North Vietnam in Photos - Viet Road Trip Day 19 - Tan An to Than Uyen

[fronttowardenemy]

Viet Road Trip Day 19

Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Viet Nam. This is day 19. Day 18 can be found here.

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ay 19 is a weird one for me. It was a great day for photography, but I don't remember anything interesting happening. There were gorgeous landscapes and rice paddies galore. It was lovely riding, but the weather was very cold and I think my brain blocked out most of the memories from this day.

In an effort to keep the momentum going with my posting, this post will feature way too many photos without much text. I hope you'll stick around for my ride to Sapa on Day 20. Here are my photos from Day 19.

Riding down a rough road (1:22).

Tons and tons of rice paddies are featured in this post. If you don't like rice paddies, abandon the post now!

Driving up into the clouds.

Some nice looking farmlands (00:15).

A schoolhouse.

Ride through a North Vietnamese village (1:34). I don't know what all of the soldiers were doing, but they seemed friendly enough.

Making progress is difficult when you stop every 5 minutes for photos.

A nice cruse through the country side (1:24).

Getting above the clouds for a brief time.

A funky ride through a lovely valley (0:50).

Quick break for coffee at a restaurant.

A mellow ride through a beautiful area (2:24).

The view from my hotel.

he ride was short and I made it to Than Uyên before 15:00. I found a hotel and unloaded my gear. The lake in the town was unique and had a road going around it. With the bike unloaded, I took a short exploratory ride around the area for photos. After a quick tour of the area, I parked the bike at my hotel and went out walking.

One of my bungee cords was fraying, so I went to the market to see if I could find some replacements. For a country that can strap an entire household onto the back of their bike (see @dragonator's Bikes of Burden series), I'm surprised they don't have better bungee cords. I didn't find any bungee cords, but it was fun trying to ask people where to find them without speaking the language. The way I did it was I found a picture of a bungee cord online and then showed it to people, followed by stretching gestures. A few people understood and walked me to different stalls in the market, but we didn't have any luck. I wouldn't find good bungee cords until I returned to Laos.

I was tempted to buy a duck, but I think most hotels forbid pets.

Here's a quick view of my hotel room and the town. The lightbulb in my room scared the shit out of me.

fter finding some dinner and beer, I went back to the hotel. I didn't know it then, but my next day's ride would be miserable. Sapa was my next scheduled stop. It would be one of my least favorite stops, but I'll discuss that in my next post. Until then, ride safe!

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Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Vietnam. Read about days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7.1, 8, 8.1, 9, 9.1, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15-17 and 18 here.

Comments

[scrooger]

Hey @fronttowardenemy have not seen you on here for a while! How you been mate! Hope you are good! If you have a chance PM me on steemit.chat trust me you will want to hear what I have to share with you =)

[kevbot]

vietnam hell yeah

[dragonator]

Hey Kevbot... follow my blog for more Vietnam ;-)

[bankhai]

Really like those photos. @fronttowardenemy

[phanhoang]

I'm a new member here. I admire your articles.

@fronttowardenemy

[dragonator]

What did you mean when you said u didn't make it to the north?...Thats a good slice of it... nice road you picked there... especially in the Mu Cang Chai area.

[fronttowardenemy]

I did some of the north, but I had to cut my route short. I made it up to Ha Giang, hoping I could extend my visa at the immigration office, but I couldn't. After that, I went to Laos for a new visa.

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[randowhale]

This post received a 2.6% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @fronttowardenemy! For more information, click here!

[grr8-one]

Where else could you find that many chicks in a basket.

[beatseb]

Beautiful shots dude.

[coldsteem]

Such a beautiful country. I did notice a lot of litter on my trip. The one downside of such a scenic country. Great photos

[fronttowardenemy]

Yeah, the litter in South East Asia is a big problem. The litter really bothered me in Thailand and Laos, but by the time I got to Vietnam I didn't notice it as much. I guess I just got used to it after a few months.

There are some interesting theories about why the litter is so bad out there. The one I like the best is that the cultures down there have been throwing their trash on the ground for hundreds (thousands?) of years. This wasn't a problem until trash started being made out of plastic instead of banana peels and coconut husks.

They really need more public awareness about litter. I was at a waterfall in Laos and a lady opens an ice cream for her kid, then throws the wrapper on the ground. Right next to a trash can. She had probably traveled for hours to go to a beautiful place that wasn't full of trash like her home, and here she was bringing the trash with her.

[coldsteem]

Yeah. I was most disappointed at Halong bay. One of the most beautiful places on the planet. But litter everywhere in the water.