Sapa

Sapa has been the goal since leaving Hanoi five days ago. The journey to this remote mountain village (that is slightly overrun by tourist) has been incredible. Each day has posed new challenges and overcoming them has been rewarding. Day three, which was the day after Josh's slide, we rested in Son La where Josh played his bamboo flute and I cut my hair with my swiss army knife scissors. Day four the road deteriorated and we were met with a friendly rain shower. This put us through the dirtbiking section of our motorbiking course, which we passed without any major mishap. The scenery on day four was incredible with the windy dirt road lined with beautiful hill tribe women in long black skirts and brightly colored head dresses. The children come rusing out to wave enthusiastically to the foreigners, sometimes extending a hand for a drive-by high five. At first I felt as if I were being welcomed into the finishing gate after some long race, but then the children started swinging hard at my outstretched hand and finally I was pegged by some sort of fruit or nut. Now I stick to a more timid wave, scared I will invite unwanted violence. Day four came to a close in Lai Chau where our sleep was distrubed by a massive rat that kept pulling our snack food off of the table. In the morning I discovered that he had also used my toothbrush to grind his teeth down. On day five the ride began along a large and beautiful river, good pavement allowed us to make great time in the morning. After lunch in Phong Ton we headed off for Sapa, or so we thought. After a stunningly georgeous ride up through the rice terraces we were stopped by two police officers and asked to turn around. Finally after overcoming the language barrier we realized we had taken a wrong turn an hour before and had to trek all the way back down the mountain. Now on the right road to Sapa we pushed are little bikes up towards Vietnam's highest pass, the Tram Ton pass. As we began to climb higher into the mountains the rain began to fall creating treacherous riding conditions. I was taking the turns at a snails pace trying to ensure my safety. Then without warning my bike slid and without any damage to me was down flat on the pavement. I was completely unharmed except for a bruised hip, but Ramos was in agony. The bolts attaching the handlebars to the frame had cracked and there was no way of reattaching them. I flagged down a passing truck within a few minutes and was soon riding in the middle seat of the big rig with Ramos safely in the back. They took me the remaining 20k to Sapa and dropped me at a repair shop. An hour and 6 dollars later I kicked Ramos into gear and followed Josh to our hotel. Here we are, the first goal is complete and we plan on a few days rest here in the mountains before heading back to Hanoi. That's all for now. NTC