What I thought was going to be a few boring days of riding, has turned out to be some of the best and most memorable days I've had in SE Asia. I left Phong Nha slightly apprehensively, unsure whether my bike would hold out after the repairs but at the same time excited for what the next leg of my journey would bring.
Although I had a rough idea, I gave up trying to plan an exact place where I would stop for the night. Most places seem to have some kind of hotel or guest house so I set off early and aimed for the North. I had heard from a couple of other bikers that they had done Tan Ky to Phong Nha in a day so a rough benchmark was set.
I wasn't long out of Phong Nha when the mountains turned to hills and the roads became flatter, straighter and a bit dull compared to the ones I had got used to.

It definitely wasn't as exciting as the days before but I made good progress reaching the first 100km mark just as I stopped for my morning coffee and by lunch time I had reached Tan Ky. The roads were ideal for making decent progress and the bike just kept on going. Even the extra petrol, that I had strapped down on the back in bottles, wasn't slowing us down. I eventually decided to stop for the night, in a town called Ngoc Lac, just over 400km away from where I had started that morning. It felt like 400km too. Tired eyes, an aching back and a pain in the arse! I found the only hotel in town, had a well-needed shower and then headed out to find a bar.
Walking down the street, it soon became apparent that they don't get many westerners travelling through their town. Everyone seemed to stop and stare. The children would wave and laugh, sometimes the teenagers would stick two fingers up at you and then laugh and the adults were disappear into their houses, only to bring the rest of their family out to have a look. The only bar I came across was one at the back of a karaoke place- a different kind of pain in the arse. In between terrible renditions of Robbie Williams and Queen, I met a lady called Thien, who was there with her decidedly large family, who fortunately weren't singing. Her English was surprisingly good and she wanted to know all about my travel plans. She asked what I thought about Vietnam and the Vietnamese people, obviously there is only one answer to that.
She left with asking if her children could have a photo with me and if I would accept her as a friend on Facebook. It was all very surreal. When I went to pay, the waitress told me that I didn't owe anything and that my tab had been settled by Thien and her family. I didn't really know what to make of the evening when I got into bed that night. I was both flattered and embarrassed. It could have been any traveller, on a bike, going through that town but I'm glad it was me. Definitely a day won't forget.

The next morning, I woke early again, hoping for another good days ride. By 7 I was on the road and raring to go. By 8 I had stopped. The road had vanished and had turned into a construction site. I was unaware of 40km of unmade road that lay ahead of me. A muddy track only used by diggers, dumpers and heavy duty haulage trucks. It made progress very slow and by the end of it was worn out. I wasn't sure how far I had travelled in total that morning because the road wasn't on my map but I knew it wasn't far. My aim of Son La by the end of the day looked doubtful. My bike suffered and I was plastered with mud but it was so much fun!

It was during my coffee-stop, in Mai Chau, that I met Harry. An Aussie traveller, also on a Honda Win, also grabbing an iced coffee. He explained that he was biking with three other guys, who were all going South-to-North. As it turns out, we had all initially set out individually and we had all started in HCMC within a few days of each other. We were all heading to Sa Pa so now there was five of us. Harry the Aussie, Raf the German, Edor the Israeli and Martin and I the Englishmen. The group couldn't have been more different which made it a lot of fun. It as entertaining watching the German and Israeli bicker the whole way. We stopped a fair few times for break-downs and punctures so we eventually arrived in Son La late. We found a cheap guesthouse, a few duck embryos for dinner and a lot of Bia Hoi.

Because of our visas ending soon, the German and I have no choice but to push on. We headed to Sa Pa which was another 300ish kilometres away. Raf's bike is on its way out which made for a slow but entertaining journey. We kidded ourselves that we were taking short cuts but in actual fact we were just getting lost. A few cross-country detours later, we picked up the highway and had about 150km to go before Sa Pa. An end was in sight to an epic 1000+km, 3 day journey. The roads into Sa Pa changed back to hill climbs and hair pins- the perfect way to end the day.

I need a shower and I need a beer.