Arrived back into Hanoi again and checked into the majestic hotel where we have stayed before because of the location and the friendliest staff,it was a lot cooler and a bit drizzly,the first thing we had to do was hire a bigger bike for a week for the ride up to Sapa
We secured a XR250 from this place,Flamingo travel,we were looked after by a Mr Pink who spoke good English,we were all set to pick the bike up early Monday morning.
We hired a cheap scooter for a couple of days,So we revisited the war museum and somehow managed not to pay getting in,by having lunch next door
We also went and seen the man Ho Chi Min himself ,who was under very heavy guard with no photos allowed,Chris had to buy a cheap shawl to cover up here exposed arms before we were allowed in.
Monday morning came and there was light rain,shit we only had light shower proof jackets,oh well ,we left one back pack at the hotel and crammed the essentials into just one bag.
After getting the bike and filling up on petrol we headed out of Han oi,it took the best part of two hours until we were finally clear of the city and it had stopped raining and the sun came out and it was getting warmer.The scenery was getting spectacular with green rice fields with karst mountains thrown in,we were having a hard time trying to find anywhere to stop and have some food in the towns,but if you were after a new mobile phone ,no problem!!! We finally found a bakery and the cakes were awesome and we watched the girls decorate some birthday cakes will we sat and devoured ours with a cold drink.
we made it to Son La in the afternoon and found a ok hotel,they definitely do not see alot of westerners out this way.We scrubbed up and headed out for dinner and couldn't find anything that resembled a restaurant,bizarre,we then started to walk back to the hotel and found a place with a waitress who could speak broken English and had a great meal,so cheap as well.
The next morning we passed on the breakfast which was some kind of fatty meat served cold to us!,the coffee was good though and we loaded the bike up to get going and the battery was flat,great!,i kicked started it and it came to life ,relief!
We were heading towards Dien Bien an outpost border town where the french finally got booted out after a fiercest battle back in the fifties,there were alot of monuments for this battle.
Dien Bien was a hot and dusty town with only a handful of westerners,a hotel costing $20 or $6 were the same so went with the cheapest ,it the worst we had stayed in so we stayed out late and had a few beers so we didn't have to stay in the room to long!
We got up really early and left in the dark,it was freezing and we wore everything thing we had,the bike headlight was useless so we strained to see where we were going and i ended up following the tail light of a local on a scooter ,i hoped he was going the right way!.It soon got light and warmed up to the most breath taking scenery,we were riding through the biggest construction site in south east Asia,they were flooding a valley for a massive hydro dam
Some of the time we weren't sure if we were even on the right track,as there was no road left,it was dusty,dirty sometimes muddy but it was fun and we started to climb out of the valley in the afternoon up into the mountains but it was still hot.
The road just went up and up all afternoon,with no roadside barriers and a bloody long way down if you went over the edge,this was Viet nams highest road,finally we hit our destination Sapa
