Saturday 9 April 2011 Our last day in Vietnam was spent explring the old city of Hanoi in sunshine. I chose to visit the market in the Old Quarter, which is a very large affair in a large building on three floors selling just about everything. I bought the usual T shirt with Hanoi on it and some CD's at £1 each. This was followed by a visit to the War Museum, which was interesting and showed the futility of war and especially in such a country as Vietnam, where hiding and sniping would be so easy. Our bikes were washed and bagged up before sending to the airport for our return home. Where next I wonder?... read more

Tuesday 5th April 2011 Sa PA to Than Uyen 62m 90k Left the hotel at 9.00am in fog and had an easy first half of a 14km climb to the top of Tram Ton pass, the highest pass in Vietnam. The last section became harder and I admit to getting off and walking a bit to stretch my legs. It was foggy most of the time with just an occasional burst of sunshine. At the top we ate a hot, baked sweet potato and boiled eggswith green tea in a little road-side tent, provided by a lady vendor. That's what holidays are all about. We then 'enjoyed' an exhilaratingly serious, 26km plunge downhill to Bin Lu junction where we turned left for Than Uyen. The road alternated between tarmac and very rough bumpy stretches where the ... read more

Sunday 3rd April 2011 A poor breakfast of one small bread roll and jam plus cheese. A relaxing day today spent visiting Bac Ha's Sunday market which is frequented by many ethnic tribes including Tay, Nung, Dao, Flower H'Mong, Gaiy and Phu La. The market was massive with 100s of people wearing their ethnic costumes. Ther must have been towards 1000 stalls selling everything. Clothes. gifts, hardware, food, new wooden ploughs, new wooden donkey saddles, horses, oxen, pigs, dogs hens etc etc. I bought one or two souvenir type gifts for my granddaughters, often with much persuasion from ethnic hawkers and much bargaining. I was even offered a haircut but declined. At the market there were many stalls selling food, again very ethnic in origin, containing goodness knows what and smelling vile! Lots of the stalls ... read more

Thursday 31st March 2011 Ha Giang to Eco Village 48m 75k A bit warmer today, but overcast, so no leg warmers but had long sleeved top over shirt for morning. We rode 30 k mostly alongside river and managed to keep in a peleton for most of the way until tea break, a no mean feat for 24 riders of varying ability. I stopped to film a lady shaving a root of some sort, which was left to dry at the roadside on sheets. She implied it was good for the stomach. We climbed half way up a big hill before lunch and tehn completed it after lunch before 10k descent to our hotel. On the way down we saw some road repairs being done by boiling barrels of tar with timber underneath before spraying it ... read more

Arrive Hanoi Friday 25th March after an uneventful flight. ( The taxi to Manchester airport developed a flat tyre. The car did not possess a wheel brace and a Manchester taxi had to summoned to complete the journey arriving nearly 3 hours after leaving Clitheroe and in the nick of time for the flight!) Saturday 26th March. An early breakfast followed by a vehicle transfer of approximately200km to Phu Thong followed by a 32km cycle ride to Ba Be National Park for a 1 night stay. In the Far East you soon become aware of the difference in life style seeing many strange things as you go along. We saw a dead pig strapped to the back of a small motorbike on its way to the market. We arrived at the hotel in the dark and ... read more