I opened the full length curtain that covers the glass door to my hut. My heart sank. The mist so thick I couldn’t see reception. Everything I’ve read about Dinosaur Trail says do not attempt this in reduced visability. But, you know me, I’ll give it a bash.
The road from the hotel rises and the access road to the trail is off to the left. I found it, but never got out of second gear, going so slowly as I just couldn’t see. The access road was fun. I’ve read that it is crumbling. You know if Vietnamese say its crumbling, then it’s pretty bad. It’s about 6km to the trail head. I pottered along dodging holes and slipping on gravel. There were homes to each side and a few other little bikes went past, all in the other direction.
My nav said the access road ends where there is a choice of two paths. A closer look showed the map suggested the right hand one. It was a mix of skinny concrete, home made path, and mud. Almost immediately heading down very steeply. Tight turns and crazy gradients made the front wheel slide. Visability was getting better though.
After crossing this little bridge, it dawned on me that the trail should run along the spine of the mountains, not drop down the side of one. I turned round and fired Lilly at the climb. She didn’t like it. I was in first gear and paddling with both feet to maintain forward motion up the path. Sometimes she would manage but then a tight turn and climb would sap her tiny engine of power. The front wheel hardly touching the ground as the angle of climb and weight of luggage, on the back, did all it could to lift the front. All of which meant the wheel skipped perilously close to the edge and what may have been a very big drop. I didnt know as I couldn’t see and was fully concentrating on keeping us both on the skinny path. Eventually, very warm and grateful, I made it back to the top. At this point I turned towards the other option of pathway. Within 100m, several small bikes came out of the mist towards me, two stopped and I pointed, saying “Dinosaur Spine?” One girl called back “No no, today, dangerous fall”. Again if you know the Vietnamese, you’ll know when they say it’s dangerous, it’s DANGEROUS!!
And so it was that my exciting trip along the perilous path was over before it began. It was mid day and I had only made it 8km from my accommodation, in the wrong direction. I was cold, wet and a little miffed. I needed to get out of there.
The place I had taken the glorious sunset photos came and went in the mist. But from there it was all downhill for 10km. With Lilly in neutral I coasted down, the mist cleared and the temperature raised. It was whisper quiet, apart from tyre noise and on the tarmac the bike felt steady as I chose my line through hairpin corners, with only the slightest touch of brakes. 80kph is faster than their motorway speed and here I was torturing the knobbly tyres on the twisties. Obviously, there were times I had to grab a handful of brakes as the odd car came into view, but I was having fun. Yes, I was having fun.
Bac Yen is a relatively large town, however today it was surprisingly quiet. In fact, hadn’t everywhere been very quiet? A quick look at my phone, oh yes Feb 9th, it’s Lunar New Years Eve. I best make a plan. Dragging out my phone I looked for a suitable place to be. Son La is one of the biggest towns this far north, I’ll go there and stay overnight. After the third closed petrol station I was starting to worry, but fear not the fourth was open. Whilst I am here I’ll book my hotel……. what’s this no signal? No my sim card has run out of data. Luckily I use offline mapping. There were endless miles of closed towns, empty roads and for some of it great scenery.
Arriving in Son La the search was on for a decent hotel. Plenty of homestays appeared at the roadside but I really wanted a hotel. I found nothing and in an attempt to use booking.com I went from closed shop to closed shop trying to guess WiFi passwords! They all use 68686868 or 123456789, but no, not here. Then I found Paradise Coffee, it was open. A cappuccino and WiFi what more do you want. So I booked into the Hoa Ban Tran Hotel. Its 800m away. Result!
When arriving at a hotel it rarely looks empty
I mean empty, nothing, but the door was open. Inside there was nothing just a bed frame in the lobby. A lady came from another room. She was unaware of any booking from what I could tell. We tried to communicate, I got that she was saying there’s another hotel up the road. She then proceeded to usher me out and onto the bike. She then tried to clamber onto the back of the bike. Now I sit a long way back and my rucksack touches the roll top bag on the rack. So with my rucksack slung in front of me she wedged herself between me and the bag. Suddenly realising, she had no helmet, she got back off and proceeded to run in front of me, directing me to the next hotel. That’s a service you don’t get at home.
The hotel has relocated to a much nicer spot. They cancelled my booking at the first, so I didn’t get charged by the website, then promptly booked me in at a cheaper price.
At this stage I had no idea how grateful I would be for a proper hotel.
There was nowhere to eat so I got myself a Pot noodle type thing, some coffee sachets and went to my room for the night….. TBC
Earth, Wind and Tyres 
Just how many women are throwing themselves at you?
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