October 15, Tour Day 4, Last Day

We woke up at 0600. We got around and readied, after we did a session with our TENS unit! Wowza! That bed was rough to sleep on. We packed up our little travel packs and met in Em in the lobby at 0830. We situated it all on the bikes and went to breakfast. We went just down the street, couple blocks to Co Bich, Pho-Bun: Ba Chi – Lap Suon – Ga – Vit – Tim Cat. That all translated is– 'Miss Sapphire, Pork Belly Noddle's: Pork Belly – Chicken – Duck – Heart and Kidney', as per Google translate. All that said I had Duck Pho and Jeff had Duck and Pork Belly Pho. MMMM!! It was good and hot, as the morning is drizzly and cool.

Our itinerary just shows us getting back to Cao Bang. Yesterday I forgot to put our mileage, we think it was around 150 km, which is 93 miles. So we have 130 km to go today, which is 81 miles. Anyway, the sky has been very overcast and as we go the drizzling starts and looks to let loose pouring at any time. We had to pull over and put on our rain gear, because, well, it will protect us some. The “ensemble” is to small on me and makes Jeff look like a giant. The saving grace for me… it's purple 💜!!! We stopped at an overlook area. Even though the weather is what it is, northern Vietnam is still just gorgeous 🥰!

We turn off on smaller roads and they are very rough & steep, to say in the least. Twice I had to get off and walk, as Mr Chinh drove/shuffled the bike up. Mr. Tien, Em's driver, had Em get off once and walk, too. There have been multiple landslides – some that were in the process of being cleared, or many that haven't been started yet. The sheer number of them actually surprised us. We came to a stretch know as the Bamboo Forest. We, of course, stopped for pictures. I am finding these stops more helpful as my back end is not liking the bike today!

At 1330 we stopped for lunch, at truong Oanh. The owner took selfies with Jeff and I. We were served a different Pork Belly dish – it had huge, great black & green olives. We also had a plate of chopped Chicken; the dish of fried Tofu with tomatoes & green onion; and something new- it was like sauteed bean sprouts but they were larger than regular sprouts (it was like they were on steriods -LOL) and the seed part was crunchy. And I can't forget the rice. Good meal as everyone was cold from the rain and wet even though we had on gear. Oh yeah, Jeff and my rain pants had split in the crotch… that part our anatomy was very wet. Jeff's rain pants were almost split down to the ankle on one side. So yeah, we were wet and cold.

We loaded back up and went on. We love northern Vietnam, but we were ready to just get back to Cao Bang. But Em seemed to have other ideas… we did another photo op stop. But it was good to stretch and get more of the gorgeous views. Big plus, the rain had stopped. We trekked a small bit to an overlook that had a great flag. Loaded back up and along one small road in a village – Turkeys! They crossed the road. We were able to stop and I snapped some pics! What fun that was, and very unexpected.

Finally we made it back to Cao Bang and to OHG Tour place. I was muddy from my calves down. Jeff had boot/lower leg covers to compensate for his short rain pants, so he was wet not muddy. The Bikes were covered in mud also. We unloaded. Jeff went with Em to check on a room at this hotel, but Jeff declined as the bed was as hard as the last place. Meanwhile, I gave Mr Chinh and Mr Tien tips that we had figured. Em told us we were to come to dinner. What?? That was not expected but we okayed it. We were hired a taxi to take us to our Max Boutique Hotel.

We got checked in, and were given a room key for 803. Jeff opened the door to the room – surprise it was occupied. I know they were as surprised as Jeff. Back to reception and given another room 604 – it was unoccupied and we took it over – cleaned up, rested, and sorted our stuff. Then our taxi came and took us to dinner at Tuan Tam. There was a trio from France who had joined us, Em, the taxi driver & his wife(?), and another guy that started the tour with us – maybe the owner of OHG(??). Anyway, dinner was a lot of food and toasting with “happy water”. At nine, we did our last toast. We were able to tip Em earlier. So all ends were tied up. We said our good byes and the taxi driver (who had been toasting with us) drove us back.

WOWZA, WOWZA, WOWZA!!! What a tour – 525 km (326 miles)!