Digital Wanderer

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Vietnam — 8, we started pedaling

2011-05-27

The next day we woke up late, so to keep up with the route schedule, we had to take a taxibus. Alas, it was expensive, 80 bucks in total, if I'm not mistaken. That's what it means when it's not a scheduled bus. Gas costs money everywhere, and so does servicing the ride.

Vietnam 3 - cycling near Fansipan


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But first, we have to eat. For a change — pizza. Tasty, by the way, though expensive (somewhere around 5 bucks just for the pizza + coffee too).

Close-up of a half-eaten pizza with ham, mushrooms, and melted cheese on a white plate. A person in dark sportswear is blurred in the background. 

The pizza is actually quite spicy, just how I like it

A glass Coca-Cola bottle, half-filled with a dark drink, stands on the glossy surface of a table inside a cafe with warm orange walls.

And here is the black evil

A green chalkboard with a white breakfast menu stands outside a cafe, partially blocked by a wooden chair. The board lists various egg dishes and croissants, and a window with a reflection is visible in the background.

Here is what they offer

A wooden sign for the Highland bakery-restaurant with partially missing letters above the panoramic windows on the second floor of a building and a modern black banner 'Highland Bakery-Restaurant' at the bottom.

Judging by online reviews, the place is considered good (but expensive)

By the way, I withdrew some money from an ATM in Sapa. The exchange rate there is good, they charge a dollar for the withdrawal. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the trick that the bank takes its cut separately from the main transaction, and you have to look for that percentage separately in the online banking (even though I knew this, but I forgot). Swedbank takes something like 2.5 percent or so. Unpleasant, but you can live with it.

Funny enough, Vietnamese ATMs only let you withdraw a maximum of 2 or 3 million at a time, which is just 150 dollars. Rare ones let you take out 6. A clear illustration of the difference in incomes — our ATMs have no problem spitting out 300 or 400 lats.

A woman in a blue sports jacket and dark pants stands in the lobby of a hotel or guesthouse, hands in her pockets. Behind her is a wooden reception desk with clocks showing different time zones, and in the foreground is a glass table with white teacups.

Hotel

In Vietnam, there really are a lot of places where you can drink tea for free, especially in hotels. Even if you're not a guest, pour away boldly: nobody's going to make a fuss, because it's sort of an enticing freebie anyway. Here's an exact example: thermoses, a teapot, and mugs. The former always have boiling water, the latter are periodically washed, and green tea is added to the teapot, brewed multiple times. The tea, as I've mentioned before, is terribly strong, so the fact that the mugs are small comes in very handy. Once I even felt a bit sick from the tea, it was that strong (nauseous a bit); that had never happened before.

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This is Tram Ton again, meaning the start of the trail to Fansipan, we dropped by to look for a cooking pot

A small structure with a finish imitating the trunk and roots of an old tree, equipped with a door with an orange frame and a concrete step against the background of a green slope. 

Of course, a lot of things in Vietnam are dilapidated and peeling, because nobody gives a damn

Piles of crushed stone along a dirt road against the background of mist-shrouded green mountains under an overcast sky, taken through a windshield.

Building a road, naturally

 

A dirt road runs through a mountainous area surrounded by steep, forested slopes. Earth mounds, rocks, and signs of earthworks are visible on both sides, and on the right is a temporary canopy made of blue tarp. 

On a bike with panniers it would be tough going on this, but interesting

A dirt road, strewn with mud and rocks, winds through a mountainous area. A few simple houses and an orange construction roller on a distant section of the road are visible on the hills.

But we slacked off, and didn't encounter a road like this again

A hilly landscape covered in greenery, with a few houses under red roofs and temporary dwellings made of blue tarp in the midground. Patches of exposed reddish soil, a large pipe, power lines, and the rocky bed of a stream in the foreground are visible on the slopes. 

A pipeline, by no means the last one

A woman in a bicycle helmet and sports uniform adjusts the lens of a large camera, standing next to two fully loaded touring bicycles. In the background, a street with buildings, trees, and other vehicles is visible, likely in Southeast Asia.

The long-awaited start

A blue mini gas station with the label A92, a hand pump, a transparent measuring flask with greenish fuel, and an orange hose is located in front of an open street shop where people and various goods can be seen.

