Sunday November 23, 2014
Friday November 21, 2014 We have had such a good time in Sa Pa that we decided to stay another night. It is a large town with a very small town atmosphere with plenty to do, very inexpensive and great food. It would be very easy to spend a week here. Our hotel room is very basic at $10 per night and breakfast can be had for about $5 total. A huge dinner with desert and a bottle of wine runs under $20. Along with that the people are very friendly and most speak some English and many are fluent so it is very easy to get around. And there is plentiful free wifi. The weather is odd as each day goes through 4 seasons: cool spring in the morning, sunny summer in the noon time, cloudy autumn in the afternoon, and cold winter at night. This weather pattern is quite fascinating.
This morning we had a leisurely breakfast at our favorite eating establishment on the lake then strolled through the Sa Pa town market/bazaar. We really enjoy exploring bazaars wherever we have been. Today we bought enough to mail a box home. A few days ago we received an email from my wife showing the package that we sent from Tajikistan about two months ago. To be honest I never thought that that package would arrive but it did all in one piece. It was hard enough in Dushanbe just to find the post office where no English was spoken. It must have been sent on a slow boat. We requested air travel on this latest box from Vietnam. We’ll see how that goes. We did try to mail from China several items we bought but they were rejected due to political reason. These item included souvenirs from the Tibetan monastery we visited and several maps and other items with Tibet language. These items were all forbidden even by DHL.
On the home front my wife and son are getting to be quite the warmshowers hosts as there are frequented by many people cycling through our wonderful state of Florida. Yesterday they hosted a retired couple and an Irish cyclist. They are having fun being hosts.
We are going to finally pull up our anchor tomorrow and continue southwest to Laos…maybe.
Sunday November 23, 2014 We were out the door by 8 on a rainy Saturday morning with the intention to get over the upcoming mountain pass early as we had heard it was a tough climb over the broken road. But Jocelyn’s bike had other plans for us. The rear tire had a puncture and the tube was quickly replaced. For some unknown reason when we tried to re-install the wheel we discovered that the rear derailleur was broken with a small pin missing and the chain would not fit properly. We tried for over an hour to find this part on the floor and to re-install the wheel but the chain would not stretch out. The hotel manager directed us to a person who works on bikes. This “bike mechanic” said the derailleur was broken and replaced Jocelyn’s Shimano Deore XT with a used Chinese Shimano Altus. Jocelyn rode her bike it basically worked but would chatter and skip. The bike guy along with us adjusted it and the shifting was smoother but very questionable with the upcoming climbing on broken roads. We finally had breakfast at 11:30 and discussed our options. The bike mechanic called Hanoi and the original Deore XT part was available and could be sent to Sa Pa or we could take a 5 hour bus ride to Hanoi. This would change our plans in Laos so we decided against that and didn’t want to wait in Sa Pa. The hotel manager said he could arrange a bus ride over the steeper mountains towards Laos and we could exit the bus where we wanted. We decided on that option and the bus left at 7 pm.
We were immediately uncomfortable on this sleeper bus when our bikes and panniers were tied to the bus’s roof. The driver was very impatient and rushed everything but I was persistent in making sure everything was tied down properly. The bus itself was a mess and loaded with people. Jocelyn and I shared a side by side top berth of which the outside railing was not attached. This outside berth was very dangerous as the speeding bus swerved side to side. I really had to hold on or be thrown down to the floor on two people lying in the aisle. We continued on and more people were crammed on the floor and forced to sit. This being a Vietnamese bus was designed for very short people so I could not stretch out my legs. I had a “death grip” on the side to not fall out.
A few hours later the bus stopped and the driver yelled out that this was the eating break. All the floor people were slow to get up and he yelled at them to hurry so that the berth people could leave. Next to the restaurant was an empty lot that both males and females rushed to relieve themselves. Jocelyn and I said no way and went inside to use the WC (water closet). It was despicable so I went to the outside lot while Jocelyn used the toilet without touching it. The food looked disgusting so we passed and returned to the bus. A few more hours passed with us climbing over unpaved roads and around rock slides. By 3 am we were fed up and figured a disaster may soon happen and told the driver to stop as we wanted off. He obliged and was probably glad to get rid of us as we were way to slow for his commands. We were let out, loaded our bikes and continued. At 5 am we passed what we thought was a hospital. To our pleasant surprise it was a large hotel that was open. Vietnam is funny this way as there are huge hotels seemingly in the middle of nowhere open for business. The receptionist was sleeping on a mosquito net covered bed behind the counter. I woke her and handed over our passports for a very nice $30 room. What a great way to end such a hectic day and scary 50 mile bus ride.
