The cloud has lifted (13/2/14)

I left the hotel at a decent hour today as there were a lot of miles to cover. Towards the end of the day yesterday whenever I stopped, the bike would cut out. To keep it going I had to keep revving it. I tried to adjust the idle screw in the carburetor when I got to my hotel last night but it made no difference. It would only idle with the choke open. So this morning unsurprisingly it wouldn't start. In the end I had to start riding it with the choke on and take that off once I was away. It just meant I couldn't stop once I was going. This became my mini 'speed' challenge but without Sandra Bullock, bombs or risk of death if I stopped. I said mini challenge! The days plan depended on what time I got to the junction for the turn off to Lung Cu. Lung Cu is pretty much the most northern point in Vietnam. And it has a viewing tower there with a fantastic all round view from the top. As there is only one road there and it goes north when I need to head south it would completely add to my journey time today. I decided to risk it as when I came out the hotel this morning I found that yesterday's horrible freezing cloud had lifted and the views were exactly as expected. Breath taking. I was so high at one point and the drop off at the edge of the road was so ferocious I seriously thought I couldn't do it. It made my head spin. I don't think my photos do the depth of view any justice. Trying not to think about the edge and constantly reminding myself not to do anything above my ability on the bike I carried on. The road was surprisingly OK. The usual stuff every now and then with incredibly tight corners, and the steepness kept me in second gear uphill most of the time. I made it to Lung Cu by 11 and after paying my 60p admission fee I rode up the hill the tower sits on and climbed the steps to the base of the tower. With all my biker gear on I was knackered when I reached the top. I found I was the only person there which meant no ones head appeared in my photos and I could enjoy this view all by myself. I took a break, took some photos and videos and on my route round discovered steps inside the tower leading to the top. Awesome. So higher I went. Now I had a proper all round view. Jamie you would have hated it! It was so quiet up there, I could hear the kids playing in the valley below. So I was up a tower, on top of a hill, on top of a mountain. I think that's quite high. So I thought I'd better check in on facebook. Before I knew it the time was nearly 12 so enjoyed the view one last time and made my way down. I checked the distance from where I was to Ha Giang. Google maps said 165km and 3 and a half hours journey time. By my usual doubling rule I was not going to get there before dark. I thought I'd try to get as close as possible and change my plans if necessary tomorrow. I knew the route back from Lung Cu to the junction already so head down and go. I think I managed to do 50km in about an hour which is a pretty good average speed considering the roads. Saying that though these roads were also surprisingly good. I'd say about 80% of the road surfaces today were pretty normal. It's just the twists and turns which take the time. I had one incident on one of the corners. I turned in to a sharp left hander to find the road covered with small rocks and loose gravel. I braked and the bike went sideways. Luckily I put my left foot out to catch the weight, skidded on that a couple of feet and stopped upright. Just. I regained my composure, and carried on. I stopped for a short while as I was flagging because I hadn't had time for lunch and I'd been concentrating so much. After a while I was back on the road. The numbers on the mile stones counted down bit by bit and I slowly made my way closer to Ha Giang. The views throughout the day got no less amazing it was simply the valley I was looking into that changed. Today though I noticed the smells more than before. Probably because I was so high and the air was fresh. Go and sharpen a pencil and sniff it. That's the underlying smell  of today, cedar. Every now and then that would get mixed in with lavender or lemons or a peppery smell. It was so vivid.

I finally arrived in Ha Giang at half 4. That I didn't expect. It didn't take me long to pick a hotel and check my stuff in. I had a shower and went out for some food. Food has been one of the hardest things to sort out whilst in the mountains because of the lack of menus. I don't know how I'm supposed to ask for food if I don't know what they can make. So tonight I tried two options. One was buying some kebab things from a street vender which were very tasty but not very filling and the other was to go into one of the usual mystery food places with pots a plenty and try and get some food. I went with chicken and rice and ended up with exactly that. Some last pieces of just about hot chicken, mostly fat or ridiculously chewy, a bowl of rice which was actually quite tasty and a bowl of soup got brought over too. It was cold. The cheeky cow then asked me for 50,000 dong. Every other meal so far has been 30,000 or less. It was still less than two quid so payed letting her know I wasn't happy but there is a principal here. So unfortunately this is my first bad meal experience which was coupled with my first being over charged for being a foreigner. Never mind. It could have been worse. I went back to the hotel room after for another movie and sleep. I'm knackered.