Arriving in Sapa feels a bit like coming home. The bus stops "somewhere" in town and I immediately know where I am and where to go. The saying goes “There is never a second chance for a first impression”, so I decided to go to the Cat Cat View Hotel to give Gert an idea of what this area is all about. Upon arrival, we dumped our gear in the lobby and took the lift to the 7th floor. From there it is one more floor up to the restaurant/coffee shop from where there is a million dollar view over the valley. I got a bit of an emotional feeling returning here. The view is breathtaking.

There was a second reason for going to this hotel. As we had forgotten/left our passports at the hotel in Hanoi we may be faced with a problem when renting motorcycles. Vietnam is a communist country with many rules and regulations. Passports are always requested at hotels and certainly when renting motorcycles. My friend Eddie's name is known in this hotel - I thought it may be helpful if needed.

Across the road is a motorcycle hire place. Interesting that nothing was asked, not even our names or where we were going to - or where we were staying - for that matter. Riding a bike in the area is not without risk as in part the roads range from good to very bad and at times resemble an off-road track.

Eddie greeted us warmly and took us to (what he refers to as) “The Loft”. A year and a half ago Eddie and I discussed what the opportunities were with the little bit of land behind his house. We decided to put some money together and build basic house which was reported on last year when I was here with Paul and Paul. The simple sketches we had made have been turned into a magnificent house tastefully decorated and comfortable to stay in. More on that later.

As northern Vietnam is home to the majority of the 50 plus tribal minority groups, it is a “must see” area. Tribal villages alternate through the area, each with their own style of dress. During the weekends there are several large markets in the area where the minority people do their shopping.

Only the woman wear traditional dress and the variety between the tribes turn these markets into a myriad of colours. The men (who are not particularly good looking), wear plain clothes. One of the most famous weekend markets is found at Bac-Ha north east of Sapa. During the weekends busloads of tourists arrive there early in the day to enjoy this event. For us the program was different. This is high country; the mountains are steep with deep valleys. For example when you travel from Hanoi to Sapa you travel all the way North to the Chinese border town of Lao Cai which lies at a height of only about 100 meters. From there is about 35 km to Sapa at 1600 meters and Tavan (where we are) 13 km down the road at 1100 meters.

About 70 km west is the town of Lai Chau. To get there you have to ride over the highest pass in the country, the “O Quy Ho” meaning “Cloudy Mountain Pass” of 2000 meters traversing the Hoan Lien mountain range. These mountains form a natural barrier between China and Vietnam and are very rugged, as can be seen in some of the pictures.

Our overnight stay was in Lai Chau. I had been here before while riding with “Off-road Vietnam” in 2008. A large typical Government hotel, stark, with kitsch surroundings to impress the visitor, but not well maintained. The rooms were nice though and after a few cold beers (which are hard to find, as most places only serve warm beer with ice cubes) we had a good night’s rest.

The town of Lai Chau has similar features to many other larger towns I have seen. At first you enter along a normal two laned road when suddenly it turns into an 8 laned boulevard with impressive government buildings and very large roundabouts which would normally only be seen in large cities, except here, there is hardly any traffic.

The Sunday Lai Chau market.

There were, I guess a few thousand people in and around the markets. The minority people in their colourful outfits; the local Vietnamese in there Sunday dress and only three western visitors which were us. It was obvious that they are not used to seeing foreigners there as we got many stares. Very friendly and always smiling makes it a pleasure to walk amongst them.

On our way back Eddie decided to travel on some side roads to visit a few remote villages. The side roads turned into narrow 1.20 meter wide strips and later into tracks which meant not many people go there! If you stop somewhere at random it is no problem to walk up to a house and talk to the locals who waste no time to ask you inside their very simple houses. For us to do this was not a problem as Eddie speaks enough Vietnamese to make himself understood.

As mentioned during previous visits, I am always amazed when I see their kitchens. A simple hole in the ground with a few pots in which they make heathy tasty food, while we, in the western countries, often have amazing kitchens and prepare food out of tins and packets.

I ended up buying some low stools for the loft and Eddy bought some simple household items which can be used for decoration.

A great couple of days riding on scooters. Smaller bikes can be a lot of fun and are easy on fuel, parking etc. Plus, as the going is slower, a lot more of the country side can be enjoyed. As before, I realise that anything over 500 cc is really unnecessary anywhere in the world. In my point of view the larger the bike the larger the ego, this is especially noticeable when larger bikes are hardly used for riding large distances as many just ride to a coffeeshop on Sunday and park the bike in their shed for the rest of the week.

I would say that 99.9 % of motorcycles/scooters here are used as work horses and not for pleasure. Scooters are cheap to run and you can carry 4 or sometime even 5 people on it (or three large pigs two along the side and one across), entire households or turn it into a mobile business etc. (see pics)