So my journey of over 2000km begins in Sa Pa.  This place is very touristy but beautiful.  Oscar here is all ready for the journey ahead of him, me, not so sure.  I was lucky enough to have Spot, a satellite transmitter that Niels and Trang used to track me real time.

So my first trip was a loop, 325km.

The routes I used were from a blog of a guy living in Ho Chi Minh and they were fantastic.

Vietnam Coracle – Sa Pa Sin Ho

So off I set at 11:30am because it took me about an hour to find the right road, very few sign posts here and to fuel up at the one and only petrol station.  Lesson learnt, always fill up the night before.

My first stop was Lai Chau, approximately 75km where I passed waterfalls and Tram Ton Pass, Vietnam’s highest mountain, 1,900m and I saw Mount Fansipan.

I saw many women on the road, sewing, and selling fruit and vegetables with umbrellas, both for the rain and sun.

I saw rice being harvested and the Lakes at Lai Chau were beautiful and I had pancakes for dinner. I also had a massage, and it was as good as the one Wendy got in Nha Trang:).

The next day was from Lai Chau to Sin Ho, 120km.  I did a little detour, planned, to check out the mountains and it was beautiful.

I then found some Caves.  Now, please look at the sign and see if you can see a looped route on the map.  This is important for later…

So off I ventured into the underworld.  They were amazing and no one was around, so I explored and there were amazing butterflys.  I came across another group and I was like a film star, I had my picture taken with the group.  I would hate to see those pictures as it was hot and humid.  Anyway off I went, I then came to the end of the line as on the map and decided to turn around and beat the loud group.  I got to the cave entrance and it was completely dark, tried my phone, the light was useless and there was no signal.  Anyway, who was I going to call, ghostbusters?

So I back tracked and the other group had vanished without a sound.  I then found another track and climbed that, no, dead end. I heard voices so yelled out “help”.  That wasn’t very helpful, English, couldn’t remember the Vietnamese word for it.  This went on for about an hour and I had no water.  I then found another path and off I went, and guess what, it was a loop back to the motorbike park, who would have thought.  Anyway, was I glad to see Oscar, second day out!  No one speaks English so who do I tell about their misleading map!

Anyway I saddled up and took off into the distance and didn’t look back.  I then went over a small pass and then onto an amazing valley with a river and rice fields on the hills.

I found a little village beside the river and I could definitely spend time here in the future.  I got my tyres pumped up for free too.

After the valley I then had a 38km up hill drive which reminded me of Hotham in Victoria, Australia.  I filled up with petrol before the hill and off I went.  The road got a little rough, but the view was worth it.

I made it to Sin Ho, just on dusk and watched a bit of football and checked into my hotel with a view of the square, $10 AUD.

I didn’t need my alarm, a bus had it’s horn going at 6am.  Now these are not your normal horns, more are like a fog horn!  The next day was back to Sa Pa, 135km, which started off with a 60km descent and then back to Lai Chau and home the same way.  It was misty to start with and there was about 20km of gravel.

I did the pass again, and it was foggy, wet and very cold (for someone use to 35 C).  You can see it start to set in, in the photo.

 It was a great trip and a good one to start me off as it was going to get harder and far more isolated.  I drove 325km in 3 days and spent 75,000 VND on fuel ($4.40 AUD).

I made it back to Sa Pa and some friends had just arrived as they were going to climb a mountain so we had a great dinner.

Dates: 4th October to 6th October 2016