Not much to say about today’s ride. The pictures tell the story. Rode from Muong Khuong to Pho Rang, a total distance of 150 km. Took all day (6 hrs including a stop for Pho and a 10 km detour) mostly because we couldn’t drive more than 5 minutes without stopping to admire the incredible views.
Is Northern Vietnam worthy of the title Epic? After riding from Sa Pa to Muong Khuong to Pho Rang it would be hard to find another word more fitting. The paved roads are constantly twisting up and down through incredible and ever changing mind blowing scenery. The obstacles along the way offer amusement, horror and incredulity. A scooter accident, children screaming and waving in delight, ever present wildlife on the roads, evidence of rock slides and the daily life of the kind and curious people who call the mountains of Northern Vietnam their home.
So why does Northern Vietnam offer such incredible two wheel fun? Rice.
High in the mountains villages dot the landscape. The homes of the rice farmers who turn the mountain side into massive stairs of rice paddies. For trucks to supply these villages and access this important crop, paved roads wind their up to the highest mountain tops. From these paved roads, dirt roads snake down into the valleys to provide access to other crops – corn and a myriad of vegetables and fruit. You could spend a week just exploring the incredible roads around Muong Khuong, and in hindsight this is what we would have done. It’s reminiscent of the incredible back roads of Western Canada, often built by the logging industry to access timber.
Thank you rice.
Live Life Epic 