October 12, (I am backdating the next four blogs)

0800 We met at OHG Travel to start our four day tour. I am an “easy rider”, which means I had a driver. Em introduced me us. Mr Chinh does not speak English, but has a great smile. Em, our coordinator, is going to be with us the whole four days as our guide. Yeah! She seems an enthusiasts person. Jeff is solo on a bike. There is a group of three people from Taiwan that are going this first day only with us. They are all easy riders. So we have a seven motorcycle caravan. We all loaded up, sorted out our order, and we were off.

First stop, about half a mile, is breakfast at Banh Mi Thu Thang for make your own Banh Mi. This was different, as we were each given a little skillet – with an egg, spoon of pate, and hotdog pieces (“sausages” as they call them); and a plate of sliced cucumber and onion in rice vinegar. So we built our Banh Mi's and enjoyed. Great breakfast to kick start the tour. Everyone finished and at 0900 we started, but we stopped quickly – only going a few blocks – for petrol. Now the ride commences, really. We got out of town –WooHoo!!

We are cruising about 40-50 Km/hour, which is 25 to 31 mph. So it's slow, but liberating with the wind whizzing by you and hearing all the different birds. There is just something – such wonder riding on a motorcycle. We pass though the beauty that is Karst mountain topography. This are the mountains that are in most Chinese paintings. Right off the road we saw a big cave in one the mountains. The mountains seem a mix of granite and some seem limestone. Anyway, we drive by a “mud” buffalo- it's a water buffalo, but it is covered from nose to hoof with a layer of oozy wet mud. We travel by many small plots of rice, but it has been harvested and is bundled rice straw now. Definitely gives me vibes of autumn. All those straw bundles sitting in rows in the fields – looks like the iconic end of a witches broom.

At 0940, we stopped at incense village – not sure its name – but we were served tea at Nung An Homestay, by a young father trying to appease his toddler and tend us. We saw a nice display of colored incense sticks, and newly made(?) sticks drying in the field across from the homestay. A lady was tending to them. We all loaded back up and drove five minutes. At 1015, we stopped at 'Dia Tran paper factory “village”'. A lady here gave us a demonstration of the very old method of paper making. Jeff even had a go in some of the process! Then we each were given a souvenir paper fan; and given a “shot of corn moonshine”, that they made. Oh my! Moving on… At 1030, our group is stopped at Lo Ren Dao Phuc Sen, a knife making shop. We saw many knives and blades of all sorts for sale. My favorite was a set with “Red Oak” finished covers and handles. Given a small glimpse of knife grinding here as well.

At 1200, we stopped at Nha Hang Du Mong Restaurant. It's only been 45 miles so far, but already a lifetime of memories! This noon stop was a lunch spread! We are going to gain weight on this trip! There was a tofu dish, green beans with chicken hearts(?), a chopped chicken dish, fried pork belly dish, a cooked cabbage soup, and of course, rice. It is all served family style. You load up as you want from the dishes with your own chopsticks. At 1315, we left lunch, rolling out! So full, will definitely have to curtail ourselves!

Now we motor through a natural tunnel in a mountain, according to Em, with the road being built through it. We stop for a photo op – of course, standing in the middle of the road. Also somewhere through this stretch of road, Jeff and Em saw a Gibbon just sitting on a wall between two rice fields, hanging out. How Cool! I did not see it, but this is a biggest disadvantage of being on the motorcycles without communication between bikes. We keep seeing more Water Buffalo, Pony/Horses, numerous dogs – lazily crossing the roads in front of us, and lots of chickens/geese/ducks also all along the roads scattering about.

We venture on, going to the amazing Ban Gioc Waterfall, at the Vietnamese and Chinese Border. Em takes care of the tickets – as this is included in the tour. The falls are not tall but numerous. Some are scattered and seem to just pop out all along a forested cliff edge, as small sets, here and there, Em tells us these are on the Vietnamese side. The main, biggest part of the falls – a fan pattern on the river – belongs to China. We load onto a raft/boat on the river that goes to the bottom of this part of the falls, as Chinese and tourists get on boats from the Chinese side. So the edge of the river must be the border(?) but we are allowed on the boat, so maybe it's the middle of the river…I have questions?? But all is good, I guess, as long as we go back to the right country. Anyway, we got a few sprays of water as we got closer. The boat drivers all idle here as everyone gets in their photo ops. Em offers and takes a bunch of pictures for us… too many.
We left the basin of the falls; load back up on the bikes; and play follow the leader up a steepish grade, to a temple just overlooking the waterfalls. The leader of the group made Jeff wait, and ride behind someone else up, not letting him drive himself. (Being cautious because they don't know how much experience he has driving a bike.) Anyway it was a nice grand overview of the waterfalls and the valley with a ring of the Karst Mountains all around.

Then we all load back up and move on. We go to and through a big, open, cavernous cave of Nguom Ngao. There are some good formations throughout the walk inside this cave. Em offers and takes lots of pictures of us–we will definitely need to weed them out. It is comical, she counts “one, two, three”; snaps the photo then does it again like five or six times from a slightly different angle. Wow!!! Anyway, it is a great cave and we exit.

Finished, the three Taiwanese group leave us– they only had a day trip. So our group is now three bikes instead of seven – me and Mr Chinh, Jeff, and Em with her driver. We go on to Riverside Homestay, our accommodation for the night. The place has Wi-Fi and our room has A.C. This was a pleasant surprise. It is a nice accommodation. We cleaned up and went out and explored the homestay settings, a bit. It is right next to a river – beautiful. We sat out listening to the river, and to some cicadas, while we waited for supper, which was great. We had homemade smoked sausage (not hotdogs), two kinds of omelets, a dish of sliced beef and greens, a plate of sauteed greens, another plate of some large celery-type veg, and rice.

We went 78 glorious miles, on this first day of our northern Vietnamese tour.