Day30 Sun 2510 - Sapa沙巴 to Camping on the way to Lai Chau萊州

Today dist : 50.5 km        Total : 1764.7 km
Today Temp : 20-30  C    Misty
Ride time: 4 hr 08 min
Ave speed : 12.2 kmh    Max : 55
Ave climb: 5 %  Max: 17 %
Trip alti : 822 m    Max: 1923 m
Today Spend:  90k dong   Total: 2710 Rmb+745k dong

After uploaded a few posts to my blog,took breakfast of Pho bo ( Vietnamese beef noodles soup) and also cash out 3 million dong from ATM,I rolled out at 10.30am in direction of Lai Chau which is about 80km from here.Still on the same road QL4D,the weather is perfect sunny,but still feeling the mountain coolness.The Climb continues thru' the narrow dusty road with quite many traffic of buses,vans,trucks and the usual motorcycles,can't really compared with the roads in China.There is no big or small towns along the way, i stop for lunch of 2 boiled eggs and 2 sticks of bbq pork meats when a motorcyclist wanted to borrow my foot pump. Arrived at the top with altitude of 1923m before a wonderful downhill to a junction where i met 3 french tourers (one of them woman).They were on a 10 days holiday doing a Hanoi loop,we rode together to a small town but could not find any accommodation,so i left them and continues the ride expected to camp for today as Lai Chau is still 25km with lots of climbing.I found a camping spot with a fast running stream by the road side to call it a day at 5.30pm just before dark.

This man know i have a foot pump 

Roadside stall

bbq birds

Roadside stall

View point at the top with the descent at the backdrop

I am the only one on bicycle

The way down

Cooling off

Sticky rice nicely wrapped 

So nice and filling

Met 3 French cyclists doing a 10 days Hanoi Loop

Riding into town together but could not find any hotel

Emergency campsite

Day29 Sat 2410 - View Point Camping at Km23 to Sapa沙巴

Today dist : 14.9 km        Total : 1764.7 km
Today Temp : 15-23  C    Misty
Ride time: 2 hr 52 min
Ave speed : 5.1 kmh    Max : 29.5
Ave climb: 6 %  Max: 13 %
Trip alti : 663 m    Max: 1432 m
Today Spend:  541k dong   Total: 2710 Rmb+655k dong

Very good sleep in the tent last night with no disturbance from the locals. Temperature is cooling and fresh with the mountain fog in the morning. No hurry as today is just a short distance of climbing to Sapa.Arriving at the outskirt of Cho Sapa (market)  about 10.30am local time ( One hour behind Malaysia). Was advised by the local to avoid staying in the town centre as the hotel price is easily double than at the Market. For 250k at the Viet Cuong Guesthouse (Ngh Nghi) is around Rm50 is still considered fairly expensive but the room is really big with 2 bouble beds and 1 single bed,just for me alone and it comes with WiFi for the 1st time since i started 29 days ago be able to access facebook and google again. Went for afternoon walk into the town centre,and it's full of Western tourists to escape the winter snow in Europe,Sapa is still very much alive since my last visit about 7-8 years ago.Tomorrow will be heading to Lai Chau萊州 in direction to Tien Bien Pho鄭邊府

On the way to Sa Pa

Cho Sa Pa ( market )

Cho Sa Pa ( market )

Pho Bo ( Vietnamese beef noodle soup )

Hotel in Sa Pa

 Sa Pa 沙巴

 Sa Pa 沙巴

 Sa Pa 沙巴

 Sa Pa 沙巴

 Sa Pa 沙巴

 Sa Pa 沙巴

Big room all to myself

Vietnamese Dong (VND). To convert to Rm ignore the last 3 zeros and divide by 5

Cho Sa Pa ( market )

Dried meat

Cho Sa Pa ( market )

Prices of foods 

Sa Pa 沙巴

Sa Pa 沙巴

Sa Pa 沙巴

The famous church in Sa Pa 沙巴

The square in Sa Pa 沙巴

This is the place the tourists hang around in The square in Sa Pa 沙巴

This is the place the tourists hang around in The square in Sa Pa 沙巴

This is the place the tourists hang around in The square in Sa Pa 沙巴

This is the place the tourists hang around in The square in Sa Pa 沙巴

This is the place the tourists hang around in The square in Sa Pa 沙巴

The local market

Chicken rice

The local market

BBQ whole pig

Misty evening in Sa Pa 

My foods ration