge, no guard rails, round a corner, without warning, I come face to face with my worst fear. Crazy Asian driver, blind corner, no heads up honk, takes my outside line, going way too fast, I juke, narrowly miss the SUV, yank wheel back on road, avoid cliffs edge, hit water puddle, bike slips out from under me, I tumble, slide, chew up hands and elbow, helmet saves my head and face, sit for a moment, a bloody bruised up mess. Gather bike, front light, turn signal, right foot pedal, all trashed. Wheel faces forward, steering column faces 20 degrees to the right. Shirt tore, pants ripped, $400 camera in pocket, smashed. Mount bike, find neutral, kick start repetitively, finally starts, take off to catch up with Will, road tombstone says 60km Muong Lay ....

Part 2 is coming ...


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