The Wobbling Sprocket

This section of road is about as tough as it gets.  You go up and up and then you go up again.  I thought there was no chance that we would get to Lai Chau after dark.  Somehow we managed to do it though.

We stayed in Lai Chau at the very happening Lan Anh Hotel.  There is always stuff going on here.  Not much going on in the town itself.  I suppose that is understandable since in a few years everything here will be under 50 feet of water (a dam is going in).  We did make it down the road to a bar for a nightcap though.

We had a nice time in Son La.  It was a relatively short 60k ride in so we jumped in the van and visited Son La Prison which was built by the French in 1906.  There is not all that much left of the prison since American planes dumped thier excess bombs on it during the Vietnam War but there is plenty left to get a sense of what an awful place it must have been.  There also is an interesting ethnic museum there.  After that we headed to the “hot springs.  They were not quite like the hot springs we stop at in Laos…outdoors and natural looking…and free.   This version was like gigantic tile bathtubs in enclosed rooms for 10,000 dong per person.  The water was only luke warm.  More interesting was the smoked water buffalo that we had afterwards in the little restaurant adjacent to the tubs.   It is like beef jerky only better. 

Today we rode from Son La to Tuan Giao.  This is  a challenging section in the best of conditions.  It is doubly hard now because 70 of the 90k is torn up for constuction.  We carried the panniers of Wim and Alfons, a couple from Holland in the van.  I don’t think they would have made it otherwise.  They are headed to Dien Bien Phu tomorrow while we are headed to Lai Chau  on the “rocky road”.

We have some great pics. and I bought a card reader than will read any sort of camera card.  The challenge now is finding a computer with a USB port.  These pc’s all seem over the hill.  They are old.  Plus 35 million Vietnamese kids have been beating the daylights out of the keyboards playing games.   You can’t read half the letters on the keyboard I am using now.  Anyway, I am hellbent to get some up so I will keep trying.

Gotta go, the Aussies serving “G and T’s” on the veranda before dinner…..

Best,

Bob 

Yen Chau doesn’t really qualify as a city but it has been a fast growing town. Joe, our local guide, says that there were only 50 homes here 5 years ago, There are 1000′s now. Our hotel hasa balustrade that overlooks all the action at the main intersection. There are minority people there most of the day selling their fruits vegetables and meat. Late last night there was a police checkpoint set up. It was a interesting to watch. 5 or 6 policemen flagged scooter drivers over to check on something. The fist one I saw had 3 kids on it and zoomed right by without bothering to stop. The police gave what looked to be half hearted chase on another scooter. I think they relized that it was a lost cause. They had a flatbed trcuk with them and there was one scooter on the back. Later on, I noticed it was full. I’m sure they kept the scooter as collateral for whatever infractions they found. I imagine would tough to collect on any tickets issued.

At the restaurant last night they has some interesting stuff on display. I’m not too sure that it is appropriate material for public consumption, but got some laughs out of Joe when I inquired about it. Maybe more on that later.

This morning we got the loud speaker treatment at 6am. You know you are in the countryside when you start hearing that. I am not sure that it matters much to the locals. They are all up anyway. It’s also not have as bad as some of the truck drivers who insist on blowing their air horns when they get to the main intersection.

Today there are hot spring on the way to Son La. We may check them out.

I wish I had my camera to upload photo’s. No one thought to bring the cables needed to do so with their cameras and all the storage devices are different from the one I had. I may try to pick something up in a store along the way. Son La is a likely spot since it is bigger city.

Sorry for any typos in this…too tough to correct on this computer.

Best,

Bob