Cowabunga! Adventure in Cao Bằng Day 2

FYI: The pictures don't look so good shrunk down. Click on them for a larger view 

The next day we awoke at 8:00am. We had breakfast at a nearby phở shop (there seems to be a lot of phở places in Northern Vietnam) and hit the road. Today we would visit the Bản Giốc waterfall 90 kilometers northeast from the town of Cao Bằng, located on the Chinese border.

Cao Bằng is a rather poor and remote area at least compared to Hanoi. The road was worse than the one we were on yesterday but the view was even more spectacular. We passed through dozens of small "towns." I'm not even sure you could call them town, perhaps "hamlets." Some of these hamlets took less than a minute to drive through.

 The manager of the hotel, who spoke English, had given us directions to the waterfalls.  However, somewhere around Quoc Tuan way we took a wrong turn.

We realized our mistake but decided to follow the road we were on because it also eventually led to the waterfall. However, this road was--to put it nicely--complete $#!+. There's a section by my house in Hanoi that I always dread riding on because it it's bumpy and dirty and full of potholes. However, that section usually only lasts about a minute tops. This road was about the same quality, but lasted around three hours. However, the payoff was that we got to observe a landscape that probably only a handful of tourists--not to mention Westerners--had ever seen.

One of the craziest aspects about this road was that at certain times it would go through a hamlet and the road would become dirt and shrink to a width of my wingspan. I felt that any moment it would simply lead to the driveway of someone's house. But then five seconds later we would be out of the hamlet and the road would widen again.  There seemed to be around 5 different defining characteristics to the road. It would either be 1: paved with a few rocks and pot holes, 2: rocks and potholes, 3: dirt and potholes, 4 dirt and rocks, 5 dirt. 

Probably the most frustrating thing about driving on this road was that we had to focus all our attention on the road. One point I was observing jagged rock formations that seemed to just pop out of the rice fields like natural gravestones ...

...and BAM! hit a pothole. My water bottle flew out of my front basket and I had to turn around and to retrieve it.

While it was definitely a difficult road to drive a motorbike on, we were both glad we took this road. We went through mountains, small hamlets, rice paddies, and farms where the road was lined with small rocky walls on either side. However, after a while we were getting pretty tired of all the bumps and hoped that it would soon end.

Finally we reached the town of Trung Khanh where we were able to turn off unto another, better road. However, before we did that, we stopped for lunch. We stopped at a small house/shop where an old woman presumably lived. We ate bon noodles with duck meat. It was pretty good. The only other people in the shop was the old woman's granddaughter and a young man. Like the other places we visited, once they learned I spoke a little Vietnamese they became very friendly. I told them some about ourselves and our trip. The old woman thought it was hilarious that Bryn was from Canada, I was from America, Bryn was clean shaven, I had a beard, I wore glasses, Bryn didn't, and that Bryn was fat (apparently to Vietnamese standards) and I was thin. She pointed helpfully pointed this out to us. We were like a Laurel and Hardy or Penn and Teller or something. We talked a bit more, then paid, said our goodbyes, and got back on the road.

Did I say that the road got better? That's only partly true. The road became smoother, however there were large stretches with thick red mud. It made it difficult and a little dangerous to drive. I wasn't aware how easy it was to loose control in the mud until I did. I skidded out and flew a couple feet in front of my motorbike. Luckily, I wasn't hurt. However, now my motorbike and the only pair of pants that I brought were covered in globs of red mud. Just when I thought I couldn't get any dirtier.

Although he didn't wipe-out like I did, at one point Bryn also tipped his bike and fell in the mud.

While still in good spirits, by this time we were ready to get to this stupid waterfall. Finally, an hour or two later we made it. We must have looked pretty crazy riding up on our filthy motorbikes with dirty faces and clothes covered in mud. We didn't blend in well with the American families or Vietnamese urbanites getting off the buses at the parking lot. However, I was surprised that there weren't more tourists since it was a holiday weekend. I would later learn that on the Hung Kings Festival, Vietnamese people traveled to temples (specifically the temple in Phu Tho Province) to worship the Hung Kings. 

As for the waterfalls themselves.. well, yeah, they were pretty spectacular.

There's me!

Since everyone was doing it, Bryn and I took a boat ride up to the falls. The boat ride was kind of expensive 100,000 dong for one person (around 5 dollars). But I guess we only paid 15,000 dong to get into the park. Chinese tourists were on the other side of the river. However, everyone got to ride on the river. When one boat filled with Chinese tourists passed ours, the tourists waved and Bryn and I posed for pictures. We hung around there for a bit and then walked back up to where our bikes were parked. After drinking some ice tea at a shop nearby, we headed back to Cao Bang.

This time we went back a different way.

This alternative option included a smoother road. However, there was also more mud. But after about five hours we made it back safe and sound. The receptionist was surprised that we had somehow managed to get even dirtier.  After showers, we headed out for dinner. The place we ate at the night before was closed so we ended up eating at a small cafeteria like place. The food was just so-so, but it filled us up.

It was a long but incredibly fun day. After some more shenanigans, we finally went to bed.

In the next episode, Bryn and Nathan get lost!