Chiềng Châu, Mai Châu District -> Vũ Lâm, Lạc Sơn District, Hoa Binh
Distance cycled: 75.8 km Ave: 16.9 km/h Max speed: 60.7 km/h Elevation gained: 753 m (in the first 35km – elevation stopped recording after that, Ride with GPS predicted 1079m for our route)
Biking out of the valleyF & J found a local volleyball game to cheer for.Thanks to the loudspeaker, we could hear the commentary for much longer than you’d expect as the road to climb the hill doubled back so we were only a few hundred meters away, albeit vertically.
As we climbed, we found all the traffic that has been absent the last few days.
The views kept getting better and better, but the traffic was relentless and there was nowhere to pull over.I was happy to find an established viewpoint cafe. (Spot cyclists you know)J tried Yogurt coffee (thick and creamy) and F tried cheese coffee (salty and foamy).The traffic slowed to an uphill bicycle crawl (or rather some of it did, and the rest of it should have!) as we navigated a construction zone with rough surface. (Again, spot cyclists you know)On the way down the other side of the pass, we found a slew of bbqs with people cooking corn, sticky rice (in Bamboo tubes with corn butt plugs), eggs in the fire, meat skewers, and sausages. No idea why this high concentration only existed on the one side of the pass
After zooming down into the next valley, we got fresh roadside strawberries and the most disappointing mango. Among other changes, local women’s hair is no longer consistently up in a top bun with bun cover (we can tell because even with helmet on, the helmet ended up perched on top, protecting the hairdo instead of the head!)
We decided to ditch the main roadand try the google walking route, which although slower and bumpier, made up for it with less trafficand more beautiful landscapes.There should be a word for the layering of overlapping misty mountains. (Suggestions welcome – we feel English needs a word for this!)We found an all women volleyball game and enjoyed watching until a bunch of drunk guys showed up and started obnoxiously trying to get us to play as well.
Once again, we were getting hellos from many children and adults, hands out for highfives, although compared to the gentler hellos of Laos, a bunch of the hellos here sound more assertive, like the tone of someone yelling after you that you dropped your hat. My energy for cheerful helloing back was running low, and after we rode past yet more volleyball, we headed back to the main road, thinking we’d be less interesting there.
At this beautiful juncture, we realized we were soon going to run out of daylight and decided to look for beds and dinner.
Accommodation was really thin on the ground, but we found one little hotel with a very cheerful owner. She asked us if we wanted to stay the whole night, and initially offered us a room with only one bed. We had to leave our shoes at the entry, and climb the three floors to our 2 bed room using borrowed sandals.
The sandal rule was not a reflection on the epic cleanliness of the rooms, though, as ours came with a bustier lurking in the bathroom and a partially used package of condoms on the nightstand. It did win top marks for functional shower, best of the trip so far.And it had the added allure of a mysterious machine downstairs.I was actually feeling hungry, which was still novel enough to be exciting, only equalled by the excitement of finding top tier phò a few doors down.
Alice and Flis, the pedantasaurus, with proofreading by Jeannie
P.S. Re animal encounters: We’ve seen many cows on the side of the road
and lots of well-behaved, chill dogs and puppies
including one today trying to figure out how to hump an older dog. There are chickens loose everywhere.
We spent a silly amount of time watching a mama hen guide 6 tiny chicks around the treacherous terrain of a gas station. They can’t have been more than a couple days old because they were still entirely fluffy, no feathers yet. One fell down into a drainage grate, and we panicked. Amazingly, it hopped out again. Shortly after that, though, the mamma accidentally kicked one into a plastic bag and then stomped all over it. But by the time we dragged ourselves away from that particular chicken drama, all chicks were free and safe.
Chickens are on the busiest roads, and I’ve only seen a couple of roadkills. Jeannie played chicken with a chicken, who at the last barely dodged with a lot of squacking from both parties.
There have also been many goats. A highlight was coming down from Pha Din pass, a nanny goat absolutely barreling down the speeding bicycle lane, going faster that it seemed possible for a goat to go, but staying right in the center of the lane as F and J whizzed by.
One thought on “Feb 20: Another Valley, Another Volley”
The term you’re looking for is atmospheric perspective – things like mountains, get fainter and blue the further away they are. If you’re talking about art you might remark on the sfumato effect, but that’s only if it’s misty or smoky. But I’m all for inventing a new word, though I can’t think of one at the moment. I do like sfumato, though… as good as chiaroscuro.
BC by Cycle 
The term you’re looking for is atmospheric perspective – things like mountains, get fainter and blue the further away they are. If you’re talking about art you might remark on the sfumato effect, but that’s only if it’s misty or smoky. But I’m all for inventing a new word, though I can’t think of one at the moment. I do like sfumato, though… as good as chiaroscuro.
How long were you on the bus?
XXXMom
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