Today, toughest day ever! Yesterday tough too! Total distance today was 87k, including 30k of off road trail in an incredibly scenic area, but those miles were on old stone roads, some hills impossible to ride up, so I’m sure I pushed that bike up 20% grades for at least 10k. A stupidly difficult day. There were several falls, and due to long distances with no support cuz you can’t drive normal vehicles on the route, lots of dehydration in varying degrees. One guy John nearly passed out on arrival…

Let me remind that not only weren’t the profiles of hills posted when I booked this trip; neither was there mention that we were the first on this route; meaning none of the distances have been tested with groups yet. There need to be some adjustments when the day is so long that many people were riding in the dark for more than an hour. That’s just not safe at all here as the roads are generally shitty. A day like today indicates a problem with the route, IMHO. Tomorrow, we climb another 3000′. That’s approx 11,500 climbing in the first three days. That is a lot more than I usually do on these trips.

Aside from that, fantastic scenery through interesting ethnic minority villages was the order of the day, and seeing China across the river was noteworthy. I got several great videos of kids in their villages, all saying HELLO as we pass.

Tidbits…
We were warned to yell at the rats in our hotel (next to a nasty river) if we saw any in our room so they won’t chew on us. This hotel in Hoang Su Phi is nasty! I’ve been in worse hotels on these trips, but not many!!

The communist commentary and national anthem come on in the morning 6 AM throughout the entire village on speakers attached to power poles everywhere, or from the massive government building that is a prominent feature in all towns here in the north. Less common in Saigon/South VN. Annoying, yet interesting…

Lots of cinnamon grown here. There are huge piles of cinnamon leaves in some areas on the roadside waiting to be picked up and shipped to china for processing. It smells wonderful as I ride by…

Ok, just pictures now, mostly in sequence. Too tired to yap any more now…😳

The official info…
We’re back on the bikes today cycling to Xin Man. Our route takes us into some of the remotest areas of Northeast Vietnam. The ride begins with a 10km climb of around 400m on newly sealed road before we turn off onto unsealed rough track for the next 15km heading into rural tribal areas. Then it’s a massive descent of 1000m to Xin Man. Located right on the Vietnamese/Chinese border Xin Man is hidden away in a landscape of wild mountain and forest and inhabited by 15 ethnic groups including the Nung, the Flower H’mong, the Tay, La Chi, Kinh, Hoa. After lunch we cross over the river Cahy for 40km of cycling along quiet road; there is a gentle incline as we approach Hoang Su Phi. We encounter some rough sections of road along the way but are rewarded with beautiful views of the river.