06:30, the alarm rings. As always, we’re both awake already. The sun rises around 5:30 at this time of year over Vietnam, so this is quite normal if you leave the blinds open during the night. We paid our stay and left the hotel through the basement where we parked our motorcycles.
After leaving Nghia Lo the sat nav told us to follow QL32 for 133km. Even though that does not sound like much, with the slow speed on Vietnamese roads and the stops this ride took us over 4 hours.
The first two hours were for our eyes only. The terraced rice fields were absolutely stunning, but the bad weather didn’t allow for any decent photo sessions. We just rode through the villages and the vast fields enjoying the views, even though we got a few showers on the way. The terrain got more and more mountainous and the roads became even better: hundreds of curves and the most beautiful views we’ve ever seen. I just wish it were possible to take better pictures to show you how astonishing this is. I guess, you’ll just have to come here instead.
Most of the rice fields up here in the north are worked by ethnic minorities. The Hmong people wear beautiful colorful clothes even when working the rice fields. This gives some very nice contrast to the green rice and bright brown to red brown colored rocks. What really strikes me is that they still barely use any modern tools at all. Oxen are still used for plowing and only rarely do you see an excavator used to build or repair a terrace.
In one of the villages we made a quick lunch stop after I spotted some nicely looking chicken skewer on a grill at the road side. The food was delicious and plentiful, although we definitely paid a tourist price for it. Also the dog walking around our table, stealing some of the bones we put into the trash provided an unexpected auditory sensation.
The rest of the ride was more of the same, although in this case it will definitely never get boring. More turns, more rice fields, kids playing by the roadside and beautiful scenery all the way.
We arrived in the town Than Uyen and checked out a few hotels until we decided to stay in one a bit outside. We sat at the bar next to the pool and watched some of the locals having fun in the slightly brown water. A quarry about half a kilometer from the hotel provides enough dust to make cleaning the pool an exercise in futility.
We went into the village to check out the market. It’s really interesting to see how they all seem to work together and have very similar assortments. We’re still trying to buy some more drip coffee filters, but all of them have the same one we don’t really like. I’m sure we’ll get lucky some time though… We left the market through the live-stock area starring about 100 chicks.
For dinner we bought some spring rolls, some meat and some kind of rice noodles which we ate at the hotel. The food is just perfect - especially the pork belly. Since we still don’t have any chopsticks the hands had to do the job. At least they are easier to clean…
