The stretch of road between Sapa and Tam Duong is billed as the most beautiful in Vietnam, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the most beautiful anywhere. The Sapa side of the pass is temperate, even cold, and the numerous tea plantations along the road are dotted with rose bushes and flowering dogwood trees.
Leaving the front door of my hotel, I was already in my lowest gear, and I climbed steeply for several kilometers before realizing I had left my helmet behind. I cursed myself, Mt. Fansipan, Vietnam, and the universe, briefly considered pedaling off the nearest cliff, and then returned to Sapa.
Crossing over the first pass, I descended into a cloud. Although exhilirating, the cloud obscured the hairpin turns (of which there were many) and the oncoming traffic (of which there was almost none). Eventually I dropped beneath the cloud layer and followed the road as it tacked through a choppy sea of limestone karsts. The karsts piled up like cresting waves, some even curling over at the lip.
My only company on the ride were road crews doing the Lord’s work, turning dirt trails into fresh blacktop. The men wore VC helmets and had a tendency to hoot like castratos as I whizzed past. The women just smiled. Women on road crews. The Vietnamese are tough.
A new max speed: 63.8kph. 230 pounds balanced on an inch of rubber, falling downhill at 40 miles per hour. Heaven.
