Sapa to Hanoi

After breakfast with the 'Swedish Daniels', I left for Yen Bai as my theoretical stopping point. There were 380km between Sapa and Hanoi remaining, but I was leaving too late as usual- 11am! I was told the drive could be done in 10 hours, but I was almost certain I did not want to be returning to the city with at least 2 hours of darkness at the end of my trip, not to mention navigating the streets and traffic of the city itself.

The hours that laid themselves before me from there on were relatively uneventful. The three day break that I had taken from the bike was good for resting my body from its' bumpy and same-position riding that brings about great stiffness and sometimes inflammation for me, but now I was sore from the two days of lots of hiking, and my butt had lost its endurance after three days off, and I was in pain almost immediately. The first 3 or 4 hours of the ride I was stopping every hour and having a snack, some water, and stretching as best I could on the side of the road. I was not enjoying the ride, wasn't taking photos, and had a feeling of just wanting to get back.

Somewhere in the second half of the day, I got a second wind. Maybe it was because I got to follow a guy on a motorbike with a pig strapped to the back of his vehicle, and took the best photos I could considering I had to keep one hand on the bike and drive in a straight line. Or maybe it was my time behind 'Beeping Guy' who, beeped almost constantly. Vietnamese beep from their motorbikes regularly which I am quite accustomed to, in order to say 'I'm here' or 'I'm passing' etc. .. but this guy beeped at EVERYTHING! I found it irritating, but also amusing, and deeming him 'Beeping Guy' in my head made it fun to follow him for what turned out to be quite a while.

The scenery was beautiful as ever, and I passed through many towns. When I got to Yen Bai, it was only 4 or 4:30, and it didn't seem particularly appealing, and was quite dusty, so I decided to keep going. I made it to another town and then another. When I got to a town that showed a sign for '130km to Hanoi' I felt a sudden urgency and desire to just push through until I got there. This only lasted about 30-40 minutes, because once the sun went down and it became dark, I was driving through massive amounts of dust in the air, bugs flying straight into my eyes, completely dark streets when there weren't massive construction trucks blowing by me on their way home for the weekend, and it was not fun, and practically impossible. I passed through many tiny towns with signs for hotels, but they seemed more isolated and quiet than I was comfortable with. Finally I came upon a big sign with bright lights high up on the side of the road, advertising the Tuan Anh Hotel, and somehow I just knew this was the right place for me- it seemed more official, somehow, and bigger, so I felt I could trust it.

I rode down the driveway and was pointed in the direction of the lobby. I was greeted by a young woman and an older woman, and quickly rented myself a room. We tried communicating various things and managed to succeed in getting everything in order. The older woman took me to my room, and then asked for my passport so we went to the lobby together. Before we did, I took a look in the mirror, and my face was black with dust, and my hair a rat's nest! I exclaimed out loud, and she laughed, and showed me the comb. I washed my face and combed my hair and made myself a bit more presentable, amused at my current disheveled state.

When we finished our passport/registration process in the lobby, I was trying to ask them for food and they kept nodding but not doing anything. Finally, the young woman understood and took me by the arm and took me across the street to a local home restaurant, and ordered me an egg soup and a beef pho. I was ever grateful. She spoke a small amount of english so we had some light conversation between me ordering and then wolfing down my dinner. All the locals were watching me, but with smiles and more of a sense of curiosity and welcoming than what I had mostly been experiencing in Vietnam so far, so, it was nice. I had finally reached a place of being okay with being totally helpless and vulnerable, and in the hands of people spoke another language, and I know this because I was happy with it all, even though I was quite uncomfortable, tired, hungry, lost, and didn't really know where I was. I still don't know the name of this town, but, I think it was Don Toc, or something like that, though, no one has been able to confirm this upon my asking.

Spent the rest of the night showering, stretching, and watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, reading my book 'Catfish and the Mandala' (which I highly recommend) and sleeping. I woke up early the next morning, said my goodbyes to the family running the hotel (and shared tea with the older woman after she came peeking into my hotel room and pretending to steal my wallet from me) and left. I stopped in the next town for some beef pho at a stand run by an elder Vietnamese woman and her daughter (with baby), and had a lovely morning for the rest of the way back into Hanoi City. Slowly as I got closer and closer to the city, I entered more and more traffic, riding into more and more developed towns along the way.

At one point, the sign side '70km to Hanoi'. Five minutes later, it said '40km to Hanoi.' What??? I hoped that this error was correct! And, it was! How crazy! But, suddenly, turning onto the major highway into Hanoi, I was suddenly 30km closer than I thought, and I felt a surge of energy and anticipation. I used this energy to fuel me for the final hour which was navigating back onto the major roads into Hanoi, and I had to stop at least four or five times to ask directions even with my map, and turned around a number of those times. I had left at about 8:30/9 in the morning, and finally arrived to my good 'ol home sweet home of the Real Darling Cafe at 12:45 in the afternoon, tired, hungry, hot, sweaty, and HAPPY!

Luong and Duc are people working at the Real Darling Cafe who I have gotten to know during my ins and outs to and from Hanoi, and, it was great to return and talk to them, eat some food, and tell them about my trip. They were happy to see me, and told me they were impressed that I did this thing, especially since they had both urged me against going by myself before I left.

I had plans to meet up with the Swedes later in the afternoon, but for now- it was food, relaxation, and rest! And, booking a trip to Halong Bay on the east coast for the following two days!!! Hooray! I was going on vacation! (*wink*)