Post-Sapa Blues.....

Ahhh....the post-Sapa let down. I had been congratulated by a German kid for (admittedly ignorantly) saving Sapa for the end of my motorbike journey. "Nuting elze vood cumpare after zee vizit to Zapa," he said. He was only partially right, but I was a little disheartened the first time I had to mime my way through another attempted meal order at a dusty little roadside food stand. The days of Parisian-style chocolate-coconut pastries are over for now, so it seems.

Taking advantage of another gorgeous day's weather, I cruised the 26km straight down hill to the river-side town of Lao Cai. Although the Chinese border crossing was only a couple kilometers north of town, I decided to skip the sightseeing, and crossed the Red River before heading straight up into the hills again. This time the target was the mountain town of Bac Ha. A full two thousand feet lower - and accordingly warmer - than Sapa, Bac Ha was surrounded by impressive mountains of its own. Terraced rice fields and streams finished off the scenery, but it really was a toned down version of Sapa. Bac Ha's big draw is a Sunday market which, apparently, pulls in hundreds of local hill tribe women every weekend - and dozens of loaded tour buses from Hanoi and Sapa. Watching the weather carefully and noticing another round of storms in the forecast, I decided to visit Bac Ha on Friday and Saturday, leaving town before both the market and the cruddy weather. Not really much to see or do without the market in action, but I enjoyed a mellow day of walking and reading. Knowing I had a long, very rough stretch of road ahead of me - I got an early start on Saturday morning and dodged a steady stream of incoming tour buses for my efforts.

The next stretch of road, from Bac Ha to an city called Yen Bai, was some of the very worst that I had seen. Chewed up tarmac - where it existed - mixed with rutted and potholed dirt roads for nearly 120 miles. Toss in the heavy traffic utilizing the only "main" road in the province, and not only was I forced to go painstakingly slow, all the while fearing a busted shock-absorber, slipped disk, or ruptured spleen, but I was choking on a non-stop curtain of dust. Pulling over for the occassional break, I'd have to slap the layers of road dirt off my pants and shirt. After stopping for lunch, I glanced in my one remaining rearview mirror and was met with a clown-face of sweat and dust. I can only imagine what the locals thought. While I tried my very best to maintain a Zen-like state of understanding and sympathy for the inherent difficulties faced by the Vietnamese road-maintenance crews, there were a couple of times that I nearly lost it. Nothing that a few profanity-laced rants (directed at the water buffalo, of course) couldn't help. Sort of.

I FINALLY arrived in Yen Bai after nearly 7 hours on the road (120 miles divided by 7 hours....uh huh). Like Lao Cai, Yen Bai sits on the Red River, but most importantly, it marks the transition between the mountains and the flat lands that stretch all the way to Hanoi and beyond. The roads were paved, the terrain mellow, and I started cooking. I got another couple of hours of riding in before the impending darkness started freaking me out a bit. The last place I wanted to find myself after dark was the middle of the Vietnamese countryside - especially after watching an elderly lady earlier in the day bash the living shit out of yet another roadside snake. So, without a clue as to where I was, I started looking for the Vietnamese words "nha khach" (guesthouse) on buildings as I whizzed by. When I found one, it was a quick shower, bottle of beer, and lights out.

The storm that I had been worried about hit with a vengeance last night as I slept. At this point - out of the mountains and back on paved roads - it didn't concern me too much, and the last 70 km into Hanoi this morning were a relative snap. I've checked back into my hostel for the next couple of days and, since I've still got an afternoon and half a tank of gas left on my motorbike rental, I'm heading out the door for a little exploring further afield. Not exactly sure where I'm heading next, but I do know it's south and by train.