Nicks adventure continues.......
This is what we had come for. This day
would determine if all those hours in the saddle was worth it. Was
the Ma Pi Leng (MPL) pass really the gateway to heaven? Should we
have taken plan B and gone to Ba Be Lake? It was to be both a
literally breathtaking incredible and awe inspiring day but also one
of danger and tragedy.
Another big day ahead of us as we had
to get halfway back to Hanoi to a place called Ba Be Lake (our plan B
that was never to be realised). Once you pass through MPL the road
takes you to Meo Vac, on to Bao Lac and eventually through another
mountain pass to Ba Be Lake, a National Park with caves and
waterfalls where you can stay with locals in stilted houses on the
lake. But first to the Ma Pi Leng Pass.
I had played down the supposed beauty
of the pass, for after what I had read, it could only prove to be an
anti climax that I didn't want the guys to unnecessarily suffer.
After all I was responsible for the trip and would definitely be held
accountable if it turned out to be naff. Can I also say I have seen
some pretty spectacular scenery, having visited the Swiss Alps, Lake
Louise, Amalphi Coast and Niagra Falls to name a few and the term
breathtaking was just that to me, a term. Until I rode the 22
kilometres from Dong Van to Meo Vac in the Northern Vietnamese
Province of Ha Giang. OMG... I don't really have the words to
describe it and the photos simply don't come close to doing it
justice, so I am not going got post any here.
Just Kidding..... Seriously though the
photos don't do it justice. Go see for yourself! But until you do,
cop a load of this....
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The ugly side of adventure is that the
element of danger and risk that makes adventure what it is, is
sometimes realised. If it wasn't then it wouldn't actually be a
risk. Unfortunately for a group of British travellers and their
newly found Spanish friend, the risk and danger of riding motorcycles
in a remote area on precarious roads, was realised when one of them
collided with an oncoming truck around a blind corner. There was no
great speeds involved and you take most blind corners whilst sounding
your horn and expecting there to be a vehicle on the other side and
in most cases you can ride the soft shoulder of the road and avoid
contact. But in this particular case on this day, the young Spaniard
clipped the truck just enough to tear off most of his calf, along
with some of his Tibia bone. A serious and nasty injury at the best
of times but made much worse by the location and lack of
infrastructure. Our group provided what first aid we could with the
supplies we had, then flagged down a bus and convinced the driver to
take the victim to the nearest town of Cao Bang, where the locals
insisted there was a hospital. The 70 km journey would take about 3
hours. We had no phone coverage at that point and the bus
driver was not keen to be delayed so everything was rushed. I only
hope we did enough to stabilise him for the journey. One of the
Brits went with him in the bus whilst the rest of their group
pondered how two guys could get four bikes 70 km to Cao Bang. We
rode on to get phone coverage and then contacted the Spanish Embassy
to advise they arrange a medivac from Cao Bang.
With the hour spent at the crash site
and the much slower pace we were now travelling at, we had again run
out of daylight to reach Ba Be lake. Problem was we were pretty much
in the middle of nowhere with no accommodation options at all. We
decided to press on slowly even if we had to idle into Ba Be in the
middle of the night. Oh yeah and Turbo, whose bike had a non
standard fuel tank, held 2 litres less fuel than the rest of us and
was now running on vapours.
An hour later we reached the tiny
hamlet of Tinh Tuc, consisting of a couple of dozen timber shacks,
some of which had hand pumped fuel in bottles for sale. We drained
several of the tiny establishments of their fuel stocks only to head
out of town and around the corner to be confronted with a modern
looking petrol station standing by itself like a mirage. All I could
think was TIV (This is Vietnam!) Ten minutes further on at a road
junction leading one way to Cao Bang and the other to Ba Be lake, was
a Guest house and restaurant, again standing by itself seemingly in
the middle of nowhere. TIV. They had rooms, cold beer and
food...happy days. After what we had just seen, I don't think any of
us relished the thought of 2 more hours and another mountain pass in
the dark.
Met a Kiwi couple who had been touring
in Asia on Bikes for 4 months, shared dinner and a few drinks with
them before turning in for an early night. We needed another
sparrows fart start to make up for today's lost time. Planned to be
rolling by 6 am then straight through to Hanoi.
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| Our digs at the PHAJ Oac Guest House, just outside Tinh Tuc on the junction of QL34 and TL212. 200,000 vnd (about $10) per room. |
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View outside the next morning. (priceless)
Not quite over yet...stay tuned. |
