To Muong Lay (Old Lai Chau)

First of all, an explanation is necessary. I thought that we would be staying last night in Muang Thanh Hotel in Tuang Dom, and tonight in An Lahn Hotel Lai Chou. Mysteriously, we stayed in the Muang Thanh Hotel in Lai Chou yesterday, and today we’re at the An Lahn in Muong Lay. It’s a riddle –what does this mean? They couldn’t move hotels from city to city!



It turns out that the old Lai Chou is to be inundated by a new hydroelectric dam. So, the old Lai Chou was renamed Muong Lay, and last night we stayed in the new Lai Chou, full of boulevards and new construction—which was previously known as Tuang Dom. (To make things just a bit more complicated, we ate lunch at a small hamlet between SaPa and New Lai Chou, which was rechristened Tuang Dom.)



A few more words about the Muang Thanh Hotel. It’s a giant structure – 7 stories tall – and it’s surrounded by grounds that include an open air restaurant on stilts over a crocodile pond, a modest water park, and life-size elephants, giraffes, and dragons. (Actually, I’m not so sure whether the dragons are life size). It’s grand inside, with a large atrium and marble stairs.



I’ve already mentioned that it was built very poorly – wires are exposed where they shouldn’t be, the marble stairs are not even, and all the slate and paving stones are cracking and coming apart. The crocodiles died (our guide, who tells us that this decrepit structure is just 5 years old, said that the climate is too cold). We had dinner in the restaurant , which looked like it was decked out for a state dinner. All the chairs were covered with yellow fabric and giant red ribbons around the back, and there were chairs arranged for hundreds. There were altogether 9 guests (our 5 riders, our guide, our van driver, and one European couple). Skip the next line if you’re squeamish. The memorable part of the pedestrian dinner was a massive cockroach which tried to climb a number of our legs, causing havoc. We made bets about whether the squashed beetle would remain under the table this morning at breakfast. Happily, it had been cleared away.

Today’s ride started with a bit of trouble; Bill took a spill as we were leaving Lai Chau. It’s not clear how it happened – it is clear how great it is to wear a helmet. We also had our third flat of the ride; the tube was replaced quickly. We climbed and descended along the riverbank the entire way – and we continued to see evidence of the amazing construction associated with the hydroelectric dam. The road we were traveling on is being relocated a few hundred feel higher on the cliff –so there were construction vehicles everywhere, and the road was often restricted to a single lane. We saw a huge gash in the cliff across the river, where a new road is being constructed because the previous road to a village will be underwater. Vietnam isn’t building just one dam – but is also building multiple subsidiary dams to control the water flow to the main reservoir. Between heavy equipment and scores of workers chopping rocks by hand, it felt like this was the kind of public works project that the US undertook in the 1930s. I thought a lot about how many of the dams we built in that era are now being removed – but the fish will not likely be restored.



The ride itself was vigorous, and I was mostly the trailing rider. (A less painful way of saying I was the slowest up the hills.) Binh, our guide, periodically stops to buy some special bananas, or relieve himself – making it less obvious that he’s waiting up for me. Thirty miles short of Muong Lay, the road was literally being reconstructed in front of us. A front loader was shifting rocks over the cliff to enlarge the road on the right, while another front loader was thrusting down showers of rocks from above, where the new road will be. We waited for 45 minutes for the road to reopen – and vehicles crossing were just about up to their axles in unpacked dirt. Given the huge amount of dust and falling debris, we all opted to take the van for that last 30km (which ended up being a gut-wrenching 2 hour ride). I love riding the bike, but that was a real relief.



I’m now at the An Lahn Hotel in Muong Lay (previously known as Lai Chau.). The hotel is a miniature paradise – my room has a bed larger than a king with a foam mattress and a canopy – and the air conditioning is just dreamy. It’s eerie that in a few months this hotel will be closed as the waters rise. Unlike last night, the dinner was quite tasty (especially the vegetarian egg rolls and the noodles; the Vietnamese fish was a bit overcooked). The restaurant was packed – with a few couples of tourists and 4 tables of young Vietnamese men. What a contrast from last night!



Nick and Bill got a serious laugh from the other patrons when they poured themselves a drink from a water jug and took a big sip. Turns out the jug had rice wine –not water – and the rice wine here (slightly cloudy but without color) is not to be chugged.



No wifi here – and my co-riders are hogging the internet machines. It’s likely I’ll post this tomorrow morning – but probably without photos due to upload time. Tomorrow, on to Dien Bien Phu. The ride is great, but I think most of us are looking forward to our “rest day” there.`

Addendum - photos are posted separately because when I try to paste text, IE7 crashes.