DIARY - Monday 4th February 2008 Update from Sapa 'It's raining again, Oh no, it's raining again' Is that how the song goes? It is how the weather goes too, persisting it down! Leaving Son La we ride north towards Muong Lay on Highway 12. The road is one of the most spectacular and scenic I have ever ridden, hairpin after hairpin, lose gravel big drops, no worries, but it never stops raining and it is two very muddy and wet motorcyclists who say to hell with ethnic home stays and we pull into a (by Vietnamese standards in the country) very posh hotel. There is no where to dry clothes so we decide the only way to get warm is from the inside out and between us we consume copious amounts of rice wine. Heavens I am beginning to sound like a wino.
The following morning it is at least dryish so we leave the hotel without waterproofs on. Optimistic to say the least. Sa Pa is to the Vietnamese what Kathmandu is to the Nepalese. A place to hang out waiting for the weather to improve before the trekking can begin. But Jan/Feb 2000mts up in the mountains is notorious for fog and rain. The views should be spectacular, steep sided mountains, hairpins, frequent landslides; standing at the edge of the road there is no impression of height, just cotton wool. Highway 12 stays a decent road until maybe the last 12 miles from Sa Pa, when it is back to mud and rough riding.
Travelling in the mountains with a guide has opened up new roads - or should I say lack of them? I have been 'adopted' by the other local guides up here, all friends of Tongs, who think this crazy old Englishwoman who rides a bike in winter needs looking after. I am invited to eat with 'the boys' a rare privelige, one that has me trying to back out gracefully with no such luck. I eat only tiny amounts of unfamiliar food cooked in lets say, not the cleanest of kitchens. This morning I am paying for that hospitality by retching and running for the bushes, there is only one good thing to show for that, the women selling handicrafts leave me well alone! Tonight I have been invited to visit Tong's mother in law to join in making the sticky rice cakes for the Tet festival. I hope they don't expect me to eat them too! Tomorrow we leave Sa Pa for the country side again heading for Bac Ha, the Chinese Border (again) and Thon Luong. It is party time, the year of the rat begins on Feb 7 but on the eve of the 6th all hell will be let lose as the spirits of the dead are invited to join in the celebrations and we have to make as much noise as possible to unload all the problems we have been experiencing in the last year. The new year is a new beginning - nothing painful or distasteful, no arguments or fall outs are allowed to enter the new year. I shall be banging my drum the loudest of all and looking forward to the future.