March 17 - Flat Roads
Two days prior to this day, I had sunshine, the previous day was overcast - this day it was drizzling in the morning, but luckily it soon stopped. I had a dilemma: Lonely Planet recommended that I stay up north, in the mountainous area next to China, heading towards the west to the famous tourist town of Sapa. At the same time, everyone I had spoken to had told me that Sapa was extremely touristy and that the part I had just covered from Cao Bang to Ha Giang was just as nice, if not even nicer. Further, as my friend Rupert pointed out, it would make sense to see some other parts of this large country. I hesitated for a while, then decided to leave the mountains behind and head southeast instead, towards the coast. Halong Bay would be the next logical destination, that was over 400 kilometers away. The next dilemma: would it not make sense to take a bus there, instead of cycling? You see, I am sort of a purist when it comes to cycling, after all, I started the trip in Hanoi, riding through the flat outskirts of the capital, which I still enjoyed - so I guessed the 400 kilometers or so would also be an experience.
So there I was, riding a major road, QL2, headed first southwards. Just outside town, by pure chance, I discovered a large Buddhist temple next to the road - I just saw some stairs leading up, then felt the sense of incense being burned. I was quite surprised to see the sheer size of this temple, being so hidden from the road. The caretaker asked me in broken English where I was from, told him Austria, he then replied "Rapid Wien". Oh, the international language of soccer!
Look at the Chinese characters
Quite in contrast to the past couple of days in the north, there are not too many pictures for me to choose from - this day, similar to the following two, did not quite make it to the Hall of Fame of my biking career. The road was quite wide, nicely paved - and flat, so that it was cover larger distances. Below are some of the impressions from that day.
River
Guests at a wedding celebration
A coconut that I had cost less than 50 cents
Lush vegetation over an old bridge
Roughly 155 kilometers later, I got to the town of Tuyen Quang, where I checked into a four-star luxury hotel called Royal Palace - all for the very reasonable amount of Eur 23, with breakfast included. It was absolutely worth it - especially after the moldy, run-down places I had stayed at earlier in the mountains. From this town onwards, I realized that various websites would offer great last-minute deals on nice hotels in larger towns and made a mental note to check on this each evening. I took a nice bath - to be more precise, I intended taking one, but the electric heater ran out of hot water, so just settled for a shower.