Although not flying till 20.25 from Hanoi for Bangkok, we left Sapa at 10.30 still in mist, down the twisting mountain road back down the valley. On the same narrow road we had driven up, we encountered a rock fall blocking the road, and their simple solution. Musing on what could have happened had our coach been going up/down when the rocks fell, we gasped when one impatient bike rider dodged under the operating arm of the mechanical scoop to zoom off down!
Clearing recent rockfall
The high-pitched whine & pull of brakes making me queasy for the only time; I was very glad when after an hour we reached the dual carriageway at the bottom of the alley.
1pm lunch stop on motorway services saw another culture shift – various new options like goat, ‘soiled chicken’ ?! – but the chicken noodle soup delicious. Everything gets ordered downstairs in a noisy hubbub, written manually then amazingly delivered upstairs to the seating area.
By 5pm we arrived at Hanoi airport, & booked luggage all the way through to Heathrow.
By the time we got to Bangkok, & another tortuous negotiation of transfers in this airport, you could already see tiredness in many travellers late in the evening, with the long haul flight not due to leave till 00.15.
If confused already, just look up!
We finally arrived home safely – 33 hours after leaving Sapa in the north! And that’s when the jetlag really kicked in ...