Map and Coffee obsessions!

We have had a stunning week biking from SaPa to Dien Bien Phu, at the border of Viertnam and Laos. After our punishing 38km uphill battle we were rewarded with 20km of downhill the next day through some stunning valleys. We were sidling along the edge of sheer cliff mountains and then alongside some great paddling rivers. Locals were constantly calling out Xien Chou!, I love You!, and Hello! Pretty classic shot of seeing the fields being worked by numerous people - and of course, their bull!

 On a flatter section of road, when the tar seal ran out and we were back on gravel. Some good techy bits and still great riding.

 Beautiful lush fields and valleys once we were down out of the mountains and into hill country. 

 Turns out I have a map addiction. We had a seemingly friendly man shadow us as we left town one morning and we couldn't figure out what his deal was....10km later the road disappeared into a river and we realised he was poaching us so we didnt get on anyone elses boat. We took a bit of convincing that we were in the right place, as there was no river or lake on the map (the map knows all....!) and with the language barrier and us asking road? River over there...where is the road?? The boat men were probably laughing at us as they kept trying to explain this was the road (but its a river..??!!). Eventually we gave in, handed over our money and as we were going started to notice half submerged trees and figured it out - monsoon season equals flooded roads. Ah ha!

While I fret about the map, Amber is on the look out for her morning coffee, which has sometimes been hard to find. But we have arrived in Laos and are happy that coffee here is almost as good as Vietnamese coffee!

 "Amber, do you want the good news or the bad news...?" What? Good news - Check out this place!!!!! Bad news - we may have to bike over those mountains over there.....

50km later, thats right where we were but the downhills made the slogging up worth it. Stunning place.

Have just crossed into Laos so are busy trying to learn some new words and figure out the way from here. Many more adventures you will just have to wait to hear about later!!!

My slashed finger has healed well, Amber now has 3 stitches in her foot which is adding to our sense of a grand adventure! I read that to be a hardened traveller you have to have spent time in a dodgy hospital where they stack bodies 5 high in the corrider (Amber ticked this one off for us) and get arrested (so far the police have only waved and smiled at us and on occassion told us they love us. Not quite what we're after).

Peace out.