Ha Giang motorbike trip, day 2

And Mono Monday theme: Curves

Today's road was quite possibly the most spectacular mountain road in the world. I'm not exaggerating, it was stunning. The road wound up and down mountain passes covered in rice terraces, making amazing curving patterns in the landscape.

As the road got higher, the rice terraces stopped and the impossibly steep slopes were covered with maize plants. How anyone could walk on those slopes to plant and harvest the maize, I have no idea. The temperature dropped noticeably too. Each valley seemed to have a different climate. Going over the last pass before Meo Vac the rain started and the 10km down to the town wasn't nice. I stopped there for lunch and waited for the rain to stop.

The next pass was unbelievable. Around ever corner were fabulous views. It was only 20km from Meo Vac to Dong Van but it took me two hours to drive because I stopped so often to gape at the views. The extra is a 9 shot vertical panorama. It doesn't fully do justice to how steep the hills are and how far the drop to the bottom. 

The road is carved into the side of the mountain. It's an area that gets a lot of landslides and in some places there was debris on one side of the road. The road in the morning was a more minor road and in a couple of places it was badly damaged. The extra is of the worst bit. I was going down the hill. As I got there, 4 north Americans were going up and they helped me get my bike down the drop. I'd wondered why there were no cars or trucks on the road and there was the answer!

Tomorrow's road is much better; this evening I talked to some people who'd driven it today. A few potholes but no landslides or sinkholes! 

I'm so behind with uploading blips. No idea when I'll be able to catch up with that, or with comments, or emails to friends. Probably not til I get home which is now coming up very fast.