Sapa

A much deserved rest day in Sapa, an old French hill station high in the mountains.

Touristy, but after two weeks with very limited services, that is a good thing. Clean laundry, hamburgers, Indian food, wine, chocolate tarts...

Sapa is a beautiful place.

Dien Bien Phu to Sapa

A gorgeous 5 day ride along the heavily manipulated Nam Na river. Through rice fields, steep passes and narrow river canyons.

Tram Tom Pass

After two weeks of climbing 1500 meter passes, arrival at the main event: the 2000m Tram Tom pass.

Notorious for being shrouded in fog, the pass held off any mist until arrival in Sapa, a gorgeous town 400m below the pass summit.

A very beautiful ride. With food at the top.

Hanoi to the mountains.

7 days, 500km, 6,000m elevation gain.

This has got to be one of the prettiest bike rides in the world.

5 more days to the highest pass in Vietnam (2900m), then on to China!

Hanoi

Beautiful North Vietnamese city, and large (3.7 million people).

Good eats, great urban fabric, crazy Moro drivers, and the typical Frenchy touches.

Now to the mountains in the north, some hard riding to come...

Central Coast Riding

A four day ride between Hoi An and Dong Ha. High passes and beautiful views of the sea.

The best stretch of the ride was a large pass that formerly was the main highway, but has been mostly abandoned for a new highway tunnel. Perfect for a couple of cyclists.