When I woke up in Son La, I felt refreshed and ready to take on a new day. I showered, drank some tea, and packed my bags. I crossed the street to the same food alley of the night before, but this time tried a different, and more inviting restaurant. There were many sweet girls and ladies working there, quite obviously family, and I managed with my Vietnamese Dictionary to order an omelet with some grilled chicken for breakfast. They very pleasantly did so, as one of the younger girls in the family scooted around drying the floor with a rag under her feet, and we all began giggling.
I then ordered TWO more orders of my breakfast, deciding to take food on the road with me this time. The two days before, I had been depending on Pho stands on the street, and for any of you that know me and my dietary habits rather well, you know that I am a high-protein low-carb girl, and the Pho that is served is mostly noodles, and little meat. This food was good for temporary satiation, but in the end was making me feel drained and hungry, adding to stress of the long hours on the bike. Buying these two extra orders of food is the best choice I made on this entire trip, and I followed suit for the remainder of my motorbike journey.
After leaving happily from this restaurant, I left later than I had planned, at 10am. It was late, but I was cheerful, and that mood permeated the rest of the day, and thank goodness for that, as it was the most long and challenging day of my entire motorbike trip.
The first 80-90km of this 190km day were relatively easy, though it was slow going, as from here the roads became rocky, bumpy, and curvy, and required slower speeds. I finished this first part in about 3 hours, and stopped to eat one of my two chicken-egg meals, while sitting overlooking an insanely beautiful valley of farmland, rice paddies, and hills. The sun was shining, and all was well. This was Tuan Giau. The remainder of my journey to Muong Lay was about 100 km further, up a road called '6'. It took me seven hours to accomplish this final 100km, and it showed me what I was made of!
Through sun, rain, terrible roads, navigating slowly slowly slowly long stretches of calf-deep mud and watching Vietnamese men flip on their bikes in it, riding the brakes going downhill on gravel-covered steep roads in the rain (that compared to many I have experienced in San Francisco), climbing rocky roads that scared me to look at, I made my way to Muong Lay. On this day, I talked out loud to myself, uttering words of firm encouragement, words of fear, words of courage. I spoke in my normal voice, Southern Accents, British Accents, Australian Accents, and sang. This was all to keep myself focused, on-track, and to maintain a sense of humour. I was laughing out loud and swearing, and while it was the hardest day of this trip terrain-wise, it is one of my favourites.
The final hour of this ride was in total darkness. I counted out loud at each rock sign-post that spelled out the remaining mileage to Muong Lay- 20km. 18km. 16km. All the way down until it was 3, 2, 1 and then I had arrived. But where was the town? It was not certain. I saw a sign for the one hotel in this town, the Lanh Anh hotel, and followed its pointing arrow. I drove down the road to what seemed like nowhere, passing small dimly lit huts on an otherwise completely dark road. I stopped, and waved down the next motorbiker that was passing, and asked him where the hotel was. He spoke no English, but he motioned to me to follow him, and he led me another 10-15 minutes through dark and muddy roads, across a bridge with no railings, through even deeper mud that I had to slow down and use my feet on the ground to stay balanced on, until he stopped. If he hadn't been riding so much farther ahead of me, I would have asked him if this was really the right way- that is how in far out and random it seemed, and I began to worry that I was being led into a bad situation by a dangerous stranger.
It turns out he was just a very nice stranger, living in a very small town, whose only hotel was perched at the top of the steepest hill that I had seen all day (which is saying a lot), which was also made completely up of mud. Thick, deep, mud, with evidence of skidding and falling by drivers before me. He points to this hill, and I look at him with disbelief. Out of nowhere appears another guy, who through gesturing my unofficial guide explains that this other guy is going to help me up the hill. I don't know what exactly this means- is he going to drive my motorbike for me? No. He is going to push my motorbike from behind as I drive it, skidding up through the mud!!
I try this actual 'driving' thing for about 4 seconds, and as I feel my wheels spinning and the bike losing its upright position, I hop off and amazingly remain standing. We decide through motioning that I am going to run the gas of the bike with it in 1st gear, with me pushing from the handlebars, and him pushing the back of the bike. We huff and puff up the hill (it was mostly me huffing and puffing) and I stopped three times in those 5-10 minutes to stop and catch my breath, as I laughed and expressed through various sounds of bafflement to him that this was intense. Finally we reach the top of the mud, and he indicates that I am to ride the rest of the way up. I thank him in Vietnamese and English 'Cam-on! Thank you! Cam-on!' and ride the final one minute up the first sign of paved road I had seen in many hours.
At the top of the hill is the Lanh Anh hotel, and it is an incredibly nice place, with a large outdoor restaurant, and deluxe wooden-cabin room with a hot shower which I got for the bargain price of $15 (that said, I was probably charged far too much, just for being a foreigner). I got this room by approaching the large table of Vietnamese that were enjoying their dinners, and owner woman said 'Room?' and I said 'YES!!!!' with great gusto, gratitude and relief (it was now 8pm and I had been riding for 10 hours). They gave me the keys, and I went into my beautiful room and found a big white double bed and a delicious hot shower and a bathtub.
I got the hot water going for some tea, took a shower, and went as fast as I could to the restaurant. I had a most excellent meal that evening, and a great night's sleep. Ah, another day on the road! Tomorrow's mission: to Sapa!
No comments:
Post a Comment