They peddle gas just like everything else — everywhere

In Vietnam, for almost our entire trip you could buy water, sodas, shampoo, and snacks, and in a huge number of different stalls along the road. In larger villages (which were relatively frequent) — everything else too, grab lunch at a diner, stuff like that. On the cheap. In my opinion, hauling a camping stove purely for a cycling route doesn't make a whole lot of sense. There are no people or stalls on the mountain passes, but for the convenience of eating from a plate at a table, sitting on a chair, and not having to mess around with a stove, you can tough it out for a couple of hours. This wasn't clear beforehand, so we did have a stove, and we used it. The stove was gas-powered, and gas, as you can see, is not a problem to buy. As for water, it makes sense to carry a bike bottle and another one or two 1.5-liter bottles, no more. If you're not afraid to drink from village wells (which we practically didn't try), then you can carry very little — there are people everywhere. Except maybe the mountain passes (check the terrain profile).

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Vietnamese are masters at hauling cargo on motorbikes

You've probably already seen a bunch of photos from Asia, where they manage to transport loads of unprecedented volume and weight on mopeds. I observed all of this in real life, though I didn't capture it all on camera, even though I tried. There will be more later.

The facade of a two-story house in an Asian style, decorated with white, light green, and yellow decorative elements, with ornamental columns and a balustrade. On the left, bamboo scaffolding is visible, and in front of the house is a mesh fence against the background of green hills. 

The wealthier houses are cutely decorated

A cyclist with yellow panniers moves along a dirt road, along which lie piles of crushed stone and small buildings stand. Green terraced hills rise in the background.

Building

 

 Several buffalo are grazing on a green hilly slope with sparse trees and terraces. Below, in the foreground, scattered trash lies around.

Terraces everywhere, cows in many places

A littered clearing with scattered plastic and household trash against the background of a green forest-covered hill. Two people in sportswear are visible in the clearing: one sitting on the left, the other standing in the center.

To see trash lying around right out in the open like this is rare

Generally speaking, the Vietnamese don't have trash cans, nowhere and never, with the exception of maybe very large cities. Where they put the trash that we leave for them is not very clear — probably in spontaneous dumps like this. But why there are no trash cans is still unclear. How do they store it, surely they don't toss it into their own yard? If you leave a bottle on the table, they take it away somewhere.

 A murky pond with several water buffalo refreshing themselves in the water and on the muddy banks. Around them, green hills overgrown with trees and shrubs are visible.

Cows relaxing

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A cemetery, quite pretty

 A rural cemetery with numerous tombs, including a red-and-gray pagoda-shaped mausoleum in the foreground, is located on a grass-covered slope. In the background, green hills and distant buildings are visible under an overcast sky.

Another angle

 Green terraced fields in a hilly area under a foggy sky, with a small pond on the right and a grazing buffalo in the center. In the background, silhouettes of mountains are visible in the haze.

Terraces even down in the lowlands

 View from a bridge of a mountain river with a rocky bed, greenery-covered banks, and hills on the horizon. The white railing of the bridge is located on the right in the foreground.

We crossed a multitude of bridges, didn't see a single ford anywhere, even though we were worried about them

 A dirt road with white guide posts on the shoulder passes by a small body of water with murky water. In the background, green terraces are visible on the hills, covered with grass and trees, under a pale overcast sky.

An excellent puddle

A man washes a motorcycle in a shallow stream by the side of the road against the background of a slope with dense green vegetation.

Water flows from the mountains, turning into a free car wash for motorbikes

A winding road with a metal guardrail and a cyclist on the left passes a large billboard under a cloudy sky. The billboard depicts a green mountain landscape with an airplane and a welcoming woman. 

A billboard saying goodbye to the city (or region?). Socialist realism, of course

A red Vietnamese propaganda poster dedicated to the elections on May 22, 2011. The poster depicts representatives of various professions and ethnic groups with ballots in their hands against the background of urban and rural landscapes.

The Party will help us!

 Village stilt houses with bamboo walls and slate roofs, surrounded by tropical vegetation against the background of hills. In the foreground is a raised wooden deck with railings and vertical bamboo poles.

A cute hut with a terrace. Holes in the walls, stilts under the floor, but on the upside the roof is slate.

