Day 84: Day 4 of Minsk Adventure - Race Against Time

Wake up at half five, 5:30am for us Americans, check our rinsed jeans and shoes, now only damp, no choice, put them on. Pack, grab light breakfast, quick chat with other English speakers. Discover the mud does not end at Muong Lay, the highway coming through is in the foundation stage, we have another 50 km of of mud, silt, clay to forge through before the concrete returns. Expect major delays along the way, bridges steep areas, basically anywhere extra infrastructure is required, good thing we are up early. Even so, should be in Sapa by 2, grab lunch, then only 25 km to Lao Cai, drop off bikes for night train by 4, easy breezy.

Pack the bikes, get clear directions, hop on bikes, let's go. Clug clug clug ...clug clug clug, sputter. Uh oh, both bikes won't start ... mechanic?  First mechanic, tweaks Will's bike, vroom, takes it for a spin, it's fine, even fixes headlight. Laughs at my steering wheel, steps over the front wheel, hard jerk to the left, it's aligned ... that's it? Ignores the hanging light, after some work, vroom, woo hoo, 10 yards later, sputter, done. Blurgh! "Mechanic, down there." Huh? "Follow son, mechanic, there." Wait, are you telling me you are not the mechanic? What the what! Follow his son, it's now 7:30am, we were leaving at 6 ... new mechanic knows the rental company from Hanoi. To fix everything, the turn signals, the front light, the problem with electrical and carborator issues, 660,000 dong ($33). Deal, vroom, now 9:30am, 4 hours gone, and off we go, both bikes in working condition.

Waiting at a construction stop

Call the rental company, delayed, might not be in Lao Cai by 4pm. Seven? Deal.  Sun is out, we dealt with insane mud last night, little more does not scare us. 2 km into the ride, we sit still staring up at a red clay hill, at least 1 to 2 km long, 12% grade, 12 to 24 inches deep. Well Will, we wanted adventure, if the locals can do it ...  30 minutes later, minimum of 10 falls, clay up to our knees, no complete lay downs, several expletives, no local bus collisions, success.

Press on, red clay oscillates with gray silt, start, stop, construction, start, slow down, steep decline, pure silt, tight corners, 500 feet drop offs, speed up, huge bumps, body and hands detach, reach, pull self back, stop, local returns dislodged back pack 100 meters back on ground, that would of sucked. 40 km, 5 construction delays, numerous steep inclines/declines, both legs covered in mud/clay/silt to the knee, no lay downs, 2 bag retrievals, 3 1/2 hours ... and we reach it, proper concrete roads. Only 140km to Sapa.

The first portion of the day was all about the skilled driving, something both Will and I developed. The second half is all about speed. Barely a 2 lane road hugging mountains, paralleling canyons and rivers, climbing, falling, hairpin turns, full throttle, passing slower traffic, avoiding blind corner passing, asphalt, concrete, dirt, caliche, crossing small streams ... it was epic. And the views ... from rice laced mountain basins, willowy long hair-like grass covered hill sides, to rivers shredding otherworldly house-sized boulders with the occasional 200 foot cliffs edge waterfall, every turn brought a new awe.

Entering Sapa

Arrive in Sapa just after 4, sun shining, large thunderclouds looming on the horizon. Famished, so we eat, another weak attempt at an American style pizza, banner and product do not match. And then begins the drizzle. 5:30pm, we have 1 1/2 hours, 25 km to reach our final destination, the train station, Lao Cai. - no problem, right?

Pop on our poncho's, hop on our hogs, drizzle is officially rain, guess third potion is skill driving ... again. 5km down the road, after much confusion, we are on the right road, rain is blowing sidewards, Will's breaks are failing, handling breaks lightly relying on the shift deceleration, my headlight fails, sun is blocked out by dark thunderheads, I start to sing. Singing helps me relax, though I can't remember a single word of any song, so lots of humming and nonsense. 10km, see brake lights, blind curve, slow, several cars passing on my side of the road, turn more, there it is. A bike, folded in half, big rig blocking traffic, apparently the culprit. No ambulance, people staring, no body ... press on, more nervous than ever. Rolling into Lao Cai, skies still shedding tears, thunder subsided, road expands, where is the train station. Pull over pay a random to use their computer and internet to pull up email and get directions. "For 200,000 I show you." Uh ... we just paid you to use your computer to print directions, it's only 3 1/2km ... we got it.

16km, 4 turn back/regroups, 30 minutes later, we find our contact outside local hotel, looking like wet dogs who've been playing in mud all day. Shower? "25,000 each" ... About a $1.10 - deal. They take the bikes, we shower, change, plastic bags for shoes, clothes, buy sandals, grab tickets, make a run for the station, 100 yards away. Find our bunks, take our sleep aid, say hello to our non-English speaking bunk mates, and pass out.

Nite nite - iphone blogger out!