A large red arch with Vietnamese inscriptions, hammer and sickle symbols, and a star towers over a two-lane road. A cyclist rides under it, and green fields spread out on both sides of the road, with buildings visible against the background of an overcast sky and hills.

Gates like this are only in the bigger towns

 A woman in a traditional Vietnamese conical hat (non la) and a yellow shirt stands on a paved street in front of a street stall full of fruits, eggs, and packaged goods. Green trees and parked motorcycles are visible in the background.

Formal clothes, you don't see this too often

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Just a regular town, they're selling stuff everywhere, in the background there's a "CO'M" sign, which means rice.

 Five smiling Asian boys waving, standing by a rural road. Simple houses, a muddy stream, and forested mountains under a cloudy sky are visible in the background.

Kids shouting "Hello"

In the villages and settlements, everyone is constantly shouting "Hello". They don't know a word of English, but they practically radiate friendliness. The kids especially so — they bug out their eyes and get so excited to see weirdos on bicycles wearing cycling gear. In general, the friendliness of the people in Vietnam makes you relax and communicate very casually, at least it does for me. I don't feel this comfortable in Europe — there, everyone is cool and trendy, and you have to match up. But here it's a global village, and you're a city slicker by default.

 A large pig with dark gray-brown hair stands on rocky ground against a background of green vegetation. The animal is captured in profile, with its head down.

The pigs in the north are always gray-black like this, didn't see any pink ones

Two cyclists riding along a winding paved road past simple village houses against the background of greenery-covered mountains in the haze.

Huts and mountains, mountains and huts

 

A picturesque green valley at the foot of densely forested hills, where village houses, a small pond, and a bright pink flowering tree can be seen among the trees.

Blooming in places

A man in a red helmet and white shirt rides a red motorcycle on the road, carrying a bulky load of wooden planks against the background of a green hill.

Hauling in places

Two women in traditional headwear walk along the edge of the road next to a wooded slope, carrying heavy bundles of brushwood on their shoulders using wooden yokes.

Carrying in places

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Abandoning in places

Two men stand on a concrete path, one of them waving his hand. A house with a fence and green mountains under a bright sky are visible in the background. 

This is Lo (Lo)

I rode up a mountain, and there's a small house standing there, quite decent, but you can tell it's not a private one. A dude is walking around near the house, sweeping the driveway. I'm standing nearby, resting. He finished sweeping, and waved to me, like, come on in. I went in, why not. He took some water out of the fridge in old iced tea bottles, and gave it to me. Up until then I hadn't drank any water that wasn't from store-bought bottles, so I got a little paranoid, but decided to risk it. In the end I downed a whole two half-liters, while Lo was unhurriedly smoking his cigarette. As I understood it, his house is a construction headquarters, where a work plan for repairing and building local roads hung on the wall, kind of like a five-year plan. Lo barely knew any English, or maybe he was shy, or maybe just silent by nature, but we sat together wonderfully, calm and relaxed. Like everything in Vietnam, actually. Like I wrote, it's the same in Crete, but in Vietnam it's all compounded by the low prices, the friendliness, and the don't-give-a-crap attitude.

A river with a rocky bed flows through a rural area, dividing a small village with a school on the left and green fields on the right, against the background of gently sloping forested mountains under an overcast sky.

Countless rivers and bridges, beautiful, I love variety

Six Asian children in everyday clothes standing and squatting on green grass, looking at the camera. Bushes and a hilly rural landscape are visible in the background. 

When it started getting dark, we decided to pitch the tent in a field

A man in a blue shirt and six children sit on a beige patterned sofa in a modest room.

A crowd of kids and a peasant father came running

Using signs, the peasant offered us to spend the night at his place. My buddies were hesitant and sent me to check it out. The peasant took off running along the edges of the borders dividing the rice terrace into plots, as if it were a perfectly good road. My coordination isn't great to begin with, and that day I had also ridden 43 kilometers through the heat and mountains. So, trying to run after him, I almost fell into the water where the rice grows, and curbed my enthusiasm after that. The peasant's house was made of stone, admittedly bare inside, but the bed was quite decent, and there was even a second floor, though without a bed. In the end, we made the decision to stay, and it was worth it — it was one of the bright and powerful impressions from the trip. The peasant didn't want to take any money, but we slipped him 5 bucks for all of us anyway, which is not small change for him. He did disappear quickly, though, and came back already tipsy, so maybe we shouldn't have corrupted him with capitalism.

 A home Catholic altar on a light pink wall. Above the wooden shelf is a crucifix with red roses, on the shelf are images of Jesus and the Holy Family, and below it hang calendars and posters with images of the Merciful Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and religious texts in Vietnamese.

The altar

The host turned out to be a Christian, and probably an ardent Catholic at that, because an altar with Jesus and the Virgin Mary hung in a prominent place in the house. Then he started pointing at it, insisting that I absolutely take a picture of it, and showed me that I should pray. I didn't know what to answer him, because I'm an atheist and praying didn't appeal to me. Luckily, I didn't have to, because he didn't speak English, just like the rest of his family. Notice the Christmas garland near the altar. There is electricity in the house, but the fuses blew during our visit. Fortunately, they fixed them later.

A modest room with shabby walls, a white mosquito net hanging from the ceiling. A hiking backpack, water bottles, clothes, and colorful bags are randomly scattered on the bed covered with a bright blanket.

My stuff on the second floor

 A rough concrete staircase rises between gray unplastered walls to an opening closed by a woven bamboo screen with a blue awning, through which light is visible.

The door to the roof. You could probably add another floor if needed

A small room with untreated concrete walls, in which a white mesh hammock is hung, a rolled-up red blanket lies, and two plastic water bottles stand. 

A canopy over the beds is a must

Most likely, this is so bugs fall from the ceiling onto the net, not onto you, but there weren't any bugs (yet?), or maybe they're rare in general, and it's just a tradition.

A reddish-brown wooden furniture set with carvings, a mirror, and glass display cases, in the center of which an old TV is installed. Framed family photos, souvenirs, and decor items are placed on the shelves and walls around it.

The setup in the main room, there's even a TV

Several travel bags, including large yellow-and-blue bicycle ones, are in a bright room with a tiled floor and open wooden doors leading outside. A calendar with roses and the date 26 hangs on the wall.

Stuff in the main room

A wedding photo in a patterned frame, where a smiling groom in a red shirt and bride in a white dress pose against a background of a blooming garden. The portrait hangs on the wall under another picture with inscriptions in Vietnamese.

Probably the eldest son

A wall panel in a golden frame with a red background, depicting an elderly couple in traditional clothes surrounded by children with peaches of longevity and a deer. The composition is complemented by large Chinese characters on the sides and greetings in Vietnamese at the top and bottom. A beige upholstered furniture set consisting of a three-seater sofa and an armchair with wooden armrests stands in a room with pink walls. In the foreground, a coffee table with a white tea set is visible.

The furnishings

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The kids' school diplomas for (good?) studies

IMG_5329

Dragged the bikes into the house

In the room stands a bed with a wooden frame, covered with a red blanket with a bright floral pattern, covered on top by a translucent pink netting canopy with ruffles. The floor is laid with green patterned tiles. 

A fancy bed in the bedroom

The host himself, as well as his kids and wife, left the house to sleep in the shed. Feels kinda uncool, but apparently we're guests of honor, so we get all the perks.

An old wooden school desk littered with numerous textbooks and notebooks in Vietnamese. Various inscriptions and drawings in white chalk are scribbled on the dark surface of the desk, including motivating phrases and other notes.

The kids' notebooks

From what else I can remember: the kids were afraid to play Angry Birds on the iPhone, the hostess was named Ma (Manh), and she very deftly showed us with gestures where the washbasin, the detergent, and everything else we might need were. The toilet even flushed (by opening a little tap, admittedly), and the water flowed from a tank on the roof, which had been pumped full by a regular pump from a nearby well. They also tried to feed us (in the morning), but I don't remember why I didn't eat.  The last thing I remembered and want to tell you: when Ma was showing me that water could be poured out right nearby instead of into the ditch, she was even too shy to pour out my water, she poured some into another basin and demonstrated with that. And later, when I hung my clothes out to dry, but it started raining at night, the hosts moved their own clothes, but not mine. I think they were too shy to touch them, and it wasn't out of any malicious intent at all. Very uncharacteristic behavior for Vietnam. Apparently, we seemed like way too important guests to the simple peasants, and our visit was a huge event for them. For us, actually, too.